Lavochkin La-9 by Mikro Mir

1/48 scale
Kit No. 48-005
Retail: $34.00
Decals: Four versions – two Soviet, one North Korean, and one Chinese
Comments: Engraved panel lines, one-piece canopy, internal cockpit sidewall detail, individually mounted propeller blades

History

Like the Grumman Bearcat, the Lavochkin La-9 represented a dedicated effort to bring piston-engined fighter technology to its zenith at the dawn of the jet age, in part because in the immediate post-WWII era, jet engines were not considered sufficiently reliable for the world’s air forces (with the exception of the Luftwaffe) to entirely release their reliance on the technology that had carried them through the most devastating war mankind had yet seen. It was not phased completely out of service until 1959, the same year that the first MiG-21 entered service.

The Lavochkin La-9 can trace its lineage all the way back to the LaGG-3, the brainchild of design bureau chief Semyon Alexse’evich Lavochkin, Vladimir Gorbunov and Mikhail Gudkov. By 1942 the LaGG-3 was numerically one of the most important Soviet fighters serving on the Eastern front, but it was never terribly popular with pilots, being prone to sudden stalls, and spinning during steep turns. It also suffered from fragile landing gear. Pilots nicknamed it the “Guaranteed Varnished Coffin,” a reference to its all wood construction of Siberian birch with a plywood skin impregnated with phenol-formaldehyde as a fire-retardant varnish.

In late 1941 an LaGG-3 airframe was fitted with a Shevtsov M-82A radial engine, and the La-5 was born. The first production aircraft of this model used LaGG-3 airframes modified with an all-round vision canopy. The La-5 made its operational debut at Stalingrad. A subsequent model, the La-5N, was fitted with a more powerful 1,231 kw (1,650 hp) M-82FN engine. It was deployed in large numbers during the Battle of Kursk and would be flown by a number of Russian aces.

The La-9

Further development lead to the La-7, a still more powerful and heavier armed variant of the La-5FN. The La-9, along with the La-11 were the last production piston-engined fighters developed by Lavochkin, but these aircraft only bore a slight resemblance to their predecessors. They represented an entirely new design, noteworthy for featuring a semi-monocoque metal fuselage and new laminar-flow wings. The first prototypes were not flown until 1946, entering service too late to see combat in World War II.

The La-9 retained the ASh-82FN radial engine of the earlier fighters, but had rather heavier firepower consisting of four 23mm NS-23 cannon. Series production was authorized in November 1946 and deliveries to the VVS began in February 1947. The La-9 was faster than most of its contemporaries. Its advanced aerodynamics and powerful 1850 horsepower Shvetsov ASh-82FN radial engine allowed it to reach a maximum speed of 428 mph, offering a significant edge in dogfights, but it would not see significant action until the Korean War.

During its service life from 1946 to 1955, the La-9 proved itself to be an exceptional machine, outperforming WWII-era Soviet fighters in almost every aspect. It was faster, packed more firepower, and had superior range. The La-9 served almost exclusively as an interceptor, with the majority of its engagements during the Korean War seeing it pitted against bomber and transport aircraft. While an improvement over earlier aircraft, the La-9 and La-11 retained the poor high-altitude performance that was common among Soviet piston-engined fighters. This relatively poor high-altitude performance combined with the arrival of the jet engine led swiftly to the La-9’s (and La-11’s) being replaced in most frontline Soviet Air Force (VVS) units with early Soviet jets such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 and MiG-15.

The 1950’s ushered in the jet age, in full force. Jet fighters, notably the MiG-15 for the Soviet Union/Eastern Bloc and the F-86 Sabre for the West, as they battled one another in the skies over Korea, rapidly claimed their place as the tip of the sword for the world’s air forces. With this shift in technology, the La-9 and its piston-engined peers gradually faded from the spotlight. The La-9 was not officially retired until 1959 — the same year that the MiG-21 entered service with the VVS — signalling the end of the piston-engine era for combat aircraft in the Soviet Union. The La-9, a formidable machine in its heyday, finally took its place in the annals of aviation history.

