DBMiller's 1/48 Scale U-2C

[DBMiller]

May, 1971. United Nations Building, New York City, New York.



Renaissance Man and super spy Derek Flint? Len Deighton’s sardonic, and unnamed (Harry Palmer in the movies) British agent? LeCarre’s spy who came In from the cold? The International Man of Mystery?

No! It’s an eleven year old me! Decked out in my very best Harry Palmer glasses, LeCarre trench coat, and Austin Powers pants! I subject myself to the snickers (those pants!) in honor of this Cold War build.

I had wanted to create another vignette like the one I built for The End Is Nigh - with a secret agent man type; a suitable vehicle (I bought a Trabant for this); an alley; and a dangerous meeting.

Then I got over it.

Instead I’ve chosen an icon of the cold war: The U-2 Spy Plane!

From Wikipedia:

“The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-jet engine, ultra-high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet; 21,000 m), all-weather intelligence gathering.
Lockheed Corporation originally proposed it in 1953, approval followed 1954, and the first test flight occurred in 1955. It has been flown during the Cold War over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and Cuba. In 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA U-2A over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr., was shot down in another U-2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.”

A total coincidence is that the plane I’ve chosen for the non-ISM bomber SiG is the B-57B:
From the same Wiki entry:

“The highest-flying aircraft available to America and its allies at the time was the English Electric Canberra, which could reach 48,000 feet (14,600 m). The British had already produced the PR3 photo-reconnaissance variant, but the USAF asked for English Electric's help to further modify the Martin B-57 (the American licensed version of the Canberra) with long, narrow wings, new engines, and a lighter-than-normal airframe to reach 67,000 feet (20,400 m). Air Research and Development Command mandated design changes that made the aircraft more durable for combat, but the resulting RB-57D aircraft of 1955 could only reach 64,000 feet (19,500 m). The Soviet Union, unlike the United States and Britain, had improved radar technology after the war, and could track aircraft above 65,000 feet (19,800 m).”

My build will be a standard black CIA version right out the the box. Some of you may have seen one like this at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford!

U2-Duxford

There aren’t many parts and the decaling will be minimal. What could go wrong?

[pourquoi61]

Nice choice, will there be any weathering on the super spy plane?

[DBMiller]

Nice choice, will there be any weathering on the super spy plane?

What? Nothing about my awesome pants?

I'll try different shades of black and some light weathering. I'm not too good at it and I don't want to get heavy handed. I am pretty sure it will be an "in flight" build and not on its gear.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Nice choice, will there be any weathering on the super spy plane?

What? Nothing about my awesome pants?

I'll try different shades of black and some light weathering. I'm not too good at it and I don't want to get heavy handed. I am pretty sure it will be an "in flight" build and not on its gear.

I was getting to the pants.... you look very Shaggerrifick Baby!!!

[DBMiller]

edit: I forgot to post the unbuilt kit first! I have corrected that in my next post!

Why was the U-2 (and later, satellites) so important to the US in the Cold War? Here is an excerpt from The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage And Betrayal, by David E. Hoffman:

“In the early years of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Central Intelligence Agency harbored an uncomfortable secret about itself. The CIA had never really gained an espionage foothold on the streets of Moscow. The agency didn’t recruit in Moscow, because it was just too dangerous — “immensely dangerous,” recalled one officer —for any Soviet citizen or official they might enlist.”

The Soviet Union was a ‘closed society’ where informing on each other was encouraged. It was illegal to receive books, magazines, or music from outside the USSR. Even talking to foreign visitors was prohibited - and punishment was quite severe.

The U-2 offered a way to get intelligence on Soviet military strength with, what was thought at the time, little danger to the CIA pilot. Well, we know how that turned out! Thank goodness for satellites!

Powers’ U-2 flight plan:



The result:




On to the build!

Cockpit - non existent. There is a seat and an instrument panel and nothing else! Both are added after the fuselage is together.

DBM-2 by Donald Miller

DBM-5 by Donald Miller

DBM-6 by Donald Miller

DBM-4 by Donald Miller


Gear doors:
Molded open. I’ll have to cut and paste quite a bit to get them closed.

DBM-3 by Donald Miller
DBM-1 by Donald Miller

First gluing! The intake backs are on! They need to be painted green zinc chromate before I can glue on the fronts.


DBM-7 by Donald Miller

“Cockpit” is now Gunship Gray.

