Massimo

Welcome to the club!!! Rigging to me is one of those things... but you did a fantastic job!!! Well done!!! And I've seen somewhere else you're experiencing the 3D printing stuff with great results too!!!! Chapeau!!! Massimo

WOW!!!! Nice progress in here!!!! Well done! Massimo

Lovely work on those legs!!! Nice to see you back on this project!!! I've done some work on my PR9 too!!! This topic is very inspiring and I'll use it as a guideline for the detail on the flaps and other area which should be the same on the PR9. Ciao Massimo

Thanks John, That is the intention!!!

Hi mates, Here below I've summarised different stages of the operator pit's building process in pictures, Thanks for watching! Good night Massimo

Found it!

Hi mates, I forgot to ask another question: some time ago I saw a tutorial on another Canberra build showing how to correct Airfix kit's stabilizers. I can't find it anymore!!!! This is going to be one of the next works on my list so I'd be grateful if somebody can give me the link to it. Hope to find it!!! Thankyou Massimo

Well...I certainly admire the patience and the perseverance to try new procedures like photo etching. Anyway after having gone this far with a 3D printed kit , you had to give it a try with photoetching!!! And the results you're getting are outstanding!!! What's left then?....oh yes...decals!!!!! I'll be waiting for the next update!!!! Ciao Massimo

Good afternoon mates, Yesterday I concentrated on the navigator’s ejectable seat. Once this is done, I shouldn’t be too far from glueing the fuselage. I added some kabuki tape seat belts.There are many, thus I’ll proceed on different satges, doing some first and adding some more later. Then I went to work with different colours…not the tidiest table in town!!! This is the final result. I decided to give the fuselage halves a black wash , as it was a little too bright, added some coluour touches here and there to give the interior a bit of life and finally a layer of Xtracrilics matt clear . Then I added te seat. Side view. You can see some of the cockpit detail too. Looking at the pictures, I realized the all thing was a little too…hairy!!! Must be residues from the cotton swabs I used to remove the excess of black wash. So, with the help of a brush and a pair of tweezers and went to work to clean the mess!!! This is what it looks like now. Dry test to see how it looks . Now I’ve got a request for the well informed. Here below the only pics I’ve found showing the pilot’s ejectable seat fitted to the PR9 at the end of her service. You can see both ends , but not whats in between. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance. This is it for now. I’ll keep you posted on any progress. Ciao Massimo

Those rivets look fantastic!!! It was worth the effort!!! And the paint job is superb! Well done!!

Very interesting subject! Those exhauast which remind me of a Gannet and Wyvern and the Vacuform format: all the right ingredients are there!!!!! I'll be following with attention!!!! Ciao Massimo

NO NO NO,..Don't sell it! It'llbe anice mate totheother two you're actually building!!! And that canopy not out of centre is so British!!!! You must give it a chance!!!! Ciao Massimo

...and you did a fantastic job!!! For an aicraft fo this size I think 1/72 scale is the most appropriate, butwhen Ibought mine, Iwasonlybuilding 1/48th nd thus...that was it!!! I remember I bought it from Hannnants during one of my journeys to the UK and the same time I bought a Xtrakit PR9 for a friend.. Thinking about this now, I shoud have kept the Xtrakit fo myself!!! Anyway it just fits to my display cabinet, so it's ok! Seing it with daylight, I think I'll give it a black wash!

They'll come very useful!!!! Thanks!!!

Good evening mates, My mojo wasn’t at its highest for a while, so I haven’t been visiting much nor found much time for modelling, lately. Probably part of this is due to the uselesness of the modeling task I chose to undertake: the Canberra’s operator’s pit. Spending hours watching pictures of a black hole trying to replicate the darkness in it knowing well that you’ll never see anything once it’s done isn’t of much help and this knowledge ‘s slowed me down. Then a few days ago I received a pack from Japan and the quality of what was inside brought me back on track and I decided the time had come to get things moving again. First a few pictures of the package contents: Pictures aren’t good, but this is top class stuff!!!! Hypersonic models resin Canopy. The quality of the resin parts is superb and the instuctions are very accurate. Hope I’ll be able to do the job properly. I realized the camera portholes at the sides of the fuselage were missing and thus I marked them with a pencil first and then I drilled them. Then I spent a couple of nights detailing the fuselge interiors, using the usual styrene card an rods and some PE from the Airscale frets I bought recently. At the top, sticked to the back of a yellow “post it” you can see my version of the cameras. I built them from scratch using a bit of plastic tube sticked to a back plate. I painted it black and dry brushed it light grey, then I filled it with drops of Future , to replicate the lens. I repeated this process several times untilI was happy with the lens effect. I won’t add much more detail, considering the darkness of the area. Here below a picture with the seat in place. And a couple with the fuselage closed. For sure, once painted, it’ll be the seat to get all the attention! After painting the interior black, I glued them inside the fuselage halves. They’re the white rectangles . Here below couple of pictures fro outside. Glass will be added later. Here below the three painting steps: Black first EDSG to enlighten the panels. And Light Aircraft grey drybrushing to enphasize the details. It’s a little overdone by choice, due to the darkness the pit will have to live in. And finally a few with the fuselage closed. Next I’ll add some colours here and there, and then I’ll concentrate on the seat. That’s it for now. Thanks for watching. Good night!!! Massimo

Looking good!!!! Another beauty!!! Welldone Bill!

