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LaGG-3
(Obl.)
LaGG-3 ( István
Vadász ). "Vacuum model; unknown manufacturer. Early 1942
Leningrad Front 44th IAP.
It is really an example how a model was built during the continuous change of
the family and the society hystori.
Oct.1987. I got a gift from my Polish friend, it was a Vacuum LaGG-3.
1st of Apr.1988 our second son was born
June 1988 I built the fuselage of the LaGG.
23d of Oct. 1989. We were in Novy-Bor in Czech Republic (at that time Czechoslovekia) when we got the news that the socialism is finished at home (in Hungary) and we start with a new type of policy.
Nov.1989. I cutted the wing of the LaGG and as of the middle part of it I replaced it with the wing of a HC La-5 FN.
Dec 1989 . We have bought a piece of land in order to build a house.
Dec 1989. I was able to fit perfectly the wings from the different models.
March 1990. We have started to build our house.
1990.the stabilizers were aready in place.
1991. The roof was already ready on our house.
1991. The right side wing remained in my hand.
Dec.1992. Our house was finished.
1993-1999 the glued parts continuously broken, but i did not give up.
2000 we have sold the house and moved to an other city.
Dec 2000.I packed out and I found again the LaGG.
2001 we have built my joiner plant.
Dec 2001. the cockpit was ready .
2002 our new house (the second) was ready and we moved to it.
Dec 2002.the landing gears were ready.
2003. I have used the spin of a Jak-9 in order to finish the LaGG (its spin finished in the garbage)
2004. I could bought new wheels for the LaGG.
July 2005 My older sun started the college.
Aug 2005 The LaGG is finished
Oct 2005 ICM news : they will come out with a LaGG 3 in 1:48"
LaGG-3 ( Jacob
Russel ). "This is my first vacuform kit, the Lavochkin LaGG-3,
series 66, from Polish manufacturer TB Models. Considering that it appears to
be fairly old the overall quality of the mouldings is first rate, and the surface
detail excellent. I picked it up at the January IPMS/ Seattle meeting, and having
botched 3 previous attempts at building a vacuform kit I made up my mind to
complete this one.
"Out of the box (out of the header bag, actually) the entire kit-prop, landing
gear, wheels, seat, etc.-was vacuform. I substituted landing gear and tail wheel
from the LTD kit (thanks, Chris!) and used True Details resin wheels. The prop
and some interior details came from the old Fujimi 109G/ K kit. The retraction
struts were scratchbuilt from brass tubing and rod. I used the complete vacuform
interior (including control column), and added photo-etched seat belts and rudder
pedals from the Reheat Japanese set! I also added a resin gunsight from Insight
Details, and made sidewall framing from plastic rod and strip. The interior
was painted Humbrol 122, to depict early Metal Use Primer.
"Once the fuselage was together the real work began. There was absolutely NO
fillet between the wing and fuselage, with a 1/4" gap between the fuselage bottom
and upper wing. I filled this gap and made the fillet with 5 minute epoxy. I
used too much, and spent the better part of one month sanding it back. Installing
the vacuform aft windows was another challenge. I scratchbuilt the air exit
doors for the oil cooler and radiator from sheet plastic. The antenna mast came
from the kit, the antenna is stretched sprue and the pitot tube is hypo tubing.
"The model was painted and finished completely with acrylics, another first
for me. I primed it with AeroMaster primer, and painted with Poly-S acrylics
(in the grey winter scheme) which are excellent! The gloss coats were Gunze
and the flat coats were "Future Flat" (50% Future/ 50% Tamiya Flat Base).The
kit decals are actually very good and contain 2 options, but I substituted decals
from the LTD kit (thanks again, Chris!). They depict "White 43", flown by Yuri
Shchipov. There's debate as to whether the fin /rudder is painted yellow or
white; I chose yellow.
"As my first vacuform project, barring the wing/ fuselage joint problems it
wasn't all that difficult, but very time consuming and tedious. I was determined
to finish it and I enjoyed every minute of it!"
LaGG-3 ( Bill Powers ). The LaGG-3 is the LTD kit, only the interior and landing gear struts are not from the kit! This is a dog of a kit, so be forewarned, but it has potential with alot of effort! All control surfaces were rescribed as were the engine panels. The inside of the trailing edges of the wing halves were sanded to a thin edge before gluing together. The air intakes on the wing root were made from a small section of aluminum tubing squeezed to an oval shape. I built exit channels for the oil and coolant radiators. The radiator and tunnels were painted BEFORE assembly. Part of the wheel wells were boxed in and the circular part was vacuumformed. The exhausts were drilled out. The antennae mast is brass rod filed flat. The canopy was sanded smooth inside and outside, with diminishing grit sand paper. The interior is a combination of Eduard (photoetched), True Details and scratched (the gun sight and mount). Painted as per the kits direction with Aeromaster Enamel Russian colors, each color lightened with about 33% white. Difficult kit but satisfying result.