The Ka-27/Ka-29 Helix helicopter family is a follow-on to the Ka-25 Hormone helicopter. Like the Ka-25, the Ka-27/29 has contra-rotating stacked rotors eliminating the need to a tail rotor to counter torque. Like most helicopters, the Helix’s cockpit is very visible and unfortunately, the seats included by most kit manufacturers do not bear any resemblance to those of the actual helicopter.

This set from Aires, part of its Quickboost line, seeks to remedy this by providing very nicely detailed seats with the harnesses. The set includes four seats, which allows you to outfit two kits as there are only two seats in the front cockpit of the Helix. The seats are not identical, they each have different configurations for the lap belts, as unless the helicopter is at an airshow, on the actual aircraft, the lap belts end up in lots of different configurations depending on how they are unbuckled and set or tossed aside.

As there are no painting instructions included in the set, you will need to do some research, either in your own reference materials or online. Most of the pictures I found online showed the seat frames to be light grey, but the cushions and harness varied widely in color. I used khaki for my cushions and dark grey for the harnesses based on a couple of photographs I found of Russian Ka-27 cockpits. After a light coat of Future, I used a black wash to pick out the details in the cushions and to highlight the folds in the harnesses. I used aluminum to pick out buckles and attachment points on the seats. A coat of clear flat then sealed everything in.

While the set is supposedly designed for the Zvezda Ka-27 kit, there are no attachment points on the Aires seats that are specific to the Zvezda kit, so my first two are going into a Revell Ka-29 kit that has been sitting half-built in my work pile. As shown in the photographs, the Aires seats are a vast improvement over the kit provided seats.

This is a great set and since you can outfit two cockpits from one set, it is a real value as well. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Aires for the review set and to IPMS-USA for letting me review it.