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Mil Mi-24D Hind-D 1:48


Mike

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Mil Mi-24D Hind-D
1:48 Revell


boxtop.jpg


The Hind has seen a LOT of action since it entered into service in the early 70s. It has been used in many conflicts to great effect, and is a feared opponent, which packs a mighty punch. It was developed from the Hip and has a dual cockpit with good visibility, along the lines of the Apache, although the Hind's canopy is much more rounded. It is armed to the teeth, and highly robust due to rugged construction, and has stub wings on the sides of the fuselage where the munitions are hung on pylons. The other fixed weapons are a YakB 12.7mm gatling gun in the nose on a turret, and optional cabin mounted 7.62mm PK machine guns. The later marks employed twin fixed guns in the nose of varying types.

The airframe has undergone upgrades over the years, with the D being the production standard for the first generation of machines, later superseded by P and V. Russia are to replace the Hind with the Kamov Ka.52 Alligator and Mil Mi-28 Havoc, which as well as being more modern machines are more optimised toward the attack role, without the space for troop transport.


The Kit
This is not a new tooling, but one from 1986 that has been re-popped over the years in different boxings. It arrives in the usual Revell end-opening box (pause for cries of "I hate those" from the readership), with four large sprues in mid grey styrene inside, plus a clear sprue, decal sheet and the usual Revell instructions on slightly nicer paper than of yore. The fuselage is surprisingly large, and the whole outer skin is lined by very subtle raised panel lines, which are "of the era", and as there aren't a very large quantity of them, if you get the urge to re-rescribe, it shouldn't take you too long.

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The build starts with the cockpit, which consists of a tub that is moulded in one piece, and although it has reasonable levels of detail for the era, the seats strike me as being rather wide compared to a 1:48 Russian backside, and have moulded-in belts. The collective and cyclic sticks are added in both cockpits, with the rudder-pedals moulded into the cockpit floor. The rear pilot's instrument panel is quite well detailed too, and some decals have been included on the sheet in order to make the most of this detail and easer painting. Under the nose is the gun turrey, which receives the four-barrelled gun (shown with three barrels in the instructions) through the inside of the turret, which is then trapped in place by a cross-member that click-fits into the socket in the turret ring under the cockpit.

The nose gear bay fits into the fuselage and ends up under the cockpit, while the troop compartment has an interesting clear panel added to form both the side windows and the ribbing of the skin on both sides, which will require some careful masking and painting. The troop cabin is constructed as an open-sided rectangular assembly with seats in the centre, plus a detailed floor, roof and bulkheads that are also quite good for their age. It slots in behind the cockpits with the twin turbines above them; the exhausts protruding from the sides of the fuselage giving a full-depth representation of that area. The rotor-head and gearbox are built next, with a shaft running through the top deck and the five-bladed rotor replicating the bulk of the components. Before the fuselage can be closed up, the stub axle for the tail-rotor is run through the hole in the tail and the three-bladed rotor added, which should be able to spin if you've been careful with the glue.

With the fuselage closed, the gunner's sighting and sensor suite are added to the front, the engines covered over with a cowling that has the engine faces moulded deep within, although these will be covered over later by the permanent filters. The rear of the cabin roof is also added, and careful alignment of these inserts will be needed to minimise clean-up and putty later.

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The crew compartment is next to be completed, and comes with a pair of crew figures that have a strange upright stance, long torsos and short legs, not to mention the large butts. There are two heads provided to give a little variance between them, but both crew have their hands stuck to their knees and use mind control to fly. The "double-bubble" canopy is moulded as one main piece to which some additional instruments including fans are attached, before it is inserted into the convoluted cockpit sill, with the pilot's "car door" and the overhead gunner's hatch added later with stays holding them at the correct angle. The Hind's chin is encrusted with sensors, giving it a very nose-heavy look, and these are added into depressions in the nose area to simplify positioning.

The landing gear is retractable, with the rear wheels fully enclosed and the nose gear wheels protruding from the underside, probably due to impingement on the crew cabin. The wheels are only shown in the extended position however, and the rear portion on the main gear doors are moulded into the fuselage halves, as are the bays themselves, so they don't go far enough back if you look toward the aft of the bay. The gear legs are multi-part and slot into holes in the bay, with the forward doors attaching to the top edge of the bay. The wheels are two parts each, and slip onto the axles with a little glue holding them in place, but look a bit too "round" for a tyre under pressure, so a rub with a sanding stick on the contact patch would improve realism. The nose gear leg is a single strut with a cross-axle with a wheel on each end, which are again supplied in two halves. The front (and only) bay door is captive at the front of the bay, which might make painting a bit trickier, but not unduly. A two-part tail skid clips to the rear of the boom to stop any horrible crunching sounds if the tail dips to low on approach or departure.

