Enter the Dragon...er...Lady

[DMC]

One more and a link to Paul Budzik's site:

http://paulbudzik.com/tools-techniques/index.html

Cheers

[DMC]

Okay, after more sanding and a wipe down with a tack rag, I sprayed the model with another coat of the ochre primer. Although I had scraped the raised panel lines right down, many were still visible through the primer. The plans I have indicate the kit's lines are pretty accurate so I just used the ones I could still make out as guides and measured off the ones I couldn't. After trying about four different tools on scrap, I ended up using an X-Acto #11 with half a mm of the point snapped off. Using a strip of styrene taped to the wing as a guide, I reversed the blade and scribed the lines. I scribed a line just enough for the grey plastic to start showing. I went very slowly, pausing occasionally to breath and only skewed off track in a couple of places. With hindsight I think the thing to do would have been to scribe the bottom of the wing in the event I really screwed things up and my repairs were lamentable. However, the results, I think, are acceptable and I can approach the rest of the scribing with a little more confidence, except, possibly, when I get to the fuselage.

Couldn't keep my hands off the (X)P-38 conversion and managed to get some practice in on the plunge, or squash, moulding. Also opened up the boom wheel bay as it was quite apparent that the kit wheel, which is the correct size, wouldn't fit up in there. This is just a preview. I hope to do a full build post when I finish the U-2.

Okay, Photobucket not cooperating and I can't get these last two photos posted. I'll post the above and try to edit in the photos. Drat!

No luck, very frustrating.

[DMC]

Well that took some doing. Had to post these using my old Blackberry Playbook. For some reason Photobucket on my laptop couldn't manage it.

Anyway, putting the -38 aside until I finish the U-2.

Cheers

[Jessica]

Just for fun, here's a little conversion I did a few years ago:

[Caerbannog]

AFAIK the U-2 started like this Jessica. Kelly Johnson did a proposal based on a Starfigher fuselage with extended wings and other changes. this was rejected at first in favour for the X-16 but in the end the X-16 was cancelled and the Lockheed proposal became the U-2

Your cross kitting looks cool.

Rene

[DMC]

Just for fun, here's a little conversion I did a few years ago:

Ah, Lockheed's CL-282 proposal. Very nice, Jessica, thanks for posting.

AFAIK the U-2 started like this Jessica. Kelly Johnson did a proposal based on a Starfigher fuselage with extended wings and other changes. this was rejected at first in favour for the X-16 but in the end the X-16 was cancelled and the Lockheed proposal became the U-2

Your cross kitting looks cool.

Rene

That's about it in a nutshell, Rene. Thank you for posting and thanks for the 'likes'.

Cheers

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2015/C1U260Years.html

[DMC]

After polishing the ochre primer and applying a couple of coats of Halford's white plastic primer, the re-scribing really pops out. There are a couple of scratches that need seeing to but a dab or two of Mr Surfacer should put them right. I've also pencilled in the rest of the panel lines using the Hawk plans and another U-2C model for guidance. The Hawk kit came out only two years after the Powers shoot down and, I think, it's a pretty accurate representation of the U-2. It's devoid of detail to be sure but the basic shape is pretty much spot on. So my question is, how did they (Hawk) do that? Can't imagine access would have been granted. I did read somewhere in the stack of U-2 material that I have that NASA went public with one of the U-2 'weather planes' during the brouhaha over the lost one and I wonder if photos and measurements might have been taken then? Not really important I suppose it's just that while reading Michael R. Beschloss's ​May Day I got to thinking about it.

​

Cheers

[Jessica]

DMC, on 26 Aug 2016 - 12:53 PM, said:

The Hawk kit came out only two years after the Powers shoot down and, I think, it's a pretty accurate representation of the U-2. It's devoid of detail to be sure but the basic shape is pretty much spot on. So my question is, how did they (Hawk) do that? Can't imagine access would have been granted. I did read somewhere in the stack of U-2 material that I have that NASA went public with one of the U-2 'weather planes' during the brouhaha over the lost one and I wonder if photos and measurements might have been taken then? Not really important I suppose it's just that while reading Michael R. Beschloss's ​May Day I got to thinking about it.

Cheers

That's almost but not quite what they did. The story goes that after the model was issued, several disgruntled people from the CIA visited Hawk models and asked some rather pointed questions about which one of them was the spy and the confession had better come quickly. After they were taken into the Design department and shown all the publically-available photos and the drawings they had created from those photos, the only thing the CIA gents could say were words to the effect of "Well....don't tell anyone how you did it!"

[JeffreyK]

The story that I heard is that a U-2 was displayed somewhere (no access of course) and at mid-day, with the sun straight overhead, the Testors designers took exact note of where the U-2 cast its shadow onto the concrete ramp. After the show was over, they went ahead and measured out the concrete slabs.

