HISTORY
The author of the article in front of the last of the special Hind markings – the anniversary paintings of No. 3369 Mi-34 chopper.
Conclusion
Hereby we finished he detailed description of the essential differences between D and V versions visible on the helicopter and therefore sufficient refence for the modelers. There are of course many more differences so even
though the aircraft are seemingly similar, but the in-depth inspection will
convince you otherwise. Vast majority of hereby described differences are
to be addressed by Eduard, either directly by conversion parts included in
the kit, notes in the instructions, or separately sold aftermarket sets so after
a while all necessary parts to build an accurate Mi-24D should be available.
Be aware though that building an accurate Mi-24 of any version from Zvezda
kit will be a challenge. While rather smooth surface of their 72nd scale model is acceptable, scaled into 1/48 its accuracy suffers a bit. The real „twenty-four“ is anything on its exterior but that smooth.
Rather prominent gaps between upper decking panels, more-less raised
screw heads, rivets, various locks, eyelets, holds, overlapping or strengthened skin, all this creates an incredible relief of surface that should be
captured in 1/48 scale. Something will be up to the modelers but there are
already commercial products available. What really doesn’t look right in my
eyes is the intake cone of the oil cooler fan. Further the modelers should
pay attention to various sensors, exterior lightning, antennas, cables, hoses,
and similar details which I did not mention in this article since they were not
subject to the version differences comparison. I suppose that anyone who
buys this limited edition kit with aftermarket detail will also arm himself with
the references, either in the printed form, and there was a plethora of them
published in our country, or from internet and my list will use as a quick
reference not to forget about something. Off course modelers building the
72nd scale D version can take advantage of this article, partially for V version
as well.
Let me point out again that I compared Czechoslovak and Czech air force
D and V versions delivered under the socialist regime. Mi-24V/35 delivered
as part of the Russian debt deblock are different from the early Hind Vs.
I hope I will tackle this interesting topic in the future article.
I did not mention the Slovak Hinds on purpose since I don’t possess the personal experience with them. However, allow me very briefly some words
about No. 0222 airframe, which is depicted in the instructions in the state
after overhaul in LOTN. Instead of SRO-2 antenna on the operator’s cockpit
frame it carries GPS antenna, there is a red strobe beacon behind the front
wheel well, same as on the tail boom, in place of the original one. The white
responder antennas on the right behind the ammunition box and on the tail
boom, there is also the white whip antenna apparently for ELT and a black
radio antenna under the tail. Logically the rear trident-shaped SRO-2 antenna is missing.
Otherwise, Ds in our air force, except of the minor upgrade of several aircraft, which included GPS installation, finished flying basically in the factory
configuration. The helicopters which undertook the overhaul in the Soviet
Union in the first half of 80th received just more saturated camouflage colors. In general, the Soviet paints were of very high quality. They did fade
over the time but remained durable. The aircraft which were overhauled in
Hungary, in the second half of 80th, were reportedly stripped of the old paint
on the exterior but apparently the Hungarians did not pay too much attention
INFO Eduard - November 2021
to the interior painting. Their strange light grey-blue paint with greenish cast,
used for example in the cargo compartment, was sprayed right on the top
of the original paint and after some time started to peel off. The same is true
about the black paint used on the pilot cockpits‘ floors. However, as far as
the airframe and all its installation is concerned the Hungarian comrades
did a good job. Since 1988 Mi-24Vs and Ds were exclusively repaired at LOK
Prague (nowadays part of LOM Pragues s.p.) if I omit the lower level maintenance within the system of prescribed jobs at the air force unit level and
one unsuccessful attempt at Revision 1 on Hind D No. 0221 in LOZ Brno in the
end of 90s.
After several lower level repairs, it was the well-known No. 4011 which in the
fall 1995 undertook so called entry repair I think, when the exterior was stripped of the paint completely and consequently, as the only D, was repainted
in the special camouflage called „Fluora“ featuring the oversized national insignia. Also, Mi-24V No. 0838 received similar camouflage. Later, sometime
in 1998 at Prerov base, with LOK participation, the problem of technical life
extension of this aircraft manufactured in 1978 was attempted to be solved
while certain problems were diagnosed, and the aircraft flew for the last
time to Kbely to have them rectified. Nowadays this legendary chopper can
be found, in rather poor condition and horrible camouflage, in a Slovak private museum. In LOK, at the beginning of 2000s, these aircraft yet undertook
so called Revision 2 almost in the extent of the general overhaul: Hind DU No.
6050 and D Nos. 0217, 0218, 0219, 0220 and 0221. But the concept of the army
did not count much with the Ds at that time, and so they were soon scrapped
with relatively low flight hours recorded since the overhauls were made.
These helicopters already received so called „NATO standard“ camouflage
which was unfortunately sprayed on the sanded Hungarian camouflage and
in the combination with the application of the unsuitable primer the paint
started to peel off soon. It can be seen on the No. 0220 airframe at Kbely
museum.
And that would be all on the topic of our air force Mi-24D. If you managed to
read up to this point congratulations and I hope that this article will help all
modelers building this fast, powerful, durable but above all beautiful helicopter which can be seen in our skies for unbelievable 43 years.
P.S. I wrote the article with dislocated and fractured right arm so as a right
handed person I really „had a blast“!
eduard
19