Wayne's Canberra PR.9

[waynos]

Hi,

to my Airfix 1/48 Canberra PR.9 build thread. I will try my best to keep this as up to date as I can with the build and any progress I make or problems I may have to overcome.

So the first thing, why build a Canberra? Well when it was announced about the eye spy sig, I thought it would give me an amazing opportunity to build something from RAF Wyton. I pass the airbase most mornings on the way to work and always wondered what had flown out of there. After a quick bit of research I found that the PRU were based there for a while. Perfect chance to build the Canberra!

"Throughout 1951 and 1952 Wyton was used as a transit base for American B-50 bombers. In January 1953 the first Photographic Reconnaissance Units (PRUs) arrived, initially with Mosquito, Meteor and Lancaster aircraft; however, re-equipment soon took place with the new PR version of the Canberra.

In 1955, the Freedom of Huntingdon was granted to the Station. The occasion, on 7th September, coincided with the 750th anniversary of the granting of the Charter to the town and was marked by a ceremony in the Market Square, a church service, parade and flypast.

The Seventies were a time of change for Wyton. In 1971 the first Nimrod aircraft arrived. In April 1975 the last of the Victor aircraft departed. In 1977 tragedy struck when a Canberra crashed into the Oxmoor Estate in Huntingdon killing the crew and 3 civilians. Throughout the next 2 decades Canberra units came and went with the final squadron, No 39 (1 PRU), leaving in November 1993."
(http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafbramptonwyton/ ... fwyton.cfm)

Coincindentally, one of the students in my form now lives in one of the new houses built on the site of the Canberra Crash!

Here is a picture of the Gate Guardian at RAF WYton.



So, thats just a brief bit of history and why I wanted to build the Canberra. Up next, Sprue shots!

[Willem]

Always nice to have a connection with a project. Looking forward to your build.

[waynos]

So I opted for the Airfix Canmberra PR.9 1/48 as I had heard some good things about this. I thought I would also challenge myself a bit with some Photo-etch, opting for the Big Ed set...Go big or go home and all that!

So I ordered the kit and here is the box shots...(That's the Airfix 1/48 Hurricane and Spitfires in the corners for scale purposes.

Main Box:


Upon opening the box


Colour call out I plan to use (XH134)


Inside the Big ED


Paper instruction booklet


First stages


Next stages


More steps


Getting there


Finally!


Wing Sprues


Although the way Airfix packaged them, the tips were damaged (Should be any easy fix but still annoying)




Choice of underside


Cockpit, basic detail. Glad I have the Big Ed set


Clear parts. Look good but keeping them protected for now!






Fuselage Halves


So that is the sprue shots don e with. Time to start butchering the seats and cockpits ready for the photo-etch. Will try and do a step by step of this.

That's all for tonight.

Thanks for looking!

[rwsmith14]

Great Subject !! I will look forward to this one

[chief5437]

Nice choice, I love the Canberra. Good luck with it mate

[Paul]

Great entry, look forward to seeing what you do with it

[Droflet01]

I was thinking of building this kit for this sig. But don't think I have the time. Will watch with interest.

[Lee]

Built this kit and it goes together well, except for the bomb bay, which isn't a bomb bay in this version. You will need to add sprue strengtheners in the fuselage as with all the Airfix Canberras, they bow inwards and need to be reinforced. Like so.....





Good luck

[waynos]

Thanks for the comments guys. Also, massive thank you to Lee for the heads up! Am happy to listen and implement any advice, especially from anyone who has built this kit. It's deceptively larger than I thought it was

Seats have been built up ready for base coat and then colour and PE. Will post pics later as they are on my phone at the minute.

[Andreas]

I love those 50s and 60s British jets. Good luck

[Nev]

Such an Iconic plane looking forward to seeing what you do with her!

[gaz45]

Nice one mate

[Avgas]

Iconic aircraft, looking forward to this.

[jayjay1964]

Look forward to this one Wayne got some Canberra's in stash so will be good to see how it all goes together , especially with the Big Ed set

[waynos]

Good evening all,

So this is my second attempt at writing this update as after submitting my last reply to the post, my ipad decided to crash and lose all of what I had written. It’s a shame you are all reading this new version as some said the one I was going to submit was like a Shakespearian sonnet. This will be more like the literature of a 3 year old. Sorry!

