Special Hobby 1/72 Lockheed TR-1A

SPECIAL HOBBY 1:72 LOCKHEED TR-1A
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)

Kit: Special Hobby 1/72^nd scale Lockheed TR-1A (Kit N° 72024 ). Produced in Czech Republic

Aircraft: The Lockheed U-2 first flew from the secret Groom Dry Lake Test Facility in Nevada on August 1955. The early variants enjoyed a successful career as a high-flying reconnaissance platform until 1 May 1960, when Gary Powers was shot down over Sverdlovsk in the USSR whilst on a CIA mission. As it was no longer deemed safe to overfly the Soviet Union, the U-2 continued to be used as an intelligence gathering platform in the SIGINT collection role and by using powerful long-range oblique cameras to look deep into the target country whilst flying inside „friendly“ airspace.

By the late 60's, the original aircraft were becoming limited in their capability and a new aircraft was required to carry the more modern sensors that were under development. Lockheed took the original design and made some changes, mostly to the overall size of the aircraft. The new U-2R first flew from Edwards North Base on 28 August 1967. It soon proved that it could carry the new sensors higher and further than its predecessors, and the aircraft was also found easier to fly than the early U-2's.

These new airframes were re-designated as TR-1A's and deployed to Europe to carry out surveillance across the Iron Curtain using the ASARS-2 synthetic aperture radar for battlefield monitoring. Based at RAF Alconbury in the UK with the 17th reconnaissance Wing of the USAF, some TR-1A were also fitted with a variety of electronic warfare equipment for ELINT and SIGINT missions, eavesdropping on the military forces of the Warsaw Pact. As the Cold War threat diminished, the TR-1A's were withdrawn and in 1991 they were renamed as U-2R.

The TR-1A/U-2R played an important role during the 1991 Gulf War, and they also did in the Balkans conflict. A re-engined version is also being introduced, known as the U-2S.

Parts: Inside a sturdy, end-opening box with beautiful cover art you get a bag containing two sprues of 30 parts in ocean grey, a pair of vacuum-formed canopies, a bagged decal sheet and a little bag with more than 55 resin parts. Panel lines are finely engraved and surface quality is very good. The are the usual ejector pin extrusions to tackle with, and most parts will need some clean up, but there's no flash evident. The assembling of the styrene parts is conventional (fuselage split vertically, each wing having upper and lower halves) and rather simple, but it's the resin set which makes the difference!

You get a whole resin set, highly detailed cockpit, resin wheel wells and a myriad of tiny parts; among them are the rear and the stabilizing wheels (the real-ones being very small).

For two versions you get wing containers, broken down in such a way that keeps the wings completely clean when not using them. Each horizontal stabilizer is one-part, and the vertical fin is also separate. Everything will be but-jointed, since there are no locating pins at all. Finally, the canopy is Vacuum-formed and, as usual in such cases, you get a spare one.

Instructions: Consists of an 8-paged A5 booklet. Pages one and two brings an extensive history and some technical data in Czech, English, German and French; page three shows the sprues and resin layout. On top of page four you'll find the symbols explanation and the painting codes given in Humbrol numbers and names. The rest of page four, page five and page six shows the construction in twelve steps, including painting detail, being clear enough for anybody but the very beginner. Finally, pages seven and eight show 3 different finished versions, all in matt black but each wearing some individual decals. Study of the instructions is recommended, especially to identify the resin parts and to choose an adequate building sequence.

Versions: There are 3 versions which can be built from this kit:

TR-1A S/N 80-1067, built July 1982. Returned to flight test in 1989. Modified to „S“ spec in February 1997. Currently flying with Flight Test Palmdale, CA.
TR-1A S/N 80-1074, built February 1984. Configured to PLSS in 1984-85. Transferred to 17RW in December 1990. Transferred to 9WG in October 1992. Reconfigured as U-2S in May 1996. Served 1990-91 in Desert Shield / Desert Storm.
U-2R S/N 80-1076, built 1984-85. Fly-by aircraft at Beale Air Fest ´97.

Decals: A beautiful small sheet printed by Propagteam, with many stencils. Color looks O.K., and carrier film is very transparent.

Detail: Very pleasant, as usual with Special Hobby. Great comprehensive resin set!

Options: It can also be built wheels-up, the wing tanks are optional, and for the positioning lights you can choose between green / red resin parts or paint the clear ones.

Impressions: Another great choice from Special Hobby, finally giving us an alternative to the Airfix U-2. A few dry-fits showed no major problems. Of course, the amount of resin parts means some patience work is asked.

Recommendations: This unique airplane is a must in every „modern jets“ collection. Recommended for everyone with some experience, due to the short run nature of the kit and the great amount of resin parts. Will undoubtedly be very eye catching with it's slim lines dressed in black!

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