1:72 English Electric Canberra PR.9 "End of an Era" - Finished!

[canberra kid]

5 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Question for the Canberra SMEs:

 

 

I'm currently scouring John's gallery of photos trying to find a close-up of this exhaust. Whatever I do on the starboard side, I'll also have to do on the port side to make sure they both look the same.

 

 

Bill

This may help Bill

John

[general melchett]

 

Quote

Is there a fee for that?   

 

Yes...a glass of single malt when you finally get your backside over here...

 

The intake exhaust vent omission is a strange error by Airfix but easily solved, perhaps they could only get access to one side of an aircraft though why not access to Google is anyone's guess. Also notice the poor fit of the tailplane in the English Electric kit...dreadful gap

 

I think this is a rather great shot of the underside...

 

PR.9 underside view

 

 

[71chally]

1 hour ago, general melchett said:

Also notice the poor fit of the tailplane in the English Electric kit...dreadful gap

 

Useful guide on how to make the Airfix tailplane as gappie as the English Electric original ,

Seriously though, I really don't know how Airfix researched this kit, the nose has errors, the whole tail assembly is a complete work of fiction (and clearly didn't look at the this area on the real thing at all), and just about everything inbetween has issues!

 

Another cracking shot there John!

Edited February 11, 2017 by 71chally

[canberra kid]

I don't want to keep plugging my site Bill, but here is another album that may help? 

Engine and Fuel RA.24 

and for flaps Flaps and Air-Brakes 

John

[canberra kid]

This should help with positioning 

John

[Navy Bird]

On 2/11/2017 at 04:37, canberra kid said:

This may help Bill

John

 

Indeed, that helps tremendously. I never realised there was a mesh or grate inside. 

 

Well, I think I'm limited to where Airfix moulded the vent on the port side, since it's a depression in the surface. It's not exactly where it's supposed to be, and it's not the right size. Accordingly, I measured where it was relative to the front of the nacelle, and cut out a rectangle of the same size on the starboard nacelle.

 

 

Next, I did the same for the port nacelle. I tried to get them as close to square corners and the same size as possible. For the grate that's inside, I used some 1:700 ship railings in photoetch. As it turns out, I think it's a reasonably good match, especially in this scale. I hope you can see the little buggers in this photo.

 

 

I didn't thin down the plastic from the inside, as John's photo shows the grate inset quite a bit. Now I have to fill in the erroneously moulded vent on the left side of the starboard nacelle - that should be pretty easy.

 

The engine nacelles will be closed on either end, so I don't think I need to put anything else behind those grates. It will be very dark in there. From John's photo, it looks like the grate is also painted Hemp, or Camouflage Beige Grey as I guess they call it now. Same as the upper fuselage.

 

 

My grandson Carter's first birthday party was a success - a little Mickey overload but that won't kill anybody. I gotta say one thing though, the little guy knows how to eat his cake - with both hands!    

 

 

 I assume this ambidextrous skill will come in handy later in life when he starts...well, drinking!    

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Grown-ups had pulled turkey and pork with North Carolina style spicy barbecue sauce, corn bread, Calico beans, cole slaw, nachos, pizza...yum. It wasn't a Full English, but you have to make do with what you got. 

[CedB]

Great grates Bill - they look spot on.

I'm glad you all enjoyed the birthday party - sounds like a good time was had by all  

[Max Headroom]

Good stuff Bill. I never realised that the Airfix Cranberries were so flawed but you are beating it into submission.

 

Oh aye, the party food sounds yummy and a toddler's face isn't complete without lots of chocolate smears

 

Trevor

[71chally]

Yep grate work!  Are you sticking with the kit vortex gens?  they actually look pretty good and are quite fine.

Nice to see the lad enjoyed himself!

[phildagreek]

Good to see the boy & his cake!

[Navy Bird]

5 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

Good stuff Bill. I never realised that the Airfix Cranberries were so flawed but you are beating it into submission.

