North Korean People's Army Air Force Kamov Ka-58

[seadude]

I think I've figured out a paint scheme for this bird. I'm going to go with a medium/dark grey or blue/grey scheme which I've seen for the nighttime attack version of the Mi-35M Hind.



Here are some shots of the Revell Ka-58 part sprues. Some parts are missing cause I already assembled and painted them, particuarly the cockpit area.

Im pretty convinced that parts of that model are actually FROM the Revell/Italeria Comanche kit. Im almost certain that the rotors originate from the comanche kit, as does the rotor pylon and rotor head fairings. The engine inlets are identical and I dont think in this instance its a case of just convergent evolution...

Could you post some sprue pics please? I've just built a Comanche so I'm pretty familiar with the shapes.

Here are pics of the sprues from my 1/72 scale Italeri RAH-66 Comanche kit.

[PR19_Kit]

There are some similarities in overall shape and parts shape too, but I can't see any parts carried over from one to the other. They make a good pair though. 

[Mossie]

Yeah, I've not got a Comanche kit myself but looking at those shots,  the parts are definitely  not straight copies, but are very similar.  I'm surprised I never noticed it when I did the profiles, but the more it's mentioned the more I see a Kamov-ised Comanche.

[seadude]

Here's where I'm at so far. I painted this bird similar to the dark grey overall color used on the Russian Mi-35M HIND E nighttime attack helicopter. The model is painted overall Testors Dark Gull Grey which is close enough according to my eyesight.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8e/d9/6b/8ed96befc83d80c47cdd57483ea4b241.jpg
Unfortuneately, I screwed up on the V-tails at the back. One is slightly lower/higher than the other.    Wheel wells and landing gear are painted Testors Duck Egg Blue. Nose gun barrels painted Tamiya XF-56 Metallic Grey. The cockpit instrument panels have raised detail like knobs, switches, etc.  A modeler can choose to drybrush those details, or they can sand it off and use the kit decals instead. I chose to use the decals. I'm currently working on painting and assembling all the weapons and pylons right now. Those will be a mixture of various colors as I don't want this entire model subject to be "grey" only. After weapons are done, then I'll move to the complicated double rotor system. Oh, what joy.

[PR19_Kit]

Unfortuneately, I screwed up on the V-tails at the back. One is slightly lower/higher than the other. 

Don't worry too much about it, V-tails are always tough to equalize unless the manufacturer has arranged some really accurate tabs and slots for them. It looks just fine from here. 

[Mossie]

Blame it on the camera angle!

[seadude]

Blame it on the camera angle!

Nah. I'll blame it rather on poor North Korean manufacturing. 

[Captain Canada]

Looking good. Like a shark out of water 

[seadude]

This bird has talons now! 
Underwing armament including:
16x  Ataka-V anti-tank missiles
2x  20 tube rocket pods for S-8 rockets (40 total)
2x  Vympel R-73 short range air-to-air missiles

I'm not sure what the open slot is for on the back of the copter in front of the V tail, so I didn't do any special detailing or painting for that. On the bottom of the copter, you'll see two doors that I didn't do so well for gluing and painting. These are the internal weapons bays for more anti-tank missiles. I could have opened them up and built/painted the bays/weapons, but I figured it would have been overkill if I had those plus the underwing weapons.
Next up on the to-do list is the complicated double rotor system. Wish me luck.

[PR19_Kit]

I expect that slot at the rear is the engine exhaust, after going through a couple of miles of heat reducing thingies. The Comanche's exhausts are two longitudinal slots that run down either side of the spine for similar reasons.

[Caveman]

The slots on the Comanches spine are intakes I think. The exhausts are directly below the slots on the underside of the chine. I think the intent was to spread the heat out over as much area as possible and use cool air blown down by the rotor to cool it before it left the aircraft.


See the heat haze here?


The exhaust staining is clear in this phot.

[seadude]

Calling this one done..........unless I can find some other decent decals in my spare stash to break up all the grey all over this bird. But until then, I'm calling it done for now.

[PR19_Kit]

The slots on the Comanches spine are intakes I think. The exhausts are directly below the slots on the underside of the chine. I think the intent was to spread the heat out over as much area as possible and use cool air blown down by the rotor to cool it before it left the aircraft.

I wish they'd have noted that in the kit. Mind you, the instructions were basic in the extreme.

The Ka-58 looks very good, a super job there. 

[NARSES2]

That does look nice