Lavockin La 11

[georgeusa]

I went to my local hobby store to buy a couple of tins of paint, $10.00 purchase max. Somehow I got lost. Even though I have been going there for years, I forgot how to get from the paint section to the checkout counter. So, imagine my surprise when, as I am searching for a way to get out of the store, I stumble across the old kit section. Seems like fate doesn’t it? I go in for some paint, get lost and am forced to look at old kits that have been purchased from other modeler’s stashes. And while there, 3 kits call out to me, beckon me, sing a siren song, making my wallet inexplicably rise into my hand, credit card appearing. So, with my tins of paint happily enjoying a 1/32 Revell F-104 Hunting Cat version, they try to speak to the two foreign kits that needed a new home. Both are 1/72 kits. I rationalized I needed a simple build to cleanse my palette from some of the more intense builds I was failing to complete. How complicated could a 1/72 kit be? Especially an old one. Both were from MPM. One was a Lavockin La 9/11 and the other a Suchoj SU-5. I opened the Suchoj SU-5 and congrats; I just bought my first Vacuform kit without even knowing it!! Yeah, that is not going to be the kit for my simple build. So, what’s in box number 2. I open it up and it is a regular injection molded kit with plastic I recognize! Whoopee!! Low parts count. Looks good. Did I mention I am not keen on sanding, filling, priming; sanding, filling priming? Easy to put together, every part has a seam, gap or misalignment. And, I do love a good, oversize vacuform canopy. So, my simple, easy build took 3 weeks rather than a leisurely weekend lark. It didn’t help the paint and the clear coats fought me by not playing nice with each other and creating these cute little bubbles. (Tiny bubbles, from the sea, tiny bubbles . . .) They had never interacted poorly before. On this kit they decide not to be nice. All in all though, it wasn’t a bad little kit and I like the way it looks finished. Next time, I guess if I want a simple build, it probably should be a snap together kit or one of those easy fit ones. Here for your perusal is the 1/72 Lavockin 11 version.

[Wolwe82]

nice unusual scheme the mpm short run kits are often pain to build, given all the flash and not best fiting parts, so i can see your fight while doing this little one but you did it!

btw, just my few cents to the "easy fast build" - for me, it usualy turns into few weeks as well.. but i decided to use just new airfix kits for this kind of building in future - these are cheap with good fiting and realy not bad details

[BomberBrit]

Very nice. Love the choice of paint for the scheme. Unusual paint schemes always appeal to me

I've always liked Russian aircraft for some reason and I haven't seen many La-11 kits so this is very cool. Great work!