Xtrakit 1/72nd Canberra PR.9

[bish]

This is my first Xtrakit and is typical limited run. Its part of a personal project to build aircraft from all 37 military airfields in the county on Norfolk. This one was based at Marham, the only one of the 37 still in use as an airbase, in 2006 and wears a special scheme to mark the retirement of the Canberra from the RAF.

The only AM is some resin wheels. There is nothing for this kit and i decided not to try and squeeze in the stuff for the Airfix kit as i think this one has enough for the job.

So, the kit.



And the real thing. Not the special markings on the tail.



So to start, get the pilots and navigators positions together. Not many parts, the seats are resin and rather nice.



After a coat of primer and a coat of Humbrol matt black, i painted in some switches and dials and painted up the seats.



I limited the weathering to some Tamiya silver weathering powder for chipping and then fitted everything in and got the fuselage closed up. It was a bit awkward and was done in several stages using clamps to hold it together. No location tabs of course, so had to try and line it up as carefully as i could.



You can see here that one side of the fuselage is thicker than the other, so I'll use a needle file to sand that down.





Got a bit of sanding to do along the seam, but doesn't look to bad. The wheels bays were painted silver when i did the pit so once the sanding is done i can go straight into getting the wings on.

That's all for now. Thanks for looking, all comments and feedback welcome as always.

[Leon]

Off to a good start and looking good Bish!

[panzerjager2]

COOL CANBERRA......... 
PJ2

[TRM]

Great job so far! Especially looking at this scale!

[bish]

Thanks guys. Had to do a bit of re joining on the fuselage as it had pared behind the pit, hopefully this time it will stay put.

[joelsmith]

Nice job! PS, read your letter to FSM, well said!

[bish]

Thanks Joel, on both counts.

[bish]

Been plugging away at the Canberra and am rather enjoying this. Its needed quite a bit of work with every major part needing sanding before fitting and then filling and sanding after. My testors silver enamel pen has had a really good outing on this build, certainly proved its worth. Before adding the wing the main wheel wells were fitted to the side of the fuselage.



But before the wings could be fitted, the mating edge had to be thinned to fit in a slight gap above the wheel wells. In hindsight, both wings should have been thinned before they were put together as the fit over the wells was very tight, i was surprised the seams did not burst.





But with a bit of encouragement they did go on. And after the horizontal tail, the front and rear of the engines, canopy and the few small protrusions were fitted. O, and not forgetting the clear piece which includes the camera window, and its all ready to hit the paint booth.








Thanks for looking.

[Leon]

Nice work on getting everything to fit together Bish!

[dierk]

Doing a good job Bish!

[bish]

Thanks guys.

After a couple of days i got the Canberra all painted up. The grey tail is not normal for this type, from what i can tell it was only on this aircraft with its special markings. I used Xtracolor as usual, so no need for a gloss coat.







The nose did not come out to well. I have had to sand that down and have now re-painted it.



But for now, i can start on the decals. And there are enough to keep me busy with loads of stencils.

[wing_nut]

Coming together nicely. Once you get the nose in line gonna be sharp

[bish]

Thanks marc. Got the nose sorted now, just going through the riggers of decaling.

[Leon]

Sharp looking paint work Bish!

[bish]

Cheers guys.

It took me a while but the decals are finally done. This was not just down to the number of decals, though there are a lot. But a few things kept me away from the bench, not to mention the seam underneath the fuselage below the tail splitting half way through which needed fixing back together and then re-painting. But, after all that, its finally done. And if there are one or two missing, to hell with it.









So next up will be a ligt panel line wash, i tend to keep this clean, followed by a flat coat and then add final pieces.

[Leon]

Nice work on the decals Bish!

[bish]

Cheers Leon. They damn well took long enough.

[Leon]

LOL!!!!! Guess that's why i shy away from aircraft.

[bish]

LOL, well, they are not normally this bad. Guess thats why I prefer WW2 subjects.

[bish]

Time to wrap this one up. I put on alight panel wash with Flory Wash. I first did it with the light grey wash but this was to stark against the hemp. So i removed that and used their sand wash. After leaving to dry for 24 hours i removed the excess and its left a nice subtle wash in the panel lines. After a matt coat, i masked and painted the exhaust ends and added al the final part. The kit didn't include a pitot but i managed to find one in the spares box.







And then to add it to the base. I did have a slight mishap. I secured the kit to the base and after holding it down for a minute or so i realised i had not painted in the expansion joints between the concrete panels. So i had to paint them with the kit on, around and under it. OOP's.

The 2 pilot figures are from PJ productions and they seem to be just generic pilots. The ground crewman is from Hasegawa's US ground crew set with uniform modified to the RAF's coveralls. Modern ground crew figures are really thin on the ground.

I also added a ladder from Eduard, ground power unit from Flightpath and some wheel chocks.

This aircraft was based at RAF Marham in the North West of Norfolk and is shown as it was in 2006 when the type was retired from the RAF. Of the 37 military airfields which once covered Norfolk, Marham is the only one that is still an active air base, home to the RAF's Tornado GR.4 and soon to be home to the F-35.











Thanks for looking, all comments welcome as always.

Now, its back to the Stuka's.

[Leon]

Excellent finish Bish! This was a joy to follow.

[bish]

Thanks Leon.

[John Everett]

I quite like this. You done a good job of fixing up the homely girl for the dance. I think it's the logo on the tail which adds the most.

[bish]

Thanks John. Yep, that's what won me over, I got the kit with that in mind.

[TRM]

Well done! You did a fine job on the wingy thing and the base is perfect....congrats son getting this over the finish line!

[bish]

Thanks T.