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Lavochkin La-9/11 in 1/72?


Smudge

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 I have a 1/72 Gran kit of the Lavochkin La-9/11. It's not the best, but then not the worst, a bit like a FROG kit from the seventies. I picked it up second hand, no decals and unfortunately someone has removed the La-9 parts, so only the La-11 option remains. I think this would be a good addition to my Korean war collection.

 

Just wondered if this is still the best or only real option for a kit of this aircraft, in 1/72?

 

Scalemates lists a 1/72 La-11 by Interavia, but no details and I suspect this is just a rebox of the Gran kit.

 

Any thoughts, guys?

 

 

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It might be worth checking whether the shape of the cowling actually represents the La.11, or just a fudged La.9.  The additional intake at the bottom of the cowling  is not inside the shape of the La.9 cowling but below, making the aircraft deeper in the nose and giving a heavy appearance.  I had the original MPM kit, brown plastic with centrifugal moulding and all, and this suffered from this problem.  You may be able to do an La.9 from the kit with little effort.

 

I thought that there had been a more recent tooling, but can't point to it.

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Hi, Graham.

Thanks for your prompt reply. I'm sitting with the kit in my hand, so had a quick look. The La-9/11 options are the different cowlings, under fuselage intake/cooler and fourth cannon fairing of the -9.

 

I would say that the kit represents the lower intake and deeper cowling (with the associated cooling flap) of the -11 quite well. 

 

Interesting point, thank you for that. Much appreciated.

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In my past I have had both 1/72 injection moulded La-9/11 kits, i.e. MPM and Gran/Siga. Though older, the MPM is much better - both in shape and in detail.

Nevertheless (considering almost 3000 built of this last Soviet piston-engined fighter) a new state of art 1/72 La-9/11 kit is what we surely need.

Cheers

Michael

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I actually built the Gran La-9 many years ago - you might find it useful to have a KP or Eduard La-7 available for some of the small parts. I remember making the tailplanes and landing gear doors from styrene sheet; I also used the KP La-7 cowling, with some modifications. Falcon Clearvax 1/72 canopy set No.24 includes a very good La-9/La-11 canopy, believe it or not.

 

References:

HPM (Czech modelbuilding magazine) issues 6/2003 and 7/2003

Armada No.11 La-9 - La-11 (Squadron In Action-format soft-cover reference book)

 

Excellent La-9 and La-11 kits were available in resin from Steelworks Models in Germany, but while still listed on the site they are marked as "Out of Production", as they have been for a couple of years now. Just as a teaser:

https://shop.strato.de/epages/61299018.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61299018/Products/SK7213

https://shop.strato.de/epages/61299018.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61299018/Products/SK7215

 

If you really want one of these, ebay might be your only possibility now.

 

I agree completely with Michael - a new 1/72 La-9/-11 would be very welcome!

 

John

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I think Gran and Interavia both did 1/72 La-11 kits; I do not know about availability ,though. IIRC there was also a 1/72 vacform kit, but I do not recall the maker. You can do a Google search for 1/72 La-11 kits to see the box art.

Mike

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Walkaround of La-9:

http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/la9.html

 

Walkaround of La-11:

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/photo/viewcat.php?cid=395&orderby=date ASC&show=12&min=0

 

La-9/La-11 thread on scalemodels.ru:

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic_t_30565.html

(In Russian, but a picture is worth a thousand words, regardless of language!)

 

John

Edited by John Thompson
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On 30/01/2019 at 17:36, KRK4m said:

In my past I have had both 1/72 injection moulded La-9/11 kits, i.e. MPM and Gran/Siga. Though older, the MPM is much better - both in shape and in detail.

Nevertheless (considering almost 3000 built of this last Soviet piston-engined fighter) a new state of art 1/72 La-9/11 kit is what we surely need.

Cheers

Michael

Sorry Michael, but I think you might be thinking of something else? Although I don't have one myself, online reviews would seem to suggest that the MPM is a rather crude effort. As Graham Boak pointed out, you can't really do a La-11 because the lower cowling is not represented. @modelldoc kindly posted links to his builds, and he has made a sterling effort to get the best out of them, but you can see that the lower cowling of the La-11 is not deep enough. I think the Gran kit has the edge on the MPM. But of course, I guess it's only a personal opinion. I have to agree that a nice new kit of a La.9 and La.11 would be welcome.

 

@TISO thanks for the info on the PE frets, could come in handy.

 

@John Thompson thanks for the walkarounds. Plenty of detail to work on. That La.9 is gorgeous. Love to see it. 

