[MOC] - 1/32 Lavochkin's La-11 (NATO code 'Fang')

[Max_Lego]

124 years ago Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin, who designed the Soviet Union's finest fighter aircrafts during the Great Patriotic War, was born. I decided to celebrate his birthday by posting photos of my La-11 Lego MOC, of which I am very proud 

Yeah, I know this collage is silly, but it's the best I could do...

About the aircraft 

Lavochkin's La-9 and La-11 are a mystery for military aircraft historians (but not to me!). I believe I should debunk some common knowledge concerning them:

1) Despite having similar airframes, the La-9 and La-11 were very different - in fact, they had much less in common with each other than the Spitfire F.22 and F.24.  La-11's equipment, radio antennae, cockpit interior, tailwheel, navigation lights and fuel system were different compared to La-9 (for example, the holes in La-11's wingtips are rudiments from the initial non-droppable fuel tanks idea, unlike the navigation lights of La-9)

2) The La-11 was by no means 'worse' than the La-9 - while being heavier than its predecessor due to more fuel and better radio equipment, it could use only three fuel tanks out of five to achieve better performance (the La-11's performance data on the Internet is for a fully-fueled aircraft, which is unfair). It was, in fact, much less underpowered than the USAF's magnificent F-51H 'Lightweight' Mustang (a more powerful overall engine with less full weight) while having a greater range despite the latter's use of drop tanks (although I'm not sure if it's still correct when the F-51H employed 165-gallon drop tanks). It was a very good aircraft, just designed with a different idea in mind.

3) Contary to what any military aircraft historians claim, the La-11 did score a victory over a B-29. In 1952, two La-11s manned by Zhiryakov and Lesnov engaged the 'Sunbonnet king' RB-29 reconnaissance modification of the bomber (s/n 44-61815) near Yuri Island after the latter entered the USSR territorial waters from Korea, refused to cooperate and opened fire, as 'unarmed' US spy aircraft, shot by 'Communist barbarians', always did (the desire to get away without being forced to land on enemy territory is utterly understandable), which resulted in the aircraft's crash in the sea. Pilots recalled seeing 'green debris' on the surface of the water - not surprising, considering that the B-29's interior was painted green.

This particular late-production La-11 from the 911 fighter aircraft regiment, based in Chukotka, participated in the 1949 polar expedition as part of an experiment, where Soviet Air Force aircraft temporarily operated on a snowy airfield in the Arctic. The expedition was filmed on camera, and the footage was used in a documentary. The 4 La-11 involved were painted dark red instead of the usual greyish blue to be better seen on the white background.

The build

I didn't take photos of the initial version of my MOC - it was a fat abomination with a horrible canopy, which was a sad result of an excessive engine cowling diameter. I decided to take a risk and completely redesign the build, and it resulted in what I initially considered a 'masterpiece' - the model had beautiful proportions and was exactly at 1/32 scale, just as I intended. The details are more accurate than on most assembled model kits and ANY modern technical drawing of the airplane (for example, the antenna under the tail and round transparent radiocompass cap, omitted almost everywhere). Sadly, the build is red, not dark red as it should've been. Many small details were achieved with the help of custom stickers.

Although much more cramped than the original, the cockpit fits a pilot minifigure perfectly and comes completed with an instrument panel and gunsight:

The landing gear is (almost) fully retractable (I had to omitt the small doors for obvious reasons):

 A picture with pilots maintaining the airplane on the snow:

Sadly, Lavochkin was less successful when itroducing jet fighters. After his death, the Design bureau moved to space development, designing the famous 'Lunokhod-1' moon rover.

Thanks for watching!

Edited September 11 by Max_Lego

[Feuer Zug]

Thank you for the history lesson on this Soviet aircraft. Your build is quite nice and has plenty of details, including the landing gear and radio aerials.

[Max_Lego]

15 minutes ago, Feuer Zug said:

Thank you for the history lesson on this Soviet aircraft. Your build is quite nice and has plenty of details, including the landing gear and radio aerials.

Thanks, I just have those personal feelings for the La-9 and La-11 - those aircraft are still terra incognita, and no one did them justice. 

The problem with my airplanes is that I don't often include working control surfaces, and while it's not critical (my primary inspirers @Ralph_S and @jonhall18 also don't allays do that on minifigure-scale aircraft), it would've been a nice addition. Hopefully, my next airplane will have them

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Beautiful model, perfectly made!

The landing gear is perfect as well as the tail rudder cable details!

[Max_Lego]

42 minutes ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Beautiful model, perfectly made!

The landing gear is perfect as well as the tail rudder cable details!

Thank you so much! 

[_TLG_]

Cool!

[Max_Lego]

27 minutes ago, _TLG_ said:

Cool!

Thanks!