discussion Time for a quickie - zvezda 1/144 lavochkin la5 fn

[yak face]

Here’s something I couldn’t resist after seeing it on eBay for £3.59 free postage! It’s the zvezda snap fit la5 fn , a dinky little kit designed for wargaming . It’s not a thing of many parts but what few there are are nicely done . The canopy is solid however , but the chances of seeing anything on a cockpit this size make this irrelevant. ( the Kovozavody Prostejov kit of this aircraft in 1/144 has more parts and an actual cockpit , and you can even get a PE fret for it from Brengun ! Folding a pe seat in 1/144 ! That’s going to take a delicate touch!)
Anyways here’s the box and contents , sadly the image on the box isn’t represented by the simple decal sheet , and the instructions leave a lot to be desired re. painting ( ie none) Luckily soviet aircraft schemes are no stranger to me so I’m planning on doing it as ‘white 25’ from the 19 IAP.

 

[papa 695]

Nice one Tony.

 

[yak face]

Nice one Tony.

Cheers Ian , had five minutes in the shed today and the main airframe is all together! Hopefully it’ll get some paint on tomorrow . Cheers tony

 

[PaulTRose]

that looks a whole lot less complicated than my Hind lol

 

[adt70hk]

Looking good Tony!

I love their click together kits. I've got some of their 1/72 ones and they're fantastic. Their 88 in particular is lovely.

Looking forward to seeing the paint fly.

All the best.

Andrew

 

[yak face]

Got the first bits of paint on . Primed first with Halfords grey then the underneath had a coat of hataka amt7 and masked and its now had a coat of amt11 grey . These were both sprayed but the dark grey will be painted on by brush. Ive also decided to do a different version as the white 25 i intended to do has a red outline to the numbers whereas the decals dont . So its now going to be white 93 of the 32 IAP.

 

[tr1ckey66]

The scheme you’re going for looks really cool. It will be interesting to see it in 1/144. At this scale you could do a reasonably-sized squadron diorama (not that I’m suggesting that). At any rate, with this scheme it will make for a really attractive looking little model.
Cheers
Paul

 

[yak face]

The scheme you’re going for looks really cool. It will be interesting to see it in 1/144. At this scale you could do a reasonably-sized squadron diorama (not that I’m suggesting that). At any rate, with this scheme it will make for a really attractive looking little model.
Cheers
Paul

Cheers paul , the one im doing now is virtually the same as the pictured white 25 , just minus the triangular red areas behind the cowling and stripes on the rudder instead of solid white. They are really finely detailed to say theyre meant to be snapped together and used for wargaming , im definitely going to get their I-16 as well. Ive now got the dark grey areas done and the steel panels behind the exhaust slits .and unmasked the underside. Tomorrow i am going to get the red on after ive given the cowling a coat of white.

 

[Guest]

Wow, I can work out just how tiny this is with the cotton bud up its nose!

Lovely neat paintwork on such a small subject.

 

[yak face]

Cheers andy , the clothes peg further up is a giveaway too

 

[prichrd1]

Blimey - that is small - I've lost bigger bits of PE to the carpet monster!!
I would need a microscope to place the decals!!
:smiling2: :smiling2: :smiling2: :smiling2:

Paul.
:smiling2:

 

[adt70hk]

Tony

Looking very good so far!! What strength optivisor lens are you using?

Let the good work. Andrew

 

[yak face]

Tony

Looking very good so far!! What strength optivisor lens are you using?

Let the good work. Andrew

Cheers Andrew , the magnifying lamp I’ve got might as well be attached to my head as I seem to do everything through it ! To think that a few years ago I never even needed reading glasses , doesn’t help when I’m doing things like this though and intending to get the I-16 ,which is about as big as the average bluebottle :smiling5::smiling5:

 

[adt70hk]

Cheers Andrew , the magnifying lamp I’ve got might as well be attached to my head as I seem to do everything through it ! To think that a few years ago I never even needed reading glasses , doesn’t help when I’m doing things like this though and intending to get the I-16 ,which is about as big as the average bluebottle :smiling5::smiling5:

I've been wearing glasses since I was 13, initially for only reading. But I have been wearing them full time for years and even had to switch to vari-focals six or seven years ago......

 

[papa 695]

Great work on the painting Tony.

 

[yak face]

Red cowling done and airframe given a coat of klear , next up the few decals then i can think about getting the canopy on . Speaking of which , i was going to cut off the locating pin and just glue the canopy on but looking at it the hole in the middle of the clear piece is visible even if the pin isnt in it ,so I decided to paint the pin so it could pass as a pilots head , just a bit of brown and flesh !

 

[yak face]

Decals on , I decided to use the spare number 1s and 7s to make the two white stripes on the tail , these still need a bit of touching up once they’re dry . Next is a Matt coat then it’s on with the canopy and a very tricky frame paint - obviously it’s too small to mask so it’s going to be a hand painted job . The Lavochkin radial engined fighters and a few of the polikarpov too had a bright metal band ( sometimes two or parts ) round the circumference of the cowling which is a very prominent feature of these aircraft and something I want to try and replicate. I’ve got some self adhesive chrome effect tape ( actually Xmas wrapping tape ) that I’m going to stick onto non stick backing paper and try and cut into very thin strips and apply , we‘ll see how successful that is tomorrow ! Cheers tony

 

[Guest]

Looking good Tony :smiling3:.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nicely done Tony. Always think adding decals to an aircraft brings it to life....bit like doing the face and eyes on a figure.....

 

[yak face]

Well I found the xmas tape and stuck it onto a bit of sticky label backing paper . I managed to cut a very thin strip and this was stuck round the back edge of the cowling and a couple of short pieces just behind that . It worked very nicely and gives a good representation of this distinctive feature . Ive glued the canopy on and given the frames a first coat of colour roughly by hand . Once theyve had a second coat I can clean up the edges with a cocktail stick and itll be ok . I also tidied up the two stripes on the fin , touching up the edges with white.