 

Just to expand this theme a little bit. There are several colour profile artwork images of various camouflaged North Korean La.11 on Google search, and I also found details of a Tally Ho decal sheet (sadly long out of production) with a nice North Korean example Are there any photographs to verify any of these schemes?

 

Cheers for your input guys.

Edited by Smudge
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Nice one thanks. I should probably have explained better. Some of the profiles I'm interested in depict aircraft in camo schemes, like this

 

http://www.findmodelkit.com/content/lavochkin-la-9-la-11-ussr-nkorea-and-china

 

and this

 

http://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/9077636727402397/?lp=true

 

both an aircraft '71' but look different.

 

Photographs only depict the all grey scheme.

 

Cheers.

Edited by Smudge
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On 1/31/2019 at 7:18 AM, Herb said:

I've got both the Gran and Interavia kits. They look very similar, and both are awful. I salute your courage to undertake either as a project!

I built one (Gran maybe?) when I was 17...I had no problems! Mind you I was so in love with the type after seeing it fly that perhaps it was infatuation that powered me through...

34902999034_408a2c0430.jpgLa-9 1-72 2004 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

 

I've heard very good things about the Steelworks kit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Russian article about  conversion La-11 from Eduard La-7 in 72nd scale:

http://scalemodels.ru/articles/12836-konversija-1-72-la-11-poslednikh-serijj-v-koree-.html

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S.

B.w. anybody knows something about dirty story La-11 from Russian museum Monino sold(?) on West in 90s? Where this aircraft?

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5 hours ago, Aardvark said:

Russian article about  conversion La-11 from Eduard La-7 in 72nd scale:

http://scalemodels.ru/articles/12836-konversija-1-72-la-11-poslednikh-serijj-v-koree-.html

 

B.R.

Serge

 

Wow - very impressive! There's a lot to look at there, and I expect I'll soon be doing some image saving for future reference. The whole thing is far beyond my skill level, so except for taking a few parts from the Eduard La-7, I guess I'll keep trudging along with the Gran La-9. It's certainly an inspiring article, though, and highlights the need for a modern La-9/La-11 kit. Thanks, Serge!

 

John

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1 hour ago, John Thompson said:

need for a modern La-9/La-11 kit. 

Almost, agree!

But You probably

say: "Hey, Aardvark! You collect jet fighter! What You interest in piston fighter La-9/11?"

Have interest for  conversion La-9/11 in Lavochkin "160" (first) paper project twin jet engine fighter:

pic_12.jpg

http://alternathistory.com/trudnyj-pervenets-pervye-reaktivnye-semena-lavochkina/

which had many common details with La-9/11 (wing, tail, wheel e.t.c)

This my interest in new model La-9/11.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

 

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10 hours ago, Aardvark said:

P.S.

B.w. anybody knows something about dirty story La-11 from Russian museum Monino sold(?) on West in 90s? Where this aircraft?

I don't know how dirty their respective stories are but both The Fighter Collection at Duxford and Kermit Weeks in Florida have La-11 projects in storage.

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15 minutes ago, k5054nz said:

I don't know how dirty their respective stories

When an exhibit of which no longer exists in this country disappears from a government (not private!) museum, this story smells very bad!

Unfortunately, according to numerous reviews, the majority of Monino’s leaders included random people who were completely indifferent to the fate of the museum’s exhibits. However, these are all trivialities in comparison with the sad prospect that can befall the majority of the museum’s unique exhibits in connection with its liquidation.

 

B.R.

Serge

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Contrary to what I said about pushing ahead with the Gran 1/72 La-9, after looking at the Scalemodels.ru thread that Aardvark posted, I couldn't resist butchering up an Eduard La-7. The Scalemodels.ru thread shows part of the wing from a Roden/Toko P-63 being used; I couldn't understand why, so I looked through my hoard and discovered that the wings from an Italeri Allison P-51 are almost a perfect match with drawings, after a bit of cutting and slicing, so here's the preliminary results (dark grey = La-7; light grey = P-51):

 

La-9-conversion-1.jpg

 

The wheel wells will need a bit of reshaping; I've got a Part La-9 photoetch set on order which includes landing gear doors to assist with that.

 

John

Edited by John Thompson
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17 hours ago, John Thompson said:

and discovered that the wings from an Italeri Allison P-51 are almost a perfect match with drawings, after a bit of cutting and slicing, so here's the preliminary results (dark grey = La-7; light grey = P-51):

 

La-9-conversion-1.jpg

Lavochkin La-9/11 had laminar wing profile as P-51 it's everybody's know, but the fact that the contours of the wing so coincide, it is amazing!😲😲

4-Coincidencce.jpg

😁😁

 

B.R.

Serge

 

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