 

Thanks. All kits have imperfections, some are just more imperfect than others.    

 

3 hours ago, 71chally said:

Yep grate work!  Are you sticking with the kit vortex gens?  they actually look pretty good and are quite fine.

Nice to see the lad enjoyed himself!

 

I agree that the kit's vortex generators are fine. They're too thick, scale-wise, but I think that's true of all injection moulded 1:72 vortex generators. The boy is a quick one - he crawls at Mach 0.8.  Don't leave the door open!  

 

3 hours ago, phildagreek said:

Good to see the boy & his cake!

 

He seemed to enjoy it. He got a nice ride-on toy that looks like an airplane, complete with folding wings and a motorised propeller. I think the camouflage demarcations are wrong, though. Should be soft edges, not hard.     

 

Cheers,

Bill

[giemme]

Echoing others, great job with the grates - and with the party!  Little Carter sure enjoyed it! 

 

Ciao

 

I think the camouflage demarcations are wrong, though. Should be soft edges, not hard.  

Yes, of course 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2017 by giemme

[Martian]

On ‎10‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 14:40, Navy Bird said:

Of course I'm going to do it. The moment I saw Flankerman's picture the deal was sealed. I would like a higher resolution photo of that magazine cover however. Where can I find one of those? I don't think we get that mag here in the colonies.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Good man! surely all you need to do is to scale down the picture we have here and print it off onto photographic paper which in this scale should give you something approaching the right thickness of the magazine and there you go. This will also avoid you having to do 1/1 scale research and running the risk of having to explain to Mrs Bill if she finds the magazines!

 

Martian

[Navy Bird]

17 minutes ago, Martian Hale said:

Good man! surely all you need to do is to scale down the picture we have here and print it off onto photographic paper which in this scale should give you something approaching the right thickness of the magazine and there you go. This will also avoid you having to do 1/1 scale research and running the risk of having to explain to Mrs Bill if she finds the magazines!

 

In the interest of scale fidelity, I assume said magazine is A4 in real life?

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I'm too old for that kind of 1:1 scale research.    

[Martian]

8 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

 

In the interest of scale fidelity, I assume said magazine is A4 in real life?

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I'm too old for that kind of 1:1 scale research.    

I would imagine so for a UK magazine, although I am not going to check for you lest Mrs Martian finds me out!

 

Martian

[Flankerman]

I just did a search for 'Zoo Weekly magazine covers' - and it returns dozens of magazine covers.

 

I can't find the specific cover in the PR9 - but you could save and resize one of the mags found - then print it to size.

 

Thats how I did my Playboy mags.

 

Ken

[Navy Bird]

Well, I can't close up the fuselage until I finish the cockpit. Accordingly, here she be.

 

 

The pilot's bang seat is just a-setting there - it will come out and go into secure storage (i.e rolling around in the kit box) until the end of the build when I have to fix whatever damage has happened and put it back in. The control yoke stays out until the end too - mostly because whatever I use to protect the cockpit from over-spray inevitably breaks them off. The navigator's seat has to go in now since it would be difficult to put it in later. Plus, it's protected from the elements. 

 

I followed the instructions from the Eduard photoetch set in positioning the seat belts. They are invariably wrong, but I do it anyway. I think they look nice though.

 

Photos I've seen of the inside of the nose show some more detail in the lower compartment, I'll have to see what I can come up with. The red cover over the radar screen is...a red cover. 

 

I diverted from the Airfix instructions (instructions - what instructions?) and glued the cockpit cover to the right side of the fuselage. That will help in positioning this big hunk of resin. Pavla have moulded in some receptacles for the pegs on the underside of the cockpit cover, but it remains to be seen if they work as intended. Hope so! 

 

Pavla made one error (maybe) in the resin cockpit. I would think that the vertical axis for the bang seats would be the same. However, looking from the front it appears that the pilot's seat is tipped a bit towards port. It ends up nice and properly aligned when assembled in the fuselage, at which point the navigator's seat tips a bit toward starboard. Weird - is it really like that? Or is it a boo-boo?

