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CAF 417 Squadron CF-104 colour bird


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As Promised the 417 Squadron Special is finished. I'm happy with the results except for the windscreen. Somehow there is some fogging in the lower forward corners that wasn't there before masking and painting. I might redo the canopy with a spare set I have but that's for another day.

This is my first completed kit in a group build and it was good to have a deadline to work to. I'm looking forward to doing more group builds in the future.

I took some quick photos to post here and will have better pictures later.

Cheers,

John

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That turned out extremely nice!!! Looks just like the real thing, only cleaner!!

Thanks to all for the compliments.

I was really dreading the gloss on this project as I've tanked quite a few gloss jobs over the years. One thing I've learned in the past 3 years since getting back into the hobby was to paint with flats and gloss later. My clear coat of choice is Future and when I need to get to a good flat I'll mix future 2:1 with Tamiya Flat Base. I've had way more consistent clear coats using Future than I've ever had with other products.

Thankfully the clouding of the canopy has gone away :salute: . The only thing I can think of is that I washed the kit before weathering and some of the water must have clouded the Future on the inside of the canopy which went away after proper air drying.

Hey phantom,

Although my build is much cleaner than the way 763 looks today I wanted to capture the way I felt after my team restored and reassembled this aircraft back in 1992 and the way we left her for the Reynolds Alberta Museum.

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Cheers to all and thanks to PNW_Modeler for setting up such a great Group Build!

John

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  • 1 month later...
Our team completed the restoration in 1992 and we transported it to various airshows on a flat bed truck. The photo with the Mig-29UB is at the Edmonton International airport where I worked at Northwest Industries Ltd.(NWI). We brought the CF-104 there after the Namao Airshow for an open house they put on. NWI overhauled 77 CF-104's in the late 70's early 80's and they really appreciated having it there. The Ukrainian Air Force brought over two Mig-29's in 1992 for the summer airshow season and we installed an ATC transponder into the UB for them.

The really unfortunate part with this aircraft is that it got repainted at Cold Lake some time in the mid nineties, which wasn't required, and they completely messed up the scheme.

Cheers,

John

It was actually repainted at CFB Edmonton shortly after that airshow in 92. Prior to the airshow one of the airframe girls that I worked with was walking along the spine with a bucket of paint for touch-ups. She stepped in a fire-access panel and her leg went right to the bottom and the bucket went straight up in the air. It made a mess of the airframe although we did the best we could to clean it up. In return we offered to repaint it and that is where the paint job was fudged up, I had nothing to do with it.

I remember when we sent the Mig from the base to get the transponder installed. I was also on shift when they put the Migs together and have photo's of them being unloaded from the Antonov and being built in our hanger.

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  • 2 weeks later...
It was actually repainted at CFB Edmonton shortly after that airshow in 92. Prior to the airshow one of the airframe girls that I worked with was walking along the spine with a bucket of paint for touch-ups. She stepped in a fire-access panel and her leg went right to the bottom and the bucket went straight up in the air. It made a mess of the airframe although we did the best we could to clean it up. In return we offered to repaint it and that is where the paint job was fudged up, I had nothing to do with it.

I remember when we sent the Mig from the base to get the transponder installed. I was also on shift when they put the Migs together and have photo's of them being unloaded from the Antonov and being built in our hanger.

As a matter of fact I remember that incident. Being the restoration crew chief I was surprised that the base was asked by someone not directly involved in the project to do touch-ups. Regardless 763 got away from the airshow unscathed and when we took it back to Wetaskiwin we did a side trip to CAE Aviation for their open house where the photo with the Mig-29UB in the background was taken. 763 was repainted some time after the 1992 airshow season and the reformation of 417 squadron in April 1993 where it is shown with its changed scheme. My affiliation with the Reynolds Alberta Museum ended in the late summer of 1992 and it still carried its original paint at this time.

We had 763 stored in the south side of #5 hangar before the airshow. Both Mig-29's were on the north side of the hangar and I was able to get some real nice shots of the them prior to the airshow.

Cheers,

John

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We had 763 stored in the south side of #5 hangar before the airshow. Both Mig-29's were on the north side of the hangar and I was able to get some real nice shots of the them prior to the airshow.

Cheers,

John

Yup, I worked in that hanger and thus I knew the Starfighter was there. Bonnie was the dumb blonde who stepped in the fire access panel and I was about five feet from her when it occured.

The Migs were only on the north side until the Stealth showed up. We then kicked them out and stored the Stealth in the same spot. The Migs were then moved to the 1 AMS air terminal and were stored there. That terminal is now 1 Field Ambulance.

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Yup, I worked in that hanger and thus I knew the Starfighter was there. Bonnie was the dumb blonde who stepped in the fire access panel and I was about five feet from her when it occured.

The Migs were only on the north side until the Stealth showed up. We then kicked them out and stored the Stealth in the same spot. The Migs were then moved to the 1 AMS air terminal and were stored there. That terminal is now 1 Field Ambulance.

I remember what a PITA it was when the F-117 arrived. You would think that we were all out to steal stealth technology by one aircraft being on static display at an airshow. I remember being there early on the first day of the show to set up 763 and seeing the armed guard with M-16's escorting the Stealth onto the display area. It was quite an event.

It is unfortunate that after attending a few airshows behind the scenes I didn't want to attend them any more. Even as a spectator. There is so much politics going on behind the scenes that it really is disappointing when all you're interested in is the history of aviation and displaying it to the masses. I attended the last airshow at Namao in 1994 and didn't go to another air show until I had the opportunity to see the TICO airshow in Tutusville Florida on March 15th 2009. It was a great show as I was able to see the CF-104D of the Starfighters team and then watch the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery. The Space shuttle launch was amazing due to the timing of a late evening launch. Something I will never forget.

Cheers,

John

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It is unfortunate that after attending a few airshows behind the scenes I didn't want to attend them any more. Even as a spectator. There is so much politics going on behind the scenes that it really is disappointing when all you're interested in is the history of aviation and displaying it to the masses. I attended the last airshow at Namao in 1994 and didn't go to another air show until I had the opportunity to see the TICO airshow in Tutusville Florida on March 15th 2009. It was a great show as I was able to see the CF-104D of the Starfighters team and then watch the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery. The Space shuttle launch was amazing due to the timing of a late evening launch. Something I will never forget.

Cheers,

John

I have been involved with airshows for some time. I was an airshow co-ordinator for the 2005 Airshow in Cold Lake. I was also heavily involved with the 94 airshow at Namao, the best airshow ever. I don't see the politics that you speak of, except for the last airshow in Edmonton at EIA.

The last airshow at EIA involved an incident where some of the umbrella money was used to fly a plane load of the EIA's CEO friends on the Concorde to Paris. Since then Edmonton has been black-listed for any future airshows. By taking money from the umbrella group it ate up a lot of their profits.

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  • 2 years later...

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