Hi everyone!
This is my build of the Revell 1/72 T-2E "Buckeye", that I intend to finish it as a Hellenic Air Force Bird.
The T-2E "Buckeye" is a US built, twin-engine training aircraft. T-2 is the only training jet aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force and is used for the final stage of young pilots’ training. T-2s operate from Kalamata Air Force Base (120 Air Training Wing) and belong to 362 squadron “Nestor” and 363 squadron “Danaos”. The specific airplane has trained many generations of Greek pilots but despite its reliability it is expected to be replaced shortly by a new training jet. It wears a three-colour, brown, green and white camouflage.
The Revell kit is a rebox of the original Matchbox kit. Sadly, both sprues have the same white color (I loved the multicolor Matchbox kits sprues in the past!).
It is a simple typical Matchbox kit, meaning good overall shape, deep trenches for surface detailing, ultra sparse cockpit and acceptable landing gear.
The decal sheet is a gem: it is printed by Cartograf, so no extra info is necessary!
Instructions are very nice and clear:
I am going to build it wheels up and mount it on a custom base at a dynamic posture.
It is going to be a present to a Major General who is an amazing guy and a very good friend of mine. He was stationed in Kalamata Air Base for a while, the Base HAF T-2s were operating from.
I have no real deadline for it, but, finish it during the Christmas vacations will not be bad...
Construction
Having a soft spot on older kits (Matchbox kits among them) and wanting to take a ultra mini breath between the looping touching up sessions of my EoJ GB Toryu, I attacked this little sweetie:
I glued the fuselage halves together and the wing halves. I did not attach the wings to the fuselage, as they are inserted in a receptacle style opening, so the best would be to fill/sand everything before installation. I attached the stabilators at the fin.
General fit was ok.
More to come!
