The Buckeye is a bulky aircraft. It looks like it was built from Lego or K’nex! It’s ungainly appearance has made it a truely adorable aircraft, loved by aviation fans accross the world. Famously used by the US Navy and Hellenic Airforce, it was also the aircraft used by a Venezuelan display team! It’s a lovely aircraft and one I have meant to build for ages. So…I finally climbed up into the attic and grabbed my kit…but all wasn’t as I hoped.

Initally I started making my Revell kit that I had bought at a recent airshow. It’s just the Matchbox kit in singular colour rather than the three in Matchbox sets. I did have the Matchbox set too, which I had always intended to do in Greek markings in the future. But as I was recently on a quest to build a lot of Hawk models I built the T-45 Goshawk and decided to build the predecessor too.

The kit is simple. It’s a few sprues and simple decals. This is super common for any Matchbox kit. The Revell one does come with nicer decals too, which won’t have yellowing like older kits do. It’s a great kit for a newcommer or someone who just wants a robust easy build to relax with.

Due to the structure of the sprues the wingtip tanks are easy to bend or have the ends chip off. I had this happen on both my builds…we’ll get into why I had to build it twice soon. Some filler or bits of sprue fill this, but it’s worth noting as it happened on both my boxings, even when taking extra care the second time.

Now, for my confession. I built my entire kit and painted it. It looked great…then I got lazy and used some pens to do the black round the cockpit and pressed too hard. In my panic, I used IPA instead of paint cleaner. I’ve learnt using paint cleaner on wet paint (on top of dried fully cured paint) means you have a small window to clean it up. IPA however stripped all the paint. At that point I closed my stream and binned the model. A few months later however I dug up my Matcbhox kit and commited to finishing it – painting both it and my T-45 at the same time.

The construction is super easy and is great for a new starter – just remember to put eight in the nose as the tail can be quite heavy as it’s a thick bit of plastic. I probably over did it, but I’d always rather be safe than sorry. The cockpit didn’t fit super flush and I don’t enjoy making it so, so I ended up with a slight gap – but for me it’s perfectly fine.

I painted my model white (primer) and then masked the areas. I used a mix of Orange and Red paints (all Gaahleri Kaliedo). The ratio was eyeballed to look somewhere inbetween the too, but still clearly with that orange tinge.

It required a lot of Tamiya Tape to shape where the orange and black went, but ultimately it helps you get those crisp lines. The wing tips are the easiest sections, and the tail I found difficult to get a clean line so required more touch ups. I didn’t mask the cockpit and chose to do that afterwards instead.

Once the orangey-red was done I masked the coloured areas and tidied up any over spill with white. It also meant the primer was given a nice even gloss white coat, evening up the level with the coloured sections too. It gave a lovely finish. Sadly I damaged some decals from Revell in my frustration and it meant I used the Matchbox ones in places so that crisp white was greeted by yellowed decals (even after leaving them in the sun).

I used Gaahleri paint pens on the exhaust and metal sections, including layering burnt/blue/copper colours to get great worn exhaust colours.

Buy or Fly?

At the end of my double ended construction process, I still love seeing this beautiful model on the shelf. Whilst I’m not exhibit grade in my ability, I am beyond thrilled with how mine looked in the end. I bought my Revell one for under £10, and probably similar for the Matchbox kit. I think they’re both worth that and perhaps a bit more in the current economy.

The decals are going to be worn in the Matchbox set, and if you want to do Venezuala you’ll need to find extra markings. But I think it’s worth it if you want to a fun easy project for evenings or a weekend or day off! Good luck!