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1/48 - Lavochkin La-7 & La-7 cannon by Fly (Gavia plastic) - released


Homebee

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Another boxing 

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/208070375871052/photos/a.208144655863624/3209723685705691

https://www.facebook.com/208070375871052/photos/a.208144655863624/3220484841296242

Box art - La-7, Mjr. Vitalij I. Koroljov, May 1945, Prague operation.

 

93142697-3220484847962908-89956882742362

 

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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On 2/5/2020 at 5:34 PM, Tbolt said:

I got all excited there for a moment - shame it's just the Gavia kit though, hopefully we will get a new tooled one soon.

It's a pretty decent kit though and appears accurate where it matters (?).

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On 4/10/2020 at 4:19 PM, SleeperService said:

It's a pretty decent kit though and appears accurate where it matters (?).

Unfortunately it has some accuracy problems, the biggest one being the narrow rear fuselage. If you are not worried about accuracy it's meant to be a nice build. I've got 3 in the stash and will attempt the correction of the fuselage when I get to them.

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On 4/10/2020 at 7:55 PM, Tbolt said:

Unfortunately it has some accuracy problems, the biggest one being the narrow rear fuselage. If you are not worried about accuracy it's meant to be a nice build. I've got 3 in the stash and will attempt the correct of the fuselage when I get to them.

I think a plastic shim for the fuselage, plus the vacform canopy meant for the Hobbycraft Lavochkin would solve the problem. Haven't tried it myself yet.

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On 10/04/2020 at 18:55, Tbolt said:

Unfortunately it has some accuracy problems, the biggest one being the narrow rear fuselage. If you are not worried about accuracy it's meant to be a nice build. I've got 3 in the stash and will attempt the correct of the fuselage when I get to them.

 

8 minutes ago, Bonehammer said:

I think a plastic shim for the fuselage, plus the vacform canopy meant for the Hobbycraft Lavochkin would solve the problem. Haven't tried it myself yet.

 

More obsessed Russians modellers have used the fuselage from a Zvezda La-5FN as a replacement fuselage,  as it's basically the same.   

I think I saw a link by Sergey Kosachev from Vector about this on Hyperscale,  on scalemodels.ru i suspect.

 

Possibly the Hobbycraft one might work?   Although @Bonehammer suggestion is certainly worth investigating. 

 

 I have pondered if the leftover La-5FN  wing could be used to replace the undersize ICM LaGG-3 wing, but never sat down with the actual kits and had a good look. 

Like @Tbolt I have several stashed,  along with the HC La-7 and Zvezda La-5 and 5FN,  and various LaGG-3 kits as well....

 

I think there were plans up on Sovietwarplanes for the Lavochkin family,  or some of it.      

 

Does look like Fly have been paying attention to @Massimo Tessitori  profiles of the La-7 

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/la-7/la-7colors/la-7.html

 

 

 

83337746-3069904723020922-68217397378379

see here for photos and profiles

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/la-7/la-7colors/27sannikov/27sannikov.htm

 

if they get the blue outline board numbers (that the box art shows)  that will be good

 

I'm wary of Fly's research, their 1/32nd Hurricanes had some schemes that I have only ever seen as profiles.... but if they have been using Massimo's artwork, then that not a problem.  I wonder if they have consulted him?

 

I have to say on I'm amazed at the amount of information and photos, and tie ups with pilots and units that is coming out of http://ava.org.ru  

 

cheers

T

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1 hour ago, Troy Smith said:

 

 

More obsessed Russians modellers have used the fuselage from a Zvezda La-5FN as a replacement fuselage,  as it's basically the same.   

I think I saw a link by Sergey Kosachev from Vector about this on Hyperscale,  on scalemodels.ru i suspect.

 

Possibly the Hobbycraft one might work?   Although @Bonehammer suggestion is certainly worth investigating. 

 

 I have pondered if the leftover La-5FN  wing could be used to replace the undersize ICM LaGG-3 wing, but never sat down with the actual kits and had a good look. 

Like @Tbolt I have several stashed,  along with the HC La-7 and Zvezda La-5 and 5FN,  and various LaGG-3 kits as well....

 

I think there were plans up on Sovietwarplanes for the Lavochkin family,  or some of it.      

