North American T-2C Buckeye Special Hobby 1/48
The T-2 was the US Navy’s intermediate trainer, used to introduce pilots to jets after basic training in piston engine aircraft. It was intended as a straight wing follow on to the T-28, entering service in 1959, and serving until replaced by the T-45 in 2008. The A models were single engine, later giving way to the more familiar twin engine B and C models. They were built in the North American assembly plant in Columbus, Ohio, thus the name “Buckeye.”
This is the Special Hobby kit, which was mixed media, including plastic and resin parts. It came to me partially assembled – I cleaned up a few seams and blemishes, did the painting, decals and final assembly, a process which was filled with many hours searching for missing parts! An email to Special Hobby resulted in delivery of some of the parts I needed within a few weeks of my request – great customer service.
Decals are from Two Bobs and are absolutely amazing, going on easily with a bit of future and micro sol. Paint was from Model Master, with some light weathering and a fairly heavy application of clear flat to simulate sun fading. The model represents an airplane assigned to VT-23, based in Kingsville, Texas in the mid 1980’s.
I now know why all us old geezers are building old kits – the main gear struts were five pieces each! The inboard main gear door actuators are not installed, since they were flashed over resin and trying to clean them up resulted in their destruction, as they were about the diameter of human hair. The canopy had been masked over for quite some time, so removing all of that and the goo left over took up the better part of several hours. Some of the clear parts were microscopic, and the the nose and tail pitot tubes (also microscopic) were both lost to the carpet monster. There truly is a fine line between hobby and insanity….
Thanks, Jack!
6 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Robert Royes said on July 10, 2016
Great job, nice subject, I agree,newer kits can be fiddly.
Craig Abrahamson said on July 10, 2016
Well….it still came out lookin’ pretty good to me. AND…now I know where it got it’s name (thanks) – nice “save”, by the way, too.
Frank Cronin said on July 10, 2016
Jamie,
This is more than a build it is a restoration. You have done an excellent piece of work here. This is beautiful.
Rob Pollock said on July 11, 2016
Sharp looking finishes, Jamie. A great recovery effort.
Terry Schuler said on July 11, 2016
Jaime, your build and resolve to succeed has paid off, this turned out very nice. No question, this is an outstanding looking model. Well done !
P.k said on July 11, 2016
Like hard build kit
Jack Mugan said on July 11, 2016
It really came out nice Jaime….you can send it back now…LOL
Greg Kittinger said on July 11, 2016
Looks great Jaime! I’ve got a couple of “old” T-2’s, one a matchbox and one a rebox by revell, and a set of TwoBobs decals just waiting for them! I’m going to PM you about a color question…
Bryan W. Bernart said on July 11, 2016
Great save and terrific results, Jaime. I’ve built a bunch of Special Hobby kits and they can be a bear. Resin parts usually the Achilles Heel-either fit poorly or castings are porous and surrounded by flash. BUT, sometimes they’re the only game in town, which is how I sold myself on SH.
Jaime Carreon said on July 11, 2016
Thanks, everyone! This project had its moments, but it’s a seldom seen subject and does add a nice splash of color to my small collection.
Tom Bebout said on July 11, 2016
Jaime, that sure is a pretty looking jet. Nice job
George Williams said on July 11, 2016
Very neatly turned out, Jaime, these Navy schemes always look the business and this one is exceptionally attractive.
Roberto Colaianni said on July 14, 2016
Cool!
Joe Caputo said on July 23, 2016
Beautiful !
Jeff Bailey said on August 8, 2017
Very nice! Great paint job & an excellent “save” of an interesting aircraft.