Mil Mi-24V Hind E Starter Set - 1:72 Revell

[Paul A H]

Mil Mi-24V Hind E Starter Set

1:72 Revell

Instantly recognisable to enthusiasts of Cold War aircraft, the Mil Mi-24 'Hind' has formed the backbone of the Soviet Union/Russian Air Force's attack helicopter force since the 1970s. The need for a battlefield attack helicopter became obvious following the experience of American forces in Vietnam. Mil developed the Hind as a response to this need, using the successful Mil Mi-8 'Hip' transport helicopter as a basis. It was transformed by the addition of a small pair of wings positioned to the rear of the passenger compartment for carrying weapons, a machine gun in the nose and a tandem cockpit for the flight crew. It was capable of carrying eight troops as well.

The Mi-24V Hind E is one of the later, and more capable Hind variants and was first introduced into service in the 1980s. It is capable of carrying the highly effective AT-6 Spiral anti-tank missile on the hardpoints under its wings, as well as a four barrelled 12.7mm machine gun in the nose turret. It is able to carry a range of other ordance, including the UPK-23-250 23mm cannon pod and the B-8V20 rocket launcher. Hinds have seen combat in various hotspots throughout the world and have been particularly popular with the air forces of African and Middle Eastern nations. More than 2,300 have been produced since the late 1960s.

This particular kit was originally tooled by Moscow-based firm Zvezda, a name that will no doubt be familiar to many of you for their range of military and civilian aircraft and armour kits. Inside the familiar blue box are five sprues of grey plastic and a single sprue of clear plastic. As this is the starter set edition, you also get four pots of Revell Aqua acrylic paint, a double ended paintbrush and a tub of Revell's excellent Contacta poly cement. Altogether there are 284 plastic parts, which bodes well for a kit of this size. The kit is very well moulded as there is no flash present and, as far as I can tell, no flaws in the plastic. Surface detailing is comprised of extremely fine, engraved panel lines and the overall impression is favourable. The downside is the textured finish on the outside of the fuselage. Based on previous experience, this will make adding a wash to the panel lines very difficult.

Construction begins with the interior. The tandem cockpit features collective and cyclic controls, seats and seat mounts and the structures for the sidewalls and instrument panels. These are light on raised detail, with decals being used to represent instruments and controls instead. The rear troop compartment features a reasonable amount of detail, including a quilted roof and bench seats. Two crew members are included, each made up of four parts. A highly detailed engine deck is also included. A ten part gearbox and drive shaft is joined by a pair of rather excellent Isotov TV3-117 turboshaft engines, each made up of nine parts. Engine mounts, structural braces and gas bottles all help to create a superbly detailed area which can be displayed to best effect by leaving the separate inspection and service panels open. The overall effect is nothing short of stunning, and should sell the kit on its own.

Once you have worked through the mass of internal detail, you can start to put the airframe together. The fuselage halves close up around the core internal structure like a clamshell. The front fuselage (from the cockpit bulkhead forward) is separate to the rest of the fuselage in order to allow other variants to be produced from the same moulds. This complicates construction somewhat, but such compromises are not uncommon with this type of kit. There are subtle differences between the two versions supplied on the decal sheet, so pay close attention to make sure you pick up on these.

Once the fuselage has been assembled and you have decided which of the inspection panels you wish to leave open, the stub wings can be assembled and added. They are made up of upper and lower halves, with different pylons depending on whether you wish to build the Soviet or Czech version. Ordnance is comprised of two auxiliary fuel tanks, a pair of 23mm cannon pods, a pair of B-8V20 rocket pods and four 9K114 Schturm (AT-6 Spiral) anti-tank rockets.

In keeping with the rest of the kit, finishing details such as the undercarriage and wheels, engine intake filters and the auxiliary power unit are very nicely detailed. The clear parts are excellent and are engineered in a way that allow you to pose the entry panels in the open position. A choice of nose turret is offered, allowing you to finish your model with either the twin 23mm GSh-23l guns or the four-barrelled 12.7mm Yak-B machine gun. The rotor head is nicely detailed and the blades themselves are thin and sharp. You may want to introduce a little droop to the blades by bending them slightly as they will look a little unrealistic if used straight from the sprue.

Two options are provided on the decal sheet:
Mi-24V, Czech Air Force, 221st Attack Helicopter Squadron, Namest nad Oslavou, CSR, 2011 (the aircraft depicted on the box); and
Mi-24V, Soviet VVS, 337 OBVP, Mahlwinkel, GDR, 1993.
The decals are well printed but they look a little matt so if I were you Id watch out for silvering.

Conclusion

This is a complex but superbly detailed model which looks very good on the sprue. It should be enjoyable to build and with a little care and attention will result in a stunning model. The texture on the external surfaces is a slight concern, but the almost overwhelming amount of internal detail more than compensates for this. Highly recommended.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

[Basosz]

Those are some very nice tiger-decals there and the reason I'm gonna keep an eye out for this kit. The amount of detail is a very big plus as well.

Thanks for the review

[Rickpadwick1801]

I'm going to have to get my hands on this.

I have been looking at this for a while now.

Rick

[badger]

Its a gorgeous kit (I have a started one in the stash).

Well worth getting the eduard zoom set for the cockpit - its about £5 and really turns the kit into something special!

[IGKent]

It's repacking of ZVEDA kit with new decal.

[Rodders154]

Lovely kit but to my mind bad idea for a starter kit. Little johnnies/Jane has this as a first kit it is likely to be their last kit because it is far too complicated. Result one person who may well be put off for life.

maybe not the right place to post this comment but I feel it must be said

Rodders

[Tiger331]

Lovely kit but to my mind bad idea for a starter kit. Little johnnies/Jane has this as a first kit it is likely to be their last kit because it is far too complicated. Result one person who may well be put off for life.

maybe not the right place to post this comment but I feel it must be said

Rodders

Rodders,

Totally agree….This is a beautiful kit….quite possibly one of THE best 1:72 scale kits ever produced but not for the faint hearted or beginner. I'm really not sure what was going through the minds of the Revell marketing team with this one. They have a host of other, far simpler, models that would make much better starter sets for those potentially entering the hobby.

[Navy Bird]

Of course, Revell do not market these as "starter" sets. They are simply "model" sets that include paint, glue, and brushes. If one looks at the Revell DE website, and then the page for the Model Sets, you'll find that most of the models are rated at skill levels 3, 4, and there's even one that's 5. Revell defines these skill levels as Advanced, Challenging, and Very Challenging.

Cheers,

Bill

[FalkeEins]

wow..Zvezda Hind at Revell prices (hopefully)..thanks for the review (and the bump, more to the point..) !

[Learstang]

Looks like a very nice kit - I might have to purchase one. I've always loved the Hind (at least the ones with the retractable landing gear); they look like something out of the Terminator movies, even though it was designed in the 1960's (the Hind, not the Terminator movies!).

Regards,

Jason

[Navy Bird]

wow..Zvezda Hind at Revell prices (hopefully)..thanks for the review (and the bump, more to the point..) !

I have the Zvezda box - it's a beautiful kit, no doubt about that. May be the first Hind kit to get the weird frontal asymmetry right? A couple of thousand parts, too. And then I went and bought all the PE to go with it. Yikes...

Cheers,

Bill

[Basosz]

I found this one on a wallpaper site somewhere... and while I like the decals in the kit, this one looks a lot better (even though it's not a tiger themed paint scheme)