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

[perdu]

Looks like part of the canopy frame to me too, it's up in the air in both of those pictures isn't it

 

I see the caddy lives on OAT in its cooling too, I suppose it's only me that has a car that needs glycol these days

 

Good call to have the warranty too, wow for paying for that to be done in the shop unaided    

[71chally]

The item circled in the photograph is part of the canopy frame.

 

You can see it quite well in the inflight pic that John posted on page 20, just behind the seat.

Although arched, it doesn't come to the full height of the canopy transparency.

Edited April 2, 2017 by 71chally

[Navy Bird]

Hi mates,

 

Things are coming together nicely. I've attached all the flappy things and the remaining antennae and sensors. I then gave the model a coat of Alclad Clear Flat lacquer. That's always one of my favourite parts of the build, as it gets rid of that shiny toy-like look and gives the model a sense of scale realism.

 

 

I had to scratch-build the pitot-tube like sensor that is on the bottom of the aft fuselage near the roundel, as the part supplied with the kit would probably be overscale if it came with the 1:48 kit.

 

 

My photos show that aft fuselage antenna to be painted yellow on XH134 so that's what I did. I didn't realise until now that the fuel dump is in the wrong position on the Airfix kit - if I had seen that earlier I would have filled the mounting hole and drilled a new one farther back. Too far along now, so the fuel dump is in the spot that Airfix thinks it should be in.

 

I see that I still have to remove the masking tape from the day/night indicators in the navigator's compartment. Oops. 

 

I'm going to rummage through my spare part bins and see if I can find some suitable clear parts to use for the wingtip formation lights, and the lights on the top and bottom of the aft fuselage. Plus, I think there's one at the bottom of the rudder, too. They might not all make onto the final presentation though, depending on what I find.

 

I built a rudimentary desk for the navigator:

 

 

See! There's a nose after all. And you guys thought I forgot it.    

 

I'm finishing the canopy - those yellow dashed lines are fun - and also adding the bang seat and control yoke to the cockpit. I have to either paint or decal the round spots on the RWR pods on the wingtips, and of course there's that big long aerial wire. That part I never look forward to! I have drilled a tiny hole in the leading edge at the top of the tail fin to accept the wire, and I'm going to attempt to do the same for the forward post. The wire I always use is 0.005" diameter Nitinol, which is an alloy of nickel and titanium. It's black, and it likes to stay straight, but since it's so small in diameter, it will sag if not taut. 

 

I haven't forgotten those backwards pitot tube-like things on the tail fin. I'm not planning on using the kit parts because they look too large and clunky, but I've found some nice resin pieces leftover from some kit - they should work nicely and look much better.

 

So we're almost there!  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[canberra kid]

Looking good Bill 😎

[giemme]

Almost there indeed, Bill, and looking better and better

 

Ciao

[hendie]

that has got to be one of the best finishes I have ever seen on a model

[rob Lyttle]

I was wondering why you were showing us a pot of paint , and then I zoomed in...... and in...... and in....

Have you ever watched a zoom in on a thing called the Mandelbrot Set? Well, it's a bit like that .

Unbelievable!

[Pete in Lincs]

Quote

 those backwards pitot tube-like things on the tail fin

Part of the ILS system if I remember correctly.

 

And, you seem to have gotten your money's worth

out of the Caddy then. My Ford is a 2005 and has

less than 52,000 on it.

[Navy Bird]

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Part of the ILS system if I remember correctly.

 

And, you seem to have gotten your money's worth

out of the Caddy then. My Ford is a 2005 and has

less than 52,000 on it.

 

Turns out there was a recall on 2006-2009 3.6L V6 for this very same issue. Since mine is a 2010, the recall doesn't cover me. It looks like the insurance will, but I won't know for sure until they tear it apart and actually find something wrong with it. The dealer is pretty sure they will, as it's a problem he's seen many times before. Wish me luck!    

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I wonder if the RAF had extended warranties on their Canberras, and that's why they flew them for half a century...

[Sten Ekedahl]

If you decide to tackle the Xtrakit PR.9, this build blog might be of some use: http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=112264&page=1

Edited April 4, 2017 by Sten Ekedahl

[SmashedGlass]

4 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

 

Turns out there was a recall on 2006-2009 3.6L V6 for this very same issue. Since mine is a 2010, the recall doesn't cover me. It looks like the insurance will, but I won't know for sure until they tear it apart and actually find something wrong with it. The dealer is pretty sure they will, as it's a problem he's seen many times before. Wish me luck!    

 

Cheers,

Bill

I am unaware of any 'improved' parts that they replace the problem parts with, so....it's probably just a case of not enough 2010+ owners griping about the issue cropping up. Gotta count those beans up in Corporate Land!

