Ukrainian Crocodile - Mi-24PU2

[_alfisti_]

Hi guys.

 

I started a new project a few days ago...

 

 

 

It will become a Ukrainian Army Aviation Mi-24PU2.   I started with the cockpit parts which were painted black. When the Ukrainian Mi-24s where upgraded to Mi-24PUs2 standard they got a new cockpit which give them night flight suitability.

 

 

 

For the first time I got me some Quinta Studio decals. This set is for the M-24V and provides the needed black layout for my project.

 

 

 

Applying them is very easy and worked very well from the beginning.

Cut them out like normal decals, dip them into warm water for a few seconds and slide them to the plastic parts.

 

 

 

Different to normal decals, the Quinta Studios 3D decals need an adhesive. Quinta recommends any PVA based glue, clear coat like Tamiya x-22 or cyanoacrylate glue. I used Micro Kristal Klear and it worked very well.

 

 

The WSOs instrument panel is different in Mi-24V and Mi-24P so I had to use the kit decals here.

 

 

In my opinion the seatbelts looks way better in vinyl than their etched counterparts from Eduard  & Co.

 

 

 

Regards

Daniel

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Great start, the 3D decals are great, used some on a Chipmunk recently, used CA to stick down .

Chris

[corsaircorp]

Great start Daniel !!

These decals look imprssive indeed, I did'nt tried it yet !!

Sincerely.

CC

[_alfisti_]

Thanks guys.

 

16 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

These decals look imprssive indeed, I did'nt tried it yet !!

The Quinta stuff is definitely worth it´s money, just give them a try.

 

 

Next on the Hind was the cabine and the engine/transmission compartment.

 

 

Cabine was painted with Gunze H337 + a few drops of blue and the transmission housing with Tamiya xf-14.

 

 

As I decided to close all the hatches around the engines there will be no more detailing in this area.

The weathering inside the cabine turned out a little bit heavier as it was in the cockpit. So it should be possible to see the details in the dark fuselage a bit better in the end.

 

 

 

At the end I would say it looks okay...

 

 

Daniel

[_alfisti_]

I made some progress on the Hind.

Before closeing the fuselage I tried to improve some little details.

 

 

 

The engines were only painted around the rear end, even if there is nearly no chance to see anything of it later.

 

 

 

Putting the fuselage halves and the interior together worked without of any troubles, the fit is nearly perfect so far.

 

 

 

Same at the cockpit section, the three parts joint very smooth.

 

 

 

Almost all the main parts are now assembled on the fuselage, some gaps need a little attention, but everything is easy to handle.

 

 

 

The stub wings are not glued yet, I thinking about painting them separate and put them in place at the end.

 

Regards

Daniel

Edited April 11, 2022 by _alfisti_

[_alfisti_]

Little update on the Hind:

Most of the little gaps are closed with sheet or putty now and I started adding the etched parts from Eduard.

 

 

 

Regards

Daniel

[_alfisti_]

After nearly a month here comes another little update on the Hind.

After adding most of the etched parts I went further to the canopy. First I removed the poor details from the inside of the pilots door, there is another nice Quinta decal for these.

 

 

 

Masking was a bit tricky especially on the inside.

 

 

 

Last items were added to the pit, including a scratch built HUD.

 

 

 

The fit of the three main clear parts is very good.

 

 

 

The whole fuselage got some rivets, placed after some drawings I found on the net.

 

 

 

A layer of Tamiya x-18 on the cockpit section showed me some gaps caused by bad work of mine.

...so some Green Putty was needed...

 

 

 

After all the work on the canopy i needed something to relax, I built the external fuel tanks and gave them new fins.

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Daniel

 

[exdraken]

Very impressive work on the Crocodile!

Do Ukrainian forces call it like that by the way?

 

 

[_alfisti_]

Thanks.

Yeah it´s called Crocodile by the Russians and also the Ukrainians, Hind was only the name the NATO gave the Mi-24.

[_alfisti_]

Last update bofor it goes to painting.

Some metalic areas on the little radar and the pylons were painted and will be masked for painting the camouflage.

 

 

 

The tailplanes were mounted using a metal axle as the original joints seems a bit to weak for the HF antenna cables which will be added later in the little metal tubes I added.

 

 

 

Pitot from the box vs. my scratch built one made from an ejection needle and the etched parts for the little wings.

 

 

 

Wheel bay door from the etched set.

 

 

 

Thats the status quo, everything prpared for the first paint layer.

 

 

 

Regards

Daniel

 

[James G]

Looking good, I like it!

[Fin]

Great looking model already! Also, thank you for this tutorial! It`s really helpful.

 

May I ask, what are these two things?

Spoiler

By the way, since you`ve used the Quinta interior, is there a reason for not using their vacuformed canopy too?

 

[_alfisti_]

On 06/06/2022 at 19:57, Fin said:

May I ask, what are these two things?