The Kit

Mikro Mir’s Lavochkin La-9 is injection molded in grey plastic and consists of 63 parts, including three clear parts for the canopy, rear armored glass for the pilot, and what may be a navigation light on the spine of the aircraft. The kit features engraved panel lines, four separate film inserts for the instrument panel, and a photo etch fret with an additional 60-odd detail parts to dress up the main and side instrument panels, the pilot’s seat, and the landing gear.

The cockpit will be extremely detailed, for the modelers with the patience to manipulate the many photo etch parts for the instrument panels, seat straps and other components — I counted a total of 38, which may be an all-time high for PE parts in a cockpit. The La-9 “office” features a nicely detailed bucket seat, floor, rear bulkhead with separate armor plate, main instrument panel (to be dressed up with a combination of photo etch and film inserts), and side instrument panels, also with their own PE detail.

The cap of the engine cowl is a single part bearing detailed apertures for the La-9’s main armament of four 23mm cannon, with a separate part for a not-too-detailed engine face that is relatively true to the original, and in any event will be largely hidden by the spinner. Behind this is a large, two-part cowl ring. In addition to the photo etch, there are a number of plastic parts lending additional detail to the airframe, such as the radiator assembly which is to be cemented to the belly, but for which the instruction little guidance as to placement, except for the side profile drawings provided to help with the kit’s four decal options.

While there are two antenna for which radio aerials are to be strung, the kit provides only the larger one for the spine of the fuselage. The assembly instructions make no reference to the smaller antenna located on the leading edge of the vertical tail (although it clearly appears in the side profile drawings), so this will have to be scratch-built. This has the makings of a very good, detailed kit, but omissions of this type will make more work for the modeler. Likewise there is a part for boxed-in wheel wells for the main landing gear bearing a modicum of detail, but the wheels for the main gear both bear visible sink holes that will have to be puttied and sanded.

Markings

The kit provides decals for four versions, all curiously bearing the same paint scheme of overall Light Grey-Blue. The first, White 62 (outlined in red), is a Soviet fighter from the 9th GvIAP in the late 1940’s, and bears markings for red and white diagonal stripes on the vertical tail, along with a spinner whose forward half appears in red. Soviet national markings appear on the fuselage and wings only. The second machine, White 35, is an La-9 from the Borisoglebsk Pilot School, circa 1950, and bears a yellow spinner and cowl, along with a yellow diagonal flash on the uppermost part of the vertical tail. Soviet national markings appear on the fuselage, tail, and wings.

The third set of markings is for an La-9, Red 28 (in stenciled numbers) from an unidentified unit of the North Korean Air Force, circa 1951. It bears a red spinner and red flashes on the wing tips and a red horizontal flash on the uppermost portion of the vertical tail. It also bears North Korean roundels on the fuselage sides and both the upper and lower surfaces of the wings (although sometimes the North Koreans placed roundels on the under surfaces of the wings only, leaving the upper surfaces bare). The last version, Yellow 26, is for an La-9 of the Chinese Air Force, circa 1951. Like the North Korean version, it appears with a red spinner, but had red and white horizontal stripes on its rudder, as well as Chinese national markings on its fuselage and wings. Like the Americans, the Chinese place the wing markings on the upper surface of the left wing and lower surface of the right wing only.

Conclusion

This is a detailed kit of the La-9 that nonetheless will require a bit of extra work to get it looking presentable. The subject matter alone makes it an intriguing project. There is a bit of flash here and there, the detail on some of the landing gear is a bit soft, and the sink holes in the main gear stand out as a defect that must be remedied. Finally there are visible undulations in the canopy that speak to the quality of the mold, although they may be hidden with one or two applications of Future or some other clear lacquer. This kit has the potential to be an excellent model, but it may take some skilled effort.

References

• aeropedia.com.au
• avistar.org
• www.jetprops.com
• wikipedia.org