Ref: 04944
Review by Geoff Coughlin (January 2016)
Price around: £11.99 GBP
Our thanks to Revell for supplying our review sample. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en
The Mil Mi-28 (NATO reporting name “Havoc”) is a Russian all-weather, day-night, military tandem, two-seat anti-armour attack helicopter. It is a dedicated attack helicopter with no intended secondary transport capability, better optimised than the Mil Mi-24 gunship for the role. It carries a single gun in an under-nose barbette, plus external loads carried on py-lons beneath stub wings.
Mi-28N/MMW Havoc
All weather day-night version. Equipped with a top-mounted millimetre wave radar station, thermographic camera-TV, and a laser rangefinder. Powered by two Russian Klimov TV3-117VMA-SB3 engines (2,500 hp each), produced by the Ukrainian Motor-Sich. Max take off weight 11,500 kg, max payload 2,350 kg.
The Revell Kit…
Here’s a photo of the completed Revell Mil Mi 28N Havoc and it certainly looks the part – more to follow at the end of this piece…
Good to have this one back again – originally issued by Revell back in around 1999 would you believe. This time with new decals and the much better colour instruction sheet Revell is issuing these days – thanks Revell for listening to us modellers! Now sort out those boxes… :)
Box and contents…
The Revell box artwork is usually impressive enough and that’s the case here – an image of a Mil Mi28N attacking some unfortunate target.
Let’s go inside…
Brown sprues packaged well and no damage is apparent. Taking the main components first, they are well tooled, fine recessed panel line detail and good levels of detail across the board.
No distortion on the main parts is apparent and a dry fit of the main fuselage shows a good fit; the initial impression is one of detail parts that will go to make up a decent representa-tive model in 1:72 scale. Minimal excess flash is apparent.
Some observations…
• clean, crisp plastic parts
• undercarriage units clean and detailed
• nice rocket pods that will add a lot to the mean look of your Havoc; tube detail is especial-ly good
• seats are ok. You’ll need to add some seat belts as these aren’t provided on the sprue or decal sheet
• rotor blades are crisp although the separate and week-protected rotor head has some sink marks – these may be able to be sanded rather than filled.
Clear parts
The clear parts look clear and defect-free.
Decals are provided for the main instrument panel.
Instructions
The Revell instructions look rather different this time – colour would you believe! Location of parts is clear but colour paint coding is for Revell paints only. You’ll have to match your own choice of paints if you go elsewhere for your choice of colour. The build sequence is pretty standard and logical but many modellers will part company with the stated order to suit their experience.
The back of the box has additional colour and painting guidance and all in all the instructions are definitely a step forward for Revell over their pretty basic instructions included so far.
Decals
Good quality and well printed as is the case with newer Revell decal sheets.
Russian markings for one Mil Mi-28N Havoc is included. It would have be nice to have at least one other option included.
Conclusion
This is an interesting subject that provides all military fans, especially those with an interest in Russian, rotary and modern aircraft subjects with a great new addition to their collection.
The model itself looks to be well engineered from the dry/test-fit. Moulding is good and the recessed panel detail equally effective.
Geoff C.
SMN Quick summary Star rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | *** |
| Level of detail | *** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Instructions | **** |
| Decals | *** |
| Subject choice | **** |
| Overall | **** |