LaGG-3 build in progress pictures

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

in the same spirit as my UM BT-7 build is my latest: Roden’s LaGG-3. (which will probably be followed by another kit in the same vein in my crappy eastern european kit collection, the SU-76M, but that’s later).

here’s the kit at greatmodels.com if you want to see some review:
http://greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=rod037
(although i don’t know if it’s been built in either of those).

ain’t it pretty? the box art is wrong btw (afaik), that’s an early model lagg before they started putting missiles on them and think the intake’s not right either, doesn’t matter. here’s the painting instructions:

they mixed up the 11 and 1 series images, there’s a good start. details are incorrect as well.

I will admit that the casting does have some very nice, if not subtle, panel detail. unfortunately…

mostly all the large parts have flash on them. that rudder has actually been trimmed somewhat. the nosecone you are told to use in the instructions is incorrect. fortunately, the other nosecone is included along with a multitude of parts for all the models. later model rudder, wing parts, tail parts. again unfortunately the correct nose cone has the opening at the front for the cannon. the cannon’s not in the kit so i had to make my own.

the cockpit is fairly simple but reasonable for 1/72 scale stuff: there’s decals for the dash but i made a simple bevel panel instead of the flat option and scratched some parts to make the stick.

the seat looked alright but i decided to scratch build some seatbelts.

note that i screwed up and painted the inside of the cockpit a metallic flat grey like the instructions said. guess what, the plane was made almost entirely of wood. i guess the interior might’ve been painted silver but i have my doubts. the interior took some hammering and cutting to fit into the fuselage…

the white strips on either side are there to replicate the canopy rails. i’m going for a loose representation of a generic leningrad defense winter lagg which means chopped landing gear panels, a nasty looking whitewash job and a removed canopy (to allow the pilot to bail out when the plane decided that whole staying in the air thing is highly over-rated…)

the fuselage… well it’s kinda like a plane but it’s also kinda like a warped jigsaw puzzle with some pieces missing. you like filling gaps? 1/32" spaces between should-be-flush panels turn you on? well this is the kit for you!

see all that gray silvery stuff on the plane? yeh, i know the styrene is gray, it’s hard to see, i’m sorry. if you look carefully you can see the 2/3" wide strip of putty on each wing seam, all the way down the back spine of the place and right behind the hood.

and look at that, all the cowles had to be pretty much sculpted out of the putty. it’s very therapeutic actually, kinda like trimming the little trees… oh yeh, the general shape of the bottom of the fuselage in the back was wrong, needed to trim that…

remember that nice surface detail i mentioned? now remember all that filing and sculpting putty. yup, all the lovely detail gone. good thing i like rescribing panel lines. wait, no i dont…

and that’s just the bottom. the sides were much more of a pain in the ass.

oh yeh, and i put the rear windows too (scratch built the “glass” too because the original pieces they give you aren’t curved and look scewed up and then i fogged one of the windows up with glue…) and added the tail. the tail went on alright but i did need to cut off the tabs for the slots on the fuselage to line things up correctly.

gotta have all those bolts too. yeh, it looks like crap… poke poke poke poke poke poke… mmmmmmm, mind numbing…

the white ring at the prop is a correction to the nosecone.

looking close up i can see plenty of blemishes now. guess i’ll just have to blame it on the shoddy workmanship of the original (it’s VERY authentic [:D]). when they first started making the LaGGs they might as well had been made with stone tools.

2

lol, great progress report. why can’t we just bomb and destroy all cheap manufacturers forever?

3

ok, so i guess this build isn’t getting much enthusiasm but that’s alright. i’m still going to post more pics because i’m crazy like that. anyway maybe someone who likes LaGG’s will come across this, who knows…


landing gear. The kit’s strut fairing was a little on the thick side (actually it was probably better armored than a tank) so cut out replacement bits from sheet brass.


cockpit masked off and the plane is ready for paint. wish me luck.

4

Hey, I’ve had my share of low-intrest builds. Put em up anyway! Someone’ll enjoy them.

Nice progress, by the way. [:D]

5

G-monkey-I feel that some European manufacturers can be “uneven” in qualty although they produce unusual subjects-due maybe to short runs but you gotta love them! BTW-great documentation!

6

Nice build review of a trouble filled kit. Thanks for posting.

Regards, Rick

7

They sure do make you appreciate the quality kits.