Anywho, back to the Canberra update. It has been a long time since I updated, and I have made a bit of progress on it. Real life kind of got in the way of an update, but finally I have some time to. I have completed the PE in the cockpit and one of the ejector seats. This involved quite a bit of work and swearing, but more on that later.

Stage one saw me having to do some surgery on the cockpit section before any PE was even added. Firstly, the Eduard instructions had me chopping the front section of the cockpit off and re attaching it so that it was 55mm long. I also had to chop the control panel section in two. This was no mean feat as I was only equipped with my trusty craft knife. In future I would invest in a razor saw or dremel. Because of the nature of cutting plastic with a craft knife, there were some rough edges, but this was easy work for the Ultimate sanders.






Next up it was a quick base coat followed by some Tamiya matt black, airbrushed with my new H&S Evolution. What an upgrade from my cheap Chinese airbrush!
So after the matt black was applied I was able to place the instrument panel PE onto the model. Oh my word, how amazing is this stuff! Self adhesive and easy to fit. I used my pointed tweezers and the Ultimate phot-etch placer. This has to be my best every cockpit. I will be using these with all my models from now on as they really do bring it to life!







So after my amazement with the instrument panel PE, I was ready to tackle the seats. Now I know people frustrations with PE. These parts were not self adhesive and I could not get CA to work for me. It either stuck to my hand or dried too quickly. In the end I resorted to PVA. This allowed a bit more time to pace the parts etc. To do these I used my PE bender, Ultimate PE placer, Pointed tweezers and a very highly magnified lens! This hurt my eyes, but just as the instrument PE, it was well worth it. Me and the PE had a few fall outs, I called it a few names, it sprung away from me, I told it I loved it and it came running back…….thank god, I thought the ejector seat handles had had an affair with the carpet monster and were never coming back, but thankfully the PE saw the error in its ways.

I must say it was a long process fitting this, and I did miss some parts out as they were either off with the carpet monster or wouldn’t be seen once the cockpit was shut, so only used the parts that gave maximum effect. Also, the amount of detail supplied, I would never be able to finish it on time if I was to install all of it.

So here we are, one seat down, one more to go! Hopefully progress will now be a lot quicker than this!




So that is my most recent update. Small progress, but worth it I feel.

Thank you for reading, I hope you are enjoying the build. Any advice and guidance is always welcome.

Many thanks,

Wayne

[Danta2er]

The cockpit PE looks amazing!

[waynos]

So after a late one last night, both seats are etched up and glued in place! Just some more detail to add into the inside of the photograph bay and I can make a start on getting some more of the sub assemblies made up and ready.

So this is where she sits right now...






Thanks for dropping by.

Wayne

[waynos]

Here is a nice little video of the Canberra. I have used it for a few references with the close-up shots.

[youtube]4IS35H8a10E[/youtube]

[Danta2er]

Here is a nice little video of the Canberra. I have used it for a few references with the close-up shots.:

That first video sent me down a Canberra rabbit hole

[waynos]

Hi all,

So upon looking to assemble everything, it seems that sprue G was not sent with the kit so I have no main canopy! Have contacted Airfix to see if they will resolve this issue. Let's hope it arrives before the end of the deadline.

So far I have completed the PE of the flaps and glued those in place. They definitely take a lot of patience. One of the flap supports will need to straighten out, but overall I am pleased with the detail it adds. It required me to remove the moulded plastic detail as you can see in the photos. I did this using a no.17 blade. Was quite nice to chisel away. Be careful not to go too deep as I came very close to slicing all the way through. My top tip is also not to glue the wings together before attempting this. I blame the tiredness not my lack of ability to plan ahead fully. I had even marked in my instructions I needed to do this before gluing the wings together!

Also need to add some nose weight (100g according to the instructions). So I have now glued the wings together, fuselage and added the spacer between in the bomb bay, as like Lee stated, the bay just does not fit properly without it. As you can also see in the photos, there was more transport damage on the tail of the kit. I shall sort this out too. Note to Airfix....pack your kits more carefully!