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Martian]

That's a nice bit of detail painting there our Bill!

 

Martian

[canberra kid]

Radar Bill? If only! unfortunately the red thing is the cover to the navigators periscope,  which is the poor sod's only forward view. The pit is looking good though, nice work! As for the seats as far as I know there is no deviation from the vertical but I will take a look in the AP's

 

John

[71chally]

12 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Photos I've seen of the inside of the nose show some more detail in the lower compartment, I'll have to see what I can come up with. The red cover over the radar screen is...a red cover.

Bill

 

There's not much in the bottom half, a pedestal for the periscope and some foot rests for the poor old nav.

The orange bit is a rubber viewing shroud for the 'recce sighting' periscope.

Canberra PR.9 Nav panel by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

Canberra PR.9 Nav panel top by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

These are about the only shots left from a complete crawl over photoshoot where I got hundreds of detail pics, lost most in a hard drive failure - gutted doesn't cover it.

That nav station is a horrible place to be, just slightly worse than the Sea Vixen I would say.

 

Canberra PR.9 XH169 Aug 01 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

Anyhow, outstanding work there again Bill, the seats and cockpit look quite superb. 

I haven't noticed that the seats are angled on the Canberra.

Edited February 13, 2017 by 71chally
change pictue

[TheBaron]

1 hour ago, 71chally said:

That nav station is a horrible place to be, just slightly worse than the Sea Vixen I would say.

Possibly only matched for claustrophobia by the 'raven' stations in RB-47s, locked in the bomb bay....

 

Pukka work all round Bill. The cockpit is looking beautiful. 

Tony

 

 

[Brandy]

WOW, I had no clue that the nav was in the nose...you learn something new everyday! Another good reason to learn to fly!

 

Ian

[Radleigh]

Lovely work Bill, I have grown very fond of the Canberra in recent years, & I saw a great documentary the other day...

[Martian]

1 hour ago, limeypilot said:

WOW, I had no clue that the nav was in the nose...you learn something new everyday! Another good reason to learn to fly!

 

Ian

Or not in this particular case!

 

Martian

[Navy Bird]

14 hours ago, canberra kid said:

Radar Bill? If only! unfortunately the red thing is the cover to the navigators periscope,  which is the poor sod's only forward view. The pit is looking good though, nice work! As for the seats as far as I know there is no deviation from the vertical but I will take a look in the AP's

 

You know, I knew that. Why on earth I wrote radar is beyond me. Probably because my addled old brain is confusing this with so many other old 1950s era jets that had covers or shrouds over their dim radar screens when parked...mea maxima culpa!  

 

I think Pavla made a mistake with the vertical orientation of the seats. It's not real noticeable, but it's one of those things that stand out once you know it's there. Most people would miss it, I suspect. 

 

9 hours ago, 71chally said:

That nav station is a horrible place to be, just slightly worse than the Sea Vixen I would say.

 

Great photos, thanks. The pedestal is quite prominent - one photo I've seen shows what looks like a white (or tan) canvas sheet that runs from the bottom of the recce instrument panel down to the base of the pedestal. Have you seen that before? Mud guard against dirty boots? 

 

I was working from a photo that had a full cover over the periscope lens, not just a shroud. I could put a round silver decal in place to try and replicate the lens. I'm liking those cable harnesses that connecticate the aeroplane with its proboscis, too. That would look pretty cool in the model. 

 

That's the first I've seen of an actual human in the navigator's chair - yikes! That looks far worse than I thought. I hope the day/night indicators have screens - wouldn't want it to get too bright inside. Good area to stash the girlie mags, though. 

 

5 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

Or not in this particular case!

 

I can't imagine doing that in a simulator, let alone a real aircraft. I have a bit of claustrophobia that I discovered whilst having some MRIs way back when. Not a nice feeling.

 

Cheers,

Bill