Sovietwarplanes

HobbyLink Japan has this kit listed for July release - I'm hopeful that it will be closer in quality and accuracy to HB's MiG-3 than to their Yak-3!

John

Hi John!  :)

I would also think in that way; however, why to bother with HB when there is almost perfect La-7 kit out there which might result in pretty quick assembly and costs just few bucks more than HB kits?  ;D
I think the MiG-3 is a special case here and I am afraid an exception that probably would not be repeated, they obviously used some models/references from Trumpeter 1/32 kit? The other HB's kit I saw are miles behind... Anyway, look forward to see the La-7 and the other ones as well!

Best wishes,
Libor

Hi, :)
I would add that the Me-109E looks very good too, expecially if compared to its price, better than their more simplified Me-109G.
The main advantage of MiG-3 of HB is the lack of strong concurrency, and probably the work previously done on the 1/32 Trumpeter model.
However, I'm somewhat curious to see the new La-7. However, the Eduard kit is relatively cheap too, and I suppose that the HB will be a simplified copy of it.
Their Mirage III, 1/48, is an usual kit of good quality and low price, and their Leopard tank, 1/35, is fully comparable to the last Trumpeter kits.
Massimo

Hi Libor! I hope all is well with you! Yes, I agree with your reasoning about the MiG-3 - we can thank Trumpeter for guiding Hobby Boss toward a more accurate kit. Regarding the La-7, well, you know what I'm like - all I really wanted was a cheap source of cowlings to saw off to improve my beloved La-5's, and cutting up the Eduard La-7 would be a shame...  ;) (Speaking of La-5's, I've hardly touched the AML La-5UTI in weeks - I can NOT get the cockpit to work out at all. Maybe the La-5F and La-5FN will be easier, with only half as many seats and instrument panels! Any news about when AML will release these? My Hobby Boss Yak-3 is nearly finished...)

Cheers!
John

Hi John,

Thanks, we're doing well!
Yes, I understand regarding the cowling source  ;D But perhaps somebody could help you to make as many resin copies of the La-7 cowlings as you want  :D
No news about AML La-5's though, I spoke with them few weeks ago and they only confirmed the subscription "Slovak uprising" boxing in "early autumn", with the other version apparently coming soon afterwards.

Cheers,
Libor

Hi, this don't look a too good idea to me. The cowling of La-5 is not really cylindrical, only his internal structure is. It should be somewhat protruding on sides, as you can see on photos. Besides, I am not sure that the external diameter is exactly the same, even if the engine is the same. It should be checked. On my side, I suggest to add a nail of plastic and cyanoacrilate or putty on the cowling side and to work by file.
Massimo

Good point, Massimo - the La-7 cowling would really only suit the La-5FN, not the earlier members of the La-5 family. I'm optimistic that the HB La-7 will be a beautiful kit!

Libor - thanks for the AML update! As usual, I continue to be optimistic that the single-seat versions of the kit will be less difficult than the UTI. The cockpit of the UTI is very challenging, but maybe it's just my lack of skill (and time!) that makes it seem that way. Do you know *anyone* who has actually finished this kit?

John

Yes, I know a guy who builds this kit for a review purpose for a local modelling mag. What I learned from him so far is pretty much the same what you've described here (bad fit of cockpit parts). Anyway, he should get the kit built at this time, so I'll ask at earliest convenience how it progressed.
Are going to use the kit's undercarriage parts?

Cheers,
Libor

HLJ has now updated the La-7 release date to August...  :(

John

Have you seen the ICM 109E-3 and E-4? I just made the E-3 and am very impressed by the level of detail (and ease of fit for an ICM). I wonder is this the best kit in 1/72 and is it an original mould?

Hi, :)
I've seen it in the shop, really excellent, but at a first look I think that it's a copy of the Tamiya model.
I have no doubt that Tamiya or ICM Me-109E are better than Hobbyboss to make a single model, but now I am considering to make small thematic collections (I'm building 5 MiG-3, for example) and the cheapness and easy of fit become important in this respect.
Massimo

Cheers. I am still wary of Hobbyboss, but I suppose I must try one someday.

Thanks, Massimo - it does seem that the La-7 cowling is "straighter" than the La-5, even the La-5FN. I was looking at the KP La-5FN kit last night, and in spite of all the years I've complained about wanting some manufacturer to release a new La-5 of any version, the old KP kit really is quite good in many ways, including the cowling. It seems to have just the right bulged appearance on the sides. Yes, it has raised panel lines, but the Lavochkins had so few panel lines that this really doesn't matter very much! I do love those Lavochkin and LaGG fighters, and I bless VES/Cooperativa, KP, Eduard, and Toko/Roden for giving them to us! (Just bought the Eduard La-7 "Dual Combo" - nice coloured photoetch and "Kabuki tape" pre-cut paint masks in this kit!) :D

John

As we know, the MiG-3 is a real gem, and our two amazingly-talented Czech friends, Libor and Jan ("Honza Jezl") have certainly proven that it can be built into a beautiful model. I had a lot of criticism for the Yak-3 when I first saw it, but when I actually started building it, I found it to be quite satisfying - it requires so little dry-fitting and assembly work that you can enjoy correcting a few errors in the kit itself! (No, it's not finished yet - I'm spending too much time playing with this computer!  ;)) I'm optimistic that the La-7 will be quite good too.

John

SEPTEMBER release, now...  >:(

John

I have a hobbyboss wildcat on the go, for curiosity and the need for a Wildcat in my collection.

I also have NEARLY finished my A-model Yak-1 "Yellow 44", and will post the YouTube link when it's done! I enjoy making videos of the aces planes (not that my model skills until recently have been that great).

How does the Wildcat look? I believe the reviewer on Internet Modeler said some good things about it. Do you have a Hasegawa Wildcat to compare it with?

Well done, regarding the Amodel Yak-1! It's a nice kit, although not an easy kit to complete; maybe your success will push me finally toward painting mine!  :D

John

The HB La-7 is finally in stock at HobbyLink Japan - here's the page with box art image:
http://www.hlj.com/product/HOB80236

Impossible to tell anything from one picture, but it does at least look like a La-7!

John

Besides the canopy, it does looks good. Any idea whose plane?

I can't say the same for their Dewoitine D.520, having just received the wonderful Hasegawa kit in the post!

As for that yak-1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAQ_L-r4MiQ

Cheers,
Dave ;-)

The box art shows Ivan Kozhedub's aircraft; no idea what alternate markings the kit might include. I'm hoping to have it in my hands within a couple of weeks, with a bit of luck, so I'll post an update then. I have a nasty suspicion from a couple of details visible in the image that it owes a lot to the Eduard kit, but obviously I'm jumping the gun unfairly by suggesting criticism without having the kit in front of me. HobbyBoss's web site is useless - the English version hasn't been updated in months.

Good work on the Yak-1, and your video is great - very professional-looking, and a worthy tribute to a brave and skillful pilot!

John

Hi, :)
I've built the Hobbyboss Me-109 E and G during my holidays, and I'm quite satisfied with them, if one don't look for cockpit details. A thing to do is to pass the flaps, elevators etc division lines with a sharp knife, thery're thin as other panels. Some small works with antennas and coolers inlet of G and the addition of back armours were necessary.
Isn't the D-520 a good kit? Please, let me know more.
Massimo

So did sdomeone just sit down with an Eduard and take measurements? Does this type of thing happen often in the model world?

Thanks for the compliment.

Dave.

Just judging from the box art the Hobbyboss d.520 looks a bit... chunky, but I can't tell for sure :-\. I'm building the Hasegawa at the moment ;D and its brilliant. So easy to put together! Came with good decals for an ace I was after.

Thanks for the advice on hobbyboss me109 :)

Dave.

Who knows? For years, Academy was accused of copying the kits of other manufacturers, but I was always skeptical about that. Now it's Hobby Boss. Sometimes one kit may look like a copy of another because both manufacturers have used the same incorrect reference material, I suppose. I think a kit designer would be failing to do his job if he wasn't familiar with what's already on the market, so he could try to improve on kits that are already available. Although I'm certainly opposed to "theft of intellectual property", I try to give them the benefit of the doubt until I see something that could be considered proof of copying. Having said all that, there *are* some odd similarities between the Hasegawa Yak-3 and the HB version, but the HB kit also has some strange errors all its own, too. Did they both just use the same bad reference information? Did HB add its own errors to throw the hounds off the scent? Again, who knows? This will sound ridiculous, but my "nasty suspicion" about the HB La-7 was based only on the shape of the aerial stub on the leading edge of the fin. It has the same strange shape that this detail has on the Eduard kit, and it's a shape that I've never seen in any drawing or photograph, or at least, it's a greatly exaggerated version of the actual shape. So, in spite of my pretended objectivity, I really was prejudging the kit on the basis of not-very-good (but photographic) box art and a tiny detail that most people would overlook or ignore. Mea culpa...  :-[ It's even (remotely) possible that HB used the Eduard kit for the box art photo for some unknowable reason, and their own kit will be totally different.

Anyway, I'm hopeful that HobbyLink Japan will deliver the real thing quickly, and then I can post some *sensible* comments about it. Or as close to "sensible" as my comments ever get - I'm still embarrassed about how wildly I praised the AML La-5UTI as soon as I opened the box, before I started trying to *build* it - love does strange things to the human mind!  ;)

John

Hi John, :)
have you abandoned the La-5UTI model?
Hi Dave, :)
I appreciated the Hobbyboss Me-109s for a psicologic reason, in particular. They led quickly to the painting phase, and this is important for one that, detailing or correcting a kit, is already tired at the moment to paint it. Besides, being very cheap, it allows to ignore regrets as "If I had to correct...".
So, I think that I'll buy the D-520, if it is at least decent. The Hasegawa kit costs about as 4 Hobbyboss here.
Massimo

Hi Massimo! No, I haven't abandoned the La-5UTI completely; I just haven't had much modelbuilding time lately, and I'm still concentrating what little time I do have on the HB Yak-3. Last week I was on vacation, and took my daughter canoeing/fishing/horseback riding, and also spent a day at Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition. As I think I might have said before, despite all the problems with the UTI (mainly because of the horrible cockpit), I'm still hopeful that the AML La-5 single-seaters will be easier to build!

John

Ah but the Hasegawa is also a joy to build (no cockpit detail or open canopy for that matter), if a little pricey. I did make the Smer D.520 last year :-[

Just as an update on the status of my La-7 and P-39Q order with HobbyLink Japan, I *finally* got a shipping notification *two weeks* after placing my order for these items, and then only after I e-mailed them to ask why the order was delayed. Both of the kits were supposedly in stock at the time I ordered. This is not the fast service we're used to from European on-line shops like Modelimex, Jadar, Hobbyterra, and Model Hobbies, or from NKR in Australia. Although it is somewhat better than Aviapress...  ;)

Anyway, since I specified "Surface Air Lift" as the shipping method, it will probably be another month before I actually see the kits!

John

Now in stock at Hannants, and probably Model Hobbies soon, too, if not already:
http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=HB80236

Now I *am* sorry I ordered from HobbyLink Japan!  >:(

John

Hi, :)
it will be interesting to compare it (the outside only, of course) with the kit of Eduard.
Massimo

The Hobby Boss 1/72 La-7 arrived more quickly than I expected, so my apologies to HobbyLink Japan for my impatience.

Summing up this kit is quite easy ? if you liked the Eduard 1/72 La-7, then you?ll like the Hobby Boss kit, though perhaps not quite as much. In fact, Eduard may want to consider requesting some consulting fees from Hobby Boss.

The kit is designed in the by-now familiar Hobby Boss way ? one-piece fuselage, one-piece wings, with the whole fuselage underside molded with the wings. This allows more empty interior space than some of the first Hobby Boss kits, so detailing of the cockpit would be an easier task than was the case with the MiG-3, for example. The wings match the Eduard wings almost exactly in outline and details, although the Hobby Boss wings, being solid, lack the engine air intakes at the leading edge of the wing roots. The fuselage is also very similar, with only minor variation from the Eduard kit in the area of the cooling flaps on the sides of the cowling. The joint line between the wings and fuselage is exactly like the Eduard kit; so much so that you could use the Hobby Boss wings on the Eduard fuselage (if you removed the extended sections which form the fuselage undersides), and vice versa.

The trailing edges of the wings are disappointingly thick, and will take some careful work to make them thinner without damaging either the flaps or the wing joint reinforcement on the upper sides. All control surfaces have very excessive rib detail, especially the rudder and the elevators. The one-piece prop is reasonable, but the spinner, which is separate from the prop, has the same odd pointed-looking appearance as the Eduard spinner. Numerous other small parts are similar to those in the Eduard kit, too, although there is an error in the shape of the main landing gear doors which is unique to the Hobby Boss kit.

The kit includes parts to build both 2-gun and 3-gun La-7s. Decals are included for Kozhedub?s ?White 27? and Golovachev?s ?White 23?, though these are reversed on the instruction sheet, and both are shown as 3-gun versions, when in fact both were 2-gun aircraft. The decals look reasonably good, although the ?kill marking? stars provided for Kozhedub are printed in a pale yellow colour. The cowling faces show an incorrect understanding of how the cooling vanes behind the prop operated, but it seems that this was done to provide a way of mounting the propeller assembly while adding a bit of (questionable) detail. At least Hobby Boss didn?t represent these as fan blades, as on a FW-190.

The kit includes only a one-piece, closed canopy ? no open canopy option on this kit. A thin metal pin is provided as a propeller shaft ? at first I thought it was a small piece of tubing, intended to be used as a pitot tube.

In summary, I guess I?m disappointed in this kit. While I can?t say that it?s an outright copy of the Eduard La-7, there are many similarities between them. I was hoping for something completely new and different, but this isn?t it!

John

Hi, :)
from your description, it's in line with my expectations. Let's say that, if one can convive with the shape errors of Eduard, the Hobbyboss kit could be useful for a quick and cheap thematic collection, maybe utilizing decals advanced from Eduard kit.
Massimo

John, thanks for your description. I have to admit this thread became tense like the grand finale of some tournament!
Bit sad on the results. I kept my fingers crossed, but it looks that my KP and Eduard kits (2 and 5 pcs respectively) will not be replaced by Hobby Boss after all.

Also, due to Avalon's work and infos, I somehow developed hope that KP will retools and fix their kits, but to be on a realistic side, I don't think it will happen. They are developing their MiG-23BN for a loooong time now, and those "re-toolings" of MiG-19 and -21 by Mastercraft are more like step in a backward direction, despite engraved lines. Theres total lack of riveting details which were like best part of KP's kits.

It looks like we will have to live with what we have, and hope that guys like Avalon will make some attractive decals that will pimp-up our radial engined babies? ;D

Cheers!

Hi, :)
should I have 5 kits of Eduard La-7 to build, I would be sadder if a new kit makes them obsolete.
Massimo