DBM-8 by Donald Miller

Fuselage glued!

DBM-9 by Donald Miller

Air brakes. The left side glued on fine - the right needed a shim.

DBM-10 by Donald Miller

The engine. Oh, yea, the engine. There isn’t one. [/b]

DBM-11 by Donald Miller

[DBMiller]

Oh, my goodness! I forgot to post the unstarted kit parts!

DBM-1 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-2 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-3 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-4 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-5 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-6 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-7 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-10 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-11 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-9 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-12 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-13 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-14 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-15 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-16 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBM-17 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

What a dope!

[aur0ra145]

Pretty cool, I remember building that exact same kit as a kid.

[NorthernModeller]

Very cool subject looking forward to seeing it come together. Always liked the U-2 and the very skilful way in which the pilots had to land it.

[DBMiller]

I wasn’t going to do anything about the empty backside but it started to bug me too much. I went looking through my parts bin and stash for any tube that would work as a tail pipe.
I found this kit. I have 3 of them because they were cheep on eBay and I thought they would be fun. They are not that great so one of them goes on the chopping block! It is somewhat ironic that the kit is a Soviet rocket!

DBM-1 by Donald Miller

Here is the nose cone.

DBM-2 by Donald Miller

Chopped and formed.

DBM-3 by Donald Miller

DBM-4 by Donald Miller

With part of the engine from a dead F-104 glued to the inner end it should look at least better than it was.

DBM-5 by Donald Miller

My attempt at closing the gear doors. First try on the rear bay. I scored the fold lines and eased the doors shut. Then I put sprue goo around the inside edge of the opening and slid the bay in. Having no insides made it easy to keep the bay from falling into the fuselage. A bit more filling and sanding and it should be good to go!

DBM-6 by Donald Miller

DBM-7 by Donald Miller

DBM-8 by Donald Miller

DBM-9 by Donald Miller

I'll have to fill this bit below the tail before I put in the tail pipe.

DBM-10 by Donald Miller

The wings have holes for the outrigger gear and pylon tanks. Since mine will be in flight I don’t need the outriggers and the kit says the CIA birds never used the pylon tanks. I filled them from inside and it left perfect little dots of filler on the outside.

DBM-11 by Donald Miller

DBM-12 by Donald Miller

[Colinstelma]

Thats awesome, i just slapped that on together for my daughter’s bedroom ceiling. Definately make one wish for a better kit. I almost did the nass version but for time i just blacked it out and hung it up.

[gaz45]

Nice start there mate

[pourquoi61]

The plane looks great on the carry frame.
Should be a nice build.

[DBMiller]

“Peterson later learned that Ogorodnik had been arrested at his apartment. He was stripped to his underwear. Knowing the KGB would be eager to learn every detail of his work with the CIA, he offered to write a confession. They handed him his pen, and he bit down on the barrel with the cyanide capsule inside. He died on the spot, before the KGB could learn any more.”

The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal - David E. Hoffman


This is just sad. Because I decided that re-scribing all those panel lines would kill my desire to finish I began sanding them off. The result is only one photo for today's update.

[pourquoi61]

Then do not re-scribe, just spray the old panel lines black and use a different shade for the rest of the plane.
Treat it like a painting.
I bet you will just re-scribe the panel lines any way.

[DBMiller]

Plugging away at plugging the gear bays. It was never intended to be built 'in flight' so I have a lot of filling and shaping to do. Not uncommon in aircraft kits though. Why is that?
This is the gear bay with the doors cut off. Wasn't so much a gear bay as a flat piece of plastic with a place to glue the main gear.

DBM-1 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

Here is the gear door part folded shut and ready for fitting (poorly) into place.

DBM-2 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

First round of filling.

DBM-3 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

Add about a pint of glue goo. And another pint after I sanded down this mess.

DBM-4 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

The rear gear door pretty much done.

DBM-5 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

Horizontal stabilizers on. Three large ejector pin marks on the underside but they fit very well - so there was that.

DBM-6 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

[DBMiller]

A U-2 pilot's view of the northern lights!

Better-Cockpit-Pano-4-X2-1-800x366 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

[pourquoi61]

Good stuff that glue goo.

[DBMiller]

I have reached an issue in my build that brings me to the brink of smashing the whole thing. I'm about the attach the wing tip skids - shown here:

U-2_WingTips by Donald Miller, on Flickr

and this is what I find:

IMG_0008 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

On the right is what the part looks like on the sprue. Can you see my problem? Have any of you seen this before?
This is the other side - with my remarks.

