The English Electric Canberra needs no introduction to anyone familiar with post-World War II military aircraft. Originally entering service in the early 1950’s it served with many air forces around the world (including the United States Air Force as the B-57 Canberra) for many years.

Almost from the beginning of its service with the Royal Air Force, the Canberra was used as a testbed for a wide variety of aircraft systems and weapons, ranging from airborne radar systems, to air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, airborne reconnaissance systems, and even ejection seat testing. Dave Forster has collected a wealth of information regarding the various British test programs that the Canberra participated in and presents it in a very well organized and informative way.

One feature of jets is the need to use ladders to get inside of them. This essential item of ground handling equipment is typically forgotten by model manufacturers. Thanks to Plus Model this key component is finally available.

Packaged in a small top opening cardboard box is a single sprue of light grey plastic inside a plastic bag. There are 15 parts involved in this small kit. The instructions are on the back of the box. The painting instructions are also there but it is quite simple, either yellow or dark green.

Assembly of the ladder is simple enough. The key will be ensuring that everything is squared off.

The dark yellow will highlight this ground handling piece of equipment regardless of the camouflage of your Starfighter.

Tamiya acrylics can go down grainy in the right conditions (dry atmosphere, high pressure, big distance) & this retarder helps prevent this, it can also help with airbrush dry tip issues.

You mix it in with the paint or you can mix it with the thinner before thinning the paint. It can be used up to a 1:10 ratio with Tamiya Acrylic Paints.

You must remember that like most other retarders, adding too much retarder causes the paint to not dry.

Also, it is ideal for painting glossy finish surfaces and what I found very useful is using it when brushing Tamiya acrylics. As when brushing the paint starts to cure between brush strokes and using a good mix of paint, Tamiya X-20A thinner and Tamiya's Paint this can help prevent the quick drying that normally occurs.

Summary

This is a fantastic product to add with the use of Tamiya paints and I have found it a great addition to my tool box!