Soviet Mi-2 Helicopter - 1:48 AeroPlast

[Mike]

Mi-2 Helicopter
1:48 AeroPlast

The Mi-2 started as a piston-engined Mi-1, but the greater power to weight ratio of turbine engines gave it better load carrying capability that made it more useful in any of its projected roles. It was brought into service with the Soviet Bloc countries in the mid-sixties, with numerous variants, including a naval rescue model with winch and air-droppable life rafts. A number of former Soviet countries still use them, as well as India, Mexico and others. Currently the Polish Navy operate five airframes, and North Korea have quite a few if you can find the decals!

The Kit
The AeroPlast kit is the Polish Naval variant, and one of five available from the company in this scale. It arrives in a smallish box (top opener, just in case you're interested) and inside is a large sprue of mid grey styrene that has had the opposing edges nipped off to enable it to fit in the box. A clear sprue is also included unsurprisingly, with quite a large number of parts on it, and a large decal sheet that has a huge squadron crest on that would look good on a display base. The instruction booklet completes the package, and is printed on glossy paper in full colour, using colour to aid with the build process. Curiously, the first page is almost entirely covered by a reproduction of the decals, but with numbers next to them, which aren't present on the sheet itself. The next page is the placement guide, so you'll be doing a bit of flicking back & forth finding their location if it's not immediately obvious from the look of them.

The build kicks off with the cockpit, and here the instructions become quite informative, as they are in colour, with the parts you are dealing with in the current step in a mid-blue, while other parts are in grey. This makes things a lot clearer once you get over the density of steps and the comparative riot of (4) colours. Parts that aren't to be glued are depicted in red, and main part information is in a dusky grey bubble to help orient you. The seats have separate framework behind them, and controls are duplicated on the co-pilot's side (which is set back from the pilot's), including pedals, cyclic and collective sticks, with a narrow bulkhead behind the pilot's seat. The instrument panel is a separate part added to the front of the console, with raised details for the individual dials to a reasonable standard, but no decal to ease the job. It slots into the front of the floor part with two tabs, and has an additional sub-panel on the pilot's side. Parts of the sidewalls are added to the floor before it is installed in the port fuselage half, and a roof console and head-liner is added. The majority of the main cabin walls are left bare, so if you want to add some detail here, you'll need to check your references. The windows slip in from the outside and seat on narrow ledges in the apertures, but be careful not to push too hard when installing them. The glazing is nice and clear, but every so often there is a hairline "wavefront" intersection mark where the molten clear styrene has met with the tiniest of skin due to cooling. These shouldn't be noticeable under normal inspection however, especially when the interior is behind them. A clear strip is also included on the sprue and is used to replicate the roof lighting along the spine of the aircraft's interior. A nice touch that will also hide the seam. I'd imagine that some sound insulation would also be applicable on the interior, but you never know with Cold War Soviet equipment design, which wasn't overly concerned with crew comforts.

Before closing the fuselage halves, the rear fin is attached through a hole in the tail, with careful gluing leaving it posable. The fuselage halves are nicely detailed with engraved panel lines, raised rivets and even drip rails over the main door all moulded in. When they are joined, further inserts are added to the underside to add more detail and hide the majority of the seam, which is nice. The nose glazing is provided as a paired half that includes a portion of the fuselage skin, and you mask off the windows to give them an integral look. Only a small portion of the joint will need filling or sanding, which is best done before a narrow insert is added under the "chin". The windscreen is added between the fuselage and the nose glazing, and is pleasingly clear with a sharply curved aspect. The upper fuselage is also an additional assembly, and contains the twin turbine engines and gearing, all within a streamlined hump. The main parts are two halves, to which the front and various other detail parts are added, along with the exhausts on both sides. The rotor gear is a single assembly that sits directly on the roof of the fuselage, and is covered up by the hump, after which the rotor head and blades can be added (or assembled and set aside as is more sensible). Again, if you're careful with the glue you can leave the rotors free to go round, but that's entirely up to you! If you are posing the aircraft at rest you'll need to add some droop to the blades, as gravity and their own weight causes them to dip toward the ground. I've seen some interesting ways of doing this, but the simplest seems to be taping them to the outside of a bowl and drizzling hot water over them, allowing them to cool and then removing them to admire your handiwork. Just be careful you don't burn yourself though.

The tail of the Hoplite (it's NATO reporting name) is a tapering tube, which is a separate assembly with a dog-leg at the tip for the tail rotor, which is a 2-bladed part with small details added to the hub before installation. The instructions show adding the horizontal fins again, which is a little confusing as they are mentioned earlier in the build too. A tail skid is mounted under the tail, and the fixed main gear fixed to the rear fuselage, with suspension supports linked to the side of the fuselage. The nose gear is similar to that of a fixed-wing aircraft and has twin wheels for stability, which are both made from two halves with circumferential tread helping to mask the joints. The main wheels are also split vertically, but have a hub insert running through the tyres and a small hub-centre that holds them in place. A pair of auxiliary fuel tanks sit on cradles mounted on the sides of the fuselage, with small hoses running in through the side-windows, and the winch gear sitting on a pivot over the large side door on the port side. The door has a large lozenge shaped window, and can be posed open or closed, although if you've not detailed the rear cabin, this would just show off the slightly uneven surface of the fuselage interior.

Markings
There are a LOT of markings choices, some of which are rather colourful, others aren't. The common theme is "Polish", which is fitting, as that is where the main factory is situated. Two of the schemes will tax your masking skills, but you are helped out by the striping being included on the decal sheet, so you only need concern yourself with the block colours. In total there are ten subjects in four schemes, and as I don't fancy my chances of getting all the Polish names right, I've reproduced the relevant pages of the instructions for my ease.

The decals are well printed with good register, colour density and sharpness, although I suspect that the white decals may show through any strong colours, so be wary if using those options.

Conclusion
A very nice range of kits from AeroPlast that will doubtless please any Russian Rotary Wing aficionados. A little more detail within the cabin would have been nice, but I suspect that some sound insulating quilting would suffice to fool the eye. The interiors vary quite significantly though, so a bit of research will be needed if you're serious about the detailing.

Overall a good kit of an unusual and quirky-looking subject. Not much flash evident given the short(er) run nature of the moulding, but a few sink marks here and there, and of course the slightly rough fuselage interior.

Recommended.

Review sample courtesy of David at

[GrzeM]

BTW it's worthy to note, that Mi-2 was produced exclusively in Poland (almost 5,500 examples), in WSK-PZL factory located in the city of Swidnik near Lublin (South-Eastern Poland). The strikes in this factory in July 1980 (month before strikes in Gdansk Shipyard) have initiated Solidarity movement.