Sovietwarplanes

Hi,
here I found info and CAD visuals that KP (Kovozavody Prostejov) prepares new tool La-5FN in 1/72 http://modelweb.modelforum.cz/2014/09/06/nova-la-5/ (http://modelweb.modelforum.cz/2014/09/06/nova-la-5/)
Also other versions (La-5, La-5F and La-5UTI) are in the different stages of preparation.
No word about La-7 :-(
Boxart of the prepared La-5FN:

(http://www.modelforum.cz/download/file.php?id=1065582)

Regards,
   66misos

To be released soon, I hope! I thought it was intended for February, so it must be close.

John

I could be wrong, but what I've read elsewhere (72nd Aircraft forum) makes me believe that the first La-5 family kits (the ones due now) are going to be 1/144 scale; the 1/72 La-5FN is only at the mold preparation stage. :(

See Petr Muzikant's post, dated  March 3:

http://z15.invisionfree.com/72nd_Aircraft/index.php?showtopic=6141&view=findpost&p=22245071

John

1/144th? Too bad; I was looking forward to the 1/72nd scale versions.

Regards,

Jason

Sprue images have been posted on Modelforum.cz, and also on Scalemodels.ru, plus some additional images in the thread, showing comparison with some parts from the AML La-5FN and also the drawings in the MBI La-5 book:
http://scalemodels.ru/news/9348-novyjj-la-5fn-1-72-ot-kr---foto-litnikov.html

In-box review here:
http://www.detailscaleview.com/2015/09/kovozavody-prostejov-172-la-5fn-aces.html

John

It does look nice! Strange that it doesn't have the engine - I just looked at their site and they're saying that their La-7 will have an engine. It's the very same engine (ASh-82FN), so why didn't they include it in the La-5FN? It doesn't really matter that much, though, I'm definitely going to buy the kit anyway. Regarding their La-7, they only have schemes for the two-cannon version illustrated, so I suppose they'll release that first, then release the three-cannon version.

Regards,

Jason

I'm impressed for details of the cockpit and rear fuselage, then... why not the engine, that is certainly visible unless the shutters are closed?
In my opinion, the open hatch on the side is excessive for an 1/72 kit.
Regards
Massimo

I just received the 1/72 KP La-5FN, and started assembling it; I hope no one minds that I'm cross-posting my comments (so far) from another forum:

The cockpit assembly looks complex and requires a bit of delicacy to assemble, but once it's prepared, it fits perfectly, with no interference when closing up the fuselage halves.

The sprue attachment gates are unusual - they run onto the mating surfaces of many of the parts, so some extra cleanup is required.

The cowling looks good, to me, shape-wise; however, when attached to the fuselage, there is a join line on each side which does not correspond to anything on the real aircraft; this has to be filled and removed carefully, so as not to damage the nearby cowling panel hinge line.

I'm just at the point of preparing the wings for installation; the joint is somewhat complicated, but it appears well-designed, so I'm looking forward to this step to see how it goes. Not sure yet how well the joint corresponds to the edges of the reinforcing plates on this area of the La-5FN - these plates did not exist on the La-5 and La-5F. Like almost all Russian WWII fighters (I can't think of an exception), the LaGG-3/La-5 family fuselage was built from laminated wood strips, and included the wing roots as part of the fuselage. The joint to the outer part of the wing on these aircraft was just outboard of the main landing gear. KP/AZ have done a good job of fitting in scale-depth wheel wells as part of the upper surfaces. This will (I hope) be appreciated by anyone who has struggled with the wheel wells on the Toko/Roden LaGG-3.

Despite what's shown in the test shot sprue images on Scalemodels.ru, the kit doesn't include the ASh-82 radial engine, which would be invisible on the finished model anyway. Instead there's a sort of cone-shaped part (B7) to which the propeller assembly is attached. There's no positive way of centering the cooling shutter (part B25 closed, part B26 open) on this part, so I added a disc of plastic sheet which fits inside the centre of B7 to the back of B26. This is because it's difficult to centre B25 or B26 by eye.

I like the medium-grey colour of the styrene used in the kit - it makes finishing the cockpit easier for lazy dogs like me because, to my eye, it's a good match for the Russian colour A14, so less painting is required. I've certainly thought in the past that molding kits in "cockpit colour" would be a good idea - now someone's gone and done it, whether intentionally or not.

The instruction sheet is well detailed; it runs to eight pages.

