The Yakovlev Yak-25 was a swept wing, turbojet-powered interceptor aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft designed by the OKB Yakovlev in the Soviet Union. Production started beginning fifties and  it was displayed at the Tushino show 1955. Several versions were developed over the years. 

The Yak-25 K/S was an interceptor version and NATO called it "Flashlight A". Engines in nacelles were the RD-5 and it could fly a top speed of about 1,000 km/hr .  The two seat cockpit had a tandem seating arrangement and the SOKOL radar with a search range of about only 20 miles was operated by the radar operator. It has a round radar nose.  Two N-37 37 mm cannons were fitted.
Some interceptor versions had 2 pylons with RS-1 /K5 missiles (AA-1 Atali NATO code). The Yak-25 K-75 could carry also 4 K75 (izdeliye 129) missiles. Probably these latter missiles never went into large series production. 

About 450 YAK-25 aircraft were manufactured and only used by the Soviet USSR VVS. They were withdrawn end nineteen sixties. It was liked by its pilots. 

The YAK-25 RV had a straight wing with large aspect ratio for low drag high altitude reconnaissance missions. (just like the American Lockheed U-2). NATO called it "Mandrake" and it had R-11 turbojet engines. It flew in 1959 with about 160 aircraft manufactured which flew operationally well into the seventies. It probably never flew missions above the USA nor Western Europe. Some were used a remote controlled drones, SIGINT missions and radiation measuring aircraft. The YAK-25 RV-II was a drone training aircraft.

The YAK-25 family also evolved into the YAK-26 family of supersonic aircraft and the YAK-28 series /  NATO "Brewer". 

See also references below....

Amodel issued a YAK-25 series of kits in 1/72 scale in 2012:

• Yak-25 K/S fighter version kit # 72165 with about 116 parts on 10 sprues.
• Yak-25 RV-II "drone" version kit # 72212 with about 75 parts on 8 sprues; 
• Yak-25B  bomber kit # 72185

 

A much older 1/72 kit I once obtained was from RED HURRICANE.
It is very crude and it is improbable that it ever wilt be built by me... The Amodel kits being much and much better.... 

My friend Stef attempted a built, some pictures seen here.... Large amounts of filler and sanding required... 


 

YAK-25 K/S
This kit comes with pylons and missiles, typical for this fighter. They are installed between each nacelle and fuselage, in reality this must have given tremendous drag.....  But this is an early generation Soviet Cold War jet fighter.... 

The missiles are interesting. Amodel suggests for the Yak-25 K/S :
four  K75 (izdeliye 129) missiles for K-75 version; 
two (AA-1 / RS-1 /K5 missiles) for the Yak-25 S; 
both options are in the kit. 

Decals are for 2 VVS aircraft, both in natural metal. 

 

Constructions starts with the fsuelage and cockpit tub. 

I decided to open up a hatch , adds interest to the model.

The interior being built.... Some scrap parts were set inside the open hatch. The rear main wheel bay is a bit awkward to assemble. 

The seat back rests were made shorter in length (parts #25).  The fuselage fit is not bad.

The flying surfaces edges like the rudder and ailerons were sawed in for greather realism with a TIGER razorsaw. 

The nacelles needed some persuation to fit and align up... The air intake tunnels and first fit the nacelle on the wing in STEP 8 before adding further details. 

Filling and sanding was needed at various places but nothing hard and that can not be taken care off. 

I used ALABASTINE CAR FILLER, which is a white colour putty. This is a fine putty that is cheap, does not shrink a lot and is very fine.

Do the filling and sanding at each sub assembly before assembling bigger sections. Otherwise it is difficult to reach parts for sanding. 

In order to fit the horizontal tailplane, enlarge the gap to fit it in. At the wing tip fairings, fill plastic shrinkage. 

I added a metal spar made out of a bicycle wheel spar. Holes were drilled at the wing-fuselage mating surface and the spar will run some length into the lef-wing halve - fuselage - right wing halve at the roots. 

Some filling  was again done at the wing-fuselage joints.

After sanding, the overall model got a coat of base light grey  applied with the airbrush to check for any flaws using the Harder Steinbeck airbrush. 

Strangely, the radar nose was not yet fitted as seen above, I have no idea why! Better do that as well. 

The model would get a natural metal look using the kit scheme (1) and using the ALCLAD II system. 

First, the radar nose after fitting was airbrushed, Amodel suggests Humbrol 89 middle blue, I used Gunze Sanyo H56 grey-blue acrylic. On top, later a black antiglare panel will be added from decal. 

After dryling, the nose was masked off. Next came a necessary gloss black undercoat that was airbrushed using REVELL AQUA #07 Black  acrylic as base coat. 

After drying a few days, I than used a special trick and masked a few panels with tape to get a different panel effect.

Next came the metal paint using ALCLAD Aluminum ALC-119. 

A few passes with the airbrush covered the first coat. Than, the masked tape was removed from the panels and a few next passes done with the ALCLAD filled airbrush. Only a few passes, and this gives a "different" panel effect. Quick and with limited effort.

The markings came straight from the kit for a VVS aircraft yellow "22 " with the decals which were OK. After decal application, a protecting couple of coats of Johnson Future/Pledge were applied.

The wheel hubs were painted Xtracolour X628 green, the tyres "panzer grau" from Revell Aqua acrylic, a very dark grey. Wheel legs light grey.

The tail "bumper" was painted field green just as the vertical tail top antenna panel. 

The missile colours were unclear, I settled for straight very light grey and one red dummy missile to add interest. So 4 K75 (izdeliye 129) missiles were fitted as tested. Probably these missiles never went into large series production. 

The undercarriage was not easy to set in place as the wing tip outrigger wheels needs a bit alignment. They retract backwards. 

The canopy had some gaps so white glue was used to close these. Metal needles were set in place for the pitot tubes (parts #37). 

I also saw walkways at pictures at the wing joint and these were made from dark grey painted decal. On some YAK-25 there is a wire antenna from mid fuselage to tail, but I could not see it on the K/S. So left it of. 

And that completed the model. 

The result...

A nice Yakovlev model is now in the 1/72 Soviet model collection.

Now the Yak-25 RV with NATO code "Mandrake" ....

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Yakolev Yak-25 / 26 / 27 / 28 , Yefim Gordon, Aerofax publishers

Internet: http://www.airvectors.net/avyak25.html