Italeri 1/72 Mil Mi-24D Hind

ITALERI 1:72 MIL MI-24 HIND-D

Reviewer: Richard Stacey (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 24 February 2002 (#37)

Aircraft:
The Mi24 series of helicopter can trace it’s ancestry back through the Mi17 with which it shares some components. Unlike western military helicopters it combines both transport and attack roles in one machine. The design probably originated in the late ‘60’s and the first examples being seen in public in 1973. This was the Hind – A with three crew in the front cockpit but with little protection. The –B was a transport aircraft and the – C a trainer. The – D was the main production aircraft followed by the very similar – E. Many air forces, other than the Warsaw pact nations, have had Hinds including Syria, Libya, Iraq, Algeria, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Cuba and the German Airforce. With a length and rotor diameter of 17m. and a height of 4.25m. the Hind is quite a large aircraft. Armament consists of a four barrel 12.7 mm. Gatling gun, four pylons with UB16 or UB32 rocket pods or bombs and AT-2 or AT-6 missiles on the wing tip mountings.

The Kit:
ITALERI 014 1/72
This kit is an ’92 issue and Revell re-issued it in ’96 with alternative decals. Hasegawa have also produced an – A and – D and Airfix a – D back in ’84. I haven’t got a Hasegawa kit but although I am sure that it is very good, I doubt that it is worth approx. Twice the price of the Italeri offering. Although the Airfix kit is not nearly as good and is rather “ chunky “, it has some useful parts. Now, bearing in mind that I get confused easily and am no expert on Soviet aircraft, I will try to make sense of things. Before we even open the box I think that the artwork (and very nice it is too) is actually an – E. Check the spot/landing light under the nose. The kit hasn’t this feature and is a – D and comes in 121 crisp grey plastic parts including heat suppressors, SR pulse jammer, four UB20 rocket pods and four AT-6 Spiral missile pods.

Construction Notes:
On top of that both main cabin doors can be modelled open as can the pilot’s door and gunner’s hatch. The cockpit and cabin are both well detailed, complete with moulded in seatbelts. I would recommend fitting the exhausts to the cabin roof at the same time as the cabin is fitted to the fuselage halves as they can then be adjusted correctly while the glue dries. I couldn’t make out what 20B was and how it fitted to 21A, the nose wheel bay. It is actually the wheel door and would probably be better fitted later. I suspect that it was probably removed from many aircraft as I can’t spot it in photos.

The canopy, for such a complex shape, is a really good fit. Many aircraft didn’t have the SR pulse jammer 49A & 50A fitted and the one that I modelled didn’t have the "suitcase handle" shaped ariel under the boom. Italeri have omitted the twin ariel posts on top of the fuselage with the two wires running back to the tailplane tips and the pitot tubes either side of the nose but everything else seems to be there.

All fits well although the engine cowlings 31A need care to make sure of a good fit. I didn’t like the method of fitting the tail rotor as one would have had to fix it in place before the fuselage halves were fitted together and painting commenced. The main rotor can be left loose which is useful for transporting the model. The result is a nice model which, considering it’s complex shape, is quite easy to make. The five main rotor blades are straight (ie 72 deg. To the hub.) where as the Airfix rotors are “ kinked “ which agrees with the drawing and cutaway in the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft V 11 p.2405 to 2411. I can only presume that they (Airfix and Italeri) are both correct. Were the "straight" blades a later fit? Unfortunately with most photos it is impossible to tell which is which.

Versions & Decals:
Three decal options are supplied. A Soviet machine with heat suppressors in Kabul in ’89, a Czech machine in ’91 and (it looks odd) a German army Hind also in ’91. As it was I used the Xtradecal sheet X042-72 for the Czech air force white Hind "4011" , painted to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the 51^st. Helicopter Regiment that did the rounds of European airshows in ’94. Check the tiger on the starboard side. I reckon the artist is the same one who does the cartoon characters in the Pavla instruction sheets! The other decal on the sheet is the all black “ Saint “ Jaguar GR1 of 16® Sqn. RAF. Photos of 4011 can be found on the rear cover of Insignia Magazine V4 No.2 and Scale Models International of Jan.’95 as well as Revell’s re-release box art, for 4011 is the aircraft supplied although Revell haven’t bothered to supply the correct UB32 rocket pods or AT-2 Swatter missiles.

Some say that 4011 was pale grey but it was white. The Airfix instructions say that the cockpit interior is black with grey seats. Italeri say grey with olive drab seats. Xtradecal say, black seats, grey cushions and that strange blue green interior that the soviets were so fond of. They, naturally, recommend Xtracolour X629 but I used Testors 2135. Airfix and Xtradecal say that the main rotors are black under and grey on top. Italeri say all over olive drab Testors 1711 FS34087. I painted the airframe white and from the collision beacon back, chrome yellow. The tiger stripe decals worked well although I didn’t bother to use 4 and 5 which covered the tail rotor bracket as I felt that it was easier to use the decals as patterns and hand paint the black stripes. All that is then required, is to touch up the black stripes where the various decals meet. Xtradecal do say that the blue segment on the Czech roundel faces foreword on both sides. This is correct so, disregard the drawing. I "borrowed" the UB32 rocket pods from the Airfix kit and will, no doubt, “borrow” the main rotor if or when I can find evidence of “kinked” rotors on 4011. The main rotor cap (89B) has to be tiger striped and so to is the cap on 0216 even though it is camouflaged.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, I enjoyed making a “devil’s chariot” and the Xtradecal decals were quite simple to use. PP Aeroparts made/make a detail set No.AC705 and I expect Eduard do too. Scale Models International reviewed this kit in Nov.’92 and the Revell re-issue in March ’96.

Related INBOX Reviews:

Italeri 1/72 Mil Mi-24D/E Hind

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