Feature Article by Geoff Coughlin
January 2026 Note: I have now started experimenting with the Google Gemini app to produce amazing finished images of my completed builds! See below
Completed Classic Airframes English Electric Canberra TT.18, 1.48. Shot on an iPhone 12 Pro outside in sheltered bright sunlight.
Google Gemini AI image: I described the image I wanted: Place this English Electric Canberra TT.18 in a realistic hardstanding at its base at RAF Wyton. And this was the result. I like what the ap has done and being as specific as you can will always help you to get a better result with the GG app first time. It’s not always easy to get the app to change the image created. With practice, we both get better!
Before we get going, I thought you’d like to see a couple more photos of my completed project – done a while back, but now I have the opportunity to reveal the full story and modelling that went into this project – hope you like it? I really enjoyed the experience because it offered a few new challenges like creating the unit markings on the fin and some ‘interesting’ location issues for some of the cockpit parts – more of that later.
The plan and background to this project
I have always been an RAF enthusiast at heart – virtually all my early scale model projects were of RAF aircraft (hard as this may seem to some of you out there!). I have always wanted to build a scale model of WJ636, a Canberra TT Mk.18, as it appeared at the RIAT in 1987. The upper surfaces are Barley Grey (not Light Aircraft Grey as some sources suggest), with a black fin and blue / yellow checkerboard 100 Sqn unit marking and of course the characteristic Yellow / Black undersides.
Here are a few photos I took at the time – not the best quality but they’ll give you an idea of what appealed to me and also act as a useful reference source.
