Robinson R-44 Raven II “Military”

Kovozávody Prostějov, besides putting its models in many different boxes, sometimes also repacks sprues from other manufacturers. Just like in the case of 1:72 scale miniature of the Robinson R44 helicopter, at which I decided to take a closer look.

Ex Stransky

For years, the only 1:72 scale model kit of the Robinson R44 was a resin set from the Czech Miku Model, released around the turn of the century. This changed finally in 2020, thanks to another Czech manufacturer – Stransky, which debuted in the above mentioned scale with an injection moulded miniature of this helicopter. Two kits were released, differing in the available painting schemes.

Almost simultaneously the same mouldings were offered by another Czech manufacturer, Kovozávody Prostějov – again two sets with different variants of markings. The one subtitled "Military" caught my eye due to the Polish Border Guard paint scheme.

The Box

The kit with catalogue number KPM0216 is packed in a side opening box typical for this manufacturer. Front features a rather unimpressive artwork and the whole thing is designed in the style closely resembling old KP kits from decades ago.

Add to that the misspelled helicopter type (it should be R44) and the rather liberal use of the "New Tool" slogan – not suitable for a repack in my opinion.

Contents

Inside there is a lot of empty space – main elements of the model sit on a single sprue of dark grey plastic, which is supplemented by a much smaller, transparent one containing the "glass". Plus a sheet of decals, assembly manual and… that's it.

Robinson R44 is a rather small chopper, so not many parts are needed. At least this review will be shorter than usual.

Plastic

Let's start our close examination with the fuselage split into two main sections, along with the tail boom and the main rotor base. Panel lines are engraved, although quite shallow, also fade out slightly at the upper parts of the fuselage.

The substantial amount of flash and the traces from mould drilling process visible on the elements don’t make the best impression. So is the idea of casting the tail skid together with the boom – making it way too easy to snap.

Lower part of the fuselage was integrated with the skid landing gear. The correct geometry of the latter is therefore not much of a problem.

Unfortunately, this is also the part on which we find the most visible traces of the mould drilling process.

What you won't find is a lot of details on the inner surfaces of the fuselage parts shown earlier. To be honest – there is no details at all.

The interior of the model is constructed with the cabin floor as a base.

To which the rear wall of the passenger compartment (part number 8) and the divider (9) are attached – both cast together with the seat backs.

The latter are supplemented by the seats (10) lacking any form of belts.

The final cabin items are the flight control gear (19-23) and a somewhat mediocre instrument panel (30).

The engine compartment won’t be left empty either, thanks to a section of the power unit and exhaust system (11-14).

However its ventilation leaves a lot to be desired, due to the heavily simplified caps (15, 16) for the openings in the rear of the fuselage.

Main rotor consists of the blades merged with the hub (6) and a rather flimsy shaft (17).

Tail rotor (29) axis is combined with the horizontal stabiliser (4), which should be also glued to its vertical counterpart (5).

There are a few more parts on the sprue, such as the optoelectronic head, which will remain unused (if the assembly manual is to be believed).

Some more plastic

All the transparencies can be found on the second, much smaller injection moulded sprue. Both the heavily glazed front of the cabin (including the small skylight) and the door mounted windows.

The clarity of the "glass" leaves a little to be desired, but there is not much to worry about. Nevertheless, some polishing seems to be necessary.

Unfortunately the kit designer didn't choose to cast the entire fuselage sides with transparent plastic. All door windows (bit distorting due to their curved shape) are glued right into door openings, without any room to manoeuvrer.

This is also true for the cabin front glazing, where the only framing element is the one running through the middle of the part.

Assembly manual

A rather crude colour printout on an A4-size paper guides us through the short construction process. Drawings taken from the manual of the original Stransky edition have been enhanced with colours indicating the areas where the parts are glued together, as well as the colours of the interior elements. Simple and clear.

What you won't find here are informations regarding the painting of the exterior. Those are placed only on the back of the box, but about this later.

