**** DONE: 1/48 La-5FN – VVS/Eastern Front 1941-45 Split Build, GB

chisel point works best! Keep it sharp!!

According to the Militaria Fakty magazine about La fighters the brown paint was AMT-1 FS20099 or FS26306 called a light greyish brown then became more brown later (the first sample below). However there was another similar paint A-21m FS34201 or FS36350 called a light yellowish brown (the second sample below). The A-21m one was more similar to sand paint than to the brown one. So it might have caused the problem.

My what a lot of controversy a little brown will do. My thanks to all of you for the input and to Wojetk for throwing some light on the subject. As a base line I have been using the magazine 'Militaria I Fakty' no 48 and the profile picture as below but did not advise what the colour legend for brown. So I took a punt and chose as close a colour as I could get to a VVS brown and the shade in the profile. Following comments and advise I took a closer look and realised that the initial brown was rather pale and did border on a pinkish glow.





So the hunt was on for something more suitable and as seen below, this is what I have come up with. I now feel this is a lot closer to the profile colouring.

looks good to me Vic

Thanks mate, are you looking forward to your day off?

Vic Balshaw said:

Thanks mate, are you looking forward to your day off?

Click to expand...

oooohhhhhh yeah, come on monday !!!!!!

Looks a lot better Vic.

That looks fantaaaastic Vic.

I think you've nailed it Vic!

Now that is one sharp paint scheme. Bravo to you!

I'm with all here. Looking much better. Well done Vic.

I love it, looks great!

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen, sadly though I have a tale of woe.

It's been a harrowing few days with this little baby, after highlighting the panel lines which in some cases needed re-scribing I gave it a quick final spray with Future and then when dry (the next day) started with the decals. Well, talk about temperamental, the three kit ones that I was using went on a treat but when I started on the specially purchase red stars with yellow edges, DISASTER. The under wing ones just fractured as I gently moved them into place and after loads of coaxing and loads of decal softener I was finally able to get them in place and looking reasonable, sadly though the decal softener had left some pretty awful stains on the paintwork. At this stage I'd decided to put the beasty down and ponder in my sleep what to do.

Next morning DOUBLE DISASTER. F*#^k I had decided to touch-up the paintwork around the two stars and while checking my handiwork dropped the blessed thing, it bounced off the table against my open metal drawer, against a cabinet and then slithered across the carpet. How the Ruskies kept the things in the air I'll never know as it's definitely un-aerodynamic. Anyway, resisting the temptation to stomp all over it, I surveyed the damage picking up the bits that had come adrift and was amazed to find that the only serious damage was a snapped gun barrel and sadly a lot of chipped paint. Before any of you say it, 'NO none of the chips were in areas of wear'. After patching up most of the paintwork and with the exception of the gun, refitting the bits that came off again I set it aside for the day.

The next day I decided to finish of the decals, I still had to add the home grown decals such as the kills stars, the inscription about the workers from the Gorki Aircraft Factory and the tigers head. Apart from a tendency to curl at the edges these went on okay but when dry I found the colour was not very strong so decide to overlay a second decal which improved the situation but a third overlay was put on to improve on this.

Finally after all this I decided last night that the underside was no longer up to scratch and today it got a respray. I had not been entirely happy with the seemingly vivid blue, so this time I toned it down with a drop of barley grey. Anyway folks here a couple of pics of the almost repaired craft and the finished decals.

looks good despite the troubles Vic

Looking great though.

Vic , a tip for the future...... if you decide to buy a model or a decal sheet in LHS or somewhere else and you aren't sure about how long these have been storing. Please applay or airbrush a thin layer of a clear dope on the entire decal sheet. It will prevent markings against cracking and etc... Of course markings have to be cut off in order to limit the possibility of the silvering effect.
Also use a warm water for soaking. Another thing is that a decal marking has to be soaking in the water for a while but not only for a few seconds. Then it should be put on a piece of a news paper. Additionally apply some of water ( with a brush ) on the soaked marking and all around the decal piece . The news papaer has to be wet under the decal too. Then wait for a while. Now use a brush in order to check if the marking can be moving on the paper background of the decal. If not , add some water all around again and wait. And again check it with the brush after a few second. If the entire decal marking goes, move it a little bit farther outside of the papar background in order you could catch it with a tweezers. If you don't use Micro-Sol or Micro-Set liquids type, get a drop of water and apply it with a brush at the areas where the decal marking has to be put on. Also you can use some water with the decal glue you can pick up from a periphery of a decal sheet. Usually the whole paper background of a decal sheet is covered with a glue. And decals markings have not too huge areas of the clear film So there are free areas where the glue can be taken from as well. Having applied either a drop of water or a drop of the mixture on the model you can apply the decal marking keeping the papaer backround with the tweezers from one side and slightly pressed decal marking with a brush. You should pay your attention to a proper vertical and horizontal position of the marking at the moment. Unfortunately the laying of a decal marking has to be correct very often. Then the first thing is to apply a drop of water ( sometimes more ) on the edge of the applied decal and wait untill it will get under decals. Then you can move this to the correct place. If it sits at the place the excess of water should be removed with a tissue, paper towel or just dry brush.

This is excellent information Wojetk, I've always just used decal set as an applicator after soaking in water, the thing is all decal instructions just tell one to soak it for 10 seconds or so and then apply. So now I'm armed with good information and will have to give it a try with some scraps of decal and a few left over drop tanks. Thanks mate.

You'r welcome. Glad I could help a little bit.
In addition... it might happen that a decal marking can come off when soaking in the water. The panic is the worst thing you can fall. Usually these areas of the paper background of a decal sheet without markings are a good tool for picking them up. Personally I cut off a few strips of different width. The only thing that has to be remembered , is to set the decal marking ( being in the water certainly ) with the correct side up but not down. Also a paper strip has to go under the decal with the side covered with the glue. The decal marking doesn't have to be laying on the strip fully, in the 2/3 is just enough. A brush is a good tool for picking up too. And for holding a decal marking in the water too.

Looks great Vic. Can't tell it's been through the ringer and good advice Wojtek!

I agree

Thanks for the comments guys, always a good boost to the moral. Am about to embark to give it one final spray of Future after fixing one of the decal stars. Then I'll let it sit for the day before dirtying it up a bit and adding the final touches. Oh, and I'm not having any more flying lessons with it!!!!!!!!!.................I hope.