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About designing the Lavochkin La-5 |
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| The prototype without panel lines |
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The prototype with panel lines |
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I have started the La-5 model in summer 2009, based on the Italeri/Testors plastic model in 1/72 scale. I merely considered it a kind of “warm-up” exercise for the Il-2 model. It was also meant to be as simple as possible, to allow it being build by beginners. At the prototype stage I already prepared for the modification to the different versions and the La-7. The funny thing is, that I didn’t have any 3-side view of the La-5, and the prototype was build using the 3-side-view of a La-7. I did the wing middle section guided only by the smaller 1/72 model, but fortunately it turned out to be correct, once I had found a 3-side-view of the La-5.
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| The two-seater canopy was already done along with the prototype. The canopy turned out to be the major flaw of the first beta and went through numerous modifications. |
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The prototype with two-seater canopy |
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The First beta with the double-size second Beta
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The second beta was build in double size, to allow more accurate preparations for the shark-mouthed Kostylev-version and the camo-versions, but it turned out to be not as big a help as expected. The Kostylev-cowling also went through numerous corrections.
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| The second beta with sharkmouth and camo lines |
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A beta of the early La-5 |
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The early La-5 and the trainer version were created only through modification of the rear fuselage. Once the model was done, I did several additional betas for the various camo versions. The La-5 model was not announced throught the “coming soon” window, as I felt it was not important enough to be announced in such a way. I also originally intended to release the La-5/7 as a single model, but as the versions I wanted to do grew more and more and as I ended up doing separate instructions, I decided to release them seperately, which led to the first (and probably only ever) triple-release.
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| The second beta with sharkmouth and camo lines |
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A beta of the early La-5 |
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This image shows the first beta together with the actual released La-5 model. The most notable difference is the front of the canopy.
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The La-5 cockpits were created pretty much at the same time as the model, and were held back because I wanted to release all cockpit kits togehter, but then I decided otherwise, as creating the re-releases took too much time.
They required a number of testbuilds, as there are basically three different versions, for the early La-5, the La-5F/FN and the two-seaters. Artworks used screenhots from the computer game Il-2 Sturmovik for reference.
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| A number of test-builds for the La-5/7-cockpits. Note how the changes are noted as typography on the fuselage, inspired by the inscriptions soviet planes carried. Accompanying the test builds is the res build for the Il-2 trainer. |
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