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RB-57E - an American MRCA - Finished


Chrisj2003

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Thank you for all the encouragement; I am going with the Airfix B-57, an old kit unopened kit; overall black scheme like the one in my reference below. As @trickyrich notes these handful of planes were in theatre for a very long time so I am thinking of a well worn scheme. The RB-57E is a typical MRCA, (Must Refurbish Canberra Again; a riff on what the Tonka was called before 40 years of service) being a mod of the twin stick and target towing B-57E.

 

I am a hairy stick person; any thoughts on enamel that is nearly black? I am going mainly OOB; I have seen people cross-kit 4 kits to get a better result but I will just stick to making the 'B into an 'E; so the bigger bumper and tail end; Iooking for dims for those...

 

Note liquid steel ready on waiting.

 

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Regards,

Chris

Edited by Chrisj2003
Finished
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Hi Chris,

 

Another B-57 - great! I believe the kit markings are for one of the 6 "Patricia Lynn" modified planes? All we need now is a standard B-57B and we will have a full set of this relatively little know participant in the conflict, except of course the standard recce plane, the RB-57D.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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6 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Hi Chris,

 

Another B-57 - great! Is this the Patricia Lynn version? All we need now is a standard B-57B and we will have a full set of this relatively little know participant in the conflict.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Pete, yes the Patricia Lynn version. 

 

Chris 

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You can never have too many Canberra's of whichever manufacturer or version in a GB.

Great to have the old tool Airfix one as a comparison to Pete's Italeri one.

1 minute ago, Triet Cam said:

I wonder if the Airfix B-57 is related to the Italeri B-57

Different toolings, no relation at all.

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welcome along Chris, glad you decided to build the Canberra or in this case the martin B-57.

 

I was lucky enough man-years ago to see one of the last serviceable Canberras from 2 Sqn do a flyover at Amberley Air base in 1983 (they retired operational in 1982), gosh she was a nice aircraft to see in flight. 

 

The black scheme with a hairy stick might be a challenge, hopefully someone here will have the good stuff on how to do that.

 

Good luck with the build, I think there'll be some interest in this one.

 

11 hours ago, PeterB said:

Another B-57 - great! I believe the kit markings are for one of the 6 "Patricia Lynn" modified planes? All we need now is a standard B-57B and we will have a full set of this relatively little know participant in the conflict, except of course the standard recce plane, the RB-57D.

Don't forget the RAAF's Mk.20's, they had bomb mounts of their wingtips instead of tanks whilst operating there.

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Hi Rich,

 

Yes I had forgot the Aussies but I see we are likely to get one anyway. I find that using a big thin flat brush works quite well with the right black paint - Xtracrylic and Tamiya X1 both seem ok though the X1 might need a little thinning. My brush of choice for wings and fuselage is almost 2cm wide and cut at an angle so that by turning it slightly you can increase or decrease the area of contact. The trick is not to put too much paint on the brush and spread it out thinly so you do not get any build up or ridges. Takes a couple of coats usually over grey primer and the result has not been bad, particularly after a coat or two of varnish. Something like "Nato" or maybe Rubber" black might be better for a faded effect.

 

Cheers

 

Pete.

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For Tamiya, definitely thin down a little at a minimum.  My standard practice for Tamiya paints as soon as a bottle is opened is to add 10-12 drops of retarder and 10-15% thinner.  I've been having fair results with that, though I haven't done much large surface coverage w/ gloss paints.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So back from a week's holiday and made a start. Washed the plastic and while drying removed the small tail bumper (marked red):

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In readiness for larger B-57E bumper

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Realised there is AM resin for this and the resin appears to have a stub which could make a good connection so I will hold off chopping tail off until resin arrives. I'm sure resin will be far better than any scratchbuilding I could manage. 😀

 

Going with kit decals because Wolfpak and Xtradecal alternatives are out of stock everywhere and the Blackbird one is the same scheme for a different aircraft.

Chris

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On 30/08/2020 at 20:14, Chrisj2003 said:

 

Realised there is AM resin for this and the resin appears to have a stub which could make a good connection so I will hold off chopping tail off until resin arrives. 

Yay, resin arrived. Really good service from Blackbird Models (I hope I am allowed to say that) ordered Friday evening arrived this morning, weekend and bank holiday in between.  

 

Chris

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Very nice AM resin from Blackbird Models, still in packet the Target Tug banner tubes and holder, which aren't on a RB-57E, and the larger bumper which will get fitted last along with aerials I would break off.

 

The tail piece is very nice with the triangular cross-section and fuel dump at the end; it needs fitting under the rudder and between the tailplanes; more complex surgery than envisaged. Thankfully an obvious location due to the rudder end.

Chris

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Good that the resin has turned up. I didn't realise the end of the tail was different on these birds.

If you ever want to build the target tug version then drop me a line as I have "one or two" plastic straws which are the right diameter for the banner tubes and a damn sight better than the bendy resin bits in the Blackbird kit, I got them for doing a now stalled target tug build and I have 998 left!

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14 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Good that the resin has turned up. I didn't realise the end of the tail was different on these birds.

If you ever want to build the target tug version then drop me a line as I have "one or two" plastic straws which are the right diameter for the banner tubes and a damn sight better than the bendy resin bits in the Blackbird kit, I got them for doing a now stalled target tug build and I have 998 left!