Jeffrey

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

I'd totally missed this build til now; some really great skills and a lovely result from a kit that is hardly young. Hat's off, sir!

[DMC]

That's almost but not quite what they did. The story goes that after the model was issued, several disgruntled people from the CIA visited Hawk models and asked some rather pointed questions about which one of them was the spy and the confession had better come quickly. After they were taken into the Design department and shown all the publically-available photos and the drawings they had created from those photos, the only thing the CIA gents could say were words to the effect of "Well....don't tell anyone how you did it!"

Men in black, then. Good story, thanks, Jessica.

The story that I heard is that a U-2 was displayed somewhere (no access of course) and at mid-day, with the sun straight overhead, the Testors designers took exact note of where the U-2 cast its shadow onto the concrete ramp. After the show was over, they went ahead and measured out the concrete slabs.

Jeffrey

Would I have thought of that? Doubtful! Thanks, Jeffrey (nice resin).

I'd totally missed this build til now; some really great skills and a lovely result from a kit that is hardly young. Hat's off, sir!

Much appreciated, thank you (Impressive list of kits on the go, how do you keep track?)

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Much appreciated, thank you (Impressive list of kits on the go, how do you keep track?)

With difficulty (though that kinda depends on how you define "on the go"...

[DMC]

Well, finished most of the (re)scribing except for a couple of hatches on the nose. The flat surfaces of the wings and stabilizers came out okay as most of the Appliance White had been removed when I scraped the raised panel lines off and thinned the trailing edges down. Scribing through primer is a lot easier than through hardened paint. The fuselage still had most of the hard white left on it and the #11 X-Acto blade skittered off a couple of times of its own accord and edges of the grooves flaked and chipped a bit here and there. Rescribing a rounded fuselage is, as you might imagine, a lot more difficult than rescribing a flat wing. However, repairs were effected and all in all, for a first full rescribe, I'm okay with the results. Still have a bit more finishing to do and then the final coat of white. Next time I think scribing the bare, unassembled, styrene might be the way to go.

While typing this out I got to wondering how an airplane that had been painted was re-painted. Was it stripped of paint with gallons of stripper (consider the mess!) or just sanded down and painted over, with a significant increase in weight. Supposedly, every pound of weight added to a U-2 decreased its altitude capabilities by a foot. Anyway, just curious and comments welcome.

Cheers

[Caerbannog]

I guess the complete paint will be stripped not just sanded and overpainted. And I suppose they use chemical stripper for this. My thought.

Good work on the U-2!

[Jessica]

Aircraft get stripped using chemical paint strippers. It's important to strip back to bare metal to allow for detailed inspection for fatigue cracks. These days companies are very environmentally conscious, and are working on a number of different ways to reduce the toxicity of the stripper and the resulting paint sludge, but in the bad old days it was all just washed down the hangar drains. Now it has to be very carefully gathered up in sealed drums and taken to incinerators where it's disposed of at very high temperature to break it down into its constituent molecules.

[Parabat]

Aircraft get stripped using chemical paint strippers. It's important to strip back to bare metal to allow for detailed inspection for fatigue cracks. These days companies are very environmentally conscious, and are working on a number of different ways to reduce the toxicity of the stripper and the resulting paint sludge, but in the bad old days it was all just washed down the hangar drains. Now it has to be very carefully gathered up in sealed drums and taken to incinerators where it's disposed of at very high temperature to break it down into its constituent molecules.

I've been reliably informed that this has now been superseded (in USA service planes anyway) by a 'sandblasting' with fine plastic balls, this removes the toxicity threat without damaging the metal. Edit - found the link HERE

Great progress on this graceful plane, very nice to see all the effort that's going into this.

[DMC]

I guess the complete paint will be stripped not just sanded and overpainted. And I suppose they use chemical stripper for this. My thought.

Good work on the U-2!

Thanks for the reply, read on:

Aircraft get stripped using chemical paint strippers. It's important to strip back to bare metal to allow for detailed inspection for fatigue cracks. These days companies are very environmentally conscious, and are working on a number of different ways to reduce the toxicity of the stripper and the resulting paint sludge, but in the bad old days it was all just washed down the hangar drains. Now it has to be very carefully gathered up in sealed drums and taken to incinerators where it's disposed of at very high temperature to break it down into its constituent molecules.

Thanks for that, Jessica. 747? What a job that must have been.

I've been reliably informed that this has now been superseded (in USA service planes anyway) by a 'sandblasting' with fine plastic balls, this removes the toxicity threat without damaging the metal. Edit - found the link HERE

Great progress on this graceful plane, very nice to see all the effort that's going into this.

