Zvezda's 1/48 scale
Lavochkin La-5FN

by Wojciech Perkowski

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Here is my 1/48 Zvezda La-5FN.

I have been impatiently waiting for this kit since it was first announced, and was impressed how great the parts  looked on the sprues.

Despite some minor problems I wasn’t disappointed during building process either.

Although the kit is slightly over engineered, construction is surprisingly straitforward. Nevertheless, some experience is helpful to avoid troubles.

I decided to build my kit with everything closed to show the lines of the aircraft.

Potential fit problems are the rear wing/fuselage area, engine and gun bay covers; fuselage canopy cutout which is slightly wider compared to transparencies (made of extremely soft plastic), but this could be my fault. However all these shortcomings are easy to overcome (or ignore).

I strongly advice to glue together upper wing parts prior to lower wing attachment to avoid steep between upper wing parts. The next problematic area are the wheel wells – the upper and lower walls are not centered precisely. This is a particularly challenging place to eliminate the step.

Rear walls inside undercarriage bays (parts B19, B20) and oil radiator front and rear (parts B9, B10) are inversely indicated by kit instruction.

The top of the gear leg covers need to be shortened in order to fir properly.

The kit propeller spinner backplate is integral with cooling flaps in front of engine, which is wrong. This is easy to correct. Just remove the front plate (~ 1,1 mm thick) from part A19 (A19 shouldn’t rotate with propeller) and add a new spinner backplate.

Click the thumbnail below to view larger image: 

Various details were also added here and there.

I painted my La with White Ensign Models authentic enamels: Soviet AMT-7 Blue, AMT-11 Blue-Grey, AMT-12 Dark Grey (looks green actually). These paints atomize well and deliver a nice satin surface.

I chose not to use kit decals and used the Czech AML decal set instead.

My subject is “White 60”, flown by Maj. Georgij Pavlovich Kuzmin, SU Hero with 28 aerial victories. Maj. Kuzmin was killed on 18-08-1943 .

The AML decals have very good colour density, conform very well to the surface - suck into panel lines, but are hard to move once placed. The second layer of kill markings with small red stars curled and, despite my efforts, was impossible to straighten back completely. I will replace them... someday.

The Zvezda 1/48 scale La-5FN builds quite easily, looks accurate and is very well detailed, with crisp and delicate surface details.

In short – I like this kit very much.

·         Lavockin La-5 MBI

·         Internet

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images: 

Model, Images & Text Copyright © 2007 by Wojciech Perkowski
Page Created 26 November, 2007
Last Updated 24 December, 2007

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