History
Although
the La-7 represented an advancement over the La-5.
The La-7 flew in November 1943 for the first time. It was placed in service
in May
1944 and 5753 machines were produced. The La-7
possessed a Ash-82 FNV radial engine with an output of 1850 PS. The
machine reached a maximum speed of 761 km/h. The armament consisted of 2
and/or later 3 20-mm automatic cannons.
The
Model
The
model comes from the Czech company Gavia. The 69 injection molded parts
are flash-free. The assembly followed the step by step instructions.
The cockpit could use some photo etch detailing. I built
the model from the box, with few changes of the details. I weathered
the cockpit and
replaced the missing belts with photo etch from Extra Tech.
My
machine represents the airplane of Lieutenant Colonel S.F. Dolguschin,
commander of the 156. FAR. He achieved 17 confirmed kills (alone) and 11
partial victories during the Great Patriotic (War World War 2).
S.F. Dolguschin flew 500 missions, of these 120 were ground attacks and 86
fighter sweep missions. I found the the red/white tail unit and the red engine front with the emblem of a hero of
the Soviet Union to be quite attractive. The machine was otherwise
overall bluish gray
(Russian designation AMT 11) the lower surfaces were light blue (Russian
designation AMT 7). These colors were introduced in the summer 1943 and
maintained until the end of war.
Steffen
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