Good evening mates, A small update on Today’s progess. Once decided I’d use the CMK seat, I started by deleting the seat belts and drilled a hole in the middle of the chute bag, as this is the main difference with the realthing. Here below a comparison between the original seat and the corrected one. Seat belts will be added later. Next I added a few electrical boxes to the operator pit’s bulkhead and a step to support the ejection seat,which isn’t sitting on the floor, nut suspended at a short distance from it. I also grinded the area over the ejection seat, to reduce the thickness of the fuselage and replicate the panel supposed to brake on ejection. I added cables and pipes to the bulkhead, a strip of riveted alu tape in the middle of the floor and a square profile around the grinded area ,to replicate the perimeter’s frame. Considering the dakness and poor visibility of this area, I think it’ll do. This is what the pit looks like now. Side consolles will be next. Let’s think about them Tomorrow! That’s it for now, time to go to bed!!! Good night! Massimo

...and slowly!!!! Probably through a panel at the top. You can see the yellow dashed line on the roof. From outside it's quite visible too. There's no sign of it in the kit. Here below the PE fret by Eduard...the panel is definitely rectangular, but from the picture above you can see it was trapezoidal. I'll sort something out. Ciao Massimo

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!👍👏

Good afternoon mates, first of all I'd like to thank you for the nice comments and the pictures. They're all very useful! As you’ll have seen from my last update, the cockpit is done and glued into place. The stick and the ejection seat will be left for a later stage, to avoid breaking them ,so now I can proceed with the operator’s pit. As for the cockpit, I’ll build it from scratch and it’ll be a slow process , but I’ll have to be inspired!!! Luckily thefuselage section is circular, so the bulkhead separating the cockpit and the operator’s pit’s been cut from a 0,5 mm styrene sheet, using this tool I hadn’t used for ages!. Once cut and sanded,I painted it black on the backside, the one facing the cockpit. I don’t want to spray it once fitted with the risk of damaging the cockpit’s finish. Once dry, I glued it into place, quite an easy task! I started by glueing it to the side of the fuselage interior and then I glued it to the cockpit’s floor. Now it’s nice and solid! Initially I had glued the cockpit to the left side (…was it port or starboard…???can’tremember…)and the front wheel-bay tothe right one, but this made it impossible to join the fuselage halves, so I removed the wheelbay , which I’ll glue later under the cockpit, and I sanded off the locating slide for the fuselage top insert. This allows me to join the fuselage hales by rotating them into place. …like this…”clack”…sort of Lego bricks locking noise!! The bulkhead dimension was sanded a bit to get a good fit between the fuselage halves. Once happy with the bulkhead , I concentrated on the floor. First IU cut a rectangular piece of styrene and then I shaped it to fit to the bottom of the pit. Before concentrating on the side consolles and all the detail, which won’t be that straight forward, I decided to spend some time to fit the ejection seat. From what I’ve found on the net, the operator seat was a MB MK3 … something as shown here below. I’ve checked among my resin seats and found these two: on the left an Mk4b by CMK and on the right an MK4W by Small World Accessories. Of the two, the MK4b is the closest one, at least for its external black frame. The other one’s chute container , head-rest and back frame look more convincing. So I may either use the first one, modifying the chute container and head-rest or the second one, building its external black frame from scratch. After removing the seats from their moulding struts, they looked really happy to move sideways although the small room avaliable, so I decided to add a locating pin at their bacoand a locating hole in the center of the bulkhead. The locating pin made the seat happy enough to stop running around!!! I added the locating pin to the other seat too I’ll probably use the one at the bottom, which look is closer to the real thing. Next will be the detail around this busy area. But before I’ll have to study all the pictures in my possession. No rush! That’s it for now. Thanks for watching! Ciao Massimo

Good afternoon mates, after finishing theLoire Nieuport 411 and tidied up my working area and tools, I was ready to concentrate on a project I had left aside : the Canberra PR9. I’m really happy to see Martian’s back to work on his Canberras, thus I’ll be in good company and I’ll take advantage of lots of useful info, in addition of some tips. I had temporarily left this project aside as I had lost the Airscale decal set I bought a few years back . Now I’ve found it but just after having bought some new sets including a couple of decal dials and some PE instruments frames. Before passing to the decalling section I had given a few touches of colour here and there. So, with my new decal sheets and softening solutions I went to work. Once the decal dials were dry, I gave a few touches fo Future on them , to replicate their glass. I checked the cockpit’s fi tinto the fuselage As the dry-test was ok, I decided it was time to glue the cockpit and the top cover to one of the fuselage halves. I used Tamiya green cap liquid glue and left the assembly to dry overnight. Elastic bands were very useful and the joint looks good. Now the fuselage halves are ready for the next steps: the navigator’s pit. I have no idea what ejection seat was fitted to the latest PR9 …the only pictures I’ve found show just the top of it from outside… Any picture or info will be welcome!!! I’ve seen a thread in the Aviation chat showing how to correct the Airfix Canberras’ tail. …any idea where it might be? That’s it for now. Thanks for watching! Massimo

She's taking shape nicely!!! Well done Ced!

Hi mates, I've found the Airscale dialsI had lost , of course after having purchased some more!!!! Anyway it's very useful stuff and I'll use them somewhere else! I've also ordered the Hyperscale canopy again and it looks it's been sent!!! Soon an update on the cockpit. Ciao Massimo

Thank you all forth kind comments! Ciao Massimo

Life will look different after those rivets !!!! May I suggest an eggplane after this build?