IMG_0007 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

On the left is my first pass at 'fixing' one of the skids. The mounting slot still has to be moved up the piece so it lines up with the upper edge. This is nuts!

Not a happy spy.

[DBMiller]

Moving on from that setback...

Wings on!

Donald Miller

Donald Miller

[pourquoi61]

I can see that you are taking no prisoners on this build.
Loving it.

[Cymru]

Keep spying, don't let the bastards grind you down

[DBMiller]

Well, this has been an unproductive few weeks for modeling! At least I got to an airshow this past weekend.

Here is more work on the seams. I primed with an automotive filler primer from a spray can and sanded it to see the seam work still needed. It wasn't too bad for a change!

DBMiller_1 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBMiller_2 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

The problem with the wing tip skids had to be addressed. Instead of trying to fix the kit parts I used them as templates for new skids. There isn't much detail on them so this should work. I had to put a spacer between the wing tip and skid to make up for the kit part that filled the gap.

DBMiller_3 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBMiller_4 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

Skids glued in place and waiting to be shaped!

DBMiller_5 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

DBMiller_6 by Donald Miller, on Flickr

[alextheblue]

Looking great with the wings on! Feel your pain with the skids! Isn't it just THE most annoying thing when you find bits like this. Leave 'em off! No one will know and we won't say a word!!

[DBMiller]

Looking great with the wings on! Feel your pain with the skids! Isn't it just THE most annoying thing when you find bits like this. Leave 'em off! No one will know and we won't say a word!!

Unfortunately I can't leave these two parts off!

[DBMiller]

Looking at my reference photo (after I've glued on the new part and primed it) I see that I have to trim it back t just in front of the aileron. Shouldn't be too bad.





Intakes getting together!

[DBMiller]

Getting there! I've gotten the intakes done - the "cockpit" done(ish) - and the front canopy glass installed!

I've also primed a bit more where I had to sand intake seams and trimmed the wing skids.





Dig that complex cockpit!







You can't really see the pilot when the canopy is on so he's not too carefully painted. Yea, that works for an excuse...









How am I supposed to mask the INSIDE of the canopy glass to paint the sun shade!



Also, it is a bit too short so I had to add a shim to the back edge so it meets the fuselage.

[DBMiller]

WOW! Two updated in one day!


The final push! Black being mottled on - starting with MiG Ammo Flat Black.

[DBMiller]

Hold the presses!

I've been working under a deadline of my own making! This build (and the bomber build I wanted to join) end August 31 - not July 31!
I pushed hard to finish by Tuesday and didn't have to. Now I'm way ahead of where I was in my work but don't have to rush the final bit!
Whew! Sometimes it pays to be stupid. Not often - but sometimes.

[DBMiller]

More Testors Acryl Interior Black! I still have to mask the main canopy and insert the engine I made but I am almost there!

[DBMiller]

Canopy masked, glued on, primed and the final coat of paint is on! My next decision is clear coat or no clear coat?







Just a few small bits left to glue on: three clear lenses and the rear view mirror but I've run into a bit of a reference issue. While looking for references for the cameras I noticed differences in the sun shade. The instructions say to paint the pilot sun shade inside the canopy - which I did. It gives an option of black or white. I chose white just for a little touch of color. Photo references show both as well except that the black looks to be painted on the outside! So, modeler's choice for me - white on the inside.
As for the cameras, the kit supplies decals which I think would look terrible.
The instructions say they are often not seen so they won't be.



On a very positive note though, the CIA plane doesn't have any markings. NO DECALS!

[DBMiller]

Almost done! I've installed the engine mock up I made - the kit was just a hollow shell. It's nothing like the real plane but I hated that empty space!
I've also filled the mounting hole I was going to use since it was way too far forward!

[pourquoi61]

Very nice indeed.

[warpedcrisis]

Nice work there so far.

[DBMiller]

Canopy unmasked! The cockpit 'glass' is terrible. It has an odd foggy look to it.



Here are the last 4 parts to add: Three clear domes and the rear view mirror.



I had to open up the holes a bit so the domes would fit. I also painted them with chrome silver so the domes look a bit more shiny.




Here is the base. It is a bit of marble from a broken paper towel holder and some metal tubing.