Yak-3 -- Sof or Hard Edge Camo

I dug out my Squadron-Signal "Yak Fighter In Action", and the WW II photos in that makes it appear that the camouflage was airbrushed on the aircraft, so it's soft-edged. It looks like the fade-out between the colors is fairly tight (it goes from one to another inside of a inch or two), and the darker color is applied over the lighter shade. One interesting point is the camouflage on the area around the engine cowling. It looks like in most cases the lower section of the cowling was detached from the aircraft and painted with the belly color, then reattached, so there's a sharp demarcation between the upper and lower colors at that point. In other cases it looks like both the nose and fuselage upper colors wrap clean around the aircraft leaving just the underside of the wings and area of fuselage between them and the bottoms of the horizontal stabilizers in the lighter belly color. In others, either the nose or rear fuselage are done this way. This photo of two new ones in flight looks very accurate as to what the camouflage was like, although in a lot of cases the bottom color didn't come up the sides of the rear fuselage to join the undersides of the horizontal stabilizers: the sharp demarcation on the underside of the cowling I mentioned on the one in the foreground.
Pat

That helps quite a bit -- thanks! I'm looking at the colors Eduard recommends and I'm confused...I don't have access to Gunze, so I'm using the Tamiya equivalent...they are XF-66 (Dark Seagray) and XF 54 Gray. Looking at the link you provided, there's no resemblance...I'm modelling Maj VP Baranov's plane from 4GIAD, Perleberg Airfield, East Prussia, 1947. To be honest, the Tamiya colors look more like Luftwaffe scheme and are significantly different than the ones in the link you provide. The Tamiya colors don't closely match the one on the instructions sheet either (which is a very nicely done color fold out showing colors and markings for 6 different aircraft). Was there that much difference in the color schemes?
Lastly, I forgot to ask what color should the landing gear/wheel wells be?
I really appreciate the help!!
Paul

Here we go! Here's four reviews of building the Eduard Yak-3: Pat

in article 47577c29$0$27882$ snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com, Scherer at snipped-for-privacy@rr.woh.com wrote on 12/5/07 11:35 PM:
Assuming you're looking for the late-war VVS camouflage scheme, they are AMT-11 Gray-Blue and AMT-12 Dark Gray topsides; AMT-7 Blue under. (The AMT numbers are the VVS's nomenclature).
According to Erik Pilawskii's "Soviet Air Force Fighter Colors 1941-1945," approximations for the three colors are AMT-11: FS 26375 - 6300 Methuen 21C3 Munsell 7.5BG/7.5/1.0 AMT-12: FS 26187 - 6081 Methuen 25E4 Munsell 9.0G/3.25/2.3 AMT-7 FS 25550 Methuen 24A4(poor match); Munsell 8.54BG/8.83/5.47
FWIW, FS 36375 is American Light Ghost Gray, and German RLM 74 Gray Green is a decent match for AMT-12. White Ensign does all these colors in their line of enamels, matched to Pilawski's references.
As for the color of landing gear and wells, I'm not sure there's a definitive answer. The under-surface blue is probably a good guess for the wells. On the Yak-3 I built, I went with ALG-5 Metal Primer for the landing gear. Again, White Ensign makes this color, but you can get reasonably close by mixing British Sky with some German RLM 65. Pilawski gives
ALG-5 FS 34670 (poor match) Methuen 26A3 (poor match) Munsell 3.0G/8.0/5.0
HTH Pip Moss

Though they note these aren't exact matches on your computer; there's VVS paint chips here: camouflage style info during the war: Pat

Thanks to all for the resources/information...with your help I've narrowed it down to either XF 66 (Tamiya) or RLM 74 (Testors) for the darker shade. I get my paints from the local hobby shops, so I have Tamiya, Testors, or Model Master to choose from.
The research can be as much fun and interesting (to me at least) as the actual building of the kit. I am amazed at the level of detail and knowledge folks have on any issue that comes up...what a great community!!
Many thanks and Merry Christmas to all!!
P