This is the Airfix Canberra
B(I)6, converted to a TT18 target tug. As far as the conversion is concerned
this is a nice easy one - it consists of swapping the Airfix nose transparency
for the correctly shaped Aeroclub one, and painting yellow and black stripes on
the underside. The first part of the conversion took about half an hour, the
second part took two weeks, most of which was taken up measuring and marking out
the stripes, and trying to get them all parallel.
The kit itself was
fairly straightforward and fits reasonably well considering its age.
However, the nose transparency starts too far back and has a thick
frame around it. It was fitted as per the instructions, then filled and sanded
smooth. The correct amount to cut off was ascertained by placing the Aeroclub
transparency over it, drawing round it, then taking off the tip with a
razor saw.
All the panel lines were
sanded smooth and rescribed. I can never get the hang of the Dymotape thing for curved
surfaces so I made myself a template from a piece of brass strip curved to the
same radius as the fuselage, and used that as a straightedge. Extra
detail was added to the main wheelwells to represent the prominent spars and
ribs which run across the top, and as much lead as possible was crammed
into the front wheelwell, the navigator's station and under the cockpit floor.
This thing is very tail heavy.
Paints are all Humbrol, and
decals are from the Modeldecal range,
slightly modified to depict a 100 Sqn aircraft based at RAF Wyton in the 1970s.
It’s not quite finished, I still need to scratch build a couple of Rushton
target winches to go under the wings.