Print Scale 1/72 Lavochkin La-5 Decals
By Matt Bittner
If you're looking for alternate markings for your 1/72 La-5 then you'll want to track down this set. There are 18 different aircraft you can finish using this set from Print Scale. The instructions show a side view for each aircraft, and have a generic top view for the more usual camouflage patterns. In addition color call-outs – in terms of typical VVS nomenclature – exist for each aircraft as well when warranted (for example, the all-white aircraft have no color call-outs for obvious reasons). The following aircraft are catered for (captions are taken straight from the instruction sheet):
- "4 GvIAP of Air Forces Baltik fleet, the pilot the senior lieutenant Dmitrev V.M. Summer 1943r."
- "5 th GvIAP, 11th GvIAD, 2nd GvShAK, 1st Ukrainian front. The plan is got on the means collected by a jazz band of Leonid Utesov."
- "240th IAP The Plan twice the Hero of Soviet Union K.A.Yevstigneyev. Spring 1943r."
- "La-5 FN, the commander of a link 171 IAP Veshnjakova I.A. 1944."
- "La-5 Early series. Kursk fight, area of Belgorad, 1943"
- "La-5F squadron "Mongolian arat" 2nd GIAP. Has been constructed on the means collected by inhabitants of Mongolia."
- "La-5 FN, 5th GvIAP, 11th GvIAP, 2nd GvShAK! 1st Ukrainian front. The pilot twice the hero of the Soviet union, guards captain Vitaly Popokov. 1943."
- "La-5 FN fron structure 175 GIAP, in February 1945 on it captain Evstignev K.A. flied"
- "La-5 first series. The pilot the lieutenant Patoka. On August, 19th, 1942 the plane has been broken in fights under Stalingrad."
- "1st Czechoslovak fighter regiment, Pilot Pavel Kocfelda. The plane has broken during an emergency landing in Zolna, Slovakia, on October 11th, 1944."
- "La-5 FN, 63 GvIAP. Pilot – Maresev A.P. Summer-Autumn 1943r."
- "La-5 FN, 32 GvIAD, 1 GvIAK. The senriou lieutenant Vladimir Orebov. Leningrad, July 1944r."
- "La-5, Commander of 2nd AE, guards of captain Ivan Lavejkin. Stangradsky front, winter 1942-43rr."
- "La-5 The commander 31, Lieutenant colonel G.D.Onufrienko, spring of 1944."
- "La-5 lieutenant P.Rakov. Summer 1944r. Non-standard board number of yellow color and a yellow fringing of stars."
- "La-5 960 IAP, Spanish pilot Vincent Beltran, June 1943r."
- "La-5F in a new gray camouflage, but with stars of the old sample. Belongs to the navigator 126 IAP, air defense, to captain Beljasnik, 1943."
- "La-5 The commander of a squadron of 532rd IAP Harchenko S.I.Kursk and arch, spring-summer of 1943."
Even though the paper the decals are printed on is a light blue, I really don't think this will have any bearing on the decals themselves. If I were to complain it would be the fact that only one side is offered for each aircraft as its color profile. It definitely would have been better to supply all four sides (port, starboard, upper and lower) so there is no guesswork.
But even so, don't let that stop you from picking up these decals. There are plenty of schemes to be used on 1/72 La-5s.
Many thanks to Print Scale for sending this review sample.