I started with the cockpit. The resin is near perfect with really well done small levers and knobs, which look much better than two dimensional PE.

I added some linkages to the throttle quadrant.

Painted A-14 gray using Gunze colors and given a wash of black/brown oils:

The downside to the resin set is the acetate for the panel has some poor printing, so the gauges don't come through much at all. Should have gone with eduard here.

 Did some chipping on the armor:

I hope to have new updates again by the weekend.  

Awesome work Nathan! I have 3 of these newer Zvezda kits (Yak, La-5, and 109) and I am dying to tear into one. Will definitely be tagging along!!

Right On Nathan! Excellent work on the office you have done so far. I am more than interested in watching you build this as I picked up that kit for my last birthday. I've been gathering some AM goodies for it. How does the fit seem so far? I'm really intrigued as to how well these Zvezda kits are.

Man Nathan. First off I admire any scratch work. On top of that is the fact that you have a good looking interior anyways. Plus the Zvezda approach is good to begin with. Nice looking build so far, Joe

Thanks guys. Joe Rix the fit is pretty good. It takes alittle planning ahead, but it won't need much putty at all. We'll wait to see how the multiple cowling parts line up though....

So are you going to close up the cowling or leave some open to expose the engine?

JOE RIX

So are you going to close up the cowling or leave some open to expose the engine?

All closed up guys. Actually I might not even use the engine

Awww man!

Sorry to dissapoint. I'd rather focus on painting and weathering this thing rather than open it up. But, I do have a resin cockpit and gunbay set for my Gavia La-7 kit, which will be opened up! Hopefully that will see the light of day in the coming months...

Got the cockpit installed in the fuselage and the major assemblies glued up. The wings fit pretty well, but the top and bottom of the gearbays didn't align very well. I guess they won't be seen real well though. The fuselage halves fit real good. I just had to make sure that the fuselage width up front matched up with the profile of the windscreen. So this involved some triming of the top of the instrument panel.

Here's the mismatch gear bays. It left a small step all the way around:

Wing tips need to be puttied here:

Next up is the cowl panels. I hope I won't need to spend too much time with the putty tube...

Nice work Nathan.  I've been eyeing this kit on Ebay for quite some time.  Thanks for the WIP thread and I will be watching your progress.

Joe

Good to have you aboard for this one Joe. Now go buy the kit (and aftermarket decals)...

Love the cockpit, you're off to a great start!

She appears to be coming along quite nicely Nathan. Great work. You're getting me rather enthused to build mine. Thanks.

I'm finally back to finish off the Lavochkin. I did the Conversion to the F using AML's resin pieces. It was really tricky to cut off the kits carb scoop on top without destroying the nice detail on the cowlings. The resin scoops didn't fit all that well and there were some gaps to be filled with epoxy and surfacer. If I could do this conversion over, I'd buy the straight La-5 kit and kitbash the two. Pics of the cowling to follow. I did add a simple piece of card to the back of the spinner, as its missing in the kit. There should be a round plate between the back of the spinner and the fan like this:

Punched it out of card:

I glued it on to the cooling fins. Canopy is masked the whole model is about ready for priming. Stay tuned!

Nice work Nathan.  Can't wait to see this one done.

Joe

Glad to see this one back up front Nathan! Good eye on that plate behind the spinner.

Thanks for hanging in there guys. I see now Eduard has released this kit in a limited edition boxing, with all the pe and resin tires. Decals are nice, but I was hoping for more resin goodies from them, such as an engine or resin guns and gun bay. That kit is still on my list though as I want to build another La-5.

Looking forward to seeing the progress, nice improvising Nathan.

Almost ready to prime. I have to try and fair in the rear canopy section. There are 2 rear canopy parts offered. One is skinnier to allow the kit hood to slide open, but it doesn't fit as well:

Added brake lines:

Here's the resin scoops attached to make this an La-5f:

I'll also be adding these nice tires from Roy Sutherland:

I posed the elevators with minimal fuss:

More to come...

Can't wait to see the painting .  Loving it so far Nathan.  Nice touch with the cowl guns.  

Joe

Painting is Done! Here's the steps:

Pre-shaded, then the first color, Amt-7 Blue going on:

Metal parts were sprayed and masked off before the camo.

The top camo then went on. They are a custom mix of Gunze colors. I sprayed them on freehand, then slightly lightened the colors. Its hard to make out in the pics. Metal panels were then un-masked:

Resin wheels and prop painted:

Gloss and decals coming up...

Looks real nice Nathan.   Happy to see the quality of the Zvezda parts too

Lookin' good man! Love the camo scheme.

Thanks guys! Toughest part was mixing the colors to the right shades.

Very nice, Nathan.

jeaton01

Very nice, Nathan.

Sweet looking build Nathan!

Good job Nathan! Man that is one wild shade of blue!!!