1/144 Mil Mi-2 Hoplite Around the World

Mark I Models - 1/144 Mil Mi-2 Hoplite 'Around the World' (2in1 = 2 kits in 1 box) (Czech AF, Polish Navy, Latvian AF, Mexican Navy)

Designed by the Soviet Mil Design Bureau in late 1950s and exclusively produced in Poland by the Wsk 'PZL-l?widnik' factory, the Mi-2 was a small transport and utility helicopter. The Mil's prototype first flew in 1961, while the first l?widnik-built example took to the air in November 1965. A number of specialised variants were evolved and produced (e.g., armed or chemical reconnaissance, anti-tank, command post, training, passenger/cargo, rescue/ambulance or agricultural). The Mi-2 was an all-metal helicopter powered by two Izotov/Klimov/PZL GTD-350 turboshaft engines mounted overhead. It featured a main cabin for one pilot and up to 8 passengers, fitted with a large windscreen and side windows. It had a fixed tricycle undercarriage and a tailskid. The engines drove a three-bladed main rotor while a two-bladed tail rotor was mounted on the angled tail boom.
More than 5,400 helicopters of this type had been built by 1998 (in 113 production batches), with about a third in military guise originally for the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries. Later, many other air forces around the world also took delivery of these helicopters. The Mi-2s were supplied and flown by various civilian operators all over the world (including police), providing invaluable service and also ensuring ubiquitous presence of this type of aircraft in the last decades of the 20th century.

Colour schemes included in the kit:
1) Mil Mi-2Sz Hoplite (WSK-built), White 0718 (c/n 5110718098), Lom Praha Flight Training Center (Centrum leteckeho v½cviku/CLV), Czech Air Force (letectvo Armidy £ eske republiky), Pardubice Air Base, Czech Republic, 2017-18
2)Mil Mi-2D Hoplite (WSK-built), Black 5830 (c/n 515830108), 44th Base of Naval Aviation (Baza Lotnictwa Morskiego/BLotM), Darlowo Air Group (Grupa Lotnicza), Polish Navy (Marynarka Wojenna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej/MWRP), Darlowo Air Base, Poland, summer 2015
3)Mil Mi-2 Hoplite (WSK-built, ex-Soviet Aeroflot aircraft), Red 157 (c/n 529221055), 1st Aviation Sq. (Aviacijas Eskadrila), Helicopter Section (Helikopteru Posms), Latvian Air Force (Latvijas Gaisa Sp£'ki), Lielv£rde Air Base, Latvia, the 1990s
4)Mil Mi-2U Hoplite (WSK-built, ex-Soviet Af aircraft), Black MR-301 (c/n 5410027116), 2nd Search and Rescue (SAR) Naval Air Sq., Pacific Naval Air Force, Mexican Naval Aviation (Fuerza AeroNaval), Acapulco Naval Air Base, Mexico, the 1990s

Two injection-moulded kits are supplied in this box and each kit contains 31 parts and three clear parts (the cockpit canopy and side windows). A comprehensive decal sheet is included.