1/48 Italeri U-2S "Senior Span" 

by Everett McEwan

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   I received this kit last Christmas from my Aunt Joan (thanks Joaner!) and started on it right away (just now posting it but finished it March). The Italeri/Testors U-2 kits are the only kits of this famous plane in 1/48th and are great kits but full of inaccuracies.

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     I wanted to add some detail to my kit in the form of Cutting Edge cockpit and scrachtbuilt parts, but also I could live with most of the faults of the kit and I strove to find a happy middle ground rather than going nuts trying to fix everything. Some of you may have seen David Aungst's recent U-2S, what a beauty! http://hsfeatures.com/features04/u2sdwa_3.htm I always enjoy his work. I used David's previous articles on the U-2 as a guide for my project, he has all the info you need on the real plane and this kit. It took David over three and a half years to build his and it shows, but I was going to keep mine a bit more simple.

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    The Cutting Edge cockpit was a work of art as always (I think they make the best stuff- better than Black Box) and all I needed to do was paint it and add a MV lens for the drift sight. I also added some details to the canopy with the CE fan, strut and plastic card mirrors. I decided to re-scribe the fuselage and add some rivet detail with a needle in a pin vise, but did not re-scribe the wings which I left with raised panel lines. I added some plastic card, scoops, and re-scribed some panels on the intakes to correct them, instead of buying the CE set to replace them (which looks very nice).

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    I of course covered up the interior with intake covers. I did some some more rivet details on the super pods and added some cooling scoops and drilled out the rear but that was all (according to David's research the pods are undersized but I was OK with that). I did tackle some of the air brake detail that David did but I mostly used the kit parts (he rebuilt everything) and after a black paint job your eyes focus on the wiring anyways.

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One of the issues with the kit parts for the "Senor Span" is the shape of the antennas  (they are used for sigint on the real plane) that make up the antennae farm on the underside of the aircraft (to learn more read David's article). 

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   I chose to use the kit parts and bent them and reshaped them using sand paper, to come closer to the real thing, again not perfect but better than what I started with. The one issue that I left alone was the gear bays, I know that they are way too shallow, but I painted them up and forgot about it (CE makes a nice set to correct this). 

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 I did do some work to the gear struts and got them closer to the real thing, but again not perfect. I also added some detail to the pogo wheels but kept them in the same spot as the kit calls for (which is slightly too far inboard). I extended the exhaust pipe inside using some plastic tubing to show more depth (similar to the CE part) and dry brushed some gold on the kit exhaust cone to get the correct color. 

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    That leads me to one of the most important parts of this project, the painting. U-2s might look all black at first but on closer inspection you will find various shades of black and faded panels from both the sun and weather. I am still learning to master the subtleties of this kind of a paint job and this was a good learning experience for me. I started with an overall coat of Testors flat black, this is a big kit so it took a while to cover everything.

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   After drying I then mixed up a slightly lighter shade using a few drops of white and sprayed the upper surfaces. I also masked off a panel line that is just behind the wing (I believe this is where the fuselage separates to gain access to the engine) and sprayed a lighter shade along the border there too as I had several photos showing this.

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   I then came back and highlighted the panel lines with the original darker black, giving a reverse effect. After I gloss coated, decaled (very few decals in the kit) and then flat coated I used some thinned silver paint and Grey sludge (from chalk  pastels) to highlight panel lines and rivets (again a reverse of normal weathering). Overall I was very happy with results and I think it looks very close to the real thing. 

 

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   Although this kit has it's flaws, it builds easily and looks like a U-2 in the end and I would recommend it to anyone. After all it really is the only game in town and you have to give  Italeri/Testors props for not only making the kits but updating them over the years and covering all the versions of the U-2. Happy building!

Everett

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Photos and text © by Everett McEwan