ICM 1/35 S-64E Firefighting Helicopter (53060)

Today we are going to talk about something big - ICM 1/35 S-64E Firefighting Helicopter (53060). New release continues lineup of large releases from the famous brand. While previous kits were more focused on the military topic, this one introduces the civil type. Packaging is typical, and box quite large overall, so be sure to have the space to take it from shop. There are 559 parts which should assemble into a model with 775mm length, while rotor span will measure whole 558mm. All this sounds impressive, so let's open all bags inside and take a closer look together.

By the way, here you can read review with military version of this heli.
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Watch this video-review where I show all parts even closer.

We start with mix of various parts which will be used for the main rotor, engines and fuselage. External features on those look good, so it might be worth getting some reference photos.

Kit is full of small and thin parts, so be sure to treat those with due care. It might be also important to use sharp cutters or plastic saw in some areas.

Landing gear wheels are quite large here, so it might be a good idea to get some aftermarket as they will be noticeable on your build. Standard parts look fine, but model deserves such an additional touch.

Just like in the previous releases, I like that front cab design is done in such a way so that panel lines are preserved. Whole nose section comes as one-piece and should be easy to work with.

Fuselage will have to be assembled out of many panels and there are special bulkheads which have to be installed for extra rigidity.

Worth noting that landing gear will be also glued on large spars as the weight of finished build will be impressive.

Here you can see cockpit floor and large panels for the fuselage middle section. Amount of rivets is crazy here, so be sure to pick them with paintwork and weathering.

Tail section should be glued out of several panels. Pretty much the same design as what we saw on the fuselage.

Main rotor blades look impressive even on their own. Just imagine how the whole assembly would look.

Helicopter will have both engines exposed, so there is no way to avoid proper paintwork for both. Nevertheless, it is also a good chance to play with metal finish.

More of thin parts come on smaller frame.

Firefighter tank comes as assembly out of several panels which you will get on the new frame. Overall design is simple to build, just pay attention to the alignment.

The water hose and other accessories come on the second frame. I wonder how the pipe can be replaced, as it might be tricky to get a convincing look out of two halves.

Clear parts for the civil version come on the separate sprue. Molding quality looks great here.

Another frame will bring you transparent sections for the front cab. There are masking templates in the assembly manual.

Kit features two decals sheets. Both are quite large as the model is big as well. Printing quality looks just fine and should be easy to apply.

You can see all three options on the photo below.

Assembly manual is typical for this brand. I show all pages in the video-review.

New kit should be already available for purchase. In my opinion this is definitely not something to recommend to beginners, but professionals might have fun building such a giant. ICM did a great work, and whole package looks solid. The only thing you might need is to think on how to replace water pipes. Well, another item which you can buy separately is the figurines set from the same brand.

Get this and other kits in Modelimex webshop.