1/48 Canberra PR.9, XH168 'Eastern Promise,' 39 Sqn, Op Telic, 2003. Finished 24/06.

[Andwil]

Very impressive painting on the seat 👏

 

AW

[Tim Moff]

I believe the wire thingy is an HF wire antenna for long range Comms …

[DaveJL]

19 hours ago, Andwil said:

Very impressive painting on the seat 👏

 

AW

Thanks mate. A bit of artistic licence used from some of the images that I've seen of the seat.

5 hours ago, Tim Moff said:

I believe the wire thingy is an HF wire antenna for long range Comms …

Cheers Tim, that makes sense! Hope I can get it fitted without making a pigs ear of it. Looks like there's some sort of metal brace on the stabiliser so might dry and concoct one from scrap PE.

[xvtonker]

The black wiry thing was an aerial....😂😂

[DaveJL]

23 hours ago, xvtonker said:

The black wiry thing was an aerial....😂😂

Thanks John. With the age of the PR.9, I wasn't sure if it was just a cable to hold the thing together

 

I had a look around XH131 at the Ulster Aviation Society hangar today and it's a fine looking machine. Once my Spitfire is cleared from the bench I've hopefully picked up some renewed gusto to get this one finished.

[DaveJL]

Some progress. As mentioned earlier, I had to clean up some of the seam lines etc after they showed their ugly head after an initial coat of primer. Once fixed, I applied another coat of primer before pre-shading. Once dry, I sprayed the landing gear bays, engine intakes, exhausts and 2 panels under the wings, ready for masking:

 

 

Landing gear doors and flaps also prepped:

 

 

Wheels and landing gear legs painted, weathered and given a flat coat:

 

 

Hoping to get a start on the painting early next week.

 

More soon and stay safe,

 

Dave

[DaveJL]

Paint on over the last 2 days. A few touch ups required but came out well in the end:

 

 

As usual, the MRP colours went on perfectly. Next job will be to paint the various antenna etc their respective colours. If that goes to plan I'll get some initial gloss on too.

 

More soon and stay safe

 

Dave

[DaveJL]

Spent a few hours today painting the various antennae, lumps, bumps etc. Now ready for some gloss in preparation for decals.

 

 

The last of the sub assemblies were finished off. There's a few more bits of resin to add to the canopy bit that will be done prior to final assembly as they look quite delicate.

 

 

More soon and stay safe

 

Dave

[Back in the Saddle]

Great job - you’re beating this one into shape very nicely! 👍

[DaveJL]

18 minutes ago, Back in the Saddle said:

Great job - you’re beating this one into shape very nicely! 👍

Thanks mate. It has needed a bit of work in some areas but will be a nice addition to my RAF collection!

[PeterB]

What colour did you paint the legs, doors and flaps - walk round pics suggest either white or a sort of bluish grey but are not clear and I am trying to decide what to paint the ones on my build. Your pic suggests white for the legs and door interiors, perhaps darkened a bit but I cannot be certain.

 

Pete

[DaveJL]

36 minutes ago, PeterB said:

What colour did you paint the legs, doors and flaps - walk round pics suggest either white or a sort of bluish grey but are not clear and I am trying to decide what to paint the ones on my build. Your pic suggests white for the legs and door interiors, perhaps darkened a bit but I cannot be certain.

 

Pete

I went with white over a black base for the landing gear. Looking at the walkarounds online and the example at the Ulster Aviation Society, they look white to me!  As for the flaps, I just went with Light Aircraft Grey as they look similar in shade to the undersides of the airframe with weathering etc.

[Tim Moff]

Looking great - I have heard the roundels can been a pain over the bobbly bits (wing fences?) to the front of the wings - not sure if the decals/roundels are that size on this scheme?

[DaveJL]

1 hour ago, Tim Moff said:

Looking great - I have heard the roundels can been a pain over the bobbly bits (wing fences?) to the front of the wings - not sure if the decals/roundels are that size on this scheme?

Cheers Tim. Looks like the roundels on this one sit just below the wing fences or whatever they are!

[PeterB]

Vortex generators?

 

Pete

[DaveJL]

18 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Vortex generators?

 

Pete

That’s it, couldn’t think!!

[DaveJL]

Decals on. All stencils, bar the escape hatch in front of the windscreen which is from the kit, are from the excellent Model Alliance sheet, with the rest of the markings from the Xtradecal sheet.

 

 

All sealed in with another coat of Aqua Gloss. Will get a panel wash and some weathering on tomorrow. The PR.9s looked to be kept fairly clean so will keep the latter to a minimum.

 

Cheers and stay safe

 

Dave

[DaveJL]

More done today. Panel wash on and some light weathering added with a mixture of Abteilung oils.  I used the below image to get an idea of underside weathering:

 

https://www.airliners.net/photo/UK-Air-Force/English-Electric-Canberra-PR9/1269590

 

Flat coat also went on. One thing I've noticed in my references was the presence of a number of static discharge wicks on the top of the rudder and on the trailing edges of the wings and stabilisers. So out with the Eduard set:

 

 

On they went without too much fuss. Masking was then removed on the clear parts.