 

Does look like Fly have been paying attention to @Massimo Tessitori  profiles of the La-7 

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/la-7/la-7colors/la-7.html

 

 

 

83337746-3069904723020922-68217397378379

see here for photos and profiles

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/la-7/la-7colors/27sannikov/27sannikov.htm

 

if they get the blue outline board numbers (that the box art shows)  that will be good

 

I'm wary of Fly's research, their 1/32nd Hurricanes had some schemes that I have only ever seen as profiles.... but if they have been using Massimo's artwork, then that not a problem.  I wonder if they have consulted him?

 

I have to say on I'm amazed at the amount of information and photos, and tie ups with pilots and units that is coming out of http://ava.org.ru  

 

cheers

T

 

I also remember seeing something about using the  Zvezda fuselage, though I'm not sure I want to go that route. I also have the HC La-7 and the Zvezda La-5 and 5FN and ICM LaGG-3. The annoying thing about the HC kit is it more accurate where the Gavia kit fails with the fuselage width.

 

1 hour ago, Bonehammer said:

I think a plastic shim for the fuselage, plus the vacform canopy meant for the Hobbycraft Lavochkin would solve the problem. Haven't tried it myself yet.

 

That's the way I was planning on going. It's the narrowness of the canopy that really show the fault up.

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10 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

More obsessed Russians modellers have used the fuselage from a Zvezda La-5FN as a replacement fuselage,  as it's basically the same.   

I think I saw a link by Sergey Kosachev from Vector about this on Hyperscale,  on scalemodels.ru i suspect.

 

Possibly the Hobbycraft one might work?   Although @Bonehammer suggestion is certainly worth investigating. 

The Zvezda fuselage is a sound plan. 

I would not recommend using the Hobbycraft fuselage because it is not faultless, has a whippet's belly that has to be built up with Milliput. The Hobbycraft canopy is only good for the bin. I don't know what I used on my Academy 7 - a Squadron or maybe even a Medallion Models canopy.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Released - ref. 48035 - Lavochkin La-7 cannon version

http://shop.fly814.cz/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=945&language=en

 

Sources: 

https://www.fly814.cz/products/a48035-lavochkin-la-7/

https://www.fly814.cz/news/fly-48035-lavochkin-la-7-3-cannon-version/

https://www.facebook.com/1fly814/posts/1295273114012498

 

Schemes:

  • Lavochkin La-7 - 790, IAP (Fighter Aviation Regiment), Soviet AF, pilot Mjr. Agafon Kuzmitch Sannikov, Stchutchin airfield, Belarus, autumn 1945
  • Lavochkin La-7 - PLU Olomouc (Anti-aircraft aviation school), Czechoslovakia, 1950
  • Lavochkin La-7 - 176. GIAP (Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment), Soviet Air Force, 1947

 

97406316-1295273320679144-60852742867742


97949934-1295273090679167-83036624546472


98174995-1295273137345829-38225883501963

 

99117372-1295273190679157-68837718216451

 

98482662-1295273214012488-77238511296367

 

97536419-1295273237345819-45105489488799


97575439-1295273294012480-79740719299821

 

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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Released - ref. 48034 - Lavochkin La-7

http://shop.fly814.cz/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=40_48&products_id=944&language=en

 

Sources: 

https://www.fly814.cz/products/a48034-lavochkin-la-7/

https://www.fly814.cz/news/fly-48034-lavochkin-la-7-soviet-fighter-airforce/

https://www.facebook.com/1fly814/posts/1295272210679255

 

Schemes:

  • Lavochkin La-7 - 482. GIAP (Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment), 322. IAD (Fighter Aviation Division), 2nd VA (Air Army), 1st Ukrainian Front, May 1945
  • Lavochkin La-7 - 113. GIAP (Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment), 10. GIAD (Guards Fighter Aviation Division), pilot Pavel Michajlovitch Bojkov, Czechoslovakia, Summer 1945
  • Lavochkin La-7 - 1. LP (Aviation Regiment), Czechoslovakia Air Force, "Tri Duby" airfeld, 1946

 

97872262-1295272290679247-38808962420912


97978132-1295272194012590-71276087844651

 

100097968-1295272204012589-3318988273505

 

V.P.

 

Edited by Homebee
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  • 2 weeks later...

At one time I had four of these kits in my stash. Since than I got rid of them all on eBay. It is SUPER inaccurate in shape. The only thing it would be good for is to kitbash with the Zvezda La-5FN. I actually built one of these to about 95% and just stopped because I was so disgusted with the kit. About the only thing on the kit that has any semblance of accuracy is the wing and nose. Pretty much aft of the main wing spar on the fuselage and tail is shear fantasy. That is no exaggeration. This kit is not worth building in any sense of the project.