Craig thanks,  I may do one as the photo Blackbird Models send with the AM is attractive: I think international red (not day glo orange?) over NMF. Any AM decals or is it put buzz number together from generic decals? But I’ll get this Cranberry done, see if I can get the Viet Vet Rhino done for this GB; I’m assuming the Fuijimi F-4E is an easy kit? (And the hill gray scheme is simple; though there’s a shed load of decals on that....). Then there’s a choice of kits for the interceptor GB, USAF or ANG FIS. Then later into 2021 depending on what gets voted for there’s a lot of GBs I could take part in; not obvious a pretty 1950s support plane fits any?

 

Chris

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16 minutes ago, Chrisj2003 said:

Craig thanks,  I may do one as the photo Blackbird Models send with the AM is attractive: I think international red (not day glo orange?) over NMF. Any AM decals or is it put buzz number together from generic decals? But I’ll get this Cranberry done, see if I can get the Viet Vet Rhino done for this GB; I’m assuming the Fuijimi F-4E is an easy kit? (And the hill gray scheme is simple; though there’s a shed load of decals on that....). Then there’s a choice of kits for the interceptor GB, USAF or ANG FIS. Then later into 2021 depending on what gets voted for there’s a lot of GBs I could take part in; not obvious a pretty 1950s support plane fits any?

 

Chris

Hi Chris,

 

The Blackbird "instructions" for the conversion are interesting aren't they, just one black and white picture of one of them in flight, they can't be accused of being too technical can they. You are right that the tugs are not in dayglo, they are in fact in International Orange which is the same very near red as is used on Edwards test aircraft and US Navy aircraft to this day. And yes you have to make up the buzz numbers from either the kit sheet or generic number ones, the one area to watch out for is unit badges as sheets of them are very hard to find, I am lucky in that mine will be from Edwards (when I get around to fixing the Labrador induced wing loss it suffered) and I have some markings for aircraft from there.

The Fujimi F-4 kits are really nice, I built one of their F-4D's years ago and it was my favourite model for a very long time, that was painted in the Hill Grey scheme too. Taking part in GB's is very addictive, I am such an addict, and you can end up over committing yourself very easily, and yes I am speaking from experience!

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Ok tail surgery done, resin trimmed down and both fuselages hacked and temp blue-tacked together. I found it hard to get the step right particularly as I was having to thin the host plastic. Clearly the Italerei rear-end that the AM is made for has different contours that this Airfix kit. So a bit of filling will be required.

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In other progress bang seats assembled and on with painting. Pylon holes in wings filled.  Trying to laminate enough plasticard to carve a TV for the rear seater to look at / control (?) the sensor images. Then need to smooth -out Airfix thimble shape in RB nose; more filling and carving.

 

Comments and advice welcome. Any thoughts on how much weight I will need in nose?

Chris

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Hi Chris,

 

Italeri said to put 20g into the B-57G and I actually put in 24g under the cockpit floor mostly as there was very little room in the actual nose. Given that it has the extra lump of plastic then added onto the nose which would add a little more weight, and that it is only just sitting on the nosewheel, you may need to add a little more than I did, though if you can get some in your extended nose that will be good - the further forwards the greater the effect! Of course I have no idea how the Airfix plastic compares in terms of thickness and density. I taped the fuselage together and ditto the wings to check before gluing.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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A bit of a delay while I laminated card and carved to make a CRT for the back seater to find there wasn't space in the pit, and although the seats are scale the pit is a bit narrow and small and the moulded details look generic rather than specific to the B-57. Anyway pit painted and into fuselage as photo (and wash cleaned up post photo). Shims required between rear bulkhead and front gear bay. Fuselage halves glued and setting now.

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Nose filled to achieve smooth profile; needs more work, reckon I can get >30g weight in it.

 

Dont know why image flipped when uploading. :oops:

 

Chris 

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5 hours ago, Chrisj2003 said:

A bit of a delay while I laminated card and carved to make a CRT for the back seater to find there wasn't space in the pit, and although the seats are scale the pit is a bit narrow and small and the moulded details look generic rather than specific to the B-57. Anyway pit painted and into fuselage as photo (and wash cleaned up post photo). Shims required between rear bulkhead and front gear bay. Fuselage halves glued and setting now.

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Nose filled to achieve smooth profile; needs more work, reckon I can get >30g weight in it.

 

Dont know why image flipped when uploading. :oops:

 

Chris 

looks find to here downunder! :D

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Second round of filing and filling on fuselage - not bad for and old kit - much easier in daylight. Nice detail on nose wheelbay but none on main gear + some massive sink holes on outside of main wheel covers + ongoing work to remove "thimble" nose profile.

 

Chris

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Happy with fuselage seams - so I have added the new resin bumper - realised because there's a hole where the original bumper was I cant leave to end with the 5 aerials and the aerial wire. 

 

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Wings assembled; front of jet compressors seem noticeably smaller than on the Italeri B-57 @PeterB made. Sink holes on main gear covers sorted. Nose nearly there. Also nice detail inside speed brakes bears no resemblance to the real thing, see link at https://ipmscanberrasig.webs.com/apps/photos/ so they will be shut.

Chris

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