FineScale Modeler 10 1998

The instructions consist of a short narrative, rough exploded-view drawing, tail-marking sketches, and several drawings that show details of the landing gear, seat, and antennas. Study the instructions and evaluate the work needed on the parts. I treated the plastic parts as though they came from a vacuum-formed kit - I sanded the mating surfaces of each on 320-grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. Once the edges were smoothed, the fit was generally good. However, I had to fill a large gap on a short section of the top fuselage seam. The intakes fit poorly, and the structure of the main gear well won't fit in the fuselage unless you enlarge the bay opening. There are no locators on the wings tor the super pods, so study drawings and references before gluing them. The noses of the super pods on the U-2R I modeled had large flattened areas not featured in the parts. I carefully leaned the pods against a clothes iron to produce the flat spots, then cleaned up the edges with sandpaper. To ensure the model would sit on all tour gears, I super glued the main and tail struts and wheels in place, drilled holes in the wings, inserted the outrigger "pogos," then tack glued the wings to the fuselage while resting the model on a flat surface. When all was set, I reinforced the wing/ fuselage joints with super glue, which also filled the gaps. The vacuum-formed canopy fit well. The antenna farm so distinctive of late U-2s is not provided, but the instructions' diagrams tell part of the story. I borrowed a 1/48 scale resin antenna set from Cutting Edge, laid the parts on a reducing copier, and shot a 66.7 percent copy. I used these shapes to make antennas from .015" sheet styrene, then followed the Cutting Edge instructions to locate the antennas.

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