This kit was issued by Airfix around 1985 and was a big surprise for the helo freaks. It featured surprisingly good details with an overall shape that was (and still is) pretty correct. At that times, the Cold War was still raging and a detailed Soviet helicopter was a rare sight on modeler’s shelves. Documentation was also scarce. My project dated back to 1989 when I decided to model this strange twin coaxial rotors sub-hunter. I wanted to depict a pre-flight briefing with the crew posing for a « patriotic picture ». Going into details as much as I could, with a few B&W pictures collected from diverse sources, was a real challenge.

As I said before, I was very impressed by the quality of the molding, as well as the level of details. I first sanded the raised lines and rescribed appropriate recessed panels, according to the documentation. I then added fictitious cockpit details (seats, control panels, seat belts, central console etc) and decided to built a new interior based on a pure but logical lay-out « guess work », similar to the real cabin of the Westland SeaKing (same generation helicopter, same purpose). All exterior details ( rotors, engines exhausts, hoist, flotation devices, landing gear struts etc) were added following the pics I had. I also scratchbuilt a long range auxiliary fuel tank on the right side of the aircraft (interestingly, later in the 90’s Airfix proposed this option in another Ka-25 version of their earlier release).  I can say that with a now comprehensive documentation at hand, I am very pleased with what I have done 12 years ago! Painting was done according to the instruction sheet.

Once again, I wanted to depict the « Hormone » in a typical setting. These helicopters were deployed from bases around the Baltic Sea. A winter scene in the 1/72 scale was very challenging and was a premiere to me. My first idea was to display 2 Ka-25, one in the attractive SAR colors scheme, a second one in the regular ASW grey-tone, stored with folded rotors. Aleas, I broke it a few days before finishing the paint work and I didn’t had the courage to built a 3rd one!  So I had to fill the empty space on the diorama with a <<spare> idea.  I had molded blast walls from plaster some time before, for a WWII project that I never finished.  I decided to go for an abandoned dump area, with H-beams lying around.

Groundwork: The tarmac is carton board with a carefully done paint job.  The snow is half Celluclay painted white (for deep layers stacked by the dozer blade) and half talc powder, sprinkled through a strainer, over a coat of matt hair spray.  The water is simulated with some layers of gloss varnish.  Surprisingly, the talc lasted at least 2 years before falling away.	(click on the image below to load the full size photo)
Figures: the ground crew was US Hasegawa Ground Crew Set members (!) reworked with Milliput to model the heavy winter coats and the ubiquitous <<Chapka>>.  The helo Crew were Russian Jet Pilot metal figures from a French manufacturer.  I added life-jackets and repositioned the arms to give them an <<individual>> look.	(click on the image below to load the full size photo)
Ground Equipment: This was the best part of the game.  Access ladder, maintenance platform, ground power unit, fire extinguisher, the ammo trailer, sonobuoys and their cases, blast deflector, poles and fence as well as the lights projector were all scratchbuilt.  It was time consuming, but it gave life to the diorama.	(click on the image below to load the full size photo)

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