There is really only one painting option for making a late model U-2S -- black, black, and more black. With this one camouflage option available, the question became, "How do I make an all-black aircraft interesting?". I decided that I needed airframe details to help fill in the long areas of flat nothing. To that end, I postponed painting for just a little while longer and scoured over all the U-2 references I had looking for panel lines and access panels on the airframe. I figured that some extra scribing would go a long way to adding interest into the surface of the model.

Even before I started painting, I was starting to really like the way the model was looking with all the added access panels and details.

Some further scrutiny of the Senior Spear antenna farm on the belly of the aircraft and the provided blade antennae from both Cutting Edge's update set and Italeri's Senior Span kit made me decide to handle the blade antennae a little differently than I had originally thought. I already had drilled holes in the locations I thought I wanted the blade antennae to be, but a late discovery of a bottom-side image of a U-2S in the landing pattern changed my opinions of the locations I chose to drill the holes. So, I filled the holes and relocated the antennae as outlined below.

Using my newly modified "hockey sticks" as a basis, I then cut down the other blade antennae to correspond to the size change in the "hockey sticks".

The first thing I had to do is start thinking in terms of very dark gray, not black. This would then give me the latitude to vary the shades and simulate a paint scheme similar to what I was seeing in pictures. I started by painting the whole model in Model Master Interior Black. Previous usage of this color by me over bare plastic showed it to be a nice extra dark gray color. Over the gray primer paint, however, the color turned to a near black color. This was much darker than what I was initially intending as the overall color of the model.

Now I had to decide what to do. The problem was that I liked the dark color I got when applying this paint over the gray primer. I decided to keep it, which changed some of my other plans for painting on the model. I masked off and painted the ASARS II nose in a very thin true black. Most all pictures of ASARS equipped aircraft from the 1990s show the nose being darker than the rest of the aircraft. I kept the paint thin and just misted it on until I had slightly darkened the nose. I did the same darkening to the noses of the super pods, the forward portion of the Senior Span pod, and the engine intake lips.

Most aircraft in pictures show a faded pattern across the upper wings and fuselage with very slight darkening near panel lines. I mixed up some Engine Gray (F.S.36076) and misted it in a wide spray pattern across the inboard wings and the upper fuselage. Before doing this paint fading, I masked off the fairings for the super pods. Images showed these were generally darker than the surrounding wing areas, probably because they are removable and thus not as weathered.

A couple images showed aircraft where the outer wing fuel cells had been recently maintained. This resulted in a dark gray outline to the panels. I masked the wings and applied this outline using Engine Gray (F.S.36076). While painting full-strength Engine Gray, I also masked and painted the panels under the nose, in front of the ECM blisters on the engine intakes, and the front and rear faces of the ECM pods on the wing tips. Most images show these areas being a lighter color than the rest of the airframe.

Studying the pictures of the aircraft I saw at the Andrews AFB air show, I saw many airframe panels had silver/gray fasteners lining the panels. I decided it would make this all black aircraft look more interesting to incorporate these fastener patterns into the model. I got the idea for this from Gekko Graphics silver scratches weathering decals. I measured the panels that were to get the fastener decals and drew up the art work on my PC. After cross-checking and verifying the patterns and sizes, I printed them on my ALPS printer using a silver foil ribbon. Covered with gloss and flat coatings, these dulled down nicely to a metallic gray color.

For the record, this black finish on the model was more troublesome than other color finishes I have applied. The biggest issue was that I could not make touch-ups without having them show. It was almost as bad as a natual metal finish in this respect. What I fould is that the colors painted from the bottles (brushed or air brushed) were very different from the same bottled colors that had been gloss, satin, and/or flat finished. I have some areas on the bottom that really got me annoyed around the blade antennae because my touch-ups are not matching the surounding paint. Oh well...

• Main Wheel Well Doors: The kit pieces are not bad. They only lacked some inside ribbing. I added the ribbing with 0.010"x0.020" styrene strips. I also added 0.020" square strips on the mounting edges of the doors to provide a lip to assist in aligning the parts when I attached them to the model.
   
