I wanted to
start a series of models dedicated to WWII aces and my first choice was
Kozedub’s La-7 “White 27”.
Kozhedub
Fast, brutal
and deadly – nicknamed “Ivan the terrible”, Kozhedub was the allied top
ace during WWII. With a late start, during the spring of 1943 he scored 62
victories, including a Me-262 (the only one shot down in flight by the Russian
army during the entire war).
He scored also
another 2 other victories – 2 U.S. P-51 Mustangs which he was forced to shoot
down over Berlin in 1945. The Americans have mistakenly taken his plane for a
German one. Both shot downs were confirmed by USAAF.
During one of
his latest interview, Kozhedub revealed that he never shared a victory with his
colleagues. He simply gave them the whole victory. So, probably the number of
victories scored by him was far greater than 62.
Later, in the
Korean War Air Marshall Kozhedub’s unit scored 207 victories over the U.N.
troops with a loss of 27 Mig.15, and 9 pilots.
La - 7
A true racer,
the La-7 was the fastest single engine, propeller driven aircraft of the WWII.
With its elliptical wings it could out turn any German opponent. The superb
climb rate, and powerful armament made from it the only Russian fighter that
easily adapted to the hit and run tactics adopted by Luftwaffe during the last
phase of the war. The armament was assured by two ShwaK, 20mm canons and later
by three canons of the same caliber, mounted in the nose of the plane.
The only
drawback was the general low quality of components, typical for the Russian
industry of that period.
Kozhedub’s
La-7 – “White 27”
This plane has
a very interesting story and it is incredible that “White 27” was completely
destroyed in a stupid accident.
For all of you
that are interested I strongly recommend to read the following article:
“Lost in
Time... The Misadventures of Ivan Kozhedub's Famous "White 27””
http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Markings/Kozhedubs_White27/index.php
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The Kit
I have not used
any detail set as I wanted to concentrate myself to obtain a very good finish of
the model.
I made a
lot of correction to this kit as many shapes and dimensions are not ok:
-
corrected
the position of the airplane (seems to stay with the nose up), by reducing
the length of landing gear;
-
rescribe
the panel lines as the original seemed to by not deep enough;
-
reshaped
the vertical stabilizer;
-
hollowed
out the wing compressor ducts;
-
hollowed
out the cannon muzzles;
-
made the
pitot tube from a syringe needle
-
I have also
cut out the red margins of stars (decals) as the original were post WWII
ones (with a red stripe at the exterior)
The
instructions for painting Kozhedub’s airplane are wrong as they are indicating
a 2 tone camouflage. The decals are also wrong and the number 27 has a
completely different shape. As I felt that I have already pushed the envelope to
much I have left the shape on the 27 as it was.
I have painted
the plane in a single color camo with post shading on the upper areas and pre
shading on the belly. To a certain point it looks ok to me, but I think that I
have used a to dark color for the post shading.
The gloss coat
was made with Klir / Future and panels wash with oil paints. I have applied the
decals using Solva-Set and Solva-Sol without any problems.
The last coat
was a 95% diluted yellow to simulate the effect of the sun.
Smoke stains
were airbrushed, using masks with Tamiya Smoke.
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Diorama
Somewhere in
East Germany, in the spring of 1945 Kozedub’s “White 27” is parked near
some barrels (Tamiya 1/35 jerry cans). A few rocks, a bush and 2 wooden planks
(set there to avoid the mud) are part of the little diorama.
It took almost
6 months to build this model (mostly a couple of hours in weekends) but I
enjoyed every moment.
A WARM - HAPPY
MODELING ! - FROM ROMANIA
Christian
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