painting masks by reducing
them on the copying-machine.
There are 13 construction
steps in the instructions, all
in CAD renderings in blue-
gray print, which makes them
a bit unclear in places. The
parts themselves are moulded
perfectly, with no sink marks or
lash. The pilots’ compartment
is basic, but in this scale not
much will be seen through
canopy, even though the
transparent parts are thin andperfectly clear. There is a
myriad of tiny fuselage and
light engineers’ compartments
windows and it looks like the
it is perfect. The internal
construction of the fuselage
and loading door is perfectly
recreated, and some reinforcing
and internal framework
is supplied. These are a bit
oversized for the scale, but I
believe that soon we will be
provided with an aftermarket
photoetched replacment.Also, all the ailerons,
laps and control surfaces’
actuators are represented
in plastic, but they look a bit
oversized (but convincing
enough for those of us who do
not measure their models but
just build them). Surprisingly
enough, taking into account
the scale, the engines are
made as two separate rows
of cylinders, and the multi-
wheeled undercarriage is
fully and nicely detailed too.CONCLUSION
Despite its scale and a number
of parts the Me 323 “Gigant”
model kit looks a simple build,
and surely, when completed,
should be a ine match when
displayed next to Revell’s
An-224 “Mriya” or An-124
“Ruslan” on your shelf. I have
started looking for a tank or
car in 1/144th scale that I could
put inside the opened cargo bay
in order to give some sense of
the dimensions to my “Giant”.Lockheed U-2A
First look at AFV Club 1/48 Lockheed U-2A
I
t is very surprising that the
U-2 family is so overlooked
in 1/48 scale, to date the
only option was the 1960s
vintage Testors U-2C which
has its origins in the even
earlier Hawk U-2A/ And a bit
more up to date the Italeri
TR-1/U-2R which is currently
available from Academywith upgrades as a U-2S.
So when AFV Club announced
they were going to produce a
whole family of early model
U-2s I was quite excited.
On opening the box I was
very impressed with the
moulded detail in areas such
as the cockpit and Airbrake
bays. And once I delved deeper
and found that the whole Q
Bay which houses the camera
equipment was also very well
detailed I thought this kit may
be the answer to my dreams.
Then I saw the sunshade
to shield the cockpit, this
has to be one of the inest
representation of fabric I
have seen in a plastic kit.
The instructions are clear
and concise while you have
a nice selection of colour
schemes from the attractive
natural metal and orange
example on the box art to
USAF and NACA operated
overall silver examples.
But this kit is a bit of a
curate’s egg once you do some
research, the main issue is
that the front end around the
canopy and intakes is just wrong
something that was quickly
pointed out online. What is
strange is the box art is right!
The other concern is that
beautiful sun shade, this bears
little resemblance to anyshade I have seen in U-2
Photographs were it is
normally part of the
boarding ladder. A little
research show s that it
is actually a type used
on the Lockheed F-104
Starighter and I will
certainly be using mine
on a Hasegawa or Eduard
re-boxing later this year.CONCLUSION
It is really down to the modeller
if the nose contours are a deal
breaker. Personally, I will still
be purchasing an example
when it becomes available in
February and I will also add
the C version to my collection
when that is issued a month
later. Mainly at the Hawk /
Testors kit is demanding prices
as much as this kit but will also
need considerable time and
skill to bring it up to the level of
detail AFV Club have supplied.
Our thanks to Pocketbond
the UK importer for letting us
photographs the kits runners
at the Nuremberg Toy Fair.SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL • APRIL 2019FIRST LOOK
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