Flankerman Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) Having built 3 of the Hobby Boss Mi-8MT's, I am now on a bit of a helicopter kick............. I dug out a kit from my stash that I purchased in Warsaw - about 10 yeas ago !!! It is a resin kit by a Polish firm called 'Topgun' and represents the SAR variant of the Mil Mi-14 Haze helicopter. I remember trying to get the more militant Mi-14PL ASW version, but the shop did not have it in stock - so I got the Mi-14PS version instead....... It is very comprehensive - with flaw-free resin parts that have superb detail. Everything is included - a fully detailed cockpit with tiny resin control collectives and cyclics, good instrument binnacles - even a detailed overhead panel - something which the Hobby Boss Mi-8 kits lack. The cabin is fully furnished - with a heavy-duty winch for the doorway, two stretchers, canvas bags that I presume contain survival equipment - and two different shaped 'bags' that I have painted orange - 'cos I think they are life rafts. Two vacformed clear parts are provided - for the windscreen and cabin windows - two sets of each in case of mistakes. I have substitued the cabin windows with clear parts nicked from the Revell Mi-8 kit - and I will probably use that donor kits rotors as well - just to save time. Resin parts are included for the rotors - but they are very delicate and need cleaining up. I am also going to ignore Top Guns recommended method of cutting out each cockpit window panel separately and cementing it inside the resin framing - the vacform part is very thin - and I am bound to mess it up. I have opted to cut the windows and surrounding structure as a complete section from the clear vacform part - and graft that over the top of the resin nose. I will then blend it in with filler - the blend line being back from the windscreen, which should, hopefully keep the windows clear - at least that's the plan. I'll report back when I make some more progress..... Ken PS - Of course as soon as I finish this model, someone will come out with a resin conversion for the HB Mi-8 - or, better yet, Hobby Boss will issue a complete kit Edited February 8, 2009 by Flankerman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tank Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 The kit looks cool. Another good build by Ken. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joachim Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 wow, that's nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 i wish hobbyboss will come next with this!!!!!!!!!!! (hope they read this forum too ) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 What an interesting build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shark 64 Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Having built 3 of the Hobby Boss Mi-8MT's, I am now on a bit of a helicopter kick.............I dug out a kit from my stash that I purchased in Warsaw - about 10 yeas ago !!! It is a resin kit by a Polish firm called 'Topgun' and represents the SAR variant of the Mil Mi-14 Haze helicopter. I remember trying to get the more militant Mi-14PL ASW version, but the shop did not have it in stock - so I got the Mi-14PS version instead....... It is very comprehensive - with flaw-free resin parts that have superb detail. Everything is included - a fully detailed cockpit with tiny resin control collectives and cyclics, good instrument binnacles - even a detailed overhead panel - something which the Hobby Boss Mi-8 kits lack. The cabin is fully furnished - with a heavy-duty winch for the doorway, two stretchers, canvas bags that I presume contain survival equipment - and two different shaped 'bags' that I have painted orange - 'cos I think they are life rafts. Two vacformed clear parts are provided - for the windscreen and cabin windows - two sets of each in case of mistakes. I have substitued the cabin windows with clear parts nicked from the Revell Mi-8 kit - and I will probably use that donor kits rotors as well - just to save time. Resin parts are included for the rotors - but they are very delicate and need cleaining up. I am also going to ignore Top Guns recommended method of cutting out each cockpit window panel separately and cementing it inside the resin framing - the vacform part is very thin - and I am bound to mess it up. I have opted to cut the windows and surrounding structure as a complete section from the clear vacform part - and graft that over the top of the resin nose. I will then blend it in with filler - the blend line being back from the windscreen, which should, hopefully keep the windows clear - at least that's the plan. I'll report back when I make some more progress..... Ken PS - Of course as soon as I finish this model, someone will come out with a resin conversion for the HB Mi-8 - or, better yet, Hobby Boss will issue a complete kit :) Hi, What a great kit. What scale is that? it looks like 1/72 scale Oliver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 Hi,What a great kit. What scale is that? it looks like 1/72 scale Oliver Sorry, I should have said.... it's 1:72 scale. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Moore Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Ah, another excellent Flankerman build in the making. Must subscribe to this topic! Cheers, Alby Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 Interior superglued in place - almost ready to close up..... Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shark 64 Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Interior superglued in place - almost ready to close up..... Ken Oh Yes! its looking good. Did you forget to paint the interior cockpit walls in from of the instrument panel ? Oliver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mario krijan Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Great work Ken! As usual!! Now when is snowing in UK , Ken will have more time for modeling! Is there snowing any more? :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 Great work Ken! As usual!! Now when is snowing in UK , Ken will have more time for modeling! Is there snowing any more? The snow is still on the ground in my village - it started to melt a bit - but it will freeze tonight - so maybe problems tomorrow. The weather experts are warning of 'severe storms, with blizzards of rain & snow' tomorrow midday - just when I have to drive to Marlborough to babysit for my grandson...... Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 The fuselage halves are together, radome and sponsons are in place...... The cabin heater has been added to the starboard side.......... Looking at cockpit photos, there appears to be some sort of fabric quilting between the instrument binnacles and the windscreen - I will have to add it before fitting the kit vacform windscreen. I had to fix a mis-mould of the 'fins' on the sponsons - easily done with thin plastic card. This is the only moulding flaw I have come across - so far......... Most of the joints need some filler - but, for a limited run resin kit, the fit of the parts in very good - the fuselage halves were slightly warped - but they have 'squeezed' together, with only a bit of a mis-match on the rear of the fuselage underside. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shark 64 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 The fuselage halves are together, radome and sponsons are in place...... The cabin heater has been added to the starboard side.......... Looking at cockpit photos, there appears to be some sort of fabric quilting between the instrument binnacles and the windscreen - I will have to add it before fitting the kit vacform windscreen. I had to fix a mis-mould of the 'fins' on the sponsons - easily done with thin plastic card. This is the only moulding flaw I have come across - so far......... Hi Ken. I like this kit . Its taking shape. Looking good. cant wait to see it done. Are you going to display it in water ? OLiver Most of the joints need some filler - but, for a limited run resin kit, the fit of the parts in very good - the fuselage halves were slightly warped - but they have 'squeezed' together, with only a bit of a mis-match on the rear of the fuselage underside. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jgrease Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Great build! Can I just mention one pet peeve of mine...STOP QUOTING PICTURES!!!!! :lol: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Piotrek.S. Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Nice to see this model at ACR. Now it`s really hard to get. I got mine PL (ASW) version as a 30. birthday gift from my wife. Price was 70$ if I remember correctly. Typical Russian grey camo I presume?? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 (edited) Nice to see this model at ACR. Now it`s really hard to get. I got mine PL (ASW) version as a 30. birthday gift from my wife. Price was 70$ if I remember correctly.Typical Russian grey camo I presume?? Yes - but with a blue boat hull and a darker blue stripe separating the grey and blue. Russian (and Polish) SAR Mi-14PS's also had a red/orange lightning stripe along the upper fuselage and stripes on the 'fin'. Hi Ken.I like this kit . Its taking shape. Looking good. cant wait to see it done. Are you going to display it in water ? OLiver No - with its wheels down, so I can display it next to my three Hips - to show the 'family' resemblance. Trouble is, the resin undercarriage, although it is very well cast, probably won't take the weight of the model - it is fairly heavy. I may have to scratchbuild...... :D Ken Edited February 11, 2009 by Flankerman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shark 64 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Yes - but with a blue boat hull and a darker blue stripe separating the grey and blue.Russian (and Polish) SAR Mi-14PS's also had a red/orange lightning stripe along the upper fuselage and stripes on the 'fin'. No - with its wheels down, so I can display it next to my three Hips - to show the 'family' resemblance. Trouble is, the resin undercarriage, although it is very well cast, probably won't take the weight of the model - it is fairly heavy. I may have to scratchbuild...... :unsure: Ken Ken. Can you drill a support brass rod inside the main struts ? Oliver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 Ken. Can you drill a support brass rod inside the main struts ? Oliver They're a bit thin for that - scale thickness in fact. Shouln't be too difficult to scratch & combine kit parts - the 'nosewheels' are moulded with the forks - so maybe cut them off and pin into new, stronger legs. Twin maingear has separate wheels - but the resin strut is so delicate, it will be difficult to drill through the lower arm to make an axle. It is all do-able - but it just means a little more work...... Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 Top Gun provide two thin vacformed sets of cockpit windows. The moulding includes the windows plus the whole front section of the fuselage. The instructions show each individual window pane being cut out and inserted between the resin window frames moulded into the cockpit I decided that would be too difficult - given the thinness of the vacform and the fact that there is no 'ledge' on the window surround. At first I thought of cutting out the whole window section as one piece - and cementing that in place - but the same problem arises, a lack of contact area. I have finally decided to remove the resin window frames and cut the clear vacform, leaving a large area above and below the actual windows - and sit that on top of the resin. It means that I have a slight 'step' between the clear parts and the resin, but it is tiny and I can blend it all in with filler. At least this way, the windows remain clear of any of my ham-fisted glueing etc. I will dip the vacform in Klear/Future before superglueing - to prevent fogging - and at least I have a spare window vacform in case I screw it up..... I was going to use a 'spare' tail rotor from one of my many, now redundant, KP/Zvezda/Revell M-8 kits, but the Top Gun resin moulding is so much better - if a little delicate....... so I am using that instead. The wheels are also very delicate, so I may have to resort to some scratch-building... Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shark 64 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Top Gun provide two thin vacformed sets of cockpit windows.The moulding includes the windows plus the whole front section of the fuselage. The instructions show each individual window pane being cut out and inserted between the resin window frames moulded into the cockpit I decided that would be too difficult - given the thinness of the vacform and the fact that there is no 'ledge' on the window surround. At first I thought of cutting out the whole window section as one piece - and cementing that in place - but the same problem arises, a lack of contact area. I have finally decided to remove the resin window frames and cut the clear vacform, leaving a large area above and below the actual windows - and sit that on top of the resin. It means that I have a slight 'step' between the clear parts and the resin, but it is tiny and I can blend it all in with filler. At least this way, the windows remain clear of any of my ham-fisted glueing etc. I will dip the vacform in Klear/Future before superglueing - to prevent fogging - and at least I have a spare window vacform in case I screw it up..... I was going to use a 'spare' tail rotor from one of my many, now redundant, KP/Zvezda/Revell M-8 kits, but the Top Gun resin moulding is so much better - if a little delicate....... so I am using that instead. The wheels are also very delicate, so I may have to resort to some scratch-building... Ken Hi Ken, I see what you mean about being thin. You are right ..you gonna have to scratchbuilt the landing gear. It does look fragile. Oliver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Piotrek.S. Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 (edited) I know it`s little bit too late but.... 1000 and more photos and videos (including bomb & torpedo drop) of all Polish Navy Haze`s. Edited February 15, 2009 by Piotrek.S. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 I know it`s little bit too late but....1000 and more photos and videos (including bomb & torpedo drop) of all Polish Navy Haze`s. Thanks Piotrek........ I'm doing a Russian Haze - but the references would be the same probably.... BTW I just screwed up the vacform canopy and got superglue on it - I'll have to have a re-think. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Piotrek.S. Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I'm doing a Russian Haze - but the references would be the same probably.... I know, I was thinking rather about cockpit and cargo bay + exterior details. Polish SAR helos wore at the beginning same camo as Russian ones. Anyway, superior model. P.S. I heard about problems with resin main rotor blades. After some time they bend over to ground and it looks unnaturaly. In mine I will attempt to switch them to plastic ones. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HFB-320 Hansa Jet Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Normaly you can get off super glue by putting it into water for some days...maybe you try it? I only have the Classic Plane Kit, this one is also quite nice but I haven't built it yet. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 It's been a struggle getting re-motivated - but I have finally got round to finishing it....... This is one of those models I got 'fed up' with - and had to force myself to finish - I guess I just went 'off the boil' on this one... I screwed up the vacform cockpit windows (my fault, not Top Guns - they give you two sets) - I ended up using the much more user-friendly - but less accurate - windows from a KP Mi-8. I fitted them at an angle and tried to blend then in - not very successfully.... I'm also not happy with the resin bulged side windows - I may replace them - if I can summon the enthusiasm..... :) Decals are from the spares box - the machine represents Mi-14 Haze '56 Red', North Fleet Air Arm, Safonovo AB, summer 1991. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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