• Main Landing Gear: Pictured is the Cutting Edge landing gear strut that I made the master for with the kit-provided landing lights attached to it. On looking closer at the strut, I found I needed to add some small wiring harness details. Not easily visible in the images, after completing the painting of the strut, I added some black hydraulic lines and wiring to the back side of the strut and two MV Lenses for the landing lights.
   
• Tail Wheel Well Doors: Out of the box, these could work, but I have images that showed details that the kit had missed. I cut holes in the doors and added vent louvers in the rear sections. I added a scoop to the leading edge. I also added the retraction linkage connect point on the inside. Like on the main wheel well doors, I also added 0.020" square strips on the mounting edges of the doors to provide a lip to assist in aligning the parts when I attached them to the model.
   
• Tail Landing Gear: The kit piece for the strut is quite close to the real thing. All I did was add the linkage lines for the steering collar and drill holes to receive the linkage arms for the wheel well doors.
   
• Wing Pogo Struts: The pictured items are already painted white. I cut down and re-built the mounting shanks, replacing the kit's plastic mounting pins with brass wire. This would help the pogos survive years of display on my model shelves. I also added the tie-down lugs to the front and back of each pogo.
   
• Speed Brakes: Like the main wheel well doors, the speed brakes are not bad right out of the box, but I was not happy with the thinness in the kit pieces. There were also a series of knock-out pin flaws on the inside surfaces. I decided to re-build the inner side of the speed brakes. This made the brakes more bulky as well as covered the knock-out pin flaws.
   
• Speed Brake Actuators: The kit piece for these were too small. Besides, having rebuilt and deepened the speed brake wells, I needed longer actuators than what the kit provided. The only course was to scratch build new actuators from styrene rod and brass wire.

Underside Antenna Farm

While attaching the blade antennae, I painted some of the antennae bases in the light yellow/green that I used in the wheel wells. Then, a quick swipe with a paint brush colored the actual blade antennae. The Cutting Edge instructions state that the antennae vary in color. I found most pictures showed black antennae, so I chose to make most of them black. For variety, I did pick off a couple odd antennae in medium gray. Pictures also showed the antennae were glossy finished. After the colored paint dried, I gave each blade a swipe of clear gloss paint.

Attaching the wing flaps and spoilers came next. No matter how long I had played with the detail fit of the flaps, I always found I could tweak something else to improve the fit even more. Finally, I gave up and added glue.

The spoiler wells were detailed with some fine wire. I have no pictures of this area on the real aircraft, so I just added the wire to make things look busy. The wire is ignition wire for 1/24^th and 1/12^th scale car models.

Left Wing Spoiler Well

As is almost always the case for me, detailing around the cockpit and the interior of the canopy were the last things I did on the model. I scratch-built the defogging pipe in the rear section from copper wire. I added the latching handles on the right frame edge with fine brass wire. Finally, I added the rearview mirrors and movable sunshade with its guiderail to the front edge using fine brass wire and sheet styrene. Cutting Edge provides a nicer version of the personal fan for the left side of the canopy than the kit-provided version, so I used the Cutting Edge version. Italeri's instructions tell you to mount the fan to the canopy glass, but it really is attached to the canopy frame. I removed the molded locator lines from the glass and attached the fan to the canopy framing.

Research showed that the majority of the canopy is clear plexiglass with only a couple inches of frame running around the outer edge. What looks like a solid upper portion is really a self-adhesive sunshade applied from the inside of the canopy glass on the upper rear section. The kit molds this detail correctly with the line for the shade only present on the inside of the canopy. I masked the inner canopy and painted the sunshade from the inside.

One item to add on the upper left windscreen frame was the rearview mirror. The kit-provided piece for this was way too bulky, so I scratch-built a new mirror from a piece of styrene rod, some 0.005" brass wire and some 0.005" sheet styrene. This looked much better and was more dainty, like the one on the real aircraft.

