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1/48 CF-100 Avro Canuck


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As this GB has not been added to the current GB list, I thought I'd post a few photos here of what I've done so far. This kit will be finished to represent a 440 Sqn aircraft. It's built to honour Mr. Don Lamont, the father of the girl who introduced me to my lovely wife. Don was a pilot with 440 Sqn. I've known the Lamont family for 30 years. Very nice folks.

Anyway, a few photos of the progress. I'll be using Arrow Graphics and Leading Edge decals. It'll be done 'in flight'. The fit of the main parts (wings, fuselage halves, drop tanks, etc is quite good. Cockpit detail is sorely lacking but I managed to do a bit to it. I have another one in the stash and I see that Mastercasters has a resin set for this kit. I might splurge and procure that set for the next project.

Here's what I started with:

DropTanksandRocketPods.jpg

NavPanel.jpg

FuselageHalves.jpg

CockpitTub.jpg

Tail.jpg

Wings.jpg

Decals1.jpg

Decals3.jpg

More photos in the next post.

Thanks for looking.

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.

Mike

Edited by AX 365
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Progress photos...

The gear doors actually went into the opening extremely well.

MainGearDoors.jpg

FrontGearDoors.jpg

The 'coal hole' was given a bit of work. The Mk4B was equipped with a gunsight. There is no gunsight in this kit so I scratched a very simple one using some styrene strip and a spare gunsight glass from an extra F-86 clear sprue that I had in the spares box. The glue is still drying in the 2nd photo. The seats are kit seats. I added a couple of seat cushions to the seat pan. I've seen photos of real aircraft with the red handles instead of the black / yellow on the ejection seat. I've made some tape belts painted olive and made some very basic buckles from folded staples. They need work but who cares. It adds a bit of detail to an otherwise very spartan cockpit. The nav's panel was a PITA to attach. The bail out indicator in front of the navigator's position is moulded on and it was painted silver and then overcoated with Tamiya clear Orange. What I've done is nowhere near accurate but it's enough to distract the eye from an all black cockpit. Close enough for jazz.

BailOutWarning1.jpg

Gunsight1.jpg

Gunsight4.jpg

CockpitPainted.jpg

SeatsPainted.jpg

BeltBuckles.jpg

Again, thanks for looking and constructive criticism and comments are always welcome.

Mike

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Thanks, guys.

Kevin...this is the 1/48 scale Hobbycraft kit. AFAIK it's the only injection moulded offering of this aircraft. Not sure of there's a vaccuuform kit available.

phantom...yup, it is.

The hole in the belly in front of the main gear doors is for the stand I'll be using. I knew if I waited long enough I'd find a use for the stand that came with the Airfix 1/24 sale Me-109 that I built years ago.

Edited by AX 365
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Emil and HOLMES,

Thanks for the support. Appreciated.

More progress shots. The cockpit has been installed. It will suffice for this build. Drop tanks have been glued together as has the stand from the old Airfix Me-109. Te fuselage has been glued together and the wings and tail section added. Weird construction. Fuselage and tail come in 4 sections. Fuselage is top and bottom while tail is left and right. :wacko: The joints are pretty good though, which is quite surprising. I only needed a bit of filler. Not all of it has been applied in these photos. The one piece canopy glass has been masked and installed. The 6 inch ruler gives you an idea of the size of this model. I fear this build will be more or less complete by the time the Living History GB is added to the forums. So be it.

InstalledCockpit2.jpg

DropTanks.jpg

MaskedCanopy.jpg

Stand.jpg

Scale.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Mike

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Great subject, Mike, and great progress so far!! Looks like Don Lamont's Squadron moved into Zweibrucken as my father-in-law's (434 Sqn) was shipping out their Sabres. Looking forward to more pics!

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Good progress Mike on a rather sparse kit. I built that one many years ago and it is still in the case. I was a GCA controller at Zweibrucken during that fun time and probably ran the !:1 scale Clunk many times.

Big Daddy...I'm a Windsor product as well..although many years ago.

Barney

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Good progress Mike on a rather sparse kit. I built that one many years ago and it is still in the case. I was a GCA controller at Zweibrucken during that fun time and probably ran the !:1 scale Clunk many times.

Big Daddy...I'm a Windsor product as well..although many years ago.

Barney

OK, Barney, I have to ask....what the heck is a "1:1 scale Clunk"??

BD

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BD: A 1:1 Scale "Clunk" is a full size CF-100.."Clunk" was the name given to the old bird but it's origine is lost in time

Barney

OK, I got the 1:1 scale part...just didn't know what a Clunk was. Thanks!!

Now back to our regularly scheduled model build.. :rolleyes:

BD

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Emil,

I think they're as scarce as hen's teeth. Hope you can find one. Perhaps Hobbycraft might take the time to issue a new tooled version as they've done with their 1/72 Arrow. Maybe some other company will pick up the slack and issue it. I don't think there's any argument from anyone about the importance of the CF-100 in the development and deployment of all weather interceptors in Canada or in Europe. I'm not going to hold my breath though. I can still dream.

