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Canberra What If...FINISHED


Deanflyer

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Can't say I did actually...I was more concerned with getting a couple of nacelles on there with an undercarriage built in, so a couple of Spit noses would just have complicated matters beyond what I was prepared to do already.

Nice idea though - maybe someone in the What If GB could do it as a Mk2 version...

Cheers,

Dean

I suppose you're right. I would have looked at it the other way. Get the nacelles I wanted, then figure out the undercarriage. lol

I like the way you've gone back to a tail sitter. It makes perfect sense. I wouldn't have thought of that...

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Thanks for the comments so far folks, it's encouraging. I've been struck by the similarity to the Mossie as a few people on here have, so I'm edging towards a paint job which reflects that - any opinions, anybody?
For a paint scheme what about medium sea grey and glossy black as per early B.2's? As an alternative all over PRU blue. On third thoughts yellow and black undersides?

Trevor

As Trevor suggested or how about a South East Asia scheme ?

Edited by Richard E
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As Trevor suggested or how about a South East Asia scheme ?

Let's assume as well no atom bomb, so the war in the Pacific drags on. What about Tiger Force colours of black undersides and white uppers? Except that they'd prob be operating from forward bases in the Pacific Islands, which means lots of Americans around which means you'd probably want British Pacific Fleet style roundels-and-bars to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings.

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Let's assume as well no atom bomb, so the war in the Pacific drags on. What about Tiger Force colours of black undersides and white uppers? Except that they'd prob be operating from forward bases in the Pacific Islands, which means lots of Americans around which means you'd probably want British Pacific Fleet style roundels-and-bars to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings.

That would get my vote - if it counted for anything!! :speak_cool:

Keef

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Let's assume as well no atom bomb, so the war in the Pacific drags on. What about Tiger Force colours of black undersides and white uppers? Except that they'd prob be operating from forward bases in the Pacific Islands, which means lots of Americans around which means you'd probably want British Pacific Fleet style roundels-and-bars to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings.

Exactly what I was thinking.

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Given Petter's design form with both the Whirlwind and the Welkin, I can see the aircraft having inboard leading edge radiators and smooth cowled Merlins, most likely the same engines as the DH Hornet (sorry, can't remember the mark nos!) Although, given the Air Ministry's obsession with the engine, I can see it using a pair of Sabres - De Havilland's stillborn scaled up Mossie was to have had Sabres and this project is close enough. And you've just given me an idea...

It's looking good so far. Personally, given the caveats above, I'd go for a prototype. Late war, so possibly early post war colours - Dark Sea Grey, Dark Green over either PRU Blue or Yellow undersurfaces, type C roundels and yellow P markings on the fuselage. Explain it as either the first protype and the radiators weren't ready, hence the use of Lancaster power egg Melins or a comparison prototype. The latter is plausible, given that one Mosquito was fitted with beard style radiators for comparison purposes and flew very badly!

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Blimey, this has got some discussion going! Nice to see that it's caught so many people's imaginations...welcome to my world.

I did actually consider wing root radiators while I had the open wing roots staring at me, but I decided that would make it TOO much like a Mosquito. I'm also not too keen on the 'no atom bomb' idea as I only wanted to change history a little bit with just the two untimely deaths - I don't want to wipe out Oppenheimer as well!

I also thought about doing it as a yellow P prototype, but decided that I wanted an in-service model so I could weather it accordingly, and even though the aircraft's performance wouldn't have been up to much, my backstory already takes care of that by saying the Canberra was only moderately successful and didn't have a long career.

I'm still leaning towards the Mosquito style scheme though, as that's how I saw it in my head when I first thought of it.

Food for thought though gentlemen, and I'm still mulling it over. Thanks for the interest, and other suggestions are welcome!

Cheers,

Dean

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Excellent bit of surgery, it looks pretty damn credible.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Still plugging along with this one folks, after a lengthy break for working away from home. Thanks for the comments on it.

No photos, but I can report that I've totally rescribed the airframe, with mainly fictitious panel lines just for effect, and the whole thing is permanently stuck together now. The gaps have been sealed with Milliput, which is hardening as I type, so after another short stint away from home I reckon it'll be ready for paint - which brings me back to my original dilemma of colour scheme.

I'm concerned about it looking TOO Mosquito-ish, so I'm looking at alternates to the Mossie scheme. I'm leaning towards the original Canberra scheme shown on the box lid of Dark Green/Ocean Grey uppers and Light Aircraft Grey undersides, since although this scheme wasn't on Canberras in 1949-52 it was still actually in use on other RAF aircraft at the time. It doesn't tax the imagination too much to believe that the powers that be would have decided to use it on this plane too...

Unless anyone can suggest any other interesting scheme to change my mind, I think I might go with that. I'll post more pics when I get to the painting stage.

Keep watching,

Dean

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Thanks for the suggestion Trevor, but I've already ruled out a BMF or High Speed Silver finish...I don't think the surface quality is up to it! I should get away with something in a matt finish though.

Cheers,

Dean

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I also thought about doing it as a yellow P prototype, but decided that I wanted an in-service model so I could weather it accordingly, and even though the aircraft's performance wouldn't have been up to much, my backstory already takes care of that by saying the Canberra was only moderately successful and didn't have a long career.

How about finishing it a manufacturer's demonstrator or company hack in a civilian scheme and a G-???? serial?

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Thanks for the suggestions folks, but I'm just about ready for painting now, and I've decided to go with the grey/green/ uppers with LAG undersides after all. I wanted to do an RAF machine, and this scheme would probably still have been used if the jet had been invented or not. I'll get some pictures up of the painting progress, as soon as there is any!

Cheers,

Dean

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Right, the first bit of paint is on. I'm going to experiment a bit with this, and as I've never had any luck really with pre-shading, I thought I'd try post shading instead, as each colour coat goes on. I've got the Tamiya XF-82 Ocean Grey 2 on the upper surfaces, and I've post shaded the panel lines and control surface recesses with the same colour with a drop of German Grey added to darken it a bit. I think I may have overdone it a bit actually, (it shows up more in the flesh than on photos) but I can always tone it down with a quick squirt of the original colour over the top later. The light grey areas are where the dark green will go later. I'm going to try to do the camo feathered edge freehand and see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Here's the first colour on, then:

merlin18.jpg

merlin19.jpg

merlin20.jpg

Leave that to dry for a bit, and then I'll try the green. I feel like adding a bit of colour to this, so I'll paint the spinners something bright...not sure whether to go for yellow or red, at the moment...

Keep watching,

Dean

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