Lavochkin 176 - Prop&Jet 1/72 resin - Russia's first supersonic a/c

[John R]

This was built from a very nice kit with very few problems. It is one of the many 'boring silver tubes' turned out by the Russians in the post war years and as such is probably of not much interest to 'mainstream' modellers but are like gold dust to sad people like me who have a fascination with these a/c.

The 176 is of more significance than most as it was the first Russian a/c to achieve supersonic speed. One of the most difficult bits of the build was trying to model the special pitot tube designed to measure transonic speeds.

Details of the build are on

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234939150-lavochkin-la-176-prop-jet-resin-172/

Some time ago I scratchbuilt one of these starting with an awful kit that purported to be a 176. The following picture compares the two

The last picture shows the La 150, 168 and 176 from Prop & Jet plus a 174D (prototype La 15) from a rather rough plastic kit of Russian origin.

John

Edited May 20, 2013 by John R

[Mike]

Very nice - and I'd not heard of a single one of them

That grey one at the front doesn't half bear a resemblance to the Huckebein, doesn't it?

[Flankerman]

Excellent build John.

I agree with you about the quality of P&J kits - they are superb.

You collection of Lavochkin early jets looks great and captures the many jet designs emanating from that design bureau.

It's just a pity that Lavochkin failed to repeat the success of his wartime La-5/7/9 and never really made it into the jet age - the failure of his La-250 being the last straw before the OKB was switched to making missiles.

Ken

[Mike DeTorrice]

A fine build of this exceptionally interesting Russian aircraft ! I also find such airplanes fascinating and I love that final grouping of (really) lesser-known Soviet machines.

Someday I hope to do an La-250 Anaconda, another somewhat anonymous yet "almost-famous" fighter/interceptor.

Mike

[nicE1]

Really nice!

[general melchett]

Very nice John and a great little collection. The 176 certainly was significant to the Soviet aircraft industry as you say being the first aircraft to go supersonic, (it was only the third to go supersonic anywhere). It also sadly crashed on the fourth flight killing the test pilot when he neglected to lock the canopy properly before take off even though the fact had been pointed out to him by a watching technician. unfortunately due to being engrossed with radio comms he forgot and only became aware about it when the slipstream pulled the canopy open at rather a critical point during rotation and so with one hand on the flapping canopy lever and the other yanking back on the stick he managed to stall it and roll straight back on to the runway with fatal results. Sad end for a great if over burdened pilot and aircraft......

Great little kit,

Melchie

[John R]

All - thanks for the kind words.

Mike,

Beware of the A-model Anaconda. I 'finished' one of these a while ago and for a number of reasons it sits in disgrace at the back of the cupboard until I can face sorting it out. It wasn't an easy build!

Melchie - hesitant as I am to correct such a valuable source of information I think that you will find it made twenty three flights before its demise. The pilot who pranged it was on his fourth flight in it

John

[jimbuna]

That is really nice and the paint job is fantastic.