8

AND i’m back.

tried out the new aztek doing a base coat and panel lines…

100% realistic! i think i’m done!

ah what the hell, i’m on a roll…

had to fix some cracks on the leading edge of the wings, a litlte putty, some sanding, now we’re up to 110% realism!

loaded up the aztek again and came up with this:

note that all that carefully applied preshading (yeh right, who am i kidding…) has disappeared in a flash of acrylic. hurah! it’s actually a faded khaki with greenish gray stripes but the light makes it look a melancholy blue. i guess it’s still better than the orange sunset glow my desk lamp gives off. here’s the other side and front:

tomorrow, we blast the bottom side of the plane with that lovely “i’m the sky, really!” shade of sickly blue.

9

more progress pictures:



some bottom side blue for the plane. the panel line preshading actually shows through this time around. painted the wings and the fuselage then noticed that i actually MASKED off the bottom surfaces of the tail. would’ve corrected my error sooner but i washed part of the aztek nozzle down the sink and had to get a new one (which luckily actually works better). talk about $10 down the drain…



the worn whitewash. the flaked-off paint came out more or less decent even if i did manage to strip the paint to the bare plastic in a few tiny spots.

incidentally, that’s my fiancee’s desk. best spot for decent light. me personally, i’m not really a shakespear fan. [:)]

10

Looking real good so far. Keep us posted.

Regards, Rick

11

As much as you make fun of your own progress, I have to say things are turning out pretty spiffy.

The whole paint scheme is coming together nicely I think, and I cant wait to see the final submission.

“I’m the sky…really!”
ROTFLMAO[(-D][(-D]

12

thanks rick.

time to let the world know whose plane this is. but… uh… the number’s made up as far as i know. [:)]

the decals looked pretty nice but i didn’t want any of the “real plane” numbers and cuttings things to rearrange them wouldn’t really work since most of them are white and that wouldn’t really show up so i chose to make a mask instead of my usual mix-and-match splice job. i guess i could’ve made it red 53 but the red decals look too bright anyway.


this took a bit to line up properly. i was going to make one mask for the numbers and one for the star but then figured it’d be more of a hassle to move a painted bit of masking tape and just cut out individual masks for each location.



voila, rose 37. it actually just looks like faded depressing red on the model itself but mixing the color, i put in too much black and was afraid it’d look rather strange. gave it a light misting of cleaner, “redder” red to break up the homogeneity of the solid color and fix up the color a bit and it seems to have come out alright.

13

Don’t you like those limited-run kits[:D]? Your LaGG-3 so far is absolutely amazing, it looks like a 1/48!!! The progress you provided is excellent and well documented. I’ve seen this kit before and almost purchased it but went for a (Toko) French P-39 Instead. Keep us updated.

14

Looks awesome. I am scratch building slowly (read learn as I am going along) 1/24 scale Lagg-3

15

damn forum move, “goatmonkey” is ONE word…

woodbeck, i’d love to see some pics of this scratch-building project of yours.

the build goes on. the plane is finally standing on it’s own two… eh… three… the landing gear is on. i also added soot from the exhaust and armament along with some scratches.

the windscreen (no canopy here!) is painted and glued on but i left the mask on for now in preparation for clear-coating and all that good stuff but for some reason, i took the tape off the rear glass. the antenna is up but still needs the wires.

The scratch-built (and over-sized, i think it doubles as a head-rest) sight is also in. As you can see, the pilot needs to stop wearing cleets while climbing into the already dingy looking aircraft.

like i said before, the gear is on and here it is in all its glory.


i’m still not trusting the glue to hold the plane up on its wheels. i think i’ll keep the lagg on its back until the base is ready…

16

question: what color would you dry-brush this with? i was thinking buff or a pale deck-tan but i’m afraid it’ll come out to stylized instead of remotely realistic looking. any suggestions?

17

well the plane is done.

that’s not the end though. I plan to put it in a little scene with some figures. only no one really makes soviet pilots and ground crew in 1/72 scale so i had to make my own out of revell’s australian infantry set that comes with the 1/72 firefly kit.




all the heads had to be transplanted and modified. half the arms had to be transplanted and spliced up as well.

18

GM,

Very nice job on the LaGG. It’s nice to see something different - glad you stuck to posting the progress pics. That’s a very sharp looking bird.

Chris

19

goatmonkey

Looks very nice How did you get the peeled paint? I really like the way it turned out.

20

thanks. the paint chipping was done by stippling on some masking solutions in the spots to be peeled before the whitewash coat went on then removing those parts of it with masking tape.