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U2 Pilot Bob Chapman

Jeff Parker has another guest review tonight, this time of the bbi U2 Pilot.  Take it away, Jeff! 

Hi, thanks once again to Michael for running another of my reviews, this time I have a much easier to find and much more affordable figure, but one that in no way lets us down on quality. I've always had a thing about Astronauts, particularly their space suits- don't worry it's not a fetish or any thing like that, I just think they're really cool! The Dragon 1/6 scale Apollo Astronauts Buzz (Aldrin) and Buck (generic, not an historical figure) are way up high in my list of favorites. So come on someone out there pick up the gauntlet and give us some shuttle Astronauts, and maybe even some Cosmonauts, I can't be alone in wanting them! 

Any way back to the matter in hand, This is a U2 spy plane pilot (the Lockheed U2 spy plane was used primarily to fly high altitude reconnaissance / photographic missions over the then communist Russia during the cold war years, though they are still in service today, pity a few more weren't flown over Iraq more recently!), and the altitudes these guys flew at meant they had to wear a lot of life support, and it's not far off the mark to say this is a space suit, and dare I say it even more detailed than the Dragon Astronauts I mentioned earlier, but those of you familiar with the BBI Elite Force Aviators will be familiar with the degree of detail they can achieve. 







Packaging - ***
A nice big full colour window box with Velcro flap, like we've come to expect from BBI. There are plenty of pics of the figure and a brief history of the U2 spy plane The figure sits on the right when you open it and on the left is the classic BBI securely fixed tray of accessories. Only removable with a scalpel- Unless you want to destroy the box...Come on BBI there must be better ways to do this, In fact we know there are. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize that. It's an annoyance that carries over into virtually all their range Cy-Girls included (I'll stop ranting now!). 

'Bob' lie's comfortably in his tray, held in place by 5 twisty ties, along side his helmet, life support and assorted tubes/hoses. I have to admit I would have liked to see some photo's of the actual pilots and maybe even the U2 plane. I found some good pics on google and as far as I can see they got the outfit spot-on (though from what I saw there were two colour variations, white & yellow, so I imagine they went for the yellow to make him look 'less' like an astronaut).

Sculpting - ***1/2
Some really nice sculpting here, apart from the face and hands, he comes with another set of gloved hands, a helmet, a portable oxygen tank/filter, various pens, a water bottle, food paste tubes, and all manner of gadgets and gizmo's (technical term!) all over his suit. Most of these elements will be covered in the other categories so here I'll just talk about the face and hands/gloves. I've always preferred BBI's head sculpts when it comes to generic characters. I did a quick Google search and the only info I came across under 'U2 Pilot Bob Chapman' was about this figure, so I take it there never was a real 'Bob Chapman'.....well not a U2 pilot any way!. So not having to base this on a real person means I can't say how 'Accurate" it is. But its a really nice sculpt, much like all their WW2 and modern military stuff, difficult not to give it a high score. 

The hands are basic but fine and the gloved hands nicely sculpted, but the right hand could have done with being in more of a griping position, as getting hi to hold his portable oxygen filter proves difficult. A tip here that I find works is to dip the hand you want to reposition in some boiling water for a few minutes, take it out and carefully push into a more closed position. Run cold water over it, and it should stay in position. You can repeat this a few times until it bends sufficiently.

Paint - ***1/2
The only real paint job is the face, lots of detail, all really nicely done. No over painting just a nice tight job. If any one reading this has the George 'Dubya' aviator, he has a very similar feel to that. There's a few details picked out on the helmet, gloved hands and the zips on the boots, all tightly done. 

Articulation - **** 
Standard BBI (G3) body. All double elbows and knees, couldn't wish for more (What am I saying? there's always room for improvement, lets not get complacent. But at this price point I'll cut them some slack).

Accessories - ***1/2
A wealth of stuff, though I'm not sure whether to put his helmet under accessories or outfit? I'll go for outfit. So what else do ya get?. Two dainty little pens for his sleeve pocket, a clip board and pad that fixes with Velcro to his right leg, a water bottle and 2 x food paste tubes with nozzles that fit through an aperture in the helmet (yes they fit!) the large life support unit with the oxygen tubes. Now I enjoy the game of working out where all the tubes and clips join up, but a little description, just to let you know you got it right might be nice (Dragon, take note also, as getting their Apollo Astronauts backpacks on was a small feat of engineering). You also get a small selection of self adhesive patches to attach to the suit (with instructions on where to position). I chose to keep mine intact as I'm never sure how long you have till the glue on these kind of things starts to degrade.

Outfit - ****
A really great outfit here that if I could, I'd give an extra 1/2 point for going the full nine yards. No attention to detail has been spared. Just look at the photo's for proof. He comes in bright yellow full pressure suit simply covered in detail, Zips, stitching, pockets, air bladders, hose attachments...need I go on? then you have the boots with strapped on boot supports. He even has the pilot parachute harness on a freely revolving 'micro' fly wheel. there's a snug fitting skull cap, much like the Apollo Astronauts, but this one even has the microphone on a small wire to sit in front of the mouth. Then we get to the helmet. a superbly detailed bit of kit. It fits perfectly onto the rigid collar of the flight suit. It has a protection bar and two visors one clear the other tinted. It has attachments for air hoses and all in all is as cool as it gets at this scale. Imagine if these guys got the license to create a 'Luke Skywalker in his X-Wing pilots suit' how cool would that be....Hasbro- be warned!

Fun Factor - ****
If I were a teenage boy again I would have loved this, and with the simple inclusion of a side arm I'd have taken this guy on some great adventures, not sure my daughter agrees (see pic) but full marks from me.

Value - ****
I paid $31.00 on eBay back in August. I got another figure at the same time (WW2 Colonel 'Red' Parker) from the same dealer and got it shipped back here to the U.K. and all that considered paid less than I would have paid for the U2 pilot alone, had I bought it from a U.K. importer, so shop around.

Overall - ****
A really great figure for a truly great price. I have limited space, 'Don't we all' so have to be selective of what goes into storage and what gets shelf space. This guy gets shelf space.

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ***1/2
Outfit - **** 
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ****
Overall - ****

Where to Buy - 
I've seen plenty of U.S. on-line traders doing him for between $34 to $40 just type 'U2 Pilot Bob Chapman' into google or whatever search engine you prefer and plenty of places still have him in stock. Alternatively...you guessed it! eBay again, as I said, I bought from a trader called 'bacc21' who was very reliable with a good eBay profile, check him out.


Figure from the collection of Jeff Parker.

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