 

 

The Hypersonic canopy set also includes a lovely piece incorporating the rear view mirror and compass. A very nice inclusion. Hopefully you can see it!

 

 

A few bits were required to be added - upper and lower fuselage navigation light, one probe/sensor on the starboard side and two on the port side. The upper light was made from a drop of Zap Canopy Glue, left to dry and the lower was from a piece of clear sprue.

 

 

The probes/sensors were from the spares. They're not 100% in terms of shape but they'll do:

 

 

It's a nice looking machine!

 

 

Next up will be to add the landing gear and flaps. There's still a bit of work to do with the canopy but shouldn't be too long to completion.

 

More soon and stay safe

 

Dave

[DaveJL]

Just done a quick test fit of the landing gear.... she's a bloody tail sitter! Even though there's a resin cockpit and plenty of weight in the nose 😠

[DaveJL]

Landing gear fitted this evening. Seems a bit flimsy! The flaps went on too:

 

 

Of course I had to have a mishap, this time, the small outer door on the left wing fell into the wing itself and has attached itself to something or other. Will have to fashion something from sheet.

 

 

Ejection seat popped in:

 

 

As mentioned last night, the bloody thing is a tail sitter. So I chopped up some clear rod to sit under the rear fuselage to keep it level:

 

 

 

Not much left to do other than make up that flipping undercarriage door and, probably the biggest job, fit the EZ line from the cockpit back to the rudder. Not looking forward to that, I'm bound to make a hash of it!

 

More soon and stay safe.

 

Dave

[Tim Moff]

Looks great - all the extra bits finish it off.

 

Id never used EZline until the BoB builds where I did it no less than 5 times - my advice is to just be patient, tweezers, CA and some degassed or liquid CA activator are your friends …. Do have some CA de-bonder handy as well .

 

I always joined the tail area first and left for a longish period before then connecting to the antenna mount ….

 

lots of you tube tutorials out there 

- good luck !

[PeterB]

Hi Dave,

 

Looking very nice. Mine is not a tail sitter (AFAIK without the wheels on) - in fact if anything the 45g ballast Airfix suggested is too much if, like me, you manage to get a lot of it right in the nose. Unfortunately, that puts a lot of weight on the nose gear which in the 1/72 version is also rather fragile so I am going to reinforce it if I can. In my kit Airfix have actually provided what looks like a scaffolding pole to go under the tail - no explanation and they say paint it black! Clear rod would be somewhat better.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[DaveJL]

7 hours ago, Tim Moff said:

Looks great - all the extra bits finish it off.

 

Id never used EZline until the BoB builds where I did it no less than 5 times - my advice is to just be patient, tweezers, CA and some degassed or liquid CA activator are your friends …. Do have some CA de-bonder handy as well .

 

I always joined the tail area first and left for a longish period before then connecting to the antenna mount ….

 

lots of you tube tutorials out there 

- good luck !

Cheers Tim.

 

I did order some activator so hopefully it works as well as some of the videos I’ve seen! I need to fashion some sort of brace for the rear connection.

 

1 hour ago, PeterB said:

Hi Dave,

 

Looking very nice. Mine is not a tail sitter (AFAIK without the wheels on) - in fact if anything the 45g ballast Airfix suggested is too much if, like me, you manage to get a lot of it right in the nose. Unfortunately, that puts a lot of weight on the nose gear which in the 1/72 version is also rather fragile so I am going to reinforce it if I can. In my kit Airfix have actually provided what looks like a scaffolding pole to go under the tail - no explanation and they say paint it black! Clear rod would be somewhat better.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Cheers Pete. I’m surprised it’s a tail sitter given the amount of weight in the nose! There was some sort of pole in the 1/48 kit too but I’d binned it - only dawned on me the other night what it was for!

[DaveJL]

The elusive outer landing gear door has been fashioned from some plastic card, painted and fitted. As with a few other things on the build, it's not perfect but it'll do.

 

 

I also made a small notch from scrap plastic on the tail fin to accommodate the comms wire (hopefully you can see it - the small silver thing near the top of the leading edge):

 

 

The canopy was also finished off. So the last two things to add:

 

 

Here's how she sits with a thinner piece of clear rod to keep the tail up:

 

 

More soon and stay safe

 

Dave

[DaveJL]

Calling this one done. Fitted the EZ line with some super glue and Vitalbond activator. No issues, which I was surprised with! Canopy popped on and here she is, Canberra PR.9 XH168, 'Eastern Promise':

 

 

Almost too big for the photobox!

 

 

More photos in RFI:

 

 

 

As always, thanks to all who commented/followed the build. Big thanks to @xvtonker who provided me with the excellent Model Alliance stencils, which undoubtedly helped with the finished product.

 

Cheers and stay safe

 

Dave