Mil Mi 4 - gpm 1:33

[dje]

Hi,
here a new build I started working on :

Mil-mi-4 in 1:33 by Gpm

Let's be honest, this helicopter won't win a beauty context any time soon , but it definitively has character; since I saw one at vantaa I had to build one !

I will use laser cut, vacum canopy and resin wheel.

1) The kit :
You get the usual gpm format - hopefully the same quality too... - printed in A4 paper, 160g, also few view of a finished model, 3 colours, 4 black and white

* Historic and instruction 2 pages in Polish
* Diagram : 10 pages with 3 views and 3d rendering, up to 43, 1 more for part to make from rod.
* Frame : 6 pages (**) ; this is a complex structure, see my report build...
* Part : 4 pages for common parts plus 4 more for each version.


The kit includes 2 camo, for up to 5 versions, Polish 3 tones, plain green in russian, east germany, czech and poland, actually marking have to be added latter on the green one so since most of the mil 4 were all green, you can probably put whatever marking you want ;

What about the quality of printing; If you're used to gpm, no surprise, a nice mat printing, no blending or fancy colouring here, my kind of model.
Ok, just something : detail are good, not exceptional, could have been sharper.

1b) How big ?
This is indeed a big model, 50cm on 18cm for the hull, 63cm for the rotor

2) laser cut
4 (**) cardboard on 1mm for the frame, 1 more in 0.5mm and an additional in 0.2mm including the engine grid.
Looking at the frame, I can only strongly advice to use them.
(**) 2 sided part that why number doesn't match

3) canopy
this is not really the canopy, this set include the 5 portholes and the 2 doors; Definitively complex form, can't even think about doing it myself.
Also several sheet of transparent material to do the wind shield and some windows. shouldn't be difficult to do, actually it probably a much better solution than a full vaccun wind shield. (note mine had lot of scratches, I'm going to use from my stock)

4) resin parts.
Interesting items. Of course you get the 4 wheels and what I weren't aware, the 2 rotors too. Some may says it's cheating, I will say convenience

5) price :
As usual you get a discount for the book+laser set for 28€, canopy for just 4€, resin parts for 8€.
As separate item, book 20€, laser 10€.



II) Now Let's build it !
Stated few weeks ago, looking at my "progress" you will get why I didn't port a report sooner .
I will do the green version, in Russian or maybe in Finns marking - (hl-3)

* Weeks one :


* Week two !


Ok, that's not going to be a fast build.....

Finally ended cutting the inner frame. Even with laser cut, paper part have to be cut - also to respect the thickness. I sandpaper the edge and painted them with silver/aluminium.

* And the last days :
Build the frame and working on the cabin floor. Several issue. According to the blueprint and build number, you have to wrap and bend A10 around 4 frames - already in place, and one - part W12 - doesn't even has "holes" to make place for the roof/floor A10. Also A10 / A11 don't match I finally decided to cut A10 as 3 individual parts. Also cut of W12, can't get how it suppose to work...
It might work if you work on A10, A11, W12-15, then fit it to P2 and finally glue p1p/p1L



Found a mistake in the lasercut : P08 as been cut as 2 individual parts, cutting off a 1mm band at the back - where p10l/r must be glued, will have to correct this (not difficult)

[MacSongLi]

WOW, a heck of a lot of formers. Nice work!

Gary

[Isaac]

Great project. I like it.

This is the Soviet equivalent of the Sikorsky S-55.


I did manage to see examples when visiting China, Poland and Vietnam?

Here are pictures of the one in Hanoi that I took while visiting . Yu san was with me at the time.


Isaac

[dragoon]

Nice! Helicopter builds seem to be somewhat rare so I'll be following this post with great interest. Good going so far.

[dje]

Thanks guys

This indeed a tricky model, you can see how "fast" I'm working ; I'm spending lot of time figuring out how this work or just where some parts fit (seriously) ; anyway I keep making mistakes...

I continued with the cockpit.
I should have studied more carefully the kit, not only I would have done a better job but It would have saved me lot of pain !
I started by laminating the central console A21 ; nothing wrong here, this indeed add more strain because I don't thing this part can hold the shape by itself. What I should have saw before gluing it, is it wrap A14 - the cargo compartment ceiling - plus a compartment made of A22, A51, A23...

So here how you must do it. Start by A14, than do A21+A22+A23+A24 ; Now wrap around A14 and finish with A51.

Added several more consoles, nothing difficult, just time consuming because I'm cutting laminating every ones and the frame doesn't make the assembly easy

Since I'm going with open door, I'm not doing anything of the cockpit right now, I will add seats and controls at the end.



Next part, the cargo seat. Again, I just cut the part of, laminate and assembly then back. For the frame I'm using 0.5mm copper rode -covered with tin - that's for electronic, expensive but easy to work with and great for modelling too !
For the ladder there's a lasercut but I decided to made one



Working on the "skin" ; going to be fun too
bye

[YOAVHOZMI]

it looks it is a very complex model to build, and till now you are doing a great job.

well done.

YOAV

[MacSongLi]

A heck of a lot of details. Very nice job.

Gary

[Erik Zwaan]

Hi dje,

Looking good already. The whole set of formers gives the helicopter the appearance of a carcass ...

Erik

[dje]

Hi guys, a quick update for a looooong process.
I started working on the fuselage, well actually I spend most of the time figuring out how to do it. !
Lot of forms, lot of bend, etc.. Finally, I decided not too glue anything on the frame. I will "form" all parts using the frame as a reference, glue them together, - leaving the bottom free -, then put the "all" thing to the frame, adjusting/gluing from top to bottom and finally glue the bottom part to wrap the fuselage. The setting frame / fuselage is risky but I think it's the best solution not to make bump on the fuselage. If any issue is it, it's going to be on the bottom where it's less problematic.



I'm going from back to from, for the "transmission" I cut all parts I decided to do edge gluing instead



right now I'm little lost on the cockpit with several inside/outside parts I must bend property without real reference...

I'm making a littel break on this one and resumed working on the typ 97's tracks

bye