With all this work done around the cockpit and canopy, I attached the canopy in the open position and completed the project.

Cockpit and Canopy

This picture was the prime inspiration for the project.

68-10329 Reference Image

This biggest difference between the above image and my model is the ASARS II nose. While I have other images showing that 68-10329 can carry the ASARS II nose, the above image shows it at a time when the ASARS II nose was not being carried. This aircraft (and more specifically my model) bristles with antennae all over its surfaces. What are they all and what do they do? From studying various books, I have learned the following.

• The nose is the ASARS II synthetic aperture radar. This side-looking radar is used to make detailed radar maps of target areas from considerable stand-off distances. Sample images in books show astounding clarity in the images, and I am sure that the images declassified for publication are only a fraction of the true capability of the system.
   
• The antenna farms on the lower airframe and the canoe fairing on the left super pod are all part of the Senior Spear COMINT system which gathers and classifies various forms of communication signals. The flattened portions of the forward sections on the super pods are for Senior Ruby. This is an ELINT system that gathers information on radar emissions. The combination of Senior Spear with Senior Ruby together on one aircraft is also referred to as Senior Glass.
   
• The four "hockey stick" blade antennae mounted on the top and bottom of each of the Senior Ruby super pod noses are unknown to me. The image above of aircraft 68-10329 is the only image I have showing these, and since I wanted as many antennae on the model as I could, I added them. Perhaps they were an experimental extension of the Senior Spear fit.
   
• The dorsal antenna pod is a satellite up-link antenna to allow real-time interpretation of the information gathered by the U-2. It is referred to as either Senior Span or Senior Spur. Senior Span is for transmission of SIGINT data recorded through the Senior Glass systems. Because I also attached the ASARS II nose on the model, this aircraft could have a Senior Spur installation which transmits radar imagery recorded by the ASARS II system. Differences in the transmission process dictate that the dorsal pod is either Senior Span or Senior Spur. It can not be both. The external details of the pod appear to remain the same, no matter whether Senior Span or Senior Spur are inside.

These are my best guesses based on what I have read. Considering the classified nature of the U-2, these interpretations could be correct or just elaborate fabrications. I do know that some of the references I checked contradict each other on various points. Whatever the case, all the assorted antennae, bumps, and bulges give the model a very determined look that lives up to the U-2 pilot's motto -- In God we trust, all others we monitor.

Did I mention that the finished model is HUGE?!?! The completed model has a 26 inch wingspan. I need to find a creative way to fit this model onto my display shelves in the living room. The following image shows just how big the final model is as I proudly hold it up for the camera.

Dave Aungst Holding the Completed Model

I believe all the update sets I used on this model are still available from Cutting Edge. If you get the current Italeri "Senior Span" release, you really will not need the Cutting Edge Senior Span/Spur/Spear set. The ASARS II nose fit problems are not impossible to overcome, but they will require time to work out.

This model is a record-breaker for me.

• It holds the record for the highest number of hours I have invested into any single model -- 180.8 hours. And, this time tally does not include a further 86.2 hours I spent building the masters for some of the U-2 update sets I incorporated into the model. Just the "extra detailing" time alone -- 82.3 hours -- is double the time a "normal" project build would take me.
   
• The work I did constructing the master for the main wheel bay constitutes the largest pure scratch-building effort I have yet to undertake. Scratch-building the tail wheel well / engine exhaust and wing flaps / spoilers just added to the tally.
   
• It has the largest amount of resin updates that I have ever put into any one model. I used a total of seven different resin update sets on the model that replaced over half the kit parts and about 25% of the overall volume the original model with updated, enhanced, or otherwise changed pieces. Interestingly, there are no etched metal pieces anywhere on the model.

I really enjoyed building this model, although I am really, REALLY, REALLY tired of black finishes for a little while. And, in the process of researching for the project, I learned that there is much more to the U-2 than what meets the eye.

(Newest to Oldest)