ICM 1/48 Lagg-3 Series 7/11

The Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 (Лавочкин-Горбунов-Гудков ЛаГГ-3) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. It was a refinement of the earlier LaGG-1 and was one of the most modern aircraft available to the Soviet Air Force at the time of Germany's invasion in 1941. Despite its wooden construction, it was overweight and underpowered, at one stage 12 LaGG-3s were being completed daily and 6,528 had been built when factory 31 in Tbilisi switched to Yak-3 production in 1944.

This kit was initially release in 2008 and was for the very early series 1-4 aircraft. This kit followed shortly after the later series 35 was released in 2009. Typical of ICM and some other companies, you get parts on the sprues that are not used in this boxing. Like the early kit, this one has the straight rudder with external balances.

There is a fairly nicely done cockpit and we are provided detail on the inside of the fuselage halves. As part of the rear bulkhead of the cockpit, there is coolant ducting attached. A decal is provided for the instrument panel. A nice touch is that one can install the cockpit floor and parts put upon it from the underside once the fuselage halves are glued together.

On the upper side, one has choices of the upper cowling for the series 7 or the series 11 and the instructions are very good at delineating the differences between these two types.  When the wings are assembled, you have the option of  RS-82 rockets. These rockets were part of the upgrade to the series 11. You can also install pylons for drop tanks. Note that all these underwing items are butt joins as there are no holes into which the rails/pylons can be attached.

Landing gear are nicely done and the mounting points appear to be quite positive. The canopy and windscreen are separate, though I'm not sure if the canopy can be posed open. The prop assembly has separate blades and you can install the exhaust from the outside after you have painted the kit.

Instructions are a single folded sheet of paper. Model Master and generic paint references are provided. Markings are provided for two aircraft. One is the series 11 aircraft shown on the box art in the standard day scheme used by fighters in 1942. The other is a winter wash series 7 also from 1942. Both operated in the north western part of the country. Decals are very nicely done and are fairly glossy. I've not used these types from ICM so don't know how well they will work.

ICM kits are generally ones that fit fairly well. They provided a decent amount of detail that should satisfy the majority of modelers. I would personally like to have seen more markings options as looking for aftermarket did not turn up much at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov_LaGG-3

January 2021

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