I gave a pretty full history of this plane in the Series 1,5,11 preview and will reference you to that one. I'll only go into the Series 66 stuff for this write-up.

The Series 66 aircraft were destined to be the last liquid-cooled in-line engine fighters built by Lavochkin. The major difference was a program of weight reduction that really improved performance. They also left out some equipment that was thought to be unneeded. As a result, nearly 400lbs was shaved off the earlier versions. Other aerodynamic refinements such as a less chunky radiator (almost reverting to the earlier design) helped speed. The oil cooler intake was enlarged to take care of the heat built up in the more powerful engine. It also had a revised canopy and ejector exhaust stacks. Despite all of this, the plane was significantly slower than the German Bf-109G-6 and easy prey for the FW-190A-3 which were coming into service. Despite this over a thousand were produced and they continued to serve even until the end of the war where they participated in the Soviet's brief war with Japan in August of 1945.

 Same goes here for the look at the kit bits and a general description. Here's a link to the earlier preview for that information. However, I will go into the specifics for the markings on this particular aircraft.

It really is simple, there are only markings for one aircraft. That is of the box art plane of Yu Shchipov when with the 9 ShAP  of the Black Sea Fleet air force in the spring of 1944. It is in the later war colors of two greys on the uppper surface and light blue on the underside. Interestingly, Roden shows the tail stripes (which you have to paint) as being white, whereas the same scheme on an older Microscale sheet shows them as yellow. However, I'm more inclined to believe Roden as the information is some 20 years more current! The decals are well printed and matte.

Once again, it is a case of the best game in town. It may also be the only one unless you have the old ex-Frog kit produced by Red Star.

Lagg fighters in Action, #163, Squadron/Signal Publications

Thanks to the fine folks at  for the review kit. Visit them by clicking on the logo.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has well over 175,000 visitors a month, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

Back to the Main Page

Back to the Previews Index Page