MPC/Airfix 1/72 Ka-25 'Hormone'
Kit Number: 4214
Price: $5.00 (in 1983)
Decals: one version
Date of Review: 31 March 98
Review and Photo by: Scott Van Aken
Kamov's Hormone Helicopter is a highly successful, multi-role aircraft. Designed to operate from the then Soviet Union's 'Moscva' class assault carriers as an ASW platform, it has been adapted to other roles such as SAR, OTH relay, and ELINT. Typical of Kamov designs, there is no tail rotor, the torque being dissipated by the use of two main rotors, each turning in opposite directions.
The Airfix kit is really a jewel, and the only kit of this helicopter available. This particular kit was one of the Airfix line reboxed by MPC in the 1980's. Typical of the day, the panel lines are engraved and there is little cockpit detail other than seats, floor, control sticks and instrument panel (with decal). Missing are the side controls (collective?), but this is fairly normal in helo kits. For some reason, manufacturers of helicopter kits fail to realize that there are two main control sticks needed for helicopters. The 'normal' one for fore, aft, and side movement, and the other for up and down.
Construction of the Hormone is quite simple and there were few areas that needed attention. One was the construction of the rotors. Although a very strong assembly when done, you need to take particular care when gluing to addure proper alignment of the blades. Another area that needed some work was the fuselage halves. I used quite a bit of putty on the lower part to ensure a flat bottom.
The landing gear were a bit fiddly as well, but once glued and dry, became a very strong structure. The wheels are molded integrally with the gear struts; probably for strength, but it does not allow repositioning of the wheels as they were rarely straight fore and aft when on the ground. One nice thing about the radome in the front is that this is a great place to put weight. I filled mine to ensure that the Hormone was not a tail sitter.
Paint schemes for this aircraft are very few. Most were in an overall medium grey, while SAR helos were red and white. The kit comes with generic decals consisting of just stars, numbers, and Red Fleet flag. I got a set of aftermarket decals from Microscale for this kit. What I got were stars, numbers and Red Fleet flag. Oh well, at least it was a bit different from the kit. The kit was sprayed with Gunze Acrylics in an overall grey color. It has been over 10 years since I built this kit, so the shade of grey escapes me at this time.
Overall a very nice kit. So nice, that I have built more than one of them (all grey, with only a change in numbers). If you can find one, I highly recommend it as one of Airfix's better kits. This particular one won best Soviet aircraft in a contest back in 1985.