U-2B, 1/72, Academy

[yardbird78]

I would like to enter this U-2B in Republic of China (Taiwan) markings, if that is acceptable.

[vince14]

Yep, I look forward to seeing it!

[TomCooper]

Ah... finally found this thread! Great idea; can't say how much am I looking forward for your Dragon Lady in ROCAF markings!

[yardbird78]

I finally got enough work done to make it worthwhile to take some pictures

What was in the box at the start. The kit provides the small air intakes for the A and B models that had the J-57 engine and also the large intakes for the C model that had the J-75 engine. There are two different fairings for the fuselage top for different mods and two different air intakes for the lower left side of the Q Bay for air sampling. They also provide two crew members, two seats and an alternate top for the Q bay incase you want to make the D model.

The canopy had a horrendous ejector pin mark on the inside. The curved surface was difficult to work on to remove it. I scraped the worst of it off with a curved X-Acto blade and then used these sanding sticks from Micro Mark to polish it and they worked very well. The finished canopy is shown below the sanding sticks.

Some pieces and parts.

The cockpit is VERY basic with just the aft bulkhead, floor, seat, control yoke and instrument panel. After looking at the photo of the IP, I see I need to clean up around the red warning lights. That IP is only quarter inch wide.

[Grandboof]

Great to see this started.

Martin H

[yardbird78]

I glued what there is of the cockpit in place as well as the tail pipe and then used regular styrene glue to put the fuselage halves together. I didn't want to use any of that instant setting stuff so that I had time to get everything aligned. The clamps will stay put until tomorrow.

[yardbird78]

Just for a little inspiration, this a photo of a U-2D and U-2C that I built several years ago using the Academy kit. The NMF on the D model is Bare-Metal-Foil.

Edited March 20, 2016 by yardbird78

[yardbird78]

I got the basic assembly done and a coat of flat black paint on it. I still need to apply gloss coat, decals, a flat coat and some miscellaneous bitty pieces.

[TomCooper]

The cockpit is VERY basic with just the aft bulkhead, floor, seat, control yoke and instrument panel.

Looks like not much of it is going to be visible?

Edited March 25, 2016 by TomCooper

[yardbird78]

Looks like not much of it is going to be visible?

That is true. The sun shield on the top of the canopy very effectively hides most of the cockpit.

Darwin

[yardbird78]

The markings for my U-2 will be for #3512 flown by the RoCAF. It was shot down on January 10, 1965, southwest of Beijing by the People's Liberation Army using an S-75 Dyvina or SA-2 Guideline Surface to Air Missile. The pieces were more or less reassembled in a museum in Beijing. Hopefully, mine will look a little better than this one.

[TomCooper]

That photo reminds me of the question about the colour of that (and few other of ROCAF's) U-2s: were they really black overall? Or dark blue?

[yardbird78]

That photo reminds me of the question about the colour of that (and few other of ROCAF's) U-2s: were they really black overall? Or dark blue?

I can't answer that question for sure, but I elected to make mine black, even though that picture appears to be blue. "Modeler's Discretion".

Darwin

[Sebastijan]

Cool looking U-2!

[TomCooper]

I can't answer that question for sure, but I elected to make mine black, even though that picture appears to be blue. "Modeler's Discretion".

Darwin

NP. I just recall discussing that issue somewhere else on the internet, about... j... must've been back in the late 1990s. Then again when photos from Chinese museums - like this one - appeared for the first time.

Have obtained a small book ('Secret of the Pass') on ops of the 35th Sqn ROCAF - only to find out that all the photos are black & white: my hope was that you might know better.

Anyway, perhaps it was really some sort of a very dark blue colour that washed out as the wreckage was exposed to elements...

[yardbird78]

my hope was that you might know better. Anyway, perhaps it was really some sort of a very dark blue colour that washed out as the wreckage was exposed to elements...

Black or blue? It is a question that is impossible to answer for sure. I have seen LOTS of operational black U-2s and a few in other colors, but NEVER one in that dark blue. This supposedly is a picture of the wreckage of Gary Powers' U-2A that was shot down over Russia May 1, 1960. It seems to have a blue hue to it, but I can also believe it was black that faded to the dark blue. The only pictures that I have seen of dark blue ones are the crashed ones in Moscow, Havana and Beijing.

Darwin

[bad edd]

It has been posted before, on Britmodeller.

It was actually a dark blue color, check the ramdome's color and Kelly's shoes and suit :)/>/>

Edited March 30, 2016 by bad edd

[Exhausted]

Maybe a NATO Black with a hint of Insignia Blue can do it, but it really doesn't matter at 1/72 scale, imo.

[yardbird78]

It has been posted before, on Britmodeller.

It was actually a dark blue color, check the ramdome's color and Kelly's shoes and suit :)/>/>/>/>

That is VERY interesting. The first picture I have ever seen of the blue U-2. Thanks for posting it. My first direct association with the U-2 was in 1966 at Bien Hoa Air Base, RVN. As best I can remember, those were black. Apparently, the dark blue was before "my time".

Darwin

Edited March 30, 2016 by yardbird78

[TomCooper]

Ah yes: the 'midnite blue' (the colour used by the USN too).

[Jay Chladek]

I've been trying to piece together early U-2 colors myself since I have plans to do up a Hawk U-2A in the colors of the first jet to directly overfly the R-7 rocket launch pad at what we know today as Baikonaur in August/September 1957. What I do know is the CIA had tried a few things back then to absorb radar. The "standard" U-2 coloring tended to appear very dark blue/black, probably a little more blue in shade than the "iron ball" paint seen on later A-12/SR-71/U-2R birds. There were also two attempts to lower the radar cross section even further with "Dirty Bird" (i.e. a plane with external wires over the surface to try and lower the RCS that way) and what I believe was called "Gray Ghost" which made use of rubberized RAM coatings. Both ideas had relatively limited effectiveness since the Soviets could detect the planes anyway (and "Dirty Bird" really messed with the performance of the plane). By the time the U-2C came online, the work tended to focus more on extending altitude and range performance as opposed to trying to make the plane more invisible.

The gray ghost scheme looked almost like a Euro One dark gray and a couple color pictures exist of it (including a pressure suited Francis Powers standing in front of one jet painted that way). Non-specular Sea Blue (i.e. a flat version of FS Sea Blue? tends to be the closest shade that I have seen, but I would go ever so slightly darker. As for SR-71/U-2R coloring, I have had very good luck using Floquil Weathered black and I matched it up to the paint found on a full size SR-71 at a local museum. Old U-2 coloring to my eye seems a little bluer, but it would work for somebody who wants to compromise with a black shade that isn't too blue and looks just different enough not to be a straight black.

BTW, as for SAC operated early U-2s, such as the U-2Ds in silver and black, those look to be straight black with no hint of blue.