Kit: No. 72004
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer: Interavia, available from Linden Hill, P.O. Box 543, Crugers, NY 10521, 914-734-9616.
Price: $11
Comments: Injection molded, 32 parts, decals.
Pros: Attractive subject, good exterior detail.
Cons: Poor interior, poor fit, thick parts, no detail on rotor hubs, chunky landing gear, inferior decals.

Before Sea Sprites and Sea Kings came along in the mid 1960s, the standard “plane-guard” (rescue) helicopter aboard U.S. Navy carriers was the Piasecki HUP (later H-25) Retriever. The HUP was the smallest production helicopter with the twin main-rotor design. Derived from the larger H-21 Shawnee and HRP “flying banana” choppers, it gave way to the modern (and much larger) Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-47 Chinook. Nearly 250 HUPs of three variants were produced.

Interavia is a new company from Ukraine, and this kit is one of its first efforts. The parts are cast in very soft and flashy medium green and brittle clear plastic. Decals provide markings for one Navy H-25B. Exterior detail on the fuselage is good, with recessed maintenance steps leading to each rotor head.

There’s nothing complicated about the assembly of this kit – except getting the parts to fit! I sanded the mating surfaces for the fuselage halves, and they fit pretty well. There is no cabin floor, and the only cockpit parts are a pair of basic seats and an instrument panel – no control sticks or collectives. Since the seats are glued to the curved floor, they lean toward each other.

None of the thick and wavy clear parts fit. I had to sand the circumference of the oval main door and repeatedly dry-fit it in the opening. The large rear-cabin window on the right side also didn’t fit. The side windows of the cockpit are mounted on exterior sliding rails, so you don’t have to worry about them fitting in the ports. The shape of the front bubble didn’t conform to the angles of the fuselage, so again sanding and dry-fitting were in order. All the clear parts benefited from three dips in Future floor polish.

The twin main rotors lack detail, and they have incorrect rounded tips – easy to fix. I induced a little rotor blade sag by gently bending each with my fingers. The design of the rotor mounts results in a fragile assembly. Plastic axle pins fit through rotor hubs and into holes in the fuselage. If you intend them to rotate, you need to place the pins in the holes before closing the fuselage halves, and then try not to get glue on them during assembly. It is better to glue the pins in, then slip the hubs (with blades attached) over the pins. I had to enlarge the holes in the hubs so they could fit onto the pins.

The landing gear struts are too thick and lack detail. Since the main wheels are too small, the combination looks odd.

Interavia’s color recommendations call for pale flat yellow top and rear over Marine Field Green. No U.S. Navy HUP was painted this way, and I suspect the colors were derived from examination of a boneyard HUP. The proper colors, gloss Engine Gray (FS 16081) and Fluorescent Red Orange (FS 28913), would fade to drab green and pale yellow over years of exposure. I found the proper colors in Testor’s Model Master line.

I used none of the kit decals; they were poorly printed with letters and numbers unlike the proper Navy style, and the U.S. national insignias were out of proportion and printed with medium blue. I found substitutes for the insignias, and the lettering was made with the computer, an Alps MD printer, and the proper U.S. Navy font (Long Beach) from TLai Enterprises (see Alps decal story in the November 1999 FSM).

The attractive paint scheme and homemade decals resurrected this project. It’s not a difficult build (if you’re not fussy), but enthusiasts will spend many more than my 18 hours to install a cabin floor, add cockpit and cabin detail, dress up the rotor heads, and improve the appearance overall. I couldn’t find any books dedicated to this craft, but photos in several books on U.S. naval aviation steered me in the right direction. I hope to see improvements in Interavia’s next effort.

– Paul Boyer