Anigrand Craftswork 1/72 Yak-24 Horse Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Yakovlev Yak-24 (NATO Codename: Horse) was a tandem-rotor heavylift helicopter designed to supplement the Mi-4 (NATO Codename: Hound). The design is similar in layout to the Piasecki H-21 Workhorse that entered service a few years earlier, but features twin four-bladed main rotors versus the H-21's three-bladed main rotors and twin engines for power vice the H-21's single engine. This resulted in greater payload capacity for the Yak-24.

Despite the Yak's better specifications, the aircraft was plagued with vibration problems that ultimately limited the production run and service of this aircraft to under 100 examples, leaving Mil OKB to supplement the Mi-4 with their own design, the Mi-6 (NATO Codename: Hook).

Anigrand Craftswork has returned with a new rotary-winged subject, the Yak-24 in 1/72 scale. Despite the small size of the box, this is not a small helicopter and Anigrand uses their bullet-proof method of linking the front and rear halves of the main fuselage here. You can see in the images to the right that the kit is in its usual great packaging to ensure your Yak will arrive on the bench safely.

I decided to play with the fuselage halves to see what kind of a fit this release will have. The kit fits nicely together and looks to be a straightforward build. The rear rotor mast is also ingeniously rendered to slip into the rear cradle. You can see the simple tape-up I did of the four fuselage sections and the rear rotor mast.

The windows are cast in clear resin and the side windows are crystal clear even though you won't have any interior inside the main cabin. The cockpit transparency is much improved in clarity over some of the more recent rotary winged releases and looks to be a simple fit in the open section that is provided in the nose.

The landing gear is a tubular frame that is rendered in this kit as resin. You might consider bending up some brass wire to replace the resin and provide for a more sturdy landing gear.

The main rotors dovetail together to create the rotor heads and while I did successfully build these up in the AH-56 and UH-61 kits, I still think these are going to be fragile and will need a small washer or other reinforcement to stand the rigors of handling.

Markings are provided for Yellow 36, though you can substitute any Bort number you'd like or even an Aeroflot scheme since the Yak-24 did make it into civilian operations for a short time.

Anigrand continues to turn out some interesting subjects to fill in the gaps of aviation history for those aircraft that didn't get past flight test.

My sincere thanks to the US importer, Nostalgic Plastic for this review sample!