Best 1/48 U-2A model

There is only one. It was originally a Hawk kit,but has been reboxed and reissued by Testors and Italeri over the years.

The Testors kit is a later model U-2 though (I've seen the Testors TR-1, and have the Italeri U-2R), or did they have an early model too?

There are a handful of original Hawk 1/48 U-2 kits on eBay right now. Testor reboxed the Hawk kit as a U-2C, and Italeri/Testor produced the U-2R/TR-1 in 1/48 as well. 

There is also that old Revell model, but again, a rebox from testors,
as far as I have read reviews about all the U-2A kits, they all repeat that they are very good if you consider the age of the moldings.

With regards, Ninetalis.

With the upcoming movie "Bridge of Spies", i am thinking of building the old Hawk U-2A as Gary Powers' aircraft. Can anyone point me to the types of equipment and markings his plane had? I have read that the markings were very minimal. No national insignias? No "sniffer" pod that comes with the kit? Also the thorny question of the color of his U-2 - black or dark blue? Inquiring minds want to know.

BTW, I have read rumors of a new tool 1/48 U-2 kit. Fact or public disinformation?

Black paint... and since it was CIA and quite covert, no markings aside from perhaps serial numbers or some other minimal stuff like stencils for servicing. Once the Air Force took over the U-2s they gained more markings.

i have not heard any rumors of a new tooled 1/48 U-2 kit, but it would be nice...

My understanding is that sensor set ups varied with mission tasking requirements. I am not familiar enough with Powers' shoot down mission to know what the particular set up was for that sortie.

I'm looking forward to that movie as well. Not sure if I want to build Powers' U-2, or one of the Cuban Missile Crisis U-2s, like in "Thirteen Days". I do wish there was a 1/48 RF-8 kit to do one of those from that movie. 

I'm pretty sure Powers was flying a U-2C, 56-6693.  Russian photos of the wreckage indicate a black finish to me.  The Testors kit builds up pretty good but does need some help in the cockpit.  Rescribing helps also because the U-2's were pretty clean airplanes and raised panel lines look out of place on it in my view.  I used some F-104 cockpit bits in mine.  Here is a link to my build:

http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/u-2/1u-2/1u-2.html

So Powers' U-2 was a "C" model.  OK thanks for the info guys!

I look forward to the movie as well, which no doubt means it will be a disappointment. Screenplay by the Coen brothers.

I thought the aircraft was in blue and white "Air America" livery?

I can provide a tiny tidbit of detail. I got a close look at a U-2 at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio (one of my favorite stomping grounds when I was growing up in Columbus. The aircraft had just arrived, and hadn't received attention from the conservators and cleanup crew yet. Sitting on the dashboard coaming was a light-colored, varnished wood stick, about a foot long, with a wad of some cotton-like cloth on the end. My fellow-enthusiast friend and I looked at it for some time. The best explanation we could come up with was that the pilot used this gadget to wipe condensation off the windshield.

That would be a nifty little detail for a model.

GMorrison

I look forward to the movie as well, which no doubt means it will be a disappointment. Screenplay by the Coen brothers.

I thought the aircraft was in blue and white "Air America" livery?

 

 

Air America was a local airline in South East Asia

Here is some of the wreckage from Powers' U-2 on display in Russia. It looks to be a bluish black. And that pointed cylinder in the foreground looks like one of those wing mounted pods carried on the leading edges...

stikpusher

 

 

GMorrison

I look forward to the movie as well, which no doubt means it will be a disappointment. Screenplay by the Coen brothers.

I thought the aircraft was in blue and white "Air America" livery?

 

 

 

 

 

Air America was a local airline in South East Asia

 And that pointed cylinder in the foreground looks like one of those wing mounted pods carried on the leading edges...

 

I'd say that's the nose of the aircraft, with the camera port.

No, the cameras were fitted in a multi set up further aft

here is another view- note the cameras overhead. those would not fit in that cylinder

You can go to the source for info on Powers' flight: cia.gov.  You can read the semi-redacted CIA report on U-2 operations and look at a 1959 U-2 flight manual.  Also do a Google image search as photos show the CIA used domestic N numbers in white such as N800X instead of regular USAF red serials.  Powers' U-2 was a C model upgraded with a J-75 engine, named Article 360.  It was rebuilt after a previous crash.  It carried a B model camera as noted in the CIA report.

stikpusher

No, the cameras were fitted in a multi set up further aft

here is another view- note the cameras overhead. those would not fit in that cylinder

 

Here are photos of the U-2 cameras:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/MuseumExhibits/FactSheets/Display/tabid/509/Article/197566/powerful-new-cameras-for-the-u-2.aspx

And for the something different for a U-2 paint scheme as opposed to straight black or NMF, I give you the 1975 Saber scheme used in England:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/MuseumExhibits/FactSheets/Display/tabid/509/Article/197571/u-2s-around-the-world-in-the-cold-war.aspx

jtilley

I can provide a tiny tidbit of detail. I got a close look at a U-2 at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio (one of my favorite stomping grounds when I was growing up in Columbus. The aircraft had just arrived, and hadn't received attention from the conservators and cleanup crew yet. Sitting on the dashboard coaming was a light-colored, varnished wood stick, about a foot long, with a wad of some cotton-like cloth on the end. My fellow-enthusiast friend and I looked at it for some time. The best explanation we could come up with was that the pilot used this gadget to wipe condensation off the windshield.

That would be a nifty little detail for a model.

 

Exactly true:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/MuseumExhibits/FactSheets/Display/tabid/509/Article/197480/u-2-aircraft-carrier-tail-hook-and-q-tip.aspx

GMorrison

I look forward to the movie as well, which no doubt means it will be a disappointment. Screenplay by the Coen brothers.

 

I finally saw it tonite. Very good movie. Not quite what I was expecting, but in a good way. Very well done. The U-2 sequences were VERY well done.  Now I am wanting to build a U-2