Classic Airframes 1/48th E.E. Canberra B 2
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BACKGROUND
The Canberra concept began in the mid-1940s as a jet-powered successor
to the De Havilland Mosquito bomber. First flown in prototype form in
1949, the English Electric Canberra entered service in 1951 with RAF Bomber
Command's No 101 Squadron, and at the peak of its service career equipped
over 30 RAF squadrons. In the spring of 2006, the last of the Canberras
(the PR.9 reconnaissance variant) was scheduled for retirement.
Many additional roles other than high altitude bombing were filled over
the years, including: recon, training, electronic countermeasures, target-tug,
and test bed platform. Longevity and flexibility are important indicators
of any aircraft's success, and the remarkable Canberra scores very high
on these attributes.
The Canberra was exported to many other countries, including the United
States, where it was the genesis for the Martin B-57 family of bomber
and reconnaissance aircraft.
THE KIT
For the first time, modelers have an injection-molded 1/48th Canberra.
This initial release from Classic Airframes is the B Mk 2. Note that it
is not possible to make a B Mk 6 from this kit, unless new, longer, engine
starter fairings are scratch-built by the modeler to replace the short
fairings in the kit.
The plastic parts are contained in one bag, with the clear parts in
a small pocket on the lip of the main bag. Two of the smaller plastic
parts were loose in my kit, and another was about to detach from the sprue.
The clear parts were scuffed and will need some polishing. The parts are
generally well-molded, with engraved panel lines. Some flash is evident
on a few parts. I did notice a sink mark on one of the forward nacelle
parts; another nacelle edge had a raised ejector pin mark that will have
to be removed. The main landing gear doors also had some sink marks. No
locator pins are present, so extra care must be taken when assembling
and aligning parts.
Most of the cockpit parts, the wheel wells, engine faces/fairings, wheels,
and the
exhaust pipes are made of resin. The quality of the resin parts is very
good, but they are packed together--loosely-- in a small plastic bag.
Fortunately, none of the resin parts in my kit were damaged.
Each wing is designed to butt-join against the fuselage with two holes
present in the wing joint area to accept kit-provided plastic rods. This
is a thoughtful feature, but the modeler will have to come up with his
own support rods to similarly strengthen the horizontal stabilizers to
the fuselage. (I will probably use brass rods in both of these areas when
I build the model.)
I am pleased that the crew entry door is included and can be posed in
the open position.
One curiosity of this kit is that the "finger" speed brakes
on both the upper and lower wing surfaces are molded slightly deployed.
These bumps should be sanded off, as the brakes are normally fully retracted
when not in use.
The two small rectangular overhead windows (behind the pilot's round canopy)
are provided as clear parts, but there are no openings in the fuselage
for them--the modeler will have to cut out these openings along the appropriate
engraved lines, if the specific aircraft he is building requires them.
(The standard B Mk 2 had these windows.)
OMITTED ITEMS
The pitot tube is not included, and there are only two ejection seats
for a crew of three. The small navigation light at the base of the rudder
is also not there. And the small openings on each nacelle for the starter
cartridge exhaust are not present, but would be easy enough to drill out.
INSTRUCTIONS AND DECALS
Although the instructions refer to numbered parts, there are no part
numbers on the sprues. Still, the parts are easy enough to figure out
and the instructions are clear. A small plastic cockpit panel (part 13)
is mistakenly numbered C11 in the assembly diagram. Also, the two small
rectangular windows for the top of the fuselage (parts C8) are incorrectly
numbered C10 and C11 in assembly diagrams.
Decals are for two RAF Canberras in the 1956 time frame: a No.10 Sqn
camouflaged aircraft, and a No.44 Sqn aluminum aircraft. Also there are
USAF decals for the second of two test and evaluation aircraft sold to
the Martin Company. The red on these decals is a bit too dark, while the
blue is fine for the RAF roundels, but too light for the US star &
bar. An addendum sheet of US national insignia is included, but these
are black, instead of the correct dark blue.
CONCLUSION
Classic Airframes' Canberra will take some extra work and is indeed
for experienced modelers, as the instructions say. But I think that this
kit is the basis for a very attractive model of a long overlooked subject.
I'm eager to see Canberra aftermarket decal sheets start rolling off the
presses so the modeler will have more markings choices.
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