Cessna O-2A Skymaster

The Kit
​​​​​​​The box is the new standard from ICM with a separate sleeve lid with the neat digital artwork on top (even though the stars and bars are on the wrong wing!) and a fully closable cardboard inner box. The plastic inside is neatly packaged and beautifully laid out on two large grey sprues and one single transparent sprue, with 196 parts to play with. The clear parts are separately bagged to keep them scratch free, which is always good to see, The grey parts are a revelation to look at as they are beautifully moulded, without a hint of flash and a very smooth matt finish to the external surfaces. The panel lines and limited rivet detail are sharply engraved, with tight, precise contours. The instruction book is a set of 20 pages in A4 and is very neatly printed, with all the diagrams in very easy to read format. None of the in-vogue CAD drawings, and it looks lovely. Page 1 is an intro and paint detail, with colours from Revell and Tamiya. Page 2 is a sprue layout diagram of some of the neatest looking sprues I’ve seen in a long time. Pages 3 to 15 are the construction bits, broken down into no less than 77 stages! Page 16 is a very handy template guide for the transparent parts, leaving the last 4 pages for the full-colour painting and marking guides for the 4 versions on offer. It’s obvious there are some other versions on the way as the spinners for front and rear props are on the sprues but unused in this USAF box. The other options are the weapons, with 4 LAU rocket pods and two mini-gun pods, to hang on neat little pylons under the wings.
Construction looks to be pretty straightforward and if the parts are as accurate as they are good looking then building it should be a breeze. There is plenty of radio/communication gear for the cabin, as well as a couple of M-16’s and seats to add. The instrument panel is very crisply moulded and the decals to go on there are also delightful to see at as they are well printed You get a basic engine to look at, although that’ll be fine as very little of it can be seen on the finished item and although the undercarriage has to be built in as you go it won’t take two minutes to make this a wheels up version if you fancy, because of the relative simplicity of the units. You get warnings and directions as you work your way through the build, with holes to drill for the wing pylons and weight to add in the nose (I guess that’s going to be vital). There are also painting instructions for various parts as you go through the build, although it’s worth checking your references, as I’m not 100% sure about the accuracy of them. Time will tell as to how well it all goes together but if the sharpness of the parts and the clever design work is anything to go by it should be a breeze!

Colour & Markings
So, what’s the downside? Well, I have to admit that the 4 decal options in the box are nothing short of rubbish. Designed by AK apparently, they have totally missed the boat here in my honest opinion. There is one with a kangaroo on the nose and then two more that are totally plain and in no way different to option 'A' and an all-over black one, which is nice because it’s different. Considering there are some excellent choices out there, including “Don’t Shoot”, “The FAC” and the one with the oversize stars and bars, not to mention loads with individual nose art (“Nine Lives My Ass” being my favourite) I can see this as a golden opportunity gone begging by ICM and by extension AK. However, considering that all of those can be procured through the wonders of the internet, it’s not a serious problem. 

Conclusion
Well, if that’s all I have to complain about then it looks like this one from ICM is going to sell by the bucket load and it’s a cracking looking kit, so why not? Well done ICM, I for one cannot wait to get this one on the chopping block!

Our thanks to ICM for the review sample. UK modellers can obtain this kit from Hannants here.