 

It's like the occupant sensors in the passenger seat of my recently disposed car. It was a 2005 Kia Spectra5. The Kia Rio from the same years had a recall for the sensor mat in the passenger seat that tells the computer a somewhat fully grown person occupies the seat, and turns on the airbag. Same exact system in the Spectra, yet no recall. Guess not enough Spectra owners complained, but the stingy people who opted for the cheaper Rio did. (They wanted $1700 + labor to replace my passenger seat, yet were perplexed that I already knew exactly what code it would throw and why)

 

As a side note Bill, if you have a lengthy relationship with your dealership, you can throw a bit of a fit along the lines of 'never buying GM again!' and they might fix it pro bono. In any event I would definitely shoot a letter off to GM corporate about how displeased you are to have to pay one penny for a fault they already knew about.

[Navy Bird]

Little by little...

 

I was unsuccessful in my search for some small clear parts that I could use for the wingtip lights, so I decided to improvise. I took some pieces of sheet styrene that were the right thickness, and cut them into a pointed shape. Then, I sanded and rounded the tip of the point to approximate the shape of the wingtip lights. Next, I painted a base of aluminum followed by Gunze Clear Red on one and Clear Green on the other. Lastly, some Hemp for the rear portion of the light housing. They ended up looking like this:

 

 

Using a razor blade, slice off just the tip of each to use as the lights. A little dab of superglue, and very carefully attach to the wingtip:

 

 

I'll take it. The RWR faces on the front and rear of the wingtip mods have yet to be painted when this picture was taken. Using photos of XH134, the front RWR is painted a light tan colour (perhaps natural fibreglas) while the rear RWR is painted black. This seems to vary a lot amongst the photos I have - sometimes they're both tan, sometimes both black. I figured it would be best to just follow the photo of XH134. 

 

The nose was attached - I had to build a little jig to hold it in the correct position while the glue cured. Pavla also provide a small actuator arm that was added at the bottom of the nose.

 

 

You can see that the ejection seat for the pilot has found its home (including the Zoo magazine) and I also added a tiny photoetch folded-up box at the top of the windscreen frame. This has a pre-painted face on it to depict controls of some kind, and the rear view mirror attached to it. Tiny, tiny, tiny.

 

I didn't want to use the kit parts for the ILS (?) sensors on the sides of the vertical fin as they looked way too large compared to photos. I found some resin parts in the Magic Box of Fiddly Bits which I suspect are simply pitot tubes, but I painted them up and put them on anyway. I think they look pretty good.

 

 

I painted these white since that's what they look like in the close-up photos that I have. 

 

The canopy is ready to go - it will be the last thing to go on. I added that small roll-bar that we discussed, and also the yellow dashed lines that extend around the outside of the canopy frame. The aerial wire is going on now - I drilled a tiny hole in the leading edge at the top of the vertical fin, put a dab of superglue in it and slid in one end of the Nitinol wire. A little bit of kicker was applied with a brush and hopefully it will stay put. I wasn't able to put a hole in the front post, but I did manage to put at least a divot there using the tip of a brand new scalpel blade. The front end of the wire was glued to it, and all that's left is to glue the post in position near the front of the canopy, and at the same time try to keep the aerial line taut. I'm not very good at this! It's my least favourite part of building airplane models.

 

But once the wire goes on and the canopy is attached - I'd say she be done.  

 

Cheers,

Bill

[qn30jEkPz7]

This is astounding at that scale - exquisite stuff 

[Navy Bird]

Well, there are no more parts left, so I'm calling this one done. RFI will go up tonight or perhaps tomorrow. Thanks for all the help guys - it has resulted in a much better model than I would have finished if left to my own devices!  

 

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Martian]

Wonderful build! You have pretty much nailed the character of this aircraft.

 

Martian

[Brandy]

That is very, very, special! Heading over to RFI  now....

 

Ian

[CedB]

Stunning Bill, just stunning.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - there are kit builders and there are modellers and you're definitely at the top of the latter group IMHO.

Admirable stuff. Thanks for sharing, I've learned a lot, again  

[rob Lyttle]

Bill, it's been an education and a real pleasure following this, and thanks for sharing!

Do you need to do a new magazine cover each month? 📓

🌟🌟🌟

[Bedders]

Another masterpiece Bill. I'll look at RFI and then I'll probably say that again...

 

Justin

[hendie]

subtly, skillfully, and superbly executed - it's a stoater !

[Beard]

I've not followed this as closely as I should have, there's always so much to learn from your builds and the end result is outstanding, as always.

[giemme]

Gorgeous model   I second what Ced says, you are an artist! 

 

Ciao

[Head in the clouds.]

It was a pleasure going to school again.... a very detailed build that shows what can be achieved with some pieces of humble plastic.

Thanks

Gary

[Max Headroom]

Quality, pure quality.

 

Trevor

[general melchett]

Great result Bill, certainly looks the part. Looking at your opened nose reminds me that the navs lot couldn't have always been a happy one particularly on the long haul flights.... not much fun if you were anything over 5ft.