Canberra GR.22

[SimonR]

The thread in General on the Nimrod MRA.4 got me thinking. The design philosophy can best be summarised as developing a platform that has been obsolete for decades far beyond the point of the reason to provide a marginal improvement in capability for ridiculous cost. I then further thought what if we apply that school of madness to another aircraft and see what we get.How about a four engined, Storm Shadow hauling, extended fuselage Canberra?

Here's a quick drawing of the concept and a photo of the raw materials.





I have several goals for this project:

1. Finish it before I move to Australia in July.

2. Seeing JHM's cockpit in the ill fated Scrambled Fighter was a kick in the pods that made me realise how much I suck at building cockpits. I am determined to at least improve my cockpit building skills on this.

3. Express some MRA.4-ness in the design by having many scoops, bumps, antennae attached while retaining the essential Canberra-ness.

Right, pass me that Dremel...

[Captain Canada]

Wow...great start to thread. Simon ! Really looking forward to seeing this baby progress !

[John Howling Mouse]

Heh, heh, I'll bet your cockpit will be fantastic.  Sure wish the LHS's would carry this kit here.  Must be fairly large when assembled.

[Brian da Basher]

I applaud your thinking Simon and very much look forward to seeing the end result!

Brian da Basher

[The Rat]

Great minds think alike (or is that 'Fools never differ'?). I posted this one a few years back:



Feel free to use the name Thunder if you wish, I'll probably never get around to tackling it. I'm gonna love seeing this one!

[Captain Canada]

I thought it looked kinda familiar.....either way, she's gonna be a beauty !

[Ed S]

The design philosophy can best be summarised as developing a platform that has been obsolete for decades far beyond the point of the reason to provide a marginal improvement in capability for ridiculous cost.

You have captured the exact thinking process of a gov't beauracrat.

And the model is going to look cool.

Ed

[Eddie M.]

It absolutely thrills me to see your workbench open for business again. Even though the Scrambled fighter had a drawback, I'm still honored to have had you and Baz take a crack at it.

Looking forward to seeing this one come alive!
   Eddie

[SimonR]

Great minds think alike (or is that 'Fools never differ'?). I posted this one a few years back:

It goes to show that there is nothing new in the world of whiffing!

My first task is to insert a 1m (21mm in scale) plug in the fuselage. Unfortunately, the only place I can put the plug is directly in front of the wing roots and it will be occluded by the bomb bay. So, I'll have to build the fuselage with the bomb bay closed then cut it and insert the Forex plug.



I've also worked out what machine Airfix used to engrave the panel lines in the master for this kit.

[lancer]

LMAO at the panel line engraving machine, don't you think you'll make the lines a bit understated???
On a serious note, I like where this project is going. I'll be following it with great interest!

[Martin H]

So thats were the matchbox trenching tool ended up.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Ohhh this HAS got my attention !

Ian

[SimonR]

So thats were the matchbox trenching tool ended up.

The whole kit is quite piss poor really - it looks like it was done by the Trumpeter B Team. Airfix deserve to go bankrupt again.

[SimonR]

Fuselage extension using the Wolfik method...

First I marked the cut line with masking tape. It has to be exactly straight all the way around.


Cut complete.


I chose the part of the fuselage that is exactly circular in cross-section so I can use my Olfa cutter to make the circular plug. That part of the Canberra fuselage is just over 2m in diameter so in 1/48 I need 42mm diameter circles cut from 2mm Forex.


I settled for 7 sections making the fuselage approximately 0.7m longer. It's very important they are all aligned so I build the plug by using CA to cement the circles together on a needle.


Here's the plug installed, just a normal PSR operation from this point.

[Daryl J.]

Now this is modelling!!!   


Daryl J., who can't wait to get an Airfix Cranberry