Search the Community

T-2 Buckeye Anniversary Markings (SH32087) 1:32 Special Hobby Following WWII, the US Air Force embraced the jet engine wholeheartedly, with the Navy lagging behind a little due to the slow spool-up of the early jet engines that made wave-offs and go-arounds a cheek-clenching prospect. By the early 50s the T-28 Trojan was showing its age, so those in command began looking for a replacement. North American won a contract in the mid-50s, and the T-2A flew by 1958, entering limited service a year later, with only one jet engine installed in the earliest variant, which was also called the T2J-1 at the time, although consolidation of naming in 1962 renamed it as the T-2A. By the time the T-2B entered service, the engine count had increased by one to give it more speed and similarity of operation to the aircraft that the trainees would eventually fly after graduation. Around 600 airframes were built in total, and the type had a long career that spanned around 40 years, with most pilots during that time having spent part of their training flying a Buckeye, the name given to it that relates to the location of the factory in Ohio that made them, which has a state tree by that name. The T-2C was the final variant in US service, with GE engines replacing the Pratt & Whitney units, presumably for efficiency and maintenance reasons, as they brought no extra power to the party. 50+ D and E variants were built for overseas operators in South America and more notably Greece, who took 40 and are still flying them at time of writing. In US service the Buckeye was retired in 2008 when it was replaced by the more modern T-45 Goshawk, which is a substantially re-engineered and Navalised version of the BAe Hawk, as used by the RAF and the famous Red Arrows. The Goshawk is faster and more agile than its predecessor, getting close to the sound barrier and with advanced avionics that mimics those of the current fighters better than the worn-out Buckeyes could manage. A few T-2s are still flying in private hands, and make appearances at air shows, as do the Greek airframes if you’re lucky. The Kit This is a welcome reboxing of the 2014 releases of the US Navy and Greek boxings in this scale, only this boxing comes with a choice of both markings of these initial issues, so if you missed out on those, now is the time. The kit arrives in a top-opening box that has a pair of profiles of the decal options laid over a merged US and Greek flag. Inside are nine sprues of grey styrene, or eight if your fuselage halves haven’t separated in transit. There is also a small clear sprue with a separate canopy part, a small box with a bag of seventeen resin parts, three decal sheets, and finally an instruction booklet printed in colour on glossy white paper, with painting and decaling profiles on the rear pages, followed by some adverts for some of Special Hobby’s other products. Detail is good, and improved further by the resin that’s included, especially a pair of ejection seats that are very well done. Engraved panel lines, accompanied by raised and recessed features where you’d expect them go to make a good-looking model that is surprisingly large once complete. Construction begins with the cockpit, diving straight into the instrument panel, which has a decal placed over the raised dials, and is inserted into the coaming along with a bump on the top, a job that is repeated to make the rear instrument panel, only the bump count has increased to two, and there is an insert with the rear of the panel depicting the cylindrical backs of the instruments. It also has a decal, and is then mounted on a support frame for later insertion. The four side consoles are detailed with additional parts, including arms that mount the rudder pedals from the sides, all of which has colour call outs using letters that correspond with a table of Gunze Sangyo paint codes. For a total change, the lower wings have their moulded-in main bay details painted and the flap bulkhead inserted, then we’re back with the cockpit, bringing together the various sub-assemblies on the cockpit floor, adding bulkheads behind each pilot, control columns, two more small parts on the tutor’s coaming, and a rounded enclosure on a shelf behind him. Another diversion sees the twin intake trunks built from vertically split halves, then attached to a bulkhead that has the front of the engine’s compressor blades moulded in, and a similar pair of trunks at the exhaust end that mate to a bulkhead with the rear of the engine moulded-in. The two-panel rudder is made from two pairs of halves, and the nose gear bay is glued together down the centre, while the two resin North American ejection seats are painted and decaled, with a few small resin parts added, at which point you’re ready to close the