Bush War Hinds

Part 1

1/35 scale

Linden Hill Decals

Reviewed by Jay Laverty

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An extensive collection:

Initial glances at this decal set show a lot of promise as there are several choices of Mil-24 and all of them very interesting. Comprising no less than 8 Hinds this sheet offers superb value for money when you take into account just what you get inside.

Although it lacks the interesting and helpful colour photographs of Linden Hills recent Su-27 Flanker releases, the extensive background information is still there and makes for some very informative reading as well as brilliant reference material.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The Subject Matter

Profile 01: The first profile brings us to Bagram Air Base during the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan during 1988. Featuring the alternate desert soviet scheme this particular helicopter “Yellow 05”, 262nd OVE, protected the airbase from increasingly daring Mujahideen attacks.

Profile 02: “Black 101” Afghan Northern Alliance forces, is probably one of the more interesting in the booklet as it accompanies a fascinating story about the anti- Taliban Ahmed Shah Massoud, and his battles with the Taliban and Al-Quaeda.

Profile 03: Staying with the Afghan theme “Black 317” was operated by the Democratic republic of Afghanistan prior to 1979 sports the standard Soviet Hind export scheme. And the interesting stories about the Afghan conflict continue here, so there is a danger you could walk away from this sheet knowing a great deal about the Hinds contribution to this conflict.

Profile 04: “Black 302” was a Lybian Hind captured in Chad after the Lybian backed rebellion in the north of the country was suppressed in th 80’s with the help of the Americans and the French. It was one of several extensively evaluated in the west and who knows perhaps it ended up in a Rambo film.

Profile 05: This very interestingly marked Croatian bird belongs to the 29th Helicopter Combat Squadron based at Pleso, during the nasty Yugoslav wars of the 1990’s. Acquired from Yugoslavia this particular Helo is adorned with the standard soviet scheme, carries some very interesting markings and will no doubt be the one I do when I do my Hind.

Profile 06: Another helicopter involved in the strife in the Baltic's “Black 204” was operated by the Macedonian Air Force and was involved in the suppression of the Ethnic Albanian NLA during 2001. This Hind sports an updated version of the standard soviet scheme with a couple of interesting additions.

Profile 07 & 08: The final two profiles in the booklet are of Hinds operated by the Bulgarian Air Force “White 122” & “ White 103” . They are the two most colourful schemes represented here and make for two interesting models.

The Decals

The transfers themselves are spread over two sheets and my example is in perfect register and is up to Linden Hills usual high standards in printing. The carrier film is very difficult to see and surrounds the silk-screen printed markings very closely.

 

This 1/35 scale decal set is very highly recommended indeed. It is a thoroughly researched and well presented decal sheet that goes a bit beyond the normal fare.

Linden Hill are to commended for going well out of their way to find some very interesting and offbeat subjects for us to model, that go well beyond the standard subjects you would expect from the rest of the decal manufacturers.

My example came from Hannants, although any respectable stockist will carry this line of decals as well as Linden Hill themselves.

At £13.95 EU or £11.87 Export, this sheet is well worth it.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Linden Hill Imports for the review sample.

Linden Hill Decals are available from Linden Hill Imports' website

Review Copyright © 2005 by Jay Laverty
This Page Created on 23 March, 2005
Last updated 22 March, 2005

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