I am building the Earth Survey Aircraft, a U-2C (N708NA) run by NASA. I have plenty of reference, but am wondering which detail bits would be appropriate for this plane.
So far, I plan on using these Cutting Edge parts:
Coke Bottle Seamless Intakes
U-2A/C Exhaust & Rear Wheel Well
U-2A/C Superdetailed Cockpit Set
Are there any other parts or detail pieces which would make for a more accurate final product?
Sorry I can’t conjure up any more parts than those excellent and many parts and sets offered by Cutting Edge. However, I just received a review copy of Chris Pocock’s “50 Years of the U-2 – The Complete Illustrated History of the ‘Dragon Lady’”. This book, though rather pricey, is invaluable if you are a U-2 buff or are planning to build some. It carries the history of this historic bird from conception drawings through operations OEF and OIF.
Tons of documents relating to the U-2 have been declassified since the end of the Cold War, and Pocock has done a marvelous job of research into the utterly uncountable number of variations on the Dragon Lady. Included is a large amount of data and photos on the NASA birds (for those who don’t know, NASA has retired the last of its ER-2’s and U-2’s, and their missions have been taken over by the trusty old, ugly WB-57F, which can carry a much larger payload at a considerable saving in dollars/pound. But the NASA U-2’s were beautiful machines, in their white paint and blue stripes.
You were right to go to Cutting Edge for your parts, because they are indeed at the “cutting edge” of AM stuff for the U-2. I’m not sure Eduard has a set for the Testor kits, but you could check at www.eduard.cz. One modification documented is the installation of the B-Camera hatch with its 7 windows in the Q Bay. It’s an attractive, unobtrusive modification and if you want to see it, go to NASA’s photos on-line and check out Lockheed U2-91-019-5.
I also just recently got the new Cutting Edge U-2 decal set, which includes markings for NASA’s ER-2 N708NA (orginally USAF 80-1069). One of the interesting things included on this sheet are the two “spoof” aircraft – one in old NACA markings, which are included – that were rolled out to fool the press after the FG Powers shootdown. It was an attempt to bolster the flimsy story that the U-2 was a weather research plane that “strayed” – how many thousand miles was it? – off course and over Russian airspace. The book, by the way, gives an excellent account of the shabby way Powers was treated by the CIA and the US government after coming home from two years in a Soviet prison. The hard-core never forgave him for not using the cyanide-tipped pin he had on him at the time.
TOM