Barney and Big Daddy,

Thanks for checking in guys! Nice to have you visit and leave a comment. I appreciate it.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Lamont didn't do any flying with 440 in Europe. He was in Europe but he was on an exchange with the RAF's Air Fighting Development Squadron. He did two years with them. He told me that when he returned to Canada, he had been selected to the Arrow program but when that was canceled, he was assigned to Cold Lake as a weapons instructor. After he left the Air Force, he went on to become Director of Flight Services with Transport Canada and also Vice President, Flight Operations, Air Transport Association of Canada.

There's been a bit of progress since the last post but no photos. I've taped and sprayed the anti glare panel, radome and de-icing boots with two coats each of MM Flat Black and MM Glosscote. I sprayed the black and the first coat of gloss last night. I sprayed the second clear coat about an hour ago. I thought it would be easier to shoot them first as those areas will be easier to mask when it comes time to mask and spray the camo colours rather than vice versa. I'll let you know how that works out.

More than likely, no progress until Wednesday afternoon. I'm working overnights (2000 hrs - 0630 hrs) today and Tuesday. I'm going back to bed now and I will probably be sawing logs all day on Tuesday. Can't say it's a beauty rest as that would be a Rip Van Winkle style sleep! :woot.gif:

Thanks for looking folks and as usual, comments and constructive criticism is always welcome.

Mike

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One good thing about the panel trenches on this kit is that it made my job of taping the finished de-icing boots a breeze. Apply tape and cut along the trench line. Easy peasy. I just sprayed the first coat of MM RAF Medium Sea Grey to the undersides about 15 minutes ago. I'll spray a second coat later this evening. Looks good so far. I'll post a photo of the painted underside tomorrow.

Thanks for checking in.

Mike

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Emil,

I think they're as scarce as hen's teeth. Hope you can find one. Perhaps Hobbycraft might take the time to issue a new tooled version as they've done with their 1/72 Arrow. Maybe some other company will pick up the slack and issue it. I don't think there's any argument from anyone about the importance of the CF-100 in the development and deployment of all weather interceptors in Canada or in Europe. I'm not going to hold my breath though. I can still dream.

Mike

Mike,

Stupid me.... saw one at the last show. Did a walk about and when I came back it was sold. Next time I guess...

:cheers:

Emil

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Mike,

Stupid me.... saw one at the last show. Did a walk about and when I came back it was sold. Next time I guess...

:cheers:

Emil

Bummer, dude! I've had that happen before. I think everyone has been victim to similar circumstances. Now we know better.

The camo has been painted and a few coats of MM Gloss Coat has been applied. It will cure for a couple of days as I'm working nights this weekend. Work, sleep, eat; repeat until Monday morning.

I thought the MM Medium Sea Grey was going to be a bit dark but I was wrong. The Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey really allowed it to brighten up. Decals will probably be applied Monday afternoon or evening.

Painted.jpg

Thanks for checking in.

Mike

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Mike: If you need ejection seats for your Clunk, Aeroclub makes a fairly nice M-B Mk4

Barney

Thanks for the heads up Barney but it's too late now. I'm 90% done. All I have left is decals, another coat of gloss to seal everything and then add the assorted left over bits like drop tanks, pitot tube and stand. I appreciate your insight though.

Do I detrect a "Chuck Findley", ala "Burn Notice", fan?

Sorry mustanger but I have no idea what you're referring to other than what I just found as a result of a go ogle search. I don't think we get that show north of the 49th parallel. A friend of mine uses that expression all the time.

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No photos but decals are on. Leading Edge ones went on without issue. Arrow Graphics...not so good. Even after a coat of clear decal film, they were very brittle. There was some breakage but no shattering. Thank goodness. I was able to salvage the ones that did break. The red / white checkerboard decals for the tail were the biggest PITA. They were too long. A fair amount of Solvaset helped a bit but I still needed to trim the excess decal and do some touching up with red and white paint. I used Leading Edge red ensigns and 'RCAF 421' fuselage codes from a partial 1/48 2 Wing Sabre set that I had lying around. They fit perfectly. I'm not sure if the Arrow Graphic decals are ALPS printed but trimming close to the edge of the decal is required. They also have a grainy feel to them. This texture was lost after coating with decal film. I don't think I'll ever use Arrow Graphics decals again.

The only remaining work is to attach the pitot tube, wing tanks and horizontal stabilizer, apply a final coat or two of gloss coat and attach the stand. Hopefully she'll be done in a couple of days. I'll post photos when it's complete.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

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I've found Arrow Graphics' decals to be very hit and miss... the Mustang I did with AG decals, they went on brilliantly (though had a scary moment as they went very yellow before drying up nice and clear), the Sabre I'd started for the NA Forces in Europe GB I had to put on hold because every single decal on the sheet shattered when it hit water, only just managed to get a replacement set to finish that build.

I suspect most of the Arrow Graphics sets out there are quite old - I get the idea somehow that they're not in production anymore?

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I suspect most of the Arrow Graphics sets out there are quite old - I get the idea somehow that they're not in production anymore?

L:

They have been out of business for a while now and the date on the sheet I used is 1988! No wonder there were issues.

Thanks for looking in.

Mike

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