Kaman HH-2D Seasprite

Clear Prop!, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

The Kaman Seasprite first appeared in the early 1960s as a utility transport helicopter and has gone through a large number of upgrades in use and equipment over the intervening decades, culminating in the Super Seasprite of the 1990s.

It served in both the Vietnam and Gulf Wars. Other than its transport role it served in anti-submarine, air-sea rescue and plane guard duties.

All Seasprites in US Navy use were retired in the early 2000s and offered to overseas forces.

Only a couple of previous kits of Kaman’s little helicopter have been released, an SH-2F by Airfix in 1983 and also earlier by Fujimi, as well as Clear Prop’s own SH-2A/B a year or so ago.

A number of conversion and detail sets have also been produced, essentially aimed at the early kit releases. This kit and the earlier Clear Prop version have raised the bar in no uncertain manner - this is an exceptional product and we should all support this Ukrainian company.

This kit represents the HH-2D variant which is a Search and Rescue helicopter without any armament or armour but fitted with the more powerful T58-GE-8F engines and four-bladed tail rotor.  

67 conversions were made from UH-2A and UH-2Bs - a kit of which Clear Prop have already released.

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Clear Prop!'s Seasprite arrives in a top opening box which contains a strong inner box to protect the contents. Inside is a resealable clear sleeve containing five dark grey sprues, one clear sprue in its own zip-lock bag, a packed PE fret, two decal sheets (one a very small one) and an 18-page A5 instruction booklet.

The parts are precisely and beautifully moulded with fabulous surface detail that will reward careful painting.

There are almost no seams to be seen and flash is totally absent.

Some of the finer parts are really great.

The fuselage is quite complex, being made up of ten parts, and will need careful alignment around the superbly detailed interior and engine pods. I particularly like the quilted roof lining and interior panelling. The open doors will allow this to be seen.

The cockpit is more than adequately detailed and decals are used for the instrument panels in front of and above the crew.

Transparencies are thin, very clear and the parts map shows that five of them are not used, presumably being from the A/B variant kitted previously.

A large photo-etched fret gives a goodly number of detail parts to enhance the cockpit, seats, belts, undercarriage, engines and exterior fittings. 

The instructions are very detailed with clear drawings and colour call-outs of all parts from the Mr Color and A-Mig ranges as well as by name.

Decals are well-printed with minimal carrier film and in a flat finish. However, they are on a pale blue backing sheet that will make identifying and cutting out of some of the large number of white markings quite difficult for ageing eyes!  

The three different aircraft, all in an identical blue grey scheme with a yellow tail band, are illustrated in colour four-views at the rear of the booklet and there is a separate two-sided sheet for stencil locations.

Decals are provided for the yellow/red striped tail-planes.

The three examples are:-

1. TD-14, 149031, HSL-31in 1981,

2. HC-2, 152198, USS Saratoga, 1971, and 

3. TD-1, 149032, HSL-31, USS Oklahoma, 1972.

This is a wonderful kit of this small helicopter and I am sure it will appeal to modellers with an interest in the type and uses with both the US Navy and many other countries that have used it. Some modifications will need to be made if you wish to represent examples used in Australia and NZ.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Clear Prop! for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2023 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2023 by Brett Green
Page Created 13 June, 2023
Last updated 13 June, 2023

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