Author Topic: Lavochkin Revisited  (Read 11086 times)

Wizzel

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Lavochkin Revisited
« on: March 22, 2020, 09:36:10 PM »
Evening all.  Quite a few years ago, I completed what was my best model to date - the 1/72 Revell Lavochkin LA5 FN.  I was pretty chuffed with it and displayed it at the Hull Veterans' Support Centre Model Show.  On the way back and due wholly to me being a complete biff in stacking my models very poorly on the front seat of the car, one of my other models, a rather cumbersome Churchill Crocodile diorama, fell on top of it and squashed it.

I put it away and told myself that I would one day repair it and restore it to its' former glory and I eventually got brave enough to try.  Sadly, a couple of bits were beyond repair and the tail wheel had gone astray so I decided that instead I would have to get even braver and damage it deliberately some more and turn it into a crashed aircraft.  I sourced a Soviet pilot from CMK Resins, a Gaz-42 truck from a company called Military Wheels (Hannants list them as Model Wheels) and some ground crew figures from Zvezda and got to work.  I haven't got many pictures but Have included a couple of the original LA5 and some of the diorama to date.

The truck is a real pig with soft plastic, not very snug fitting parts, no locating pins or holes and vague instructions but I have made something of it.  I can always cover any imperfections with mud and rust!  The company actually do a decent range of 1/72 scale kits and I would buy more from them as it's a good test of modelling skills.

MSea

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2020, 08:01:37 AM »
That will keep you quiet for a while Wizz - good to have you back posting on the site
MSea

zak

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2020, 09:27:13 AM »
Looking good, Dave.
The farmer will be cursing about his ploughed field.
Grumpy by name and nature

Bigkev

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2020, 04:46:09 PM »
Hi Wizzel,
Ingenuity at its best.
Unable to retrieve the model so make into something new!
What about a bottle of Vodka, from the farmer, for the downed airman, in tribute to his efforts!
Cheers,
Bigkev
I hope my next is always better

Wizzel

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2020, 06:46:15 PM »
Thanks for the comments all.  It was supposed to have crashed on a bit of level ground which was rutted with tyre tracks rather than a ploughed field, however, fresh eyes and all that - you've given me some inspiration to grow it in another direction.  I'll nip off now and see what other accessories I can find...

Bigkev

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2020, 04:58:10 PM »
Thanks for the comments all.  It was supposed to have crashed on a bit of level ground which was rutted with tyre tracks rather than a ploughed field, however, fresh eyes and all that - you've given me some inspiration to grow it in another direction.  I'll nip off now and see what other accessories I can find...

Hi Wizzel,
Somebody else's view can put things into perspective modelling wise.
But what it also does is it opens your own individuality to create that different 'something'...
Keep at it, it shows great promise.
Bigkev
I hope my next is always better

Wizzel

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2020, 07:05:52 PM »
I'm having a go at painting the figure with oils!  It's fun.  The resin casting provides a lot of detail but of course also needs patience whilst it dries.  Everything is in various stages of drying from some form of paint, varnish or glue so I took a little break after tea but the extra time I've gained from working at home is really getting me back into it.  I hope to make good progress not only on this project but on some of the others which have been gathering dust for too long.

MSea

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2020, 07:35:08 PM »
You are lucky Wizz - I have not touched plastic for the past few days -- repotting my bonsai, planting shrubs, tidying the garden, sorting out lots of boxes that have been on the list to do for several years and also watching lots of films with "she who must be obeyed" and also reading several big books ( yes Zak I can read but mainly look at the pictures)
MSea

Bigkev

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2020, 08:23:26 PM »
You are lucky Wizz - I have not touched plastic for the past few days -- repotting my bonsai, planting shrubs, tidying the garden, sorting out lots of boxes that have been on the list to do for several years and also watching lots of films with "she who must be obeyed" and also reading several big books ( yes Zak I can read but mainly look at the pictures)

OMG, Msea,
Reading a dictionary (without any pictures) , I never knew were a man of words.
If only it was true, in reality you are a plastic basher!
Bigkev
I hope my next is always better

Red Lancer

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2020, 09:44:36 AM »
I hope this works.... first time I've posted anything!!!
 It looks really good, especially the ground and tree.

how is the tree made?

zak

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2020, 10:47:50 AM »
I hope this works.... first time I've posted anything!!!
 It looks really good, especially the ground and tree.

how is the tree made?
Well done, it worked, I am now trying to work out who Red Lancer is?
I do have a slight inkling.
Grumpy by name and nature

MSea

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2020, 01:34:35 PM »
I hope this works.... first time I've posted anything!!!
 It looks really good, especially the ground and tree.

how is the tree made?
Well done, it worked, I am now trying to work out who Red Lancer is?
I do have a slight inkling.
I have no idea BUT its great to have more on the web site -- look forward to seeing some of your models on the site soon
MSea

Wizzel

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #12 on: March 28, 2020, 07:22:03 PM »
I hope this works.... first time I've posted anything!!!
 It looks really good, especially the ground and tree.

how is the tree made?

Hi Red Lancer, welcome to the madness and to your first post.  The tree is a bit of seafoam which is a dried plant called Teloxis Aristata.  You can actually grow your own and I may have a go at this.  I just pulled a bit off that was the size I wanted then sprayed it with a watered down mix of white glue from a pump spray bottle then dipped it in some of that sprinkle grass.  You can do as many coats of this as you need to get the effect you want.  It's my first time making trees too, so you can see how easy it must be.

Anyway, a little more progress has been made.  I've now finished the truck - with the exception of a little more weathering - and am getting on well with the pilot figure.  The farming comments have made me think (steady on old boy!).  There is now going to be a fence around the raised grassed area which the LA5 will have smashed through and I now need some sheep to pose is an "escaped from the meadow" attitude.  The ground crew figures I have can just as easily be holding on to escaped sheep as turning the handle of a fuel pump, so until the sheep arrive, I will try and get the fence and figures finished.  The fence may as well have some barbed wire running along it too.  Some pics of how it is coming along are attached and though not much seems to have changed, quite a lot has happened to it since the last pics. 

MSea

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2020, 07:46:30 PM »
Will it be Shaun the Sheep who has escaped - will it be animated ?????   I think I need to get out more - Ohh no can't go out
MSea

Wizzel

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Re: Lavochkin Revisited
« Reply #14 on: March 30, 2020, 09:51:17 AM »
Will it be Shaun the Sheep who has escaped - will it be animated ?????   I think I need to get out more - Ohh no can't go out
That's perhaps just as well for the rest of us.  We don't want MSea Syndrome on top of everything else now do we!

Anyway, I was sat painting the figures last night and pondering the fence construction when I suddenly realised what was missing from the general look of the diorama.  Muck on the plane!  I didn't want to have to carry a little pot of loose soil around so I could sprinkle it on the thing like Francis did - although he did do a very good job of his - so just as I did when I deliberately damaged the plane for the crash, I got very brave and stuck clods of earth to it, even though it took the eye away from those carefully crafted cannon holes in the starboard wing somewhat.  I even moulded a little lump on the ground which matched up with a bit hanging off the port wing root to assist in placing the plane on the ground.  Having the time and the company (thank you BWSMC friends) to do this is wonderful therapy!