fuselage, remembering to first paint the two resin inserts that are placed in the fuselage under the wing roots. The insides of the fuselage are also painted around the cockpit and the exhaust trunking, then those assemblies, the intakes, nose gear bay and the afore mentioned resin inserts are all trapped between the fuselage halves, locating on raised guidelines for security. Although the wings are separate due to their position mid-fuselage, they are shown being built up together, adding bay walls around the cut-out in the lower wing halves, closing the wings by fitting the uppers with their now-painted interiors. Flaps, ailerons, elevators and their fins are all built from two halves each, ready for joining to the fuselage in the next step, remembering to first install inserts into the wing roots to complete the bay walls before you glue them in place. The rudder panels fit into the moulded-in fin, with the elevators and their separate control surfaces slotted into holes in the tail, allowing you to deflect them if you wish. Someone seems to have forgotten that the wings’ control surfaces haven’t been fitted yet, as the drawing shows them in place, but they’re done later. First, the gap that extends the full length of the engine “swelling” is inserted, the intakes are extended forward and capped by a single lip each, adding a gaggle of intakes and outlets around the nacelles, with fillets inserted aft of the exhausts, and the arrestor hook fitted under the tail. The flaps can be posed deployed for landing/take-off, or cleaned-up for flight by adding or omitting the small hinge points and jacks that push them back and down in their tracks. More small antennae and lights are fixed to the underside while the model is inverted, then the landing gear is created and installed. Each of the main struts have a straight strut that glues to a sturdy A-frame and plugs into the bay, with separate scissor-links and three bay doors, the inner door provided with a resin H-jack retractor that has series of scrap diagrams showing its correct location, along with the retractor jack, and finally the two-part wheels. The nose gear leg is a single part that has separate scissor-links, and a short-drum-like part that glues to the bottom of the leg, then it slots into the back of the nose gear bay, adding the bay doors to the sides that have separate hinges and retraction struts that help open and close the doors with the movement of the leg. The two-part tip-tanks are glued to the ends of the wings, with clear lights at the tip and outer face, adding the ailerons to their cut-outs, a pair of strakes down the fuselage sides, a probe in the tail fin, and two clear tail lights, one each side. Another clear light inserts in a recess in the port wing leading edge to finish work on the exterior. The two ejection seats that were made up earlier are fitted with three- or two-part rails before being placed into the cockpit, adding a gunsight for one decal option to the front coaming, with a choice of long or short opening jacks between the crew, depending on whether you intend to pose the canopy open or not, cutting off 6mm for the closed canopy. Before fitting the canopy, a central cross-brace and rear bulkhead are fitted inside with a non-fogging glue, painting them a dark grey as you go, which is as good a time as any to mention the canopy mask set that SH have, which we reviewed here a little while ago. There is a small indent on the underside of the cross-brace to help locate the opener jack, then you can glue the windscreen into position over the coaming. Markings There are two decal options spread across two of the sheets, with the third sheet containing stencils for around the airframe. From the box you can build one of the following: T-2C Buckeye, Bu.no.155241, No.309, VT-23 ‘The Professionals’, NAS Kingsville, Texas, 1976, marking the US Bicentennial. T-2E Buckeye, Bu.no.160084, No.84, 363 Air Training School (MEA) ‘Danaos’, 120 Air Training Wing (PEA), Kalamata, Hellenic Air Force, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the 363 MEA. The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion It’s good to see this kit back on the shelves, and with marking for US and Greek aircraft included to widen the appeal. The resin does a good job of increasing the detail of the model, especially those ejection seats. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Here is my greek Fairey Battle, the last model I've made. I hope the chipping hasn't been too excessive! I think it is the most realistic 1/72 aircraft I've completed. I started this model by Christmas, but lack of paints delayed it's finishing until very recently. More pics and a full review here; http://toysoldierchest.blogspot.com/2013/09/airfix-fairey-battle-172-ao3032-raf.html