AFV U-2A Dragon Lady

[amos brierley]

I’ve just bought the AFV U-2 and have found a few points of view I’d like to air.

 

Firstly, the price tag for me is disproportionately wrong for the size of the kit, at £72 retail and likely to sell well in the USA 🇺🇸 this seems excessive. Still, I paided £58, better me thinks, only just. My point being at £60 retail the Airfix Victor provides much more plastic and just as much goodies.

 

On to the kit contents: and in absolutely no order - ejection seats 💺 in general are as good as it gets in injection moulding goes and generally require a resin replacement. This kits bang seat is almost a stonker, it’s brilliant. Except the seat cushion lacks texture and I’m sure it should have a missing back cushion.  And a lack of supplied straps round it of. I have high expectations.

 

Next, the instrument panel is old school Accurate Minatures , a lovely clear glass affair. But, no decals to go with it. Starting to see a picture from?

 

As the original spy 🕵️‍♂️ plane , the U-2A carried cameras, and a set of 3 are carried behind the pilot, and can be displayed on their own stand, nice. But, again, the instructions fail the modeller. On the clear sprue is a cover to seal the opening, it’s just a clear window. For me this is perplexing, the real panel hinges to the starboard allowing the camera 🎥 panniers to be lowered, why not give us this information, and for me the larger window will 👀 look wrong on a built model.

 

Stage 4 - paint - this will crop up time and time again, the instruction sheet cover says: text edited by Dr John D.Miller model paint solutions. So, stage 4, the undercarriage component is ‘flat white ‘ I’v never come across any U/C or for that matter aircraft component in ‘flat’ white. As a rule components are gloss, something my brief research of this plane reveals. Moving to stage 6 and there’s no paint 🎨 call outs at all. You’re left guessing what the intake trunks/throat S should be, anything from zink chromate primer to grey to name a few. This is a fustration that requires a visit to the Dr........

 

Stage 12 - the canopy, firstly pictures of the kit built up show the canopy hinged to port, sadly the instructions don’t mention this, no great shakes. But the section of the canopy that require you to paint white could be very misleading. This is what I think, it’s correct for this kit offering, but research may confuse the matter, not helping the matter is the decal options. One side plate shows white and another showing the aircrafts external colour, more research on my part is required.

 

One little niggle, the airbrake areas for this modeller are not very detailed, and in my opinion really require some detail with better relief. For my model I ‘m toying with the idea of closing these areas,it really  goes against the grain.  I’m liking a lot decal option D, which the one and only photo I have shows the airbrake shut when the A/C is parked. Would also make decalling easier.

 

The boxing I’ve bought comes with the ‘howdah’ - the sun shields - a really 👍🏻 nice touch . As it sits over the canopy it will save modeller s rushing out to buy decals for that empty instrument panel. Here the Dr has struck again, the sun shield has two arrows and two colours to the same piece, I think it’s trying to suggest the canvas is white with the frame being grey. I’m short on period pictures but other colours are appropriate. For your £72 you also have to make the straps for the Hawdaw, it’s a dam cheek. Ggggrrr.

 

Lastly, decal option A , the box art has on the lower nose a TV aerial style antenna guess what is missing from the kit?? Period pics provide the evidence.

 

Now , I love this kit, no denying it. I’ve read some of the shape issues, i’m not that fussed I’ll wait and see if the AM guys are that fussed too. That will be the making of this kit. I’ m looking at making the kit imminently as its contents are nearly there, my points raised are because I have the kit at hand and would like to inform you of that pitfalls. And maybe see if anyone else feels the same. For sure the kit is state of the art with just the airbrake details being week, the rest is mostly poor instructions, and for the price a brass etched sheet should have been included . All that is needed is some AirScale instrument decals, some seat belts and a big pot of grey paint for option D. 

 

Happy days “Amos “.

 

Sorry for two posts, used an iPad and not my tower computer .

Edited March 4, 2019 by amos brierley
iPad Finger trouble.