Red Star 1/72 LaGG-3

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. Compared to its opponents the LaGG-3 was underpowered and, despite its wooden construction, overweight. It was unpopular with Soviet pilots, but despite this, at one point in the war, on average 12 LaGG-3s were being completed daily and 6,528 had been built in total when production switched to the La-5. The LaGG-3 was steadily improved, forming the basis for the more successful La-5 and La-7.

This kit comes in a header bag as you can see from the main image. Red Star produced four kits. From my understanding, these were all Frog kits that were in the works when the company went out of business. I originally bought a boxed set that included all four in the same package. This is one of the individual kits that I got from an on-line auction (not e-paid). Since the LaGG was a wooden airframe, there isn't much surface detail and what's there is raised panel lines.

The interior is minimalist to the max with a floor section, seat and stick. You do get a pilot figure (with a huge sink area in his gut) to fill the emptiness. Wings are a lower section with two upper pieces. These upper sections have the ailerons and flaps molded into them so the trailing edges will be relatively sharp. Landing gear are fairly generic and lacking oleo scissors. The builder is provided an option for raised or lowered landing gear with different gear doors for each option. There is a single clear bit that is quite thick with fairly indistinct frame lines.

Instructions are printed on the backside of the header card with decal placement and painting on the other side. Two options are provided with both planes in green/brown uppers and a light blue underside. Humbrol paint references are provided. The two scheme differ only in aircraft number. The instructions show insignia on the upper wings which is contrary to most references that show these only on the underside. Decals have a fairly large carrier surround, but should work just fine.  

There have been better kits of this plane in this scale since this one was released. However, if you want something for a youngster or just a relaxing build, this is for you.

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

August 2025

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