writes:I'm starting to build my Soviet forces for Team Yankee from Battlefront, and it seems clear to me that having a lot of Soviets is a good idea on the tabletop.
Therefore, I acquired two boxes of Soviet helicopters, to field a total of four Hinds!
Then I sent the models to a painting service, although I realized this might be a challenge for them because:
- I was sending the kit parts still on the sprues
- I was asking them to assemble the models
- I was asking them to assemble the magnets in the rotors and bases.
- I was asking them not only to paint the models, but to apply the decals from the kits.
That seemed like a lot to ask from a painting service, but then again, I thought that perhaps they did a lot of Team Yankee work and would be used to it.
The painting service I chose this time was our old friends at Fernando Enterprises in Sri Lanka. To save space, I broke the kit boxes down, and only sent the essentials: the components, decals, instructions, and pictures for painting reference. In my instructions, I wrote:
Use the magnets. Using the decals, number the helicopters 37, 38, 25, and 27 (cut decals to create 27). For 37 and 38, wheels down; for 25 and 27, wheels up.
And here are the helicopters, back from Sri Lanka and on my gaming table! The assembled helicopter is a delicate object to ship, but the painting service went the extra mile to carefully package each model in foam.
Why is one of the models not on its flight stand? Unfortunately, there's a magnet polarity problem with one of the flight stands, which I'll try to fix at a later date.
I randomly grabbed one of the models to take some detailed photos. As you can see, this one is numbered 25. Unfortunately, the painting service was not able to use all of the decals, as some of them were missing (my error? customs mistake? painting service error? I don't know).
Here's a front view. You can see that the weapon pods are not hanging properly (they should be vertical, according to the kit instructions).
Unfortunately, they glued the main rotors in place rather than using the magnets provided in the kit (which allow the rotors to be detached for storage). You can also see that on this model, the main rotor is slightly tilted.
In this view from behind, you can see one of the landing gear in "down" position. Unfortunately, I had requested for the models numbered 25 and 27 to have their landing gear "up." As it turns out, all of the models have the front gear "up" and the back wheels "down."
Here's a close-up of the tail section. The yellow stripe for the tail bottom is missing (one of the lost decals); there are fragments on the left-side of the image (a bit of white, a yellow numeral) that look as if another decal fragmented there.
This is the mid-section. The 'red star' decal was apparently damaged in shipping. The painters did not put a gloss coat down before applying the decals, so there is a bit of silvering (air under the decal) on part of the star. The '25' looks like it might have been hand-painted to replace a missing decal.
Here's a good view of one of the wings, and the weapon pylons. You can also see the gap in the top air intake, where the model halves did not come together completely.
A view from the front-right…
…and the front-left. They missed adding a small part to the nose bottom.
In this bottom photo, you can see the landing gear both up and down. The hole where the flight stand inserts was left fairly rough (but then again, you'll never see it on the tabletop!).
This complicated assignment was a "bridge too far" for my painting service friends, and I have some things to consider for next time:
- Do I assemble complicated models myself? That would make it much more difficult to ship to the painting service. And I might need to send sub-assemblies to make it practical to paint.
- Should I package the decals in their own little ziploc bag, so they are less likely to get lost? Or should I apply the decals after the models come back from the painting service?
Or am I being too much the perfectionist? When I field these on my tabletop, I doubt any of my usual opponents will notice the flaws! 
Next, I need some Soviet tanks…