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F404 Lavochkin La-7 +++Finished+++


John

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Actually - I think I might start with this, and maybe purge the memories of my less than successful Yak-3 build in the last FROG GB 😀 

 

This isn't one of the 4 "last gasp" Russian aircraft that FROG tooled but didn't release, it comes from a few years earlier. Having said that it does have the same "feel" as the later kits. I got one when it was released, from a stall in Falkirk market if I remember correctly:

 

La71

 

La73

 

It has a canopy but that's safe in the bag.

 

La72

 

Remember when "everybody" knew that WW2 Soviet fighters were green and brown? 

 

I'll do Ivan Kozhedub's aircraft but I think I'll have to replace the stars:

 

La74

 

John

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Nice going John, I was thinking of getting one of these kits as I quite like the look of the Czech example. Might still get one from a local chap in Oz that sells plenty of pre-loved kits. Some are a little on the pricey side for what they are, however you can’t exactly go down the road and buy these kits easily, so that’s fair I suppose. 
 

Cheers and all the best.. Dave 

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10 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

thinking of getting one of these kits as I quite like the look of the Czech example. Might still get one from a local chap in Oz that sells plenty of pre-loved kits.

Hi Dave,

 

I don't know how well SabreKits are available down under but they have several ex-Frog kits available with new decals. La-7 has two boxings: A Soviet and a Czech one.

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee 

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1 hour ago, AaCee26 said:

Hi Dave,

 

I don't know how well SabreKits are available down under but they have several ex-Frog kits available with new decals. La-7 has two boxings: A Soviet and a Czech one.


Thanks for the tip AeCee… I’ve never heard of SabreKits so will look them up, although must admit that I’m happy to shell out a few extra hard earned dollars to build an original Frog kit. Those decals do look quite useable in John’s example above so they may still be good should I get my hands on one. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

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12 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:


Thanks for the tip AeCee… I’ve never heard of SabreKits so will look them up, although must admit that I’m happy to shell out a few extra hard earned dollars to build an original Frog kit. Those decals do look quite useable in John’s example above so they may still be good should I get my hands on one. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

The red's actually sufficiently out of register to be quite noticeable. I'll be sourcing alternatives.

 

J

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44 minutes ago, John said:

The red's actually sufficiently out of register to be quite noticeable. I'll be sourcing alternatives.

 

J


Actually now that I zoom in on the iPad, I can see what you mean. Hopefully you’ll find suitable alternatives. 

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2 hours ago, John said:

The red's actually sufficiently out of register to be quite noticeable. I'll be sourcing alternatives.

 

J

Being out of register was quite a common problem on Frog decs, and though it is usually most noticeable on roundels, I have a few German crosses where the white outlines are a bit out. I thought I had some La-7 spares in my job lots of Frog decs I bought years ago but if so I must have used them.

 

Pete

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On 1/24/2024 at 12:43 PM, PeterB said:

Being out of register was quite a common problem on Frog decs, and though it is usually most noticeable on roundels, I have a few German crosses where the white outlines are a bit out. I thought I had some La-7 spares in my job lots of Frog decs I bought years ago but if so I must have used them.

 

Pete

Somewhat ironically, that is also a problem with the under wing crosses in my Matchbox/Revell rebox of the FROG Do 335. A case of being too faithful to the original?

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15 minutes ago, klr said:

Somewhat ironically, that is also a problem with the under wing crosses in my Matchbox/Revell rebox of the FROG Do 335. A case of being too faithful to the original?

Over the years I have built up a stock of RAF and Luftwaffe national marking decs so I usually have replacements, but for some reason I never did find a sheet with the late war "outline" white crosses - just black. Fortunately, those cannot be out of register!

 

Pete

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Just now, PeterB said:

Over the years I have built up a stock of RAF and Luftwaffe national marking decs so I usually have replacements, but for some reason I never did find a sheet with the late war "outline" white crosses - just black. Fortunately, those cannot be out of register!

 

Pete

And just as ironically, I would prefer plain black crosses for my Do 335, but I don't have any in the spares bags of a suitable size. I'll probably cut away the white from the kit decals. Anyway, derail over, back to the Lavochkin. I can honestly say I've never seen this kit before. I was probably just a few years too late starting my modelling career to encounter FROG kits in the wild.

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Happy to follow along here John. Good to see you have the decals sorted out. Looking forward to the progress.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am still here, honest!

 

La76

 

I've given the whole thing a couple of coats of Humbrol 48 Mediterranean Blue to kill the dark grey plastic and show up any areas for improvement. That was followed by a couple of coats of 89 Middle Blue for the underside. The cowling is 153 Insignia Red and is just tacked in place. 

 

John

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I’ve ordered off that Decal seller before @stevehnz from memory the price (including postage, amazingly) was quite reasonable although I haven’t used any of them as yet. I did purchase a number for some older Heller kits, however I must take a second look to see what else may be new. Thanks for the link. 
 

@John the La-7 is looking very nice and these ‘Russian’ threads have me quite interested in a genre I’ve never looked at in any detail before. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

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FWIW I've used that brand of decals on a couple of models now and both times the white was misaligned, leaving me with a white border to paint out. See here for an example. Maybe I was unlucky. They are definitely a step up from 50 year old dodgy decals, but be warned, they may have issues.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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  • 4 weeks later...

It's been a very busy few weeks with not too much time at the bench, but I have managed to get some work done:

 

La77

 

I've used Humbrol 5 and 67 for the upper camouflage and 89 for the underside.

 

Tail flash is Humbrol 69 and the cowling is 153.

 

Much still to do.

 

John

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On 10/03/2024 at 17:49, John said:

It's been a very busy few weeks with not too much time at the bench, but I have managed to get some work done:

 

La77

 

I've used Humbrol 5 and 67 for the upper camouflage and 89 for the underside.

 

Tail flash is Humbrol 69 and the cowling is 153.

 

Much still to do.

 

John

Not yellow for tail flash

 

Yellow was the Axis recognition colour,  the La-7 at Monino may or may not be Kozhedub's but white is far more likely.  

 

 

1024px-Lavochkin_La-7_%E2%80%9927_white%

 

By Alan Wilson from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK - Lavochkin La-7 ’27 white’, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64800954

 

Far more indepth discussion here

https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/la-7/la-7colors/27kozhedub/27kozhedub.htm

 

 

The rest of your colours look believable though :)

 

HTH

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Oh all right then 😀

 

La78

 

It's going to need a bit of a touch up. I've also sarted working on the exhaust areas.

 

John

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