Cutting Edge U-2 resin parts question

Both types are offered seperately.

Rob, did you get my last e-mails about the mosquito canopy? I'm waiting on your decision before I send it.

Let me rephrase my question. Cutting Edge offers U-2A and U-2C inlets that I know from photos:

CEC48293 U-2A Seamless Intakes CEC48294 U-2C Coke Bottle Seamless Intakes

But they also offers a third type of inlet, the 'interim' version, and that's the one that puzzles me:

CEC48299 U-2C Interim Seamless Intakes-applicable to ALL U-2Cs before 1965

If anyone has these, could they please comment on them? Thanks in advance!

Rob de Bie

My models:

Rob:

I read your earlier post on the subject but couldn't find my stuff right off. If I recall from that earlier request, you're building in 1/72 and more interested in when to use the various intakes as opposed to a review of the 1/48th CE product itself.

This is how Cutting Edge explains the three different seamless inlet uses (I'm quoting from their "U-2E/F Rams Horn Conversion Set - CEC48290" instruction sheet):

"In the U-2C, a J-75 engine replaced the U-2A's J-57 engine and it had significantly larger air intake openings. These larger air intakes came in two configurations, the 'interim' configuration, which had a larger air inlet but relatively flat (non-bulbous) sides. Starting in about 1965, very bulbous 'coke bottle' fairings were retrofitted to existing U-2Cs (this is the version offered in the Testors kit)."

"Most U-2Cs were in fact re-engined U-2As which is why you have to look carefully at photos of the jet you are modeling to see, by tail number, whether it's in U-2A or U-2C configuration. The best way to tell is to look at the engine air inlet openings. If they're tiny, it's a U-2A. If they're fairly large, it's a U-2C although you'll have to then determine whether they are 'interim' or 'coke bottle' intakes."

A little torturous....but I think you'll get the point!

Kevin

Super! This is exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks!

I started checking my three U-2 references straight away for photos of these 'interim' intakes. I think I found a few that *possibly* show them, but none shows them clearly. A complicating factor is that I have a magazine with a photo of the Powers U-2 wreckage, and I am tempted to call the inlets 'Coke bottle' inlets. And they are from 1960, not 1965 or later! Difficult..

Rob de Bie

My models: