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Building the
Lavochkin La-5
an all-white La-5   A La-5 with black panel lines on the fuselage and red stars on the wings
   
The prototype without panel lines   The prototype with panel lines
   

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.

 
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.   A two-seater canopy has been added
 
  The prototype with two-seater canopy
 
A tiny and huge La-5 together
The First beta with the double-size second Beta


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.
A big La-5 with Sharkmouth   A La-5 with high rear fuselage
   
The second beta with sharkmouth and camo lines   A beta of the early La-5
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.
Two La-5's   A La-5 and three fuselage parts
   
The second beta with sharkmouth and camo lines   A beta of the early La-5
     
6 La-5's and 4 La-7's  
     
     
A messy green-brown La-5 in the front and a clean and accurate La-5 in the back
This image shows the first beta together with the actual released La-5 model. The most notable difference is the front of the canopy.

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.
     
 
     
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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