English Electric Canberra PR.9 - Retirement Scheme #FINISHED#

[nimrod54]

Another one that has been languishing in the pile for a while, and so I thought that this iconic long serving type would be a good candidate for the group build. It is the 1/72 Airfix boxing and I have a couple of sets of 1/72 Model Alliance decals, one for the Canberra PR.9 retirement scheme, the other Model Alliance set being generic stencil data for the Canberra. Here are photos of the box, its contents and the decal sets.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Edge]

One of my favourites John, good luck!

Edge

 

[CliffB]

A nice one John and quality decals too

 

Cliff

[Robert Stuart]

That looks interesting John, welcome to the GB

[Hockeyboy76]

Ooh nice. Will be watching as always dude. 🧐

[Colin W]

Excellent to see you doing the last Canberra. Apart from the BBMF the longest serving type in the RAF and has been on the front line for almost half of the 100 years. 

Great choice 

Colin 

[Threadbear]

Excellent choice! I have been looking around for one of these PR.9 and they seem pretty thin on the ground? 

[rafalbert]

I love Canberras, I will be watching with interest for when I build mine

[nimrod54]

With a couple of builds for other GB's nearing completion, I finally made some sort of a start on this one today. The parts were washed and the cockpit parts separated for assembly. Once assembled they were primed and sprayed black in readiness for some dry brushing to highlight the details.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

For me, this model is more about the paint scheme, so I plan to build it out of the box and not get too hung up about missing details, unless there is something obvious that is simple to correct.

 

 

[Hockeyboy76]

Good start John. 

[zebra]

Good choice of subject and good start John. The RAFZ centenary GB would have a big gap in it without a Canberra.

[stever219]

Nice choice of subject.  

 

You do know that the nav’s station is entirely inappropriate for all but the earliest PR. 9s very early in their careers: Airfix simply used the same interior for the B(I)8 and PR. 9 kits.  It’s not a problem if you’re going to build the model with the nose closed (it gives you somewhere else to put your anti-tail-sitting ballast) but you’ll have some work to do if you want to show the nav’s access open.

[nimrod54]

Thanks for the comments chaps.

 

@stever219

 

Thanks for the info Steve. I did know that the nav station was incorrect and have contemplated long and hard about using the Pavla set to replace the kit parts. As stated in my last post, for me, this build is all about the scheme and as such I have no plans to open the nose and little will be seen through the canopy, so as long as everything else looks about right shape wise, then it will be good enough for me this time around. Like you have said it will give me plenty of room to bung in the 45g that Airfix recommend to prevent a tail-sitter. 

[Threadbear]

Good start to this Canberra. I concur with the fact that this is all about the scheme so that the kit is OOB. 

[nimrod54]

11 hours ago, Threadbear said:

Good start to this Canberra. I concur with the fact that this is all about the scheme so that the kit is OOB. 

Thanks Grahame. I was able to dry brush the cockpit with some Humbrol 67 and then added a splash of colour by picking out some of the details. The assembly was then fixed to one side and I have had a test fit of the pilots seat to check that I can fit it at a later stage. I am in the process of squeezing as much weight as I can into the nooks and crannies forward and below the cockpit. Airfix recommend that 45g is used and the fishing weight in the photo below is about 43g but this seems a bit OTT to me. I think that I will complete the other assemblies and tape things up, then I can experiment with a few different options before I glue the fuselage up.

 

by John L, on Flickr 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[nimrod54]

I decided against the use of the 43g fishing weight and have been trying to cram as much as I can in the front end, starting by making a small box and filling that with Liquid Gravity, then fixing this over the nose wheel bay. I took the advice of @stever219 and used the space around the nav's station to add extra weight, creating a small compartment for more Liquid Gravity and aquarium plant weight in other areas.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

The forward section then received some black paint to disguise all of that white plastic before I closed up the fuselage. This leaves a couple of other areas to squeeze in a little more weight should it be required.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

I am impressed with the way that this kit has gone together, and after a bit more clean up of the fuselage seams it should be ready for the wings to go on.

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Hockeyboy76]

Starting to look like a thing with wings. With all that weight make sure you don’t drop it on your toes 😂

[nimrod54]

Cheers bud, it's pretty heavy but nowhere near the recommended weight. I'm hoping that by using the nav station there is going to be enough in there.

[nimrod54]

Just a mini update before I start working on this again, the seams cleaned up nicely but the area around the cockpit still needs some work. The wings have been added, the fit was excellent and at first glance I don't think that I will need any filler around the roots.

 

by John L, on Flickr

[nimrod54]

Not a lot of progress made on this one since the previous update with just a few minor details added, but with a bit more effort over the next week I hope that I can have it ready for paint and at the very least get some primer on.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Hockeyboy76]

Coming along nicely dude. 

[nimrod54]

Cheers H, I should get some more done this week. Hope that you are managing to stay cool.

[Hockeyboy76]

On 7/1/2018 at 10:56 PM, nimrod54 said:

Cheers H, I should get some more done this week. Hope that you are managing to stay cool.

It’s been hot, even over here in Wales!  

 

[nimrod54]

I have been working on painting the details on the seat tonight and have just added a scratch built handle to the top. Once that has set up I'll paint it, then matt everything down. This one might be touch and go for making the deadline because I have a couple of hospital appointments this week, but I'll give my best shot.

 

by John L, on Flickr

[nimrod54]

I've just finished painting the last details on the seat but it still needs a matt clear coat. The main aim is to get that fitted and all the major parts primed by the end of today.

 

by John L, on Flickr