Lavochkin La 200B A&A models 1/72 plastic

John R · August 27, 2018

When this came out I didn’t think that I would get one as I had built an La 200 from the Avis kit and I didn’t think that I needed another but after reading about its history I found that it was very different and thought that such an awful looking a/c deserved a place in my collection of prototypes. It came from the same era as the Javelin when manufacturers were struggling to get the early jet engines, high speed aerodynamics and airborne radar to work together. For those unfamiliar with this a/c it has two engines. One in the nose fed by the lower intake and exhausting under the fuselage between the wheels and the other in the rear fuselage fed by the inlets either side of the nose.

After the failure of its La 200 to obtain production status Lavochin’s interest turned to missiles and was not exactly pleased when requested to produce another version with the new Sokol radar. The reason for this request was that there was concern that the Yak 120 (which eventually became the Yak 25), a new design with new engines and Sokol radar, might be long in development and a version of the flight proven La 200 with the new radar might be a useful interim interceptor or at least a test bed for the Sokol radar. There were to be two versions of the La 200B. The first was a ‘minimum change’ version to accept the radar and the second, known as the La 200BF, would be the production version. In the event the BF was never built and the B was only used to test the radar since the Yak entered flight test at much the same time, mid 1952, and had a higher performance. Once the radar had reached an acceptable stage of development it was installed in the Yak 25 and the 200B was abandoned.

Although this model is produced by A&A models it bears a strong resemblance to the La 200 produced by Avis in the way it is assembled and with the same problems. Fit of the parts is not very good and this is not helped by some of the instructions being wrong. The worst bit is assembling and fitting of the main u/c struts. Three pieces have to be fitted together at exactly the right angles and you end up with a very weak assembly which I found impossible to fit into the u/c bay by following the instructions. It was reinforced with some CA gel in the darker corners where it can’t be seen.

It’s a 3-dimensional puzzle and you can see the La 200 version here

http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/model_la-200.html

Finish is a mixture of Alclad Aluminium and Dark Aluminium followed by a coat of Klear.