Voka-Gran

1/72 Lavochkin La-5

Kit Number: 7235

Reviewed by  Brian R. Baker, IPMS# 43146

MSRP: €7.00 ($9.57) The Airplane The Lavochkin LA-5 was actually an upgraded version of the unsuccessful LaGG-3 fighter which appeared in VVS service just prior to out outbreak of "The Great Patriotic War", as the Russians have dubbed World War II. The LaGG-3's 1150 hp. liquid cooled engine was just not powerful enough, and the airplane had vicious flying characteristics. Its chief attraction to the Soviets was that it was an all-wood airplane at a time when most manufacturers had progressed to metal. And it at least LOOKED modern! After being re-engined with a 1700 hp. air cooled radial, the M-82, with an installation similar to the FW-190, the LA-5 was more competitive than previous versions against the Luftwaffe Bf-109's and FW-190's, and it became one of the main production models used during the war, with approximately 10,000 of all variants produced during the war. In fact, the Russians tested a captured FW-190 with an M-82 engine installed, although I have not heard of the results. Few of these aircraft survived postwar, mainly due to their wooden construction. Apparently, this aircraft survives in an aviation museum near Moscow, and the model is probably is probably finished in the colors and markings shown on the museum aircraft. A google reference of "Lavochkin La-5" will produce several good photos of this aircraft. The Kit There have been quite a few kits issued of the La-5 series, but to date, most of these have been the later versions, with the cut-down rear canopy. This kit might be a reissue of a kit by VES/Cooprativa. The later La-5FN, with the revised rear canopy, has been issued by Frog, Italaeri, and KP, and I have seen conversions of these kits to the earlier models. The Voka-Gran kit, however, depicts the original production model, with the airframe very similar to the late production Lagg-3, differing mainly in the engine installation. Prior to this kit's introduction, if you wanted to build this variant, you'd have to kit bash it from a LaGG-3 airframe and an La-5 engine and propeller, or convert one of the later model La-5FN's. The kit includes 35 plastic parts and four clear pieces, of which you use three. The fourth is a piece of armored glass which was installed behind the pilot's head on some models, but not this one, apparently, as there is no mention of the part in the instructions. Decals are provided for one aircraft, an LA-5 flown by Capt. Georgi D. Kostylev, 3rd Guards Fighter Regiment, at Leningrad in 1945. I did not use the kit decals, as I had a set of old Microscale 72-345 decals of Soviet fighters. The kit decals appear to be accurate, as there is a color drawing of the aircraft on the back page of the only available reference on the type, the Squadron In-Action No. 169. Molding is reminiscent of old Airfix and Frog kits from the sixties and seventies, albeit with a bit more detail. Flash is evident, but easily trimmed. Interior detail includes a floor, instrument panel, seat, rear headrest, rudder pedals, and even a battery box behind the pilot's seat, although it is impossible to see it through the canopy. The inner cockpit walls show quite a bit of detail. There is a decal instrument panel, but it doesn't fit the plastic panel. The engine is rather strangely configured, with a front and back to each major engine and cylinder component, and these do not always line up properly, and require a lot of trimming. The fan in front of the engine almost makes the engine invisible anyway, and it is not very convincing, being a series of triangular shaped fan blades located just behind the propeller. The cowling has a pretty substantial center section to it which must be trimmed out, and this requires a lot of care if the piece is not to be ruined. The whole assembly manages to fit in the fuselage fairly well, however, although some filling is required to fit the cowling ring to the forward fuselage, and it is difficult to save the panel lines here. Scoops and fairings complete the nose section, and two small parts represent the exhaust stack covers on the side of the engine cowling. The radio mast was quite thick are required trimming, as did the rudder post mount for the aft portion of the LF antenna. The rudder navigation light halves did not line up, and required considerable filing and sanding to repair. The wings come in a three piece section, with one bottom section and right and left upper surfaces. These need to be trimmed carefully, and the end result was a fairly thick section with quite a bit of filling required to make them fit. The right side wing root was more of a problem than the left, and more filling was needed. At least there was no problem with panel lines, as the La-5 was of wooden construction. The pitot tube, however, was useless. I replaced that with plastic rod. The landing gear was nicely detailed, even including what I assumed were brake lines, but some of these details were missing on one gear strut. The wheels are thick, and require quite a bit of sanding to make them convincing. The wheel wells are just holes---no detail whatsoever, although the gear doors have inside detail. Go figure out that one. Assembly instructions were very clear, for the most part, and non-lingual, with only numbers identifying the various parts. A three view drawing would have helped, and those without reference materials will be forced to obtain them to get the proper angles for the landing gear. Clear parts are adequate, but don't provide a clear view of the cockpit. The small rear windows are supposed to fit into the recesses behind the main canopy, but they will be a real problem, as they are very small and difficult to install. Trimming will be necessary. The main canopy fits very well. Painting and Finishing There is not a lot of reference material available on this variant, and the photos in the "In Action" series are only marginally helpful. A fascinating website, http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Modeling/ , is entitled Modeling the VVS, and contains a lot of kit reviews and historical data on Soviet aircraft of all periods, and this should be consulted before attempting to model any Russian aircraft. The decal sheet provides decals for one aircraft, and my problem with these was the fact that the nose of this aircraft was covered with a fairly intricate sharkmouth design, which required a flat decal to be applied to a very curved surface. The kit decal provides the three colors, black, white, and red, and I didn't see how this decal would ever fit over the rounded nose of the aircraft. I could have trimmed the black away, but I'm not quite that masochistic, especially with a set of Microscale decals of the same airplane available, so I used them, and they almost fit. Colored drawings show the aircraft to be in a medium olive green shade, with pale blue undersides. The green is identified in the instructions as "khaki", which could actually be almost anything. I've seen photos of several models of this airplane on line with varying and indistinct shades of greenish grey, so you could probably get away with any shade of green on this one. It's a shame than someone hasn't come up with a photo of this aircraft, as that would help solve a lot of problems. One other issue is the bare metal panel that was usually in place behind the exhausts. Almost all of the photos of production early model, and for that matter, late model, La-5's show this panel, but it is not depicted on this particular aircraft. Maybe it was painted over on the real airplane, but I included it on my model, as I feel that the real airplane more than likely had it. It does turn out to be a very colorful model, however. Recomendations This kit is certainly not for beginners, and some reference material is definitely necessary. However, since there seems to be no other kit currently available of this particular variant of Lavochkin's famous fighter, it is certainly worth getting. Although this one will be a lot of work, bashing a LaGG-3 or LA-5FN into this variant would be a lot MORE work, and probably not as satisfying. So get one of these while you can, as it is probably a limited run kit that won't be around for a long time. With moderate experience, you should have a good replica of this aircraft for your model shelf. Thanks to Voka-Gran and John Noack for the review kit.

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