Decals

The small markings sheet included in the set was made solely by Kovozávody Prostějov.

Doesn't look good at the first glance, let alone on closer inspection. The colours are awfully uneven, with the yellow elements being by far the worst.

Only the black is uniformly black, but we can forget about the detailed markings even in this colour anyway.

White was printed with an offset, which is unfortunately hard to show on the photos due to the light colour of the backing paper. Polish Border Guard “roundels” and warning arrows suffered the most.

The fact that the transparent transport film was also applied with a significant offset is not even worth mentioning. Let me just remind you that this is a 2020 release.

Painting options

Theoretically (but only theoretically, given the quality of included decals) the kit provides markings for four paint schemes shown on the back of the box.

Suggested paints numbers refer to only one brand, though the most popular one. Back in the 1990s that is.

In the Polish option, the green for the “roundels” underlay is not given and the other colours suggested are rather dubious.

The icing on the cake, however, is the fact that the painting schemes profiles depict the Robinson R66 Turbine. Well done!

Robinson R44 and R66 helicopters, an overwiev (Robinson Helicopters)

It comes as no surprise at this point that the decals numbers provided on the drawings (not in all cases – look at the ".EN" on the Dominican machine, just behind the cabin windows) don't match those on the actual sheet at all. OK, a few actually do.

“Research”

For some strange reason, Polish Border Guard painting option was included in the "Military" edition of the kit. Unfortunately I have some bad news for modellers who want to make a miniature of this particular helicopter.

Polish Border Guard Robinson R44 Raven II "SP-VSR" (photo by Bogdan Jankowiak, www.jetphotos.com)

Let's start with the completely mismatched SP-VSR registration font, what is best illustrated by the letter "S". "Straź Graniczna" inscription is a bit better, but there is a typo in the first word (should be “Straż Graniczna”). Apart from that, the proportions are out of kilter, with uneven spacing between the lines and the word "Straź" stretched slightly to the left.

Provided decals don't include Polish flags for the vertical stabiliser – red stripes (number 25 on the sheet) are not a valid option (the actual helicopter has a slightly off-white colour so the white of the flags stands out noticeably). The Border Guard round chequerboard for the helicopter underside is also missing – there are only two, placed on the tail boom sides.

Other painting options are no better. Estonian variant features wrong style of the "66" number and no markings for the bottom of the machine. In addition, the miniature should be properly equipped.

Estonian Air Force Robinson R44 "66" (photo by Smirnov ID, www.airplane-pictures.net)

On the tail boom of the Dominican Army Robinson should be "E.N.-1844", not "EN.1844". Similarly, on the fuselage, just behind the windows – "E.N.", not "EN." (which is also unnecessarily italicised on the decals). Stencils for the landing gear skids are missing, emblem on the main rotor shaft fairing is too large (also should be higher than depicted on the profile), and the flag for the vertical stabiliser is printed so poorly that the white cross is basically non-existent (plus wrong letters underneath). Utterly perplexing is the fact that the illustration on the front of the box is far more accurate in the terms of markings.

Dominican Army Robinson R44 "E.N.-1844" (photo by Dick Lohuis, www.airhistory.net)

Mexican version has the incorrect "ME-017" inscription, both in terms of size and the font used. I'm also willing to bet that this machine should have some markings on the bottom as well.

Mexican Navy Robinson R44 "ME-017" (Sentinel México)

All in all, there is nothing to cry about. After all, the decals are of such poor quality that – even disregarding the above-mentioned factual errors – they are unusable.

Conclusion

Plastic sprues made by Stransky are somewhat unimpressive. Although without any really discouraging shortcomings, it is clear that building the small Robinson will require some work. Nevertheless, nice to finally have an injection moulded R44 – definitely a niche subject (despite the popularity of the real helicopter), which I personally find rather interesting.

Kovozávody Prostějov contribution on the other hand is downright embarrassing.

MMXXI