1/48 Falcon vacuform RB-57A Canberra

[ghodges]

While I'm on my "Canberra kick" and since it's been a while since I posted a full build ride-a-long, I thought I'd show how this model was being thrown together.

The Falcon vac Canberra kit was made @1984, long before the Classic Airframe and Airfix kits were available. It's actually designed so you can build an RB-57B with the "fishbowl canopy" (my plan, and as shown in the drawing) or a B-57B with the tandem seating and traditional long canopy. In this pic the parts have already been removed from their backings and sanded down. Also, on the far left you can see that I had to stack and superglue two concentric cones together to make the engine intakes for each wing. The smaller parts with a "E" on them are the exhaust fairings for each wing.

There was one unplanned complication due to this kit sitting in my stash for almost 40yrs..... The parts were on 3 sheets of plastic. It seems that the one sheet that faced out and was exposed to the most light through its plastic baggy turned a bit brown and also became somewhat brittle after all those years! If you look very closely at the wing bottom (2nd from the left) you can see a crack where the it broke in two while I was trying to flex it off of the backing. There were also smaller cracks along the edges that have complicated the build more than anticipated, but nothing superglue cannot overcome!

The 2 pics above show a couple of interior circular bulkheads added to strengthen things as well as the wing spars made to make the wing attachment more secure. The tail spar is simply a piece of sheet plastic bent to shape. The thin strips of sheet plastic added under the long fuselage seams in an alternating manner can also be seen. These enable the fuselage to be fitted together and prevent the thin edges from sliding under pr over each other. The resin nose gear well is from an aftermarket set made for the Airfix kit. I've also roughed out the opening for the fishbowl canopy and sawed off the solid nose in prep for the clear recon nose.

These 2 pics show the test fitting of the assembled wings and tail planes to the fuselage as well as checking the sit of the model on its gear. The resin gear bays in the wings are aftermarket parts with some modification to the main gear leg holes so that my scratchbuilt gear legs will fit into them. At this point the gear legs are just basic parts without any of their detailing or actuators added yet. And yes.... there is a HUGE nose weight sitting in the fuselage to get that model to balance on its gear!

Time to start working on the cockpit! Interestingly, the RB-57A was either a 3 seat arrangement (when designed and used by the Brits) or a 2 seat arrangement after being bought by the USAF in the late 1950s. Also, after some research, it seems that the USAF RB-57As COULD have a small window on each fuselage side behind the pilot or it might not, and it appears to be entirely random and arbitrary. So..... why cut and add windows if I don't have to? Also, why build anything behind the pilot's cockpit if it can't be seen anyway? On to the pics!

The RB-57A appears to have had some sort of lining inside the fuselage, so I grabbed some fabric from my spares box and cut it to fit in each fuselage half. I used some sheet plastic and spare resin and plastic parts to add some detailing here and there. The wiring is all lead solder wire. Note the large fishing sinker that has been flattened with a hammer and added for nose weight as well as the support for the cockpit floor.

The cockpit floor was made from sheet plastic. Its shape was attained through some judicious measuring as well as simple trial and error until I got what was wanted and needed. Note that the side console, main instrument panel, and other details are all spare resin parts. I cut and bent the main IP to give it the RB-57A's distinctive bend. I also added punched plastic discs for the instrument housings on the back of the panel as well as their cables made from more lead wire that was twisted together and routed over and down out of the way; all of which is visible from above through that big fishbowl canopy. Spare PE panels flesh out the side console. The rest of the cockpit parts are all from the spares box, as is the resin ejection seat. And last, note that the entire cockpit is offset to the left to allow for passage from the rear cockpit area all the way into the nose.

Test fitting it all into the fuselage....... This should be enough to satisfy any prying pen light once it's all painted, although it's technically incomplete (without the rear cockpit section) and only "ballpark" accurate!

This pic shows the addition of the engine intake housings and the exhaust fairings to the wings. As you might expect, their fit was marginal requiring some epoxy putty (Apoxysculp) to blend them in and eliminate steps. There's a home cast engine fan face in the rear of each intake and you can see the separate shock cones made for each one, designed so they can be added at the end of the build. The shock cones came from the spares box, but I did have to shorten them and use Apoxysculpt to give them their "bullet" noses. The exhausts each have some plastic hypo-tubing to give them some depth as well as a spare parts flame dampener up inside each; again just to satisfy any probing pen lights!