  Hide contents

 

By the way, since you`ve used the Quinta interior, is there a reason for not using their vacuformed canopy too?

Sorry for the late reply.

That are wire end ferrules, I ften use them for small exhausts and other pipes.

[_alfisti_]

After nearly a month I managed to finish the paint and decals. The light blue on the belly was mixed using Gunze H45 u. H337.

 

 

The first layer showed some bad spots, so some sanding and a second paint session was necessary.

 

It shows up that masking the belly is much more complicated than start with the upper fuselage and end with the belly, so I oversprayed it in the next two steps and repainted it at the end. Five minutes more of planning the painting would have saved me from this.

Foxbot Decals recommend FS36300 for the beige parts of the fuselage. In my opinion this is way to bright and to greyish.

So I mixed a beige from Gunze H307, H310 u. H311 which, I think, matches the original color very well.

 

 

 

For the green I used Tamiya xf-58.

...and then again some blue🙈

 

 

 

Next came the white tail bands and finally the decals.

 

 

 

Daniel

[Fin]

On 6/27/2022 at 9:10 PM, _alfisti_ said:

Sorry for the late reply.

That are wire end ferrules, I ften use them for small exhausts and other pipes.

Thank you very much! They seem pretty inexpensive. Are they standard by colour? The ones I found locally seem to indicate red=1mm2 and blue=2,5mm2

[KingTiger435]

loving it, makes me want to make a Ukrainian Mi-24

However, HunAF is on my to-do list first

[TeaWeasel]

Looks good, excited for further updates 👍

[_alfisti_]

Thanks guys

 

@Fin indeed they are a cheap and good way to improve some details.  The colors are standardized but there are also ferrules without isolation, so you don´t have to cut something off.😎

[_alfisti_]

Work went on with a washing for the fuselage and the wings. I used thinned oil colors as always.

 

 

 

After a few days of drying I spray a final layer of Tamiya flat clear TS-80.

 

 

 

The last two Quinta decals found their places at the cockpit doors.

 

 

I really love this 3d decals😎.

 

Next was the main rotor. Zvezda gives you nice hanging blades👍.

 

 

After glueing the blades on the rotor head they were cut of again next to the kit joint. I drilled a 0,8mm hole and inserted a syringe needle.

 

 

 

I used colors from Alclad and Tamiya for painting the rotor.

 

 

 

The landing gear was improved by adding some copper wire and the great looking Armory wheels.

 

 

 

 

Daniel

[_alfisti_]

It´s been a while since my last update and I went forward close to the end with the Hind. Once the landing gear is installed the Hind shows the correct slant to the right as the original helicopter.

 

 

 

The rotors got their final paint and weathering and were testfited on the modell.

 

 

 

The ResKit rocket pods are a big improvement over the kit parts. It would have been a terrible work to drill al the holes proper.

 

 

 

The barrels of the 23mm canon were opened. There is no need for further detailing when the cover stays closed.

 

 

 

The tail boom was completed with all of its antennas and the tail bumper. I rebuilt the tail bumper out of some injection needle as the kit part were the wrong shape. For the antenna wire I used some drawn sprues.

 

 

 

Last for today are the exhausts. As the fitting to the engines was not that good, I decided to use the covers from the Eduard set as well.

 

 

 

Now there are only some traces from the super glue and some little paint damage to fix and some last parts to mount before reaching the finish line.

 

Regards

Daniel

 

[_alfisti_]

The last few steps are done and I reached the finish line.

...but one after the other...

There was only some little parts left to attach, the wipers, doors, landing light and finally the tail rotor( the main rotor will stay removable).

 

 

Here it is, finished after almost half a year.

 

 

 

A little base and three figures from CMK and FC Model Trend will give the Hind a appropriate surrounding.

 

 

As base I used a piece from our old dining table😆 and some cardboard for the apron.

 

 

 

 

Wheel chocks, a Oil barrel from Balaton Model and a 3d printed pallet were the last things to do.

 

 

 

Finally, a small teaser...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by _alfisti_

[_alfisti_]

-->> rollout

[Lightningboy2000]

What a stunning & inspiring build. Looks like most other countries especially the Czech Mi-24's are going to end up with the blue & yellow roundels next year unless they haven't already.

Fantastic neat work. Always loved the Hind & it's skew/wiff fuselage. Looks very unusual front on as if it's been twisted. 

I would eventually like to build a Hind but which is the best kit in 1/72 to go for?

 

Martin

[_alfisti_]

Thanks for your kind words Martin.

I also think most of the western Hinds will find their end in Ukraine soon.

 

Best kit in 72 scale is in my opinion the Zvezda hind. The details are very nice, the fit is nearly perfect and you can choose from severl version from the Mi-24A to the Mi-35.

 

Daniel

[James G]

Really nice Hind, great work!