John

Is the plane la 5 /F/FN so complex that no single firm can not do it right? Looking at the photos of the casting is somewhat not posebe forthcoming on the corrections that would eventually get at least something similar

This is easily the best 1/72 La-5FN available, although there's not much competition, and I don't think Tamiya will release one any time soon. It will be interesting to see what the KP La-5 and La-5F kits will look like - some of the main parts (fuselage halves, cowling, upper wing surfaces) will have to be different from the La-5FN kit, although the wings and cowling can be shared between the La-5 and La-5F.

John

I is not the one the best or not ... I just not seen in normal la5fn in 72
If this luchshe, just afraid to look at something else (((This is a horror this is not la5fn

Johann, that's interesting, and I'm always willing to be corrected if I'm wrong, and to learn more - can you explain what you don't like about the kit?

Progress: Assembled the wings, as per the instruction sheet. Normally I assemble the fuselage, add the lower wing surfaces, then install the upper surfaces. To me, this makes it easier to get a neat root joint without filler, although the wing tips sometimes need to be matched up top to bottom by sanding and/or filling. This would be difficult to do on this kit because of the very deep wheel wells that are part of the upper surfaces needing to be slipped into place, so I followed the instructions, which tell you to assemble the wings completely, then attach them to the fuselage. Haven't glued them to the fuselage yet, but dry-fitting looks good.

An error in the instructions: The kit includes two pairs of tailplanes. Step 27 tells you to use parts A17 and A18. Drawings (MBI and Voronin) show this to be wrong - the correct parts are A19 (left) and A20 (right). The assembly instruction drawings show the correct parts (distinguished by their hinge line shape), but the part numbers are wrong. I believe parts A17 and A18 are correct for a very early version of the La-5, carried over from the early LaGG-3 (pre-series 35?).

You also need to reshape the inner end of the elevators to match the stabilizer roots!!!

John

From what you can make out on a photo model.
No steps should not be
(http://s14.postimg.org/hh2t2aio1/MG_4540.jpg)

Srl is not correct radiator
(http://s14.postimg.org/5hrauzd35/1443460185_16.jpg)

Not true to form niches. On the wing nor any hatches and panels to overlap
(http://s14.postimg.org/fdsdumiv5/1443460201_1.jpg)

Wrong intake and tunnel. Not quite correct pad. Error with a straight wing-lantern-hood (they must be on one line) Guides guns also are not true.
(http://s14.postimg.org/cm9440kch/1443460239_9.jpg)
 >:(

Thank you, Johann! This is interesting, and your images help to check and correct (if possible) some of these errors. Some of them appear to be small and easy to repair - do you know of any other errors? I tried to check the Lavochkin forum on Scalemodels.ru, but found only one thread about this kit which did not discuss it in detail. Perhaps there is something on on of the Czech or German forums?

John

Unfortunately ... just everything that I have cast a cursory examination of this photograph. I'll try to call a friend and the store owner if you have any interest will describe more detail

I'm always interested - please provide more information, if possible. I hope you won't be offended if I say that I don't agree with some of the errors you have shown in your images. I agree that the step in the canopy could be smaller, and that the oil cooler radiator housing is not correctly shaped when compared with the MBI drawings and the Prop&Jet resin La-5 part.

But I still believe (again, based on drawings) that the reinforcing plates in the wing root area are correct, but only for the La-5FN, not the La-5 and La-5F. The joint between the wing and fuselage will need to be filled in very carefully, though. I also don't see anything wrong with the wheel wells. If there is anything wrong with the upper cowling (part No.3), it seems very minor and easy to correct. The air intake and the openings for the guns in the cowling face (part No.6) can be opened up easily to make them more accurate.

I understand your criticism of the tailplane, canopy sill, and cowling not being in line, and from the drawings it seems that you are right. This would not be so noticeable on a finished model, I think.

Again, I hope you are not offended if I disagree on some points. This is always possible when criticising new model kits - things which are bothersome errors to one person are sometimes not as serious to another person!

Best regards;
John

John, for the sake of all the gods, what could be resentment? But you must admit that even in the Czech edition of MBI drawings almost true and all the more strange that the Czech company KP everything is confused in the model. Regarding pads I did not have I will give that they are not true, but the gap between them and the heat-resistant panels should not be. Just as it was possible to avoid all this igrushochnosti.
And, John, no offense, but the approach that we can fix it, but that's not to be so in the eyes can see each pozitsianorovat as the most correct model and such. )))
(http://s12.postimg.org/n6dfpksyl/Ch_Det.gif)

Hi Johann; yes, of course - with a brand-new kit, we should not have to talk about possible errors, even small ones, but I guess I am more easily satisfied than some others. For example, I love Amodel kits, even the old ones - I like the types of aircraft that are represented, so I don't mind the extra work to make them better.  ;)

Thanks for the drawing of the La-5 glider; maybe I'll build one of those next!  :D

BR;
John

Continuing to clean up - I should have taken more time during the initial assembly!