Except for having primed the wings, that's where things stand as of today. Next up is to paint the cockpit parts and then assemble the fuselage, which I hope to have done by the end of the week. More pics when more significant progress has been made. Questions, comments, and critiques welcome, as always!

 

Gil 

Edited December 10, 2025 by ghodges

[ghodges]

Got the interior components painted and/or installed except for the seat and the control yoke, which I plan to add towards the end of the build. Interestingly, that fabric interior on the sides actually absorbed the first TWO coats of primer applied inside! I also opted to add just a bit more weight behind the bulkhead figuring my landing gear can built beefy enough to withstand it.

Next up is fuselage assembly, sanding, and some scribing.

 

Gil 

[Ron Bell]

I still think you need to write up one of these step by step builds for a Journal article. Looking great so far. I've always on the lookout for Vacs as you can get kits of things no one else has ever done. 

[ghodges]

Thanks Ron! At this point I know the Journal has at least 1 or more articles in the queue from me, though I've pretty much forgotten what I gave them it's been so long!

Got the painted interior installed into the fuselage and sanded and primed it. It and the wings and tail planes have all now been scribed as much as I'm going to, though it's hard to see in these pics. I used a razor saw 90% of the time and occasionally finished a line up with my UMM scriber tool. 

The parts are just "sitting" together for these pics. The holes that look like vampire bites in the lower wing tips are for mounting the wing tip tanks. Next up will be the actually assembly of everything, followed by more filling, sanding, and priming. After that I'll determine whether I can go for another NMF, which is my goal for this one (providing I can cobble together the markings!).

 

Gil 

 

[ghodges]

Although at first glance this pic seems the same as above, here the wings and tail planes have been glued onto the fuselage.  A closer look will show a thin line of filler along the roots of the wings and the tail planes. I used Free Form Air epoxy dough as the filler. This is much lighter, easier to mix, and easier to spread than regular epoxy putties. It can be shaped and/or have the excess wiped away with a wet finger which eliminates 90% of any sanding needed later.

The next step was to prime the model with Alclad gloss black enamel (no pic).

These 2 pics show the NMF achieved by spraying rattle can Tamiya TS-30 Silver Leaf directly over the gloss black primer. You can also now better see all of the scribing done. The wheel wells will be painted Interior Green and I'll probably add some varying panels of Alclad Aluminum/Airframe Aluminum/etc. just to give this model a little different look to the B-57B I just finished.

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

After what was probably 3hrs of tedious masking over 2 days in order to paint the trim colors, some varying aluminum panels, the antiglare panels, gear wells, and the tail pipes; the paint scheme is done! I'll apply a gloss coat to the fuselage and tail fin stripes today to prepare them for decaling. The NMF doesn't need in any gloss to prep for the decals as it should be smooth enough as is.

I still need to mask and paint the canopy, nose glass, ejection seat, and repaint the wheels for all of the tires; but final assembly should follow quickly afterward. More pics when she's decaled and finished!

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

Got 99% of the markings onto the model. I cobbled them together from left over B-57B sheets along with letter and number decal sheets from my spares box for the side codes and tail fin serial numbers. The wing walk stipes are all from the Classic Airframes Canberra kit. I used a pair of dividers to measure the needed length for each one so as to cut each as close to the needed length so that there was as little wasted as possible. All of the decals were sealed with a coat of Alclad Klear Gloss lacquer. Later on I'll be doing a very "selective" flat coat, applying it to the national insignias, USAFs, and the engine antiglare panels to negate the sealer gloss coat applied to them.

All I'm waiting for now are two squadron emblems for the 30th TRS I found on an RF-4C Phantom decal sheet that are in the mail. Final pics after they're on and the model is complete!

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

Calling it done!

See the rest of the completed pics down in the "Aircraft Topic" area.

 

Gil 

[Ron Bell]

She has nice lines.  Great model of an excellent aircraft.