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Mi-2 Hoplite

Kopro, 1/72 scale

S u m m a r y :

Catalogue Number:

 Kopro Item No. 72301 - Mi-2 Hoplite

Scale:

1/72

Contents & Media

Decals for twelve subjects.

Price:

The Hobbyshop was the only stockist of Kopro decals I could at the time of writing, but the set was not listed.

Review Type:

First Look.

Advantages:

Attractive schemes and good quality decals.

Disadvantages:

The cheap cellophane bag is annoying to use. It also fails to protect the decals from falling out once opened.

Conclusions:

The decals have simple and clear instructions, but the tight-fitting cellophane bags are frustrating to use. However, this is more than made up for the variety of attractive schemes the set covers. Decal quality also looks to be very good – Recommended.

Reviewed by Mark Davies


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FirstLook

 

The Mil Mi-2 is a very successful design used by a wide range of civil and military operators. Colourful liveries are plentiful for the Hoplite (its NATO Codename), as is evident from the decal set reviewed here. Kopro provide only the operator and year concerned for background information on each scheme; more would have been nice to have in some cases. The options covered include:

  • Red Star Aviation, Turkey, 2004,

  • German Police, 2002,

  • Mexican Navy, 2006,

  • Polish Medical service, 2004,

  • Polish Rescue, 2004,

  • Greek Medical service, 1991,

  • Polish Ace Aviation, 1996,

  • Aeroflot, 1998,

  • Belarus Airclub, 2006,

  • German Luftwaffe, 1991,

  • USA, 2003 (no other information provided), and

  • United Arab Emirates Police.

The decals come packaged in a close-fitting and sealed cellophane bag. This is hard to cut open because its sealed edges are so close to the contents, and once opened there is the risk that the decals will fall out. Whatever Kopro saves in cost over the more typical zip-lock polythene bags used for decals is not worth it in my view. I find that the cellophane kind annoying to use.

 

  • Kopro Decal Review by Mark Davies: Image
  • Kopro Decal Review by Mark Davies: Image
  • Kopro Decal Review by Mark Davies: Image
  • Kopro Decal Review by Mark Davies: Image
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Inside the bag is a two-page double-sided A-4 sized colours and markings guide, and of course a decal sheet. Printed in colour, the instructions have a double side-view placement guide that is clear and easy to follow. The Paint colours are in English and Czech; and they are cross-referenced to Humbrol, Agama and FS.595. The decals have good registration and colour density looks good too. The subjects covered by the set include some interesting and colourful schemes. Some choices will require a lot of masking, whilst other only have a few decals, the “USA” scheme only has two serial numbers to apply for example. My personal favourites are the police and emergency service schemes; I am now considering buying a kit of a Mi-2 just to use them!

 

 

Conclusion

 

These are good quality decals with simple and clear instructions. Kopro offers some nice colourful choices with this set, although they provide little background information on them. The use of tight-fitting cellophane bags may help reduce cost, but I regard them to be frustrating to use. I hope that Kopro considers changing to the zip-lock polythene bags that most decal makers use.

Despite my cellophane bag phobia, I am happy to recommend these decals.

Take time to check Kopro’s large range of decal; the number of interesting and useful subjects they cover surprised me.

Thanks to hobbyshop.cz for the review sample.

Review Text & Blue Background Images Copyright © 2012 by Mark Davies
Page Created 23 August, 2012
Last updated 31 August, 2012

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