Folding Seats for Mi-8 / Mi-17

North Star Models, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

Eduard's 1/72 Avia B.534 IV serie Weekend Edition is available online from Squadron.com

North Star is a Latvian company I first heard of a month or so ago. I placed an order with them and my goods arrived in perfect order in New Zealand within 10 days; so order from them with confidence.

The seat set comes in a small re-sealable cellophane bag enclosing a folded A5 sheet of instructions and another cellophane bag with a card stiffener protecting two PE frets; within this second bag is zip-lock plastic bag of resin parts.

The instructions and packaging are adequate, but what really counts is that thee quality of resin casting and PE production is very good.

Unlike the seat frame fret, which is clearly brass, the seat belt fret is silver coloured. It looks like the stainless steel PE often found in Dragon kits and some Japanese kits, and it is also feels ‘springy’ and possibly less malleable than the brass fret accompanying it. If it is steel, then making the belts appear crumpled and folded may be more difficult than compared to annealed brass, although the metal is very thin. Hopefully I am wrong on this point, and presumably there is a good reason for North Star choosing to use it.

The instructions are reasonably clear to follow using CAD-derived illustrations, although mine had toner blotches and a small amount of information guillotined away (North Star must photocopy two sets per A4 page and then halve them to A5).

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There are four different styles of belts, although at a glance there appear to be only two styles. The two with widened ends representing lap-pads are in fact fractionally different lengths; whilst the two without widened ends are the same length but have slightly different attachment hardware. The instructions need to be carefully studied and interpreted to make sure each belt type is fitted in the right place for strict accuracy.

The instructions do not indicate a folded away option for the seats, but it should be straightforward to fit some or all of the seats stowed if desired; and fortunately the resin parts include the underside seat frame detail.

This set has very good quality components, although I am at a loss to explain why the PE parts use different metals. The quality of packaging and instructions has a ‘cottage industry’ feel, and is an area North Star could seek to improve.

This seat set captures the appearance of the real Mi-8/17’s troop-seats very well indeed, and will enhance any suitable model. I am happy to recommend it.

Thanks to North Star Models for the review samples.

Review Text Copyright © 2016 by Mark Davies
Page Created 27 July, 2016
Last updated 27 July, 2016

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