The weapons dispensers, or stub wings are constructed just like those of a fixed-wing aircraft with a top and bottom, and a long tab that fits into a corresponding groove in the fuselage. They have a high angle of attack, and considerable anhedral, but this is all handled by the angle of the slot and the cranked tab, but rather than rely entirely on them to get the angles right, a blob of Blutak underneath each wing while they set up would be a wise move. A further pair of winglets/elevators are found at the rear of the boom, and the axles slot into the boom and mate, permitting them both to move together if the glue doesn't escape. In the process of adding all the aerials, sensors and blade antennae that bristle from the Hind, you get to choose whether to pose the side door open or closed. The door is made up of two parts that clamshell open to form a crew step below, and a handy canopy above, with a prop holding them both at the right angle along with the hinge-points that mate with depressions in the door edges. Posing them closed just involves removing the hinges and scrapping the prop, filling the hole with the windowed portion at the top. Don't forget that, will you? You might want to check whether the depressions for the hinges need to be filled with a bit of scrap card while you're busy deciding.

Two rocket pods are supplied for each wing, with their pylons moulded in, and matching grooves under each wing. The frangible cover is well moulded on my review sample, but historically there have been a few short-shot areas here, one of which is visible in Eduard's picture of their PE set that is sadly out of production at present. The pylons at the wingtips are more of an extension of the wing than a pylon, and they can carry two types of weapon. The AT-2 Swatter sits on rather Heath-Robinson brackets that resemble flexible shelving more than launch-rails, and here the kit parts are massively over-scale due to the limitations of injection moulding. The kit missiles are a little soft and can easily represent the earlier AT-2A, which was a bit useless according to sources or the improved B variant, as they were almost identical externally. The alternatives are two tube-encased Shturm AT-6 missiles on each pylon, but I understand that these were first used on the 2nd generation Hind, and don't know whether they were retro-fitted to the older Ds.

The last job is to attach the rotors and the rotor head cover, all of which are single parts. The rotors have a large contact patch on the top of the head, so should make a strong join, and after all five are in position the head cap can go on, trapping the ends in place. As rotary-wing aircraft take up quite a bit of space in the cabinet, you could always consider leaving the rotor loose on the drive-shaft, which would make it easy to transport as well as making it more damage resistant. Not my idea, but I thought I'd share it.


Markings
The Hind has worn some interesting schemes over the years, as well as some incredible special schemes that would blow a decal artists mind! As usual all the paint call-outs are in code, which to decipher you need to refer to the table at the front to get the colour name and Revell paint code. Due to their limited colour palette this involves some colour mixing, and as there are no FS or proper colour names for the mixes, you're going to have to do some additional research if you don't use Revell paints. From the box you can build one of the following:

  • 414 East German Army (NVA), KHG-3 Cottbus AirBase, 1985 – Sand/green camo over light blue underside & GDR diamond on the fuselage sides.
  • 98+31 German Air Force, WTD-61 Manching Airbase, 1995 - Sand/green camo over light blue underside. Modern German cross on the underside and in the aircraft code.
  • 457 Polish Air Force, 56.KPSB, Inowroclaw – Latkowo 2006 – grey sand/green camo over light blue underside. Polish checkerboard on fuselage belly and sides.

decals.jpg


The decals have been designed by Syhart Decals, and are printed in Italy anonymously. The code ending with C at the bottom of the sheet suggests that it is done by Cartograf, although why you wouldn't want to trumpet that from the rooftops, is anyone's guess. The quality backs this surmise up, with good register, colour density and sharpness, plus a closely-cropped, thin carrier film.


Conclusion
The kit is a product of its era, but when it was new it must have been quite impressive. The detail is still fair for modern purposes, but would benefit from the re-release of some of the previously available aftermarket to satisfy the detail oriented. It's the only currently available injection moulded kit in this scale however, so if you want one, this is the kit for you.

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

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I started (but never finished) this as a teenager not long after it came out. I used to love the Monogram kits because of all the detail in the cockpit and wheel bays, etc. A great trip down memory lane seeing all those parts again!

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I've got one, I really want the Cobra company stuff for it but he won't ship to the UK and I haven't found a friendly American yet to put an order in for me!

I'm a Yank, and I'm friendly - send me a PM! :):):)

Cheers,

Bill

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nice kit for the time it was first issued. l got two but shelved it for a bit. Thanks to the build on here l found replacement rotors for it. Maybe the reissue will encourage more aftermarket parts. l know of the cobra company cockpit but here is also the pavla one too that is nice. Mine is waiting for more info on the transmission and the wheel wells.

Edited by hacker
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nice the re-release of an already difficult to get kit!

decals look good and especially the polish scheme with the eyes on the intake filters look great!

building the Monogram version from several years back at the moment!

yes, some modern aftermarket would be very very welcome!

Edited by exdraken
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Very incorrect model. Almost all of the parts you need to remake or scratch build (fuselage, cockpit, main and tail rotor, all legs, machine gun, pylons, weapons and others).

I already did this chopper a few years ago.
IMG_0802-1_zps76911691.jpg

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