¹⁄48

Lavotchkin La-5 FN

History

The Lavochkin La-5 was a development and refinement of the LaGG-3 and was one of the Soviet Air Force's most capable types of warplane. In early 1942, Semyon Lavochkin and Vladimir Gorbunov, attempted to correct the lack of power of the LaGG-3 by experimentally fitting the aircraft with the more powerful Shvetsov ASh-82 radial engine instead of the Klimow WK-105P inline engine. However, the airframe had to be completely renewed, so a new fighter type was born.

The new Shvetsov ASh-82 was very similar to the german BMW 801 of the Fw 190. Today, the replicas of the Focke Wulf fighter built by the Flugwerk company are equipped with the chinese version of the Shbetsov, the ASch 82T! The wing was built around a wooden main spar running over the whole span and the landing gears were hydraulically drawn in. The fuselage was a semi-monocoque structure made of wood. Designated La-5, the single-seat fighter flew for the first time in the spring of 1942 and went directly into production. It fought in the battle of Stalingrad and received the surname "wooden saver of Stalingrad". Approximatively 10,000 La-5 were built, making it the second most produced Soviet fighter in the Second World War, after the Yak-9.

Still in the same year the improved La-5F appeared and in 1943 the variant La-5FN which was equipped with the stronger Shvetsov M-82FN engine. The latter had 1850 HP on take-off thanks to a direct gasoline injection. Automatic slats, a new metal cross-beam in the wing and a lighter undecarriage made the aircraft even more efficient and very serious opponent for the Luftwaffe. The FN-variant can be recognized by the characteristic, completely forward pulled, air intake on the upper engine cowling as well as the lowered fuselage back behind the cockpit, which provides a better all-round visibility. The engine cowling additionally carries the signature FN.

The Kit

The La-5 FN was Zvezdas first trip into 1/48 scale and the kit promptly received the "model of the yearly 2007" award at the International Nuremberg Toy Fair. So far, the company was rather known for it's 1/72 scale kits and also for it's 1/35er scale military models, for example the Mercedes L4500A.

For only 15,90 euros the order was quickly made and the kit was in my possession. After opening the cardboard box, I was very positively surprised! Many cleanly moulded parts with fine engravings promised much building fun. The entire internal area of the fuselage is represented like on the original and an engine is also provided in the kit. According to different sources, there should be problems with the fitting of the fuselage halves, but I didn't noticed whatsoever during construction of my model. I suppose nothing replaces some good preliminary work!

The decal sheet is nice, even if the carrier film is somewhat yellowish, and makes it possible to choose between 3 different markings:
1. "White 01" of the 5th Guard Fighter Regiment, 1st Ukrainian Front, flown by Capt. V.I. Popkov.
2. "White 68", 1st Regiment, with a spectacular lion's head on the cowling, again often attributed to Popkov.
3. "White 25", 19th Fighter Regiment, with a red cowling and white tail, flown by 2nd Lt. Sergey Makarovich Kramarenko.

The build

When I began to build the internal structure, I soon realized how many possibilities and potential the model had. All parts fitted well and hardly no additional work was necessarily. I fastened the last fuselage frame to the main frame because it made the whole assembly somewhat more practical to work with. Parallel to the fuselage assembly, I did the wing and built the engine up. As said above, everything fitted very well.

Since I was building the kit for an "Out of the Box" competition, no additional materials were allowed. So I made my own "Evergreen" with bits of stretched sprues from the kit. Different diameters were used, as well as the small numbers on the sprues! Thus, not only the small radio behind the pilot was improved, but I have also scratchbuilt the complete rear part of the engine and the ignition wires for the engine. Missing details were added in the interior of the fuselage as well. For example, at the left fuselage side, Zvezda have unfortunately forgot nearly all control levers. The seat of the pilot got a new cushion from Tamiya Putty and the seatbelts are made of Tamiya Masking Tape. Since I did not had belt buckles, I've decided to let the belts hang on the seat's sides to hide them a little.

Everything inside the fuselage was painted with RLM 02 and the engine mostly in black. After some test fittings, the whole interior sub-assembly was finally hidden inside the two fuselage halves which fitted easily and well together. The glue seams were sanded away and it was time to add the wing assembly. It fell in place with no problem other than at the lower surface, at the transition to the rear fuselage end section, where I had to adjust a small difference in height with putty.

Camouflage and markings

I decided to paint the model in the markings of Vitalii Ivanovich Popkov's "White 01" of the 5th guard flighter pilot regiment (GIAP) in August 1944. Popkov belonged to the 15 best Russian pilots and scored 41 kills during the Second World War.

The machine was painted in the typical two-colors grey camouflage of the time. I used Acrylic colors from Tamiya (XF-63 and XF-53) for the top side and Gunze 417 (RLM-76 light-blue) for the lower surfaces. The metal areas were done with titanium silver and Gun metal from the Tamiya range of paints.

I have decided to left the engine cowlings and the machine guns covers in the opened position because it would have been a shame not to show the inside details of the model.

For some of the photos, the model was placed on a wood logs display base from Mark58

Lars