Prop & Jet 1/72 Lavochkin La-160
By Matt Bittner
Introduction
The Lavochkin La-160 was the Soviet Union’s first foray into swept-wing, jet aircraft. It was meant primarily as a research aircraft into swept-wing designs, and was flown until it broke apart in mid-air, due to (at that time unknown) wing flutter. However, it was because of its research that Soviet designers moved towards aircraft with swept wings.
The Kit
Prop & Jet’s 1/72 Lavochkin La-160 consists of 28 pieces of gray resin and two vacuum-formed canopies (one a spare). This aircraft did fly with national insignia so Prop & Jet includes their “standard” set of decals that include the red stars. The resin is – as is always with the company – top notch and the detail is outstanding. It’s my opinion that Prop & Jet is one of the few companies producing resin kits that are either at the standards of plastic injected companies or, in many cases, light-years better. The amount of detail in the parts in one of Prop & Jet kits really need to be seen to be believed, but it’s some of the best out there.
The instructions take you into some parts clean-up first. There is a small ridge of resin along the upper fuselage halves that needs to be removed, a bit of a “pour block” that needs to be removed from the cockpit tub (I’m still trying to figure out how Prop & Jet can fit the amazing amount of detail into a one-piece cockpit tub, without requiring multiple pieces – it truly boggles the mind), and “pour blocks” that need to be removed from the intake trunk, the exhaust can and exhaust fan. Once all that is accomplished then construction is started by assembling the intake and exhaust pieces. When you start adding all the interior pieces into one fuselage half, pay attention to the instructions because there is a lot of weight that needs to be added to the nose to keep it sitting on its nose gear correctly (and don’t worry about the “resin” landing gear, because each landing gear leg is internally reinforced with wire). Actually the instructions are a little bit confusing. The drawing that shows where the weight (and how much) should be placed shows all the internal pieces in place. However, the part of the instructions that have you assemble the pieces together shows the intake “trunk” being added after the fuselage halves are glued together. I would add the intake to one fuselage half first, to have the area in place where the weight needs to be added.
Once the fuselage halves are assembled with everything inside, then construction should proceed quickly. After the wings, horizontal stabs and rudder are glued into place, you can paint. The exhaust can be added later, so painting this separate from the rest of the model is best. The canopy can be added after painting, or – if closing it up – added before (after adding the seat and control stick, of course) and masked.
Final construction consists of adding the landing gear, gear doors and antenna mast with antenna wires. Now that it’s all together, you have an excellent example of the first swept-wing Soviet jet on your modeling shelves.
Conclusion
If you have not had the pleasure of picking up a Prop & Jet model yet, you’re really doing yourself a disservice. These are the top-of-the-mark resin kits, and the subject matter Prop & Jets select no one else will probably do (unless they take a Prop & Jet kit and copy it, but that’s out of the scope of this article). I would actually recommend this particular kit, the La-160, as your first foray since there isn’t a lot to the kit, and assembling it shouldn’t be too tricky or difficult. Since these early Lavochkin jets were painted overall-gray, finishing the kit won’t be difficult, either. In any event, do yourself a favor and pick up the La-160 from Prop & Jet.
My sincere thanks to Prop & Jet for sending the La-160 in for review.