If you build one of these, pay attention to instruction steps 22 and 23, which deal with installing the oil cooler (part B14) and its housing (B13). This probably works better than the method I used, because I didn't read the instructions!  :(

John

Continuing to work away at this - I'm now applying paint. Looks reasonable, by my standards!  ;)

Another instruction sheet error - the correct (per photos and drawings) main landing gear covers are A1 and A2 (the ones with the bumps on them), not A3 and A4 (the plain ones) as the instructions would have you do. I'm guessing A3 and A4 are for the future La-7 kit.

Also a beef about the very tiny underwing bomb location fairings, for which there are three totally unnecessary options - without going into a long explanation, the "standard" one of these should just have been molded as part of the wing. Trying to clean up the oversized sprue attachment points on these minute parts and then glue them into place on top of a hole, no less, is ridiculously difficult.

John

Hi all,

I got mine yesterday and unfortunately I have somehow mixed feelings.

I have compared it to photographs, MBI book drawings and Mr. Voronin's drawings. The kit compares very well with the MBI and differs only a little from Voronin's. Voronin has more onion shaped cowling on the top view and right hand bulge further back. With the gun bulge compared to the photos kit (and MBI) looks better. Someone with the wing built might be able to comment if the wing lower surfaces raises up below the tip or not. Toko/Roden LaGG-3 catches this feature.

So in general terms accuracy seems to be quite okay although the canopy has too pronounced step between sliding portion and rear part. Open canopy is featured quite interesting way. As I'm talking about canopy it is unfortunately very clear.

Moulding quality was not so nice surprise. Lot's of flash and in an built report was reported wing upper and lower surfaces to be different pairs! Mine had one landing gear short shot. Luckily quality control had noted it and taped another pair of fully moulded gears to the sprue.

Verdict? Not yet from me. I'll follow with interest others building this. So far it didn't went on the top of my building pile.

Cheers,

AaCee

No, I'm afraid KP missed this feature - I know exactly what you mean. Mine is built, painted and decalled; unfortunately I'm having problems with my PC and can't upload any photos yet.

I didn't notice a lot of flash on mine, although others have complained about this. The wings lined up not badly, too, although there was some misalignment.

I'm looking forward to the La-5 and La-5F; I just hope KP take a very hard look at the detail differences between these and the La-5FN, because there's a lot of these differences, and some of them are subtle!

John

Thank you, John!

Wing tip is not very big deal. And it is good to know, that there are better examples than my. Better to check the kit before buying if possible,

I'm also waiting for the older variants. I'm especially interested about the high back.

Greetings,

AaCee

Hi,
here is assembled kit (not mine):

(http://www.modelforum.cz/download/file.php?id=1222217)

More pics at http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=104549 (http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=104549)

Regards,
    66misos

Hi Misos,
thank you for sharing the image.
The shape of the kit doesn't seem bad. Do you know if the modeller utilized the canopy of the kit?
I think that numbers should have a blue outline. I thought that the decals sheets of the kits include this, but I don't see them on the photo.
Regards
Massimo

Hi Massimo,
The canopy is original from the kit.
There are two marking options - one has boatd numbers with blue outline, the second one without outline:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ECAhtQVXdAE/Vggzaoi4mcI/AAAAAAAAn-0/Z0hhMFU0NIM/s1600/_MG_4542.JPG)
Regards,
   66misos

Hi Misos,
thank you for the answer.
I've my doubts for 07, if the outline was made in factory.
I've doubts on the emblem painted on both sides too. Well, they were right to provide double markings, but my guess is that it was on one side. Any ideas on this?
Regards
Massimo

I built one up, and I thought it was a nice kit. There is a bit of flash in a few places, but it wasn't too hard to deal with. There are no locating pins on the fuselage, but I didn't have much problem with the fit. The interior detail is quite nice, and includes some of the fuselage framework. If anyone's interested, my build is featured in the August issue of Scale Aviation Modeller International (http://www.sampublications.com/magazines-subscriptions-renewals/scale-aviation-modeller-international/latest-issue/scale-aviation-modeller/prod_699.html).

Best Regards,

Jason