To do this, I just used some of the spare sprue from the kit and fixed it in place with some Tamiya Extra Thin. Once I have fixed the weight inside I will be glueing the whole kit together ready for some filling and priming.












Many thanks,

Wayne

[waynos]

So had an email from Airfix this morning saying they have no spare canopys. I will try and source one, or a similar looking one, but to say I am frustrated is an understatement! Really fancied finishing this one. Will keep an eye out.

Does anyone know where I may be able to source a replacement canopy or even a similar looking one from a different aircraft. It will be posed open, so no real issue about it fitting, just so that it looks correct?

Many thanks,

Wayne

[waynos]

So after not getting anywhere with airfix or finding a replacement canopy, I put the kit back in its box and had a little sulk as I was looking forward to finishing this.

After a couple of days away from modelling completely I came back to it this evening. I am going to either have the cockpit covered with a tarpaulin or I will try my best to create a canopy out of some clear plastic from a pop bottle. I will try both and see which looks best.

This evening I have set about attaching the wings, rudder and rear ailerons. I need to nip to my local fishing shop as I need to replace my store of fishing weights for the nose. I have also added some filler around the cockpit. The PE doesn't quite let it sit right on mine. The rest of the fit of the fuselage was spot on and required only some minor sanding to smooth the join!

This is how she is in her current state:




Many thanks for looking,

Wayne

[waynos]

Just a quick bit of time on the canberra today.

Managed to get hold of some nose weight and glued that in place, meaning I was now able to get the photograph bay fitted on the underside too. I have also fitted the PE ejection cover for the photographer to the nose. Used reuse able cable ties to hold it flush to the nose as masking tape just kept pulling it off.

Also on a plus side, I have managed to source a replacement canopy for it. After a bit of google searching, the sea vixen has a siminal shaped canopy and pavla do a vac for replacement for the airfix 1/48 kit. Got one of these for 3 quid, so can have it with a posed open canopy hopefully!!!!!!!

So here is the photos from today's progress. Once the canopy arrives, that will be masked and fitted ready for primer

[waynos]

I ordered a replacement canopy for a sea vixen and after a bit of chopping around I have managed to make one that looks and fits a closely as I could manage. I used the canopy mask from eduard as a basis to cut the replacement out and it worked quite well. I need to trim it and sand it for a nicer finish, but at least we have a canopy that fits.

Hopefully now I can get some painting done and get this finished so I can then concentrate on the valiant too.

Here is what the canopy looks like



Thanks for stopping by,

Wayne

[waynos]

Primer laid down now. Making good progress now and happy to be at the point ready for painting.

This is also the second time I have used the badger stylnrez primer and it is fantastic stuff. Goes down better than the Vallejo surface primer I was using before. Seems to be a lot smoother!

So here she is, primed and ready for colour!

[Danta2er]

Awesome save with the canopy!!

[waynos]

Awesome save with the canopy!!

Thanks, might look slightly out of place, but better than nothing I suppose!

[waynos]

So managed to get the pre-shading done, as well as laying down the dark green and dark sea grey. Both from Mr Hobby aqueous. Had an issue with thinning them too much, but my fault for forgetting I had placed pre thinned paint back in!

Anyway, this us how she sits now:

Pre shading and dark green

And now dark sea grey added

[waynos]

Hi all,

I have made quite a bit of progress on the Canberra. After getting the top half sprayed and the underside done, I spent the next 2 days decalling. After much frustration with the tiny writing on them, I have now found that cutting the decal off the with a little V at the top allowed me to easily identify which way up the decal should go on the model. This saved me quite a bit of time of trying to read it and determine it by holding the decal up, or having to manipulate it on the surface of the model. I have also glued the PE Flaps on, and found that they wedged inside the upper flap part well, allowing it to hold itself up ready for glue.

My next steps are to fit the PE inside the nose cone, add the engine covers, add the home made cockpit glass and try to scratch build a base for it.

So far, I am quite happy with the build, despite one of the clear sprue's missing. I highly recommend this kit, but be prepared to put a lot of nose weight in if having it on landing gear. I had managed to find a balance of it in a take off position, with tail and nose off the ground!!! Good job there is space down the side of the pilots seat to add in more weight!










Thanks for looking!

Wayne

[gaz45]

very nice work and detailling mate