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On 30/05/2020 at 04:17, Otakar said:

At one time I had four of these kits in my stash. Since than I got rid of them all on eBay. It is SUPER inaccurate in shape. The only thing it would be good for is to kitbash with the Zvezda La-5FN. I actually built one of these to about 95% and just stopped because I was so disgusted with the kit. About the only thing on the kit that has any semblance of accuracy is the wing and nose. Pretty much aft of the main wing spar on the fuselage and tail is shear fantasy. That is no exaggeration. This kit is not worth building in any sense of the project.

 

 

 

 

 

la7-20.jpg

 

la7_024.jpg?w=996&h=472

day02_35.jpg

la7_013.jpg?w=1200&h=

 

and a Zvezda La-5FN

la-5fn-1-48-zvezda-3.jpg

 

Czechoslovak La-7 Model pics above by @Jon Bryon

the problem is the spine, and rear of cockpit from above

https://jonbryon.com/la7-html/

Quote

In May 2006, Aleksander Sekularac published a very helpful article on building the Gavia La-7 in Scale Aircraft Modelling (an abridged version is also on Hyperscale). Mr Sekularac’s model is beautiful (far better than mine) and was extensively reworked to correct faults in the kit when compared to plans, namely: widened rear fuselage with replacement canopy, reshaped fin, reshaped spinner, new exhausts and a host of other minor details. In essence, the major perceived fault is that the fuselage spine is too narrow by 25%. Aleksander also identifies a host of other problems, such as the depth of the fuselage and the shape of the wing leading edge in plan view, all as determined (as far as I could tell) from plans.

The big problem for me is that I don’t have any plans. And even if I did, how could I verify their accuracy?

 

 

for a less hyperbole view

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/256851-la-57-canopies/&

 

the poster KSL in the link IIRC  is Sergey Koschev, who runs Vector resin,  and is a careful and through researcher, as I mentioned above.

I'd trust the work of Sergey Kosachev. 

 

I suspect this is somewhat like the Hasegawa Spitfire IX fuselage, it's wrong,  it's very hard to fix, but without reference to a correctly shaped kit it does not scream wrong. 

 

If my VVS fighters box was not at the back and bottom of the 'jenga stack' of boxes full of kits I'd have a better look.  

 

HTH

 

 

Edited by Troy Smith
added clarification
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51 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

the 'jenga stack' of boxes full of kits

 

I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one who has one of those! I imagine it (them!) collapsing, and a crew of first responders having to come and dig me out after my family realizing I haven't been around for several hours...

 

John

Edited by John Thompson
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What no one is mentioning (or I'm not seeing it) is "the belly of the beast" it is much too flat. It should have a much more pronounced droop. it is actually very visible in the first two pictures. In the third picture it is seen even more if you take a look at the nose section vs . the tail section below the horizontal stabilizer.  The rudder section is also completely the wrong shape (not the fin) just the rudder. It should be much wider and curved more in the upper half and not so pointy at the tip. I spent literal months studying why my model does not look right. It is just too skinny in the balk two thirds of the fuselage. The remaining semi built model I have will be used to marry to a Zvezda back fuselage at some point. Even with all the work I did on the model and the large amount of time I spent on it, I will not spare it. https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=127381 see the attempted build.

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@Otakar, thanks for the clarifications and details, understanding the faults is really useful.  I now 'see' them better, and see the logic of using the Zvezda fuselage.

 

Other who want a 1/48th La-7 may not be so bothered, not like there is a mass of options.

 

I do understand how frustrating poorly kitted pet subects are.... I'm still waiting for a really accurate 1/48th Hurricane...

 

As I said above, this means the leftover wing could possibly be used for the too slim ICM LaGG-3 wing.   I'm not about to move everything to get to the VVS fighters box.... 2021 maybe