Great link and thanks for the compliment.

Cheers

[DMC]

Re-scribing the model, especially with its 20" wingspan, would have been much easier had I'd done most of it before assembly. As , however, I hadn't even intended to do it to begin with left think I managed to luck out and not screw it up too much. I few of the lines are a bit untidy but a little wet sanding and another coat of primer should help clean things up. Handling that pointy nose proved to be a little challenging, however, so out came the clay to form a mould of the nose cone and I made four copies. After trimming the moulds to the desired shapes, I used them to pencil in the lines on the nose. I'll use the templates to guide the X-Acto blade when I get around to scribing the lines.

Cheers

[modelglue]

I am really loving this build, and I promise I had this avatar long ago.

The 1/72 U-2 variants have eluded my attempts to own them thus far, mostly due to cost. I want the Special Hobby long nosed jobby but last time I saw it on ebay is was $50+ and I shrank away in fear of disrupting my happy marriage.

I have been wanting to try a method for scribing using those fancy etch saws and simply following the raised line. Maybe a cheapy Airfix kit will be a good test subject.

Many thanks for all the pictures and text in your thread, it was really interesting to see your abilities and I definitely uttered the "Wow" more than a few times.

Cheers DMC

[DMC]

I am really loving this build, and I promise I had this avatar long ago.

The 1/72 U-2 variants have eluded my attempts to own them thus far, mostly due to cost. I want the Special Hobby long nosed jobby but last time I saw it on ebay is was $50+ and I shrank away in fear of disrupting my happy marriage.

I have been wanting to try a method for scribing using those fancy etch saws and simply following the raised line. Maybe a cheapy Airfix kit will be a good test subject.

Many thanks for all the pictures and text in your thread, it was really interesting to see your abilities and I definitely uttered the "Wow" more than a few times.

Cheers DMC

Kind words, much appreciated. No worries about the avatar. I was tempted to sculpt the whole dragon's head but it would have been very time consuming and I wanted to get on with the model.

I get your dilemma regarding the U-2S/ER-2. Out of production kits get a 'vintage or collectors item' label on them and the price can double. And, there's hardly any bidding on eBay these days, mostly all Buy it Now. Shame, really, I always enjoyed the bidding part of it.

http://www.rollmodels.net/nreviews/airplanes/72spechobu2/72u2.php

I've been tempted to get a couple of those etched saws and try them out but thought I'd see what I could do with what I already have. I like the #11 X-Acto blade and the blade from a razor saw that looks like an old fashion double edged razor blade. Definitely advise practicing on an cheap kit first. I practiced on the inside of another kits wing.

N​ot sure what's going on with Windows 10 but it won't let me add a couple of links on here so I'm going to post this and swop over to my trusty old PlayBook and try.

Have a look at this eBay listing. This gent must have cornered the market on Cutting Edge resin, and decals. I'm following this listing and might take a punt if the bidding doesn't go into orbit. I expect it will, however, as there has to be, at today's prices, over £100 worth of goodies there.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Testors-U-2-model-kit-bundle-inc-Cutting-Edge-resin-1-48-/201661127719?hash=item2ef3f09c27:g:suIAAOSwdIFXzG~6

[modelglue]

Have a look at this eBay listing. This gent must have cornered the market on Cutting Edge resin, and decals. I'm following this listing and might take a punt if the bidding doesn't go into orbit. I expect it will, however, as there has to be, at today's prices, over £100 worth of goodies there.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Testors-U-2-model-kit-bundle-inc-Cutting-Edge-resin-1-48-/201661127719?hash=item2ef3f09c27:g:suIAAOSwdIFXzG~6

That looks like a whole lot of goodies up for auction. I am not a 1:48 builder myself and so am not up on the pricing, but I expect that this lot is a great value.

[JMChladek]

Coming back to admire the continuing work on this beauty and loving every minute of it. This model is going to look incredible when done.

I've got one of the old Hawk U-2As in my stash and I hope to build it in a diorama representing the first overflight of the R-7 pad at Baikonour. I know it was a U-2A used on that flight, I just haven't gotten a good handle on what markings it had.

[DMC]

Thank you, sir. Currently working on the cockpit, plenty of fiddly bits.

Looking forward to seeing U-2A build. If you are referring to the August 5, 1957 flight, it was probably nm as I don't think they had started painting the U-2s then. Could be wrong, however. I have a fair amount reference material and will. Check on that tomorrow.

Cheers

[roadrunner]

Great works!

engraving fuselage panel lines is my nightmare....

[DMC]

Great works!

engraving fuselage panel lines is my nightmare....

Thanks. Mine also, actually.

'meep meep'