U-2C Spy Plane

Large, inexpensive kit for a very important aircraft in the US arsenal. It was an easy build.

The U-2C is the later production variant of the U-2, flown by the U.S., the Nationalist Chinese, and others. We operated between Japan, Turkey and Norway in these, and pilots prepped a lot like astronauts for cockpit sessions running more than 40 hours. And not all these missions were flown in solid black airplanes--scout the abundant references. This is the original Hawk U-2A kit, but the molds were reworked significantly to change the subject to a C-model, and the elaborate ground carriage was added. Not a sophisticated build by today's standards, this kit poses no assembly problems, either. It's just that, if you think a 1/48 model needs a detailed cockpit, you'll have to add one. Any serious collection should have one of these. Just be aware it has a full 20 inches of wingspan, and you may be challenged to find a place to park it.

if you have spent any amount of time looking at U2 kits, you know they can cost a pretty penny. this kit is priced right, and for the money it is a good build this kit fits well, there are the usual fitment issues on fuselage halves, nothing a bit of putty and sanding cannot fix. not many parts, witch isn't necessarily a bad thing, cockpit detail is slim, though when hanging from the ceiling you wouldn't know the cockpit was sparse. come with a cart that was used to move the aircraft. wings fit well, I trimmed a little of the wing spars to get them to fit into the wing slots on the fuselage. engine intakes required some putty and sanding to get a smooth finish. overall, for the price i am happy with the kit.