Xtrakit 1/72nd Canberra PR.9 Completed page 2

Two of those WB-57s are stationed at Ellington air base in Pasadena, Texas.   That picture with the three in formation is over the Astrodome complex in Houston.  When the wind is out of the north, I live under the final approach flightpath to Ellington, and occasionally get the privilege of watching those birds (as well as the 'Guppy' stationed at Ellington) on final. 

I have found only one RB-57 kit, which the WBs are built from, and IIRC, it was a 1/72 vacuum form kit I found about 30 years ago.  I have it somewhere....

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

Well after over a week, 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 fusleage belw the tail spliting half way through which needed fixing bacxk 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. So hopfully can wrap this up over the weekend.

That is really cool. I love the tail art. Very nice.

BK

Cheers Brandon.

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 hoding 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 cew 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.

Oh wow, very nice. I love the base and figures too. Great presentation.

Cheers Griffin. I had wanted a couple more ground crew, but you just can't get them and not many of the Hasegawa figures are good for converting.

Does Xtrakit have a distributer in the USA or Canada?

You might be able to find some kits at the larger on line stores. Xtrakit along with the rest of the Xtra range is owned by Hannants. And the kits are limited run so tend not to be around for long.

I just checked Sprue Brothers and they just have one kit, a Sea Harrier.

Nice finish, Bish. I really like the setting in particular. I can imagine the rest of the ground crew is just off to the side of the scene. 

.

Thanks Mike. Yep, one good reason for keeping the base as samll as possable.

Its just annoying though, theres plenty of modern ground equipment but no figures to use it.

Once again Bish outstanding, and a pretty quick build too.

Thanks templar. It suprised me how quick this was especially seeing how long it took to get the decals done. But was just what i needed.

Hey Bish, really nice example of one of my favorite aircraft. Good job!

Max

Thanks guys. And max, i hope we will get a chance to see a B-57 from you soon.

Very nice Bish! You were asking about the WB.57F There is a kit by Mach2 which is a bit of a hard build but seeing what you've done with your PR.9 it shouldn't be a problem for you. 

This is my modification to the nose, it's the very high definition camera used by NASA to track the shuttle launch 

John

Thanks John.

Now that is nice. I know mach2 have a bad rap, but does show they can be built up nicely. That would be somthing differant for the collection.

Hey Bish, thought of you today after reviewing the daily science news. The Great American Solar Eclipse is only weeks away. Two NASA WB-57s have been outfitted to chase it. We are planning to head North about three hours drive to check it out. I'll also be watching for Canberras! Reporting!

Max

O yes, thanks for the reminder. I'll have to check out the NASA site as well. That will be an amazing trip, i hopeyou get to spot the aircraft.

Hey Bish, a bit more info on the NASA WB-57s to chase the eclipse this coming Monday. They will indeed be flying over our observation point in Missouri but at 50,000 feet. Our observation time will be less than two minutes but the two WB-57 by chasing the shadow can extend their viewing time to over four minutes. All this from the morning news along with a detailed report on the big cameras they are carrying. Neat stuff for the old '60s bomber. Weather is a bit iffy for us but we're going to the path come monday!

Max

Thanks for the info Max. Do you know what time local it will be happening.

Bish

Thanks for the info Max. Do you know what time local it will be happening.

 

Bish, depending on where we end up for viewing. About 1:08 in the afternoon Central Standard Time. It might be really difficult to spot the WB-57s at that altitude but we'll look for them also! Also predicted is that since millions of people live less than one day drive there may be record traffic jams along the 70 mile wide path of totality. I'll give you a report next week.

Max 

Thanks, i should be home from work by then so i'l see if i can catch it online.

The eclipse will be interesting. Its 2pm in Houston right now and its very close to 100F (38C)(311K). We get the maximum coverage a 1:15PM Monday. Like to see if the temperature drops and by how much.

Great looking plane Bish.  Love the display as well. 

Cheers, Mark

Great work as usual Bish... Thumbs up

Thanks guys.

Hey Bish, the perfect day and adventure. Drove 3 1/2 hours to the centerline of the eclipse. Cloudy, rain. 90 minutes to go and things are looking grim. At about T minus 20 minutes the sky opened and we could see the partial disc. Just enough time to test all my eclipse viewing devices. Special glasses worked as advertised as did my eclipse viewing binoculars made from cut up filters from the special glasses. Next to try was to try a 300mm camera lens with viewing eyepiece rather than a camera body and sporting a big solar filter. Really awesome, eclipse and sunspots visible. Next I projected the image of the eclipse through binoculars on to the ground amazing my friends. 

As the sky began to darken from the west, a lone contrail followed it almost certainly from the WB-57. Things were happening fast and I needed to direct my attention to the totality beginning to happen. Venus appeared near the Sun and the WB's contrail was not visible above. As totality ended and the shadow moved on the contrail again was visible as all moved to the east. My initial thought of the disappearing contrail was that the temperature in the shadow dropped drastically changing the dew point. All speculation at this point. I'll have to think more on that one. Just observations.

Another weird one was strange shadows or waves crossing the parking lot for about a minute. I'd read about this happening before but it was indeed strange.

Anyway, the perfect adventure. A few minutes before the eclipse a B-2 bomber flew over us fairly low on an approach to the nearby Whitman Airbase where they are stationed. It seemed like a stage production with one amazing thing after another happening.

Still excited and reporting,

Max

Bish that is outstanding!  It's an unique subject with unique paint.  That's about the strangest shade of pea green that I've ever seen.  Does the RAF use it on other aircraft?  It's a great model, and it looks right at home on its tarmac with its crew.