Trumpton_Orbital Posted July 23 Posted July 23 On 22/07/2025 at 11:37, Lord Riot said: I wish Airfix would release a new tool Canberra Oh they will, just as soon as I build the 2 I have.... I'm loving the paint job, it's a cracking job that you're doing. Kind regards, Paul. 1 1
Massimo Posted July 23 Posted July 23 Fantastic paint work!!! It's a hell of a ...."camouflage"!!! Surely one of my favourite for the Canberra!!! Looking at yours, I miss my PR9, which has been on hold for years now!!! You're getting the best from the Airfix kit! Ciao Massimo 1
Lord Riot Posted July 24 Author Posted July 24 I’ve added a bit of weathering this afternoon, with Vallejo grime. I tried to replicate the way the engine starter cartridges have stained the forward fuselage, plus some streaking underneath. I made the towel rail (‘LORAN’?) aerial on top of the left wing with plastic card and a length of wire. Tip tanks done, including the tiny light on the front, and work continues on the Rushton pods. I’m going with the Mk3, which in most photos I’ve seen seem to be silver. The Alley Cat set provides metal fins for the pods which need superglue to stick to the resin pods. Some of the prop blades were missing (set was from eBay ages ago) so I made more again from plastic card. 8
Lord Riot Posted July 24 Author Posted July 24 Cockpit looks better now with the pilot’s seat fitted. This is where I’m up to now. Undercarriage to do next, and some little bits of tidying up. 12
Lord Riot Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 Although it doesn’t look much I’ve actually been quite busy on the Canberra, mostly tidying up, weathering and various stuff hanging down. I had to stuff in a bit more nose weight too, luckily it squeezed into the bomb aimer position and once painted black won’t be seen. The aircraft is now finely balanced, but will stand on its wheels without tipping back. I need to see if I can find any photos of these flaps to see if there’s any hydraulic arms, hinges or anything supposed to be in there. Looking more like a Canberra with the tip tanks fitted. 7
Lord Riot Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 The Alley Cat set does include a new canopy but it’s part of a bigger piece that would need one to cut away part of the upper fuselage, so I decided to stick with the Airfix canopy and try to deal with the extra porthole. Firstly, I carefully sliced off the as much of the raised part as I could with a sharp knife, but of course that still left a circle of rough plastic. The next step was to try and smooth that away, so I decided to try a 12000 part sanding pad. It’s smooth enough not to damage the clear canopy, but seemed to be abrasive enough to remove most of the remaining porthole. It actually turned out more successful than I was expecting! 6 1
TEXANTOMCAT Posted July 26 Posted July 26 Looks great I hope Andy came up with the goods for you! 🫡 1
Lord Riot Posted July 27 Author Posted July 27 Target pods ready for fitting. @TEXANTOMCAT thanks, I actually hadn’t seen anything but it’s ok I’ve pretty much got everything done anyway! 😂 6
Lord Riot Posted August 2 Author Posted August 2 Back on the Canberra after a nice little getaway in Berkshire, and a rather poor Lions performance today! It’s about ready for decals next. I painted the thin white line around the canopy using a cocktail stick dipped in the paint, then scraped off any scruffy bits. 7
heloman1 Posted August 3 Posted August 3 Good morning, your lordship, great progress. Re your ejection seat. I found a little method of getting accurate black/yellow bands on the firing handle. Take a couple f strands of embroidery silk and wind them simultaneously around the handles or a piece of wire to replace the handles.. Once wound around a coat of Future or similar or even CA. Do-able in 1/48th but a tad fiddly in 1/72nd. Colin 1
Lord Riot Posted August 3 Author Posted August 3 Thanks for that tip @heloman1, I’ll give that a go. Meanwhile, I’ve got some decals applied today, including the walkway lines and some of the safety markings on the forward fuselage. I had to use a pink glove marking from the PR.9 kit as I don’t have a red one. Underwing roundels added. 4
Lord Riot Posted August 5 Author Posted August 5 I don’t suppose anyone knows where I can get two 15mm high white letter Q decals?
mark.au Posted August 5 Posted August 5 50 minutes ago, Lord Riot said: I don’t suppose anyone knows where I can get two 15mm high white letter Q decals? Nope. But I can make a mask for them and send it to you if you show me a pic of what you want with dimensions. 1
Lord Riot Posted August 5 Author Posted August 5 Some progress again today, and huge thanks to @mark.au for rescuing the Q decal situation! The Alley Cat serial numbers are shocking to be honest, most of the underwing letters and numbers broke up as soon as I slid them onto the airframe. In the end I scrapped most of them and used spares, luckily Javelin serials are the same size! The only issue then was the K, which I found in an Xtradecal sheet, but despite being “48 inch” was slightly smaller, so I had to build up two of its stalks with cut off decal. Still not great, I may revisit this. As you can see, one of the fuselage serials could do with replacing too really. Thankfully, the superb 100 Sqn checkerboard decals were absolutely fine! Close ups are always cruel, but the canopy is now glued in place. Here is the state of play at tea … 6
TeeELL Posted August 5 Posted August 5 Hi LR, looking at the photos various, it appears to me that you have down ailerons on both wings?
Lord Riot Posted August 5 Author Posted August 5 @TeeELL, they are, but that can be changed. Should one be up when at rest?
TeeELL Posted August 5 Posted August 5 LR, it has been 40 odd years since I flew the Canberra, but I am pretty sure we had control locks, which meant that the ailerons would have been neutral and both the rudder and elevators also neutral. A quick look at photos of Canberras on the ground should confirm that. With the moveable tailplane, that would be at whatever angle it had last been set, again I cannot remember if we motored it to a neutral position before shut-down. Sorry if I am not being particularly useful! Bottom line though, ailerons are differential control surfaces so, if deflected, it would be one up and t’other down. 1
canberra kid Posted August 6 Posted August 6 When the Canberra is at rest without control locks fitted both ailerons 'droop' by 2° and the elevators adopted a nose down attitude. As Tony says, the tail plain will be as it was last set, best practice though would be to set to neutral. John 1
Lord Riot Posted August 25 Author Posted August 25 The Qs have arrived, thanks @mark.au! After a week away in the New Forest (highly recommend the Lime Wood Hotel!) for my wife’s birthday, I’ve managed to get a bit of modelling time. First up, get the codes painted on the Canberra. Very happy with that! … Just need to find a spare ‘WK’ now! 4
mark.au Posted August 25 Posted August 25 Looks great! I didn’t know you needed the WK as well! I could easily have made those too 🤦♂️ 1
bigbadbadge Posted August 25 Posted August 25 Oh wow that's very impressive, looks fantastic. Great work Chris 1
Lord Riot Posted August 25 Author Posted August 25 1 hour ago, mark.au said: Looks great! I didn’t know you needed the WK as well! I could easily have made those too 🤦♂️ Thanks Mark! The Qs certainly helped a lot, really good, even with my painting ‘ability’! No worries about the serial, I’ve actually just found a 1 and a W, so I’m just going to buy a black lettering decal sheet, they always come in handy. 1
xraflad Posted August 25 Posted August 25 What are you going to do with the Alley Cat canopy, I'm looking for one. 1
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