CZECH Air Force AIRCRAFT SPECIAL

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This project will use the AER MOLDOVA 1/72 kit. Later on, it turned out that the KP 1/72 kit is better. However, the AERO MOLDOVA kit # 72031 was used for this project.

What can be done with this kit?
1. To really improve the model you first need to cut out the various grills. I did not do this, but  suggested the many open grills through dark paint.
2. The Mi-4 has aft sliding doors at the cockpit sides; these need to be more pronounced as in the kit. Some plastic strips were added on top of these slide doors and faired in. The doors will be positioned onto the sides,  not "into" the opening.
3. I also replaced the large floats on this model, setting it on fixed wheel gears. This was made from scratch  with some rods and spare wheels from the spares box. 
4. The crude  cockpit "pilots+seats" were replaced with some pilot seats made from card.
5. the bulkhead #53 got some openings towards the rear lower cabin as in the real chopper.
6. the various smaller steps and antennas were replaced with fine rod and metal pins.
7. the cabin interior was only painted and the side cabin door closed and filled.

After basic assembly, the model got a grey base coat to discover any flaws. These were corrected and a camouflage scheme was applied. 

Addtional details added were the curved jet exhaust pipes below the nose, very air intakes on the sides (marde from bomb halves)  and some antenna's.
To prevent tail sitting, a small thin piece of flexible metal was glued under the rear fuselage

Used were Humbrol HU105 green and Hu32 dark grey, applied with the airbrush. Windows were masked off. 
(The MOLDOVA kit has KANGA decals for various airforces such as Czech, Indonesia, and Korea? Strange enough, the instructions depict only a Polish Mi-4 ; was this a packaging error?)
As I had the KP kit with a nice Czech scheme, some decals were used from this kit. The scheme representing a typical Mi-4 number "1874" as used by the Czech Air Force. The KP decals are fine.
    Note the aft sliding cockpit door and the large air intake

Finally bend the rotor blades for a more realistic setting.
The "Hound" is ready now and is a nice addition to the Czech collection.

The camouflage applied was Humbrol Hu65 light blue, Hu117 green and Hu159 dark brown for a typical Czech AF Hip.
Decals came from an assortment  with a set of Propagteam Czech roundels and a few helo numbers.

Rotor blades were bended down to get a correct look.
Also, later on intake covers were added. Note the mirrors!
A nice addition to the Czech collection!
 

The kit used is a simple snap together kit sold by Revell under their purchased Matchbox label as kit # 0389 in 1997. Did it originate from Monogram? 

The kit has no undercarriage as it is to be put on a stand. Some parts are rather basic, for example the rotor head and the some parts are simplified. The kit decals are nice. 

Adaptions to the kit made are:
1. fuselage correction made with a tilted angle; the "Hind" has a tilted rear fuselage as the rotor is tilted as compared to the cockpit section. A horizontal saw cut was made in the right fuselage, 1,5 mm strip plastic removed, top fuselage twisted and glued, filled and sanded. This gives a better look.
..
2. gear bays were cut out and a simple gear added from rod and spare tyres from the spares box.
3. rotor head was detailed
4. cockpit detailed with instruments, rod, sprue and some straps on the seats.
5. store pylons have holes and these were drilled out.

Markings from Propagteam set # were used for a Mi-24 Hind from Czech AF  number 0836 with a newer " NATO type" camouflage scheme.
The colours are Federal standard approximately FS 36231 grey, FS 36473 light grey and FS 35488 grey. I only used two Humbrol greys with Hu127 and Hu32 dark grey.

    Note the "tilted" look of the aft fuselage. 
Finally, some red intake covers were added from cut out thin card. An infra red suppressor was added aft of the main rotor made from a piece of thick sprue.

The Hind model is not too bad considering the simple kit started from.

(Mid 2011, ZVESDA issued an excellent kit of the Mi-24 HIND in 1/72 scale. Get this kit! It is very good)