cheers

T

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Actually, the Airfix hurricane is quite good. You cant avoid all mistakes after all. Eduard is going to come out with a new hurricane also sometime in the future. I would say two years.  But; there is a building article that I saw on the web about a year ago that shows how to mate the two fuselage halves together.. The LaGG wing is not too hard to make thicker by inserting a  strip of plastic into the leading edge. Wing thickness and profile problems re a part of many models. To really notice the issue on the La-7 just lay the La-7 fuselage half on a La-5 opposite half from Zvezda. It will jump out at you. Just like putting a Airfix Spit. Mk.XII fuselage on a Mk.V fuselage to see the difference. In that case it is the exact opposite. It is too fat. The La-7 looks like it spent too long with "Jenny Craig". I just wish that I would not have put so much time, effort and money into the Gavia kit I started. What a waste. It just looks "SO WRONG" from profile. More like a Spitfire shape than a Lavochkin shape. Unless you wish to make the effort to mate the two kits together (besides the extra money) don't bother. If you buy the La-5 from ModelsUA it might be worth it. My price from him is $12, normally it is $17. I am a long time customer and once you establish a preferred customer status the prices are outstanding. I buy everything that is manufactured east of Poland from him. BTW, ICM and UM made the exact same mistakes with their Bf-109-F & -G respectively, that Gavia did with the La-7 Just Sooooooo skinny from the profile. Virtually impossible to fix. On the other hand, the ICM spitfire mistakes are super easy to fix and are very much worth doing because of the price, $9.50. I just received an order from ModelsUA last Friday. Spent $250 on a vast myriad of 1/48 kits including ICM He-111s, Ju-88s (2x), AMP Supermarine S-5s (3x), Zvezda Bf-109G-6s (6x) and a myriad of other etch and small parts. I always buy a minimum of two of each sometime three. I am using them for all of my Czech variant conversions such as the CS-99, CS-199 and S-199 projects. I find that I save a HUGE amount of money buying from Ivan even with the postage in comparison to what it would cost me here in the US. Now that every mail order business must collect individual state tax on all mail order purchases that saves another 7% here in Illinois. I find that I save on the average about 40% or more ordering from Ivan. If you don't mind waiting for your stuff. In most cases about two weeks some three. By the way the reason Fly is re-releasing the kit is because that is one tool that is passed from manufacturer to manufacturer in the Czech republic. It went from Gavia-Eduard-Hasegawa (injected by Eduard for exchange)-Fly. The kit is now 20 years old and REALLY showing it's age. Much more so than many other kits.

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11 minutes ago, Otakar said:

Eduard is going to come out with a new hurricane also sometime in the future. I would say two years

Edu(ard)cated guess?

although, if they make it a 1/48 Mk.II you won't hear me complaining ;)

 

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Most likely all Mk.s and yes 1/48. They are coming out with Spits Mk.I/II & Mk.V shortly. Not sure why, the Airfix kits I find fantastic.

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29 minutes ago, Otakar said:

Actually, the Airfix hurricane is quite good.

it is, but it has a really stupid, and a lot of work to fix mistake. The side panels.

see here

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234986216-148-airfix-new-tool-hurricane-mki-p3039-from-no229-squadron-completed-on-31-10-at-1150-pm/page/2/

 

If it's not your pet subject, it's not a big deal.  

More annoying personally is I since found out Airfix do read here, and take onboard comments, the fixed the Hurricane canopy from the 72nd fabric wing to the 48th, but the other glitches in the 72nd got scaled up.  I now wish I had gone over the 72nd really carefully and found and commented on the problems..... like I did with the canopy...

 

31 minutes ago, Otakar said:

Just like putting a Airfix Spit. Mk.XII fuselage on a Mk.V fuselage to see the difference. In that case it is the exact opposite. It is too fat.

the Airfix XII is not fat, but too deep. It has a load of other issues as well. 

I know you disagree on this, the Special Hobby XII is way better apart from a small length error, which is fixable

34 minutes ago, Otakar said:

If you buy the La-5 from ModelsUA it might be worth it.

ordering from outside the EU (and who knows after Brexit) anything over £15 is liable for VAT (tax), at 20%,  and they will charge you £8 on top to collect this.

So, if you put together a big order, it can be cheaper, and small orders don't always get charged, but it's a gamble.

I also really do no need any more kits.  I have multiple kits of the entire LaGG/La family as it is.....

 

19 minutes ago, Otakar said:

They are coming out with Spits Mk.I/II & Mk.V shortly. Not sure why, the Airfix kits I find fantastic.

They don't make money for Eduard.

Airfix problem is they are part of a bigger group, that's in debt, and so it seems that there are always corners being cut and mistakes being made. (a long time problem for Airfix)  And I'm not a fan of their actual plastic, it's too soft, and this seems to be reflected in the tooling finesse, is the way it will hold detail.

 

 

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I hope that at some point someone like Zvezda, ICM, MikroMir, come out with an all new kit. Coming out with a new LaGG would not be a bad idea either. After all, we have very nice kits of the La-5, La-5FN, La-9 and La-11, why not a new La-7. After all, the only three significant aircraft were the LaGG-3, La-5/5FN and La-7. God knows we have enough of the Yak fighters. Even though we are still missing one. 

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