The Pound

Gallery Article by Dave Bailey, aka The Rat on Jan 10 2010

Silly Week 2010

 

Every so often things just, well, happen. In 1960 a Russian helicopter crew got completely disoriented in a blizzard over the Bering Straight, and put down in Alaska with little more than fumes in the tank. While the American authorities were more than civil to the unfortunate crew it was decided that the craft would not be repatriated along with them. The MiL-4 had been developed to give the Soviets the equivalent of the Sikorsky H-19, but it ended up being bigger and more capable in some ways. After studying the beast for a few months it was realized that there would be no need for it in any capacity, so it was offered for sale. Spartan Air Services, the legendary Canadian survey and transport company, picked it up and used it in many roles for over a decade.

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The NATO reporting name for the helicopter was Hound, so in a play on that they named it the Pound, both because of its noise and because it had come to them like a puppy from the lost animals pound. It was a common sight in the Canadian arctic before parts, either bought, purloined, or cobbled together, became increasingly difficult to obtain. On its final flight to a maintenance depot at Coral Harbour a few critical pieces gave up the ghost and the crew successful autorotated it into the water within easy wading distance of land. The hulk was abandoned to the vagaries of wind and weather, until the final traces were washed out to sea.

The Model

Two words – not easy. Oh you can bash a helicopter out of it, but getting anything acceptable for human consumption is something I am not willing to spend too much time on. VEB Plasticart models are not for the faint of heart. The nose piece is perhaps the worst aspect of the whole model – why they chose to make it a separate part instead of just having it as part of the fuselage halves is beyond me. Once you stick it on it’s obvious that it has no relationship to the contours of the real thing. The best after-market product for this model would probably be another model by a different company. The fit is tolerable, the clear pieces abominable (I just used Kristal Klear for all but the front window), the instructions follow the 'minimalist' school of art, and while the decals look comprehensive I wasn’t about to take the chance of them dissolving. I made my own with MS Paint and an inkjet, not the best but readable. Spartan used a number of different lettering styles, and I used the Mistral font to approximate one of them. Not really that close but so what, it’s a whiffer!

Dave Bailey, aka The Rat

Photos and text © by Dave Bailey, aka The Rat