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Hobbycraft CF-100 Mk IV 440 Sqn 1-72nd Obscureco Resin


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Why I have not made a CF-100 yet is a question worth pondering. First of all, I think the Clunk surname is very a-propos, this aircraft is not very sexy... and then you have the Hobbycraft kit, which is not full of praise and which has not been built a whole lot... But the canadian aviation afficionnado in me always knew the importance of this aircraft to Canada, and deep down, I knew I would build one some day. What got me going was the new beautiful decals from Canuck Models, seems this was the little push I needed. I will build a Mk4 of 440 Sqn in European scheme, and a Mk5, most probably from 425 Sqn.

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I decided to do the 1-72nd version with the Obscureco resin set sold by Chris Bucholz. The set has been out for a long time and is very well done, with cockpit tub, seats, front and side instrument panels, intakes and main landing gear wells. Cast quality is generally very good (except for one instrument panel which ran out of resin none set) as well as accuracy when compared to photos. The instructions are many words but lack some photo reference (which I will try to make up for in this write-up). Most of the cockpit is black and was painted with dark gray variations with silver highlights. Still have to lay down some of Mike Grant's instrument decals.

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Upon opening the Hobbycraft kit box, one can see why I waited so long to do this kit. No details, heavy panel lines, suspicious shapes, etc... but then, it is the only game in town. After gluing the wings together I cut up the main flaps to position them down as they always are when a CF-100 is on ground with no running engine.

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That is it for now, stay tuned for more updates...

Edited by yvesff
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Upon opening the Hobbycraft kit box, one can see why I waited so long to do this kit. No details, heavy panel lines, suspicious shapes, etc... but then, it is the only game in town.

Yup. The kit is a bit of a dog but in the end, with a little love, finesse, filler and elbow grease, you can turn it into a pretty half decent resemblance of a CF-100. I've done two in 72nd scale (428 and 413 Sqns) and one in 48th scale (440 Sqn). I have a couple of more in 48th scale in the stash along with David's decal sheets. One will definitely be a Bald Eagles build. Don Lamont, the father of the girl who introduced me to my wife, flew with them and he also flew with 440 Sqn at Bagotville. The other will probably be built up an aircraft that flew with 445 Sqn at CFB Uplands here in Ottawa. I might even make a tribute to the aircraft (18367) that crashed into the St. Louis Convent in May 1956.

Good luck with your build, Yves. I'll be following to see how your efforts turns out.

Mike

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After a coat of Future, I applied the Mike Grant instrument decals to the front panel, the smallest dials did not get any as there were none that small. Positioning of the resin cockpit is ver much hit and miss, I glued one side wall to the inside fuselage and the other to the cockpit tub. The front IP was glued to the inside of the kit front panel. Careful trimming and cutting is required.

Now working on the seats and stick. Should start closing her uo soon.

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Cutting the wing flaps is easy but have you looked at cutting out and boxing in the underside fuselage flap that also should be dropped? If you are not aware of this I thought I would mention this as you should do this before you join the upper and lower fuselages.There are better pictures available in CF-100 books but you can see the edge of this flap in your photo of KE384 above. HTH

Cheers

Bruce

Edited by RCAFFAN
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There are pics in some of the CF-100 books but found this on line:

http://67.69.104.76:84/Grostenquin/photos/support/pgt-977.jpg

The panel that drops is well outlined/scribed on the kit but is interesting in shape with the contours of the fuselage underside.

This shows back view with curves of fuselage filled and holes to reduce weight:

http://67.69.104.76:84/Grostenquin/photos/423sqn/423-80.jpg

Edited by RCAFFAN
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I also found a good pic, showing basically all moving surfaces... moved ! Below you will find pics where I have outlined what I believe to be the flap outline. Can you confirm I got it right ?

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Yvesff: You almost got it but look at the pic Snowbird 3a posted and you can see it goes all the way across the piece to include the flat areas beyond the engine nacelle curves, basically the whole width of the bottom piece. When I cut this on one kit I made sure to cut a bit down each side and made sure I cut the whole panel out as I believe it is easier to touch up the edges of the remaining kit part than the flap piece itself but that is of course just my view.

Cheers

Bruce

P.S. I've not seen all the little "tabs" that appear on Snowbird's picture anywhere else and suspect this might be an instructional airframe so I wouldn't add those....I also suspect that the wheel shown in that picture has a cover removed or something as the wheels in your picture look much more like the resin ones you have but I have to agree the resin ones aren't the best but may be better than the kit, I haven't looked at my stash kits and Obscureco sets lately....

Edited by RCAFFAN
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P.S. I've not seen all the little "tabs" that appear on Snowbird's picture anywhere else and suspect this might be an instructional airframe so I wouldn't add those....I also suspect that the wheel shown in that picture has a cover removed or something as the wheels in your picture look much more like the resin ones you have but I have to agree the resin ones aren't the best but may be better than the kit, I haven't looked at my stash kits and Obscureco sets lately....

Those tabs are for when the flaps are secured closed and on display outdoors at the Comox Airforce Museum. But look at the shape and size of the real tire and the resin and kit tires. They are not even close.

Tony

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Cannot do much about the tires, I think the front ones are even worst. I managed to finish cutting up the flap, I filled the inside with Epoxy putty to make it flat and filled in the fuselage hole with Plasticard. Will start working on the gear doors now, replacing them with Plasticard also... I also cut up the windscreen, and remove some plastic at the back of the cockpit sill to allow it to slide open...

I am also trying to figure out how to replace the engine exhaust duct with somekind of tubing, any ideas guys ??

I cut the flap from my canibalized Mk4 kit, the metal rods you see sticking out will be removed, they were used to pull tight the plasticard in the fuselage cut-out...

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Edited by yvesff
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, lots of sanding and puttying on this one... seriously thinking of removing all panel lines for my next all metal CF-100 Mk5... The inlets fit nicely... The wings are challenging to put on, once you manage to straighten them in a bucket of hot water... my first try was not very succesfull... I also installed the resin cockpît sills at the rear of the pilot seat...

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Merde alors! I'm glad you were able to fix the wings. Also, nice work on the flaps. I'm glad my photos will help with your build.

And as we've all alluded to, too bad we didn't have a kit that would do justice to the resin you're adding. Some day.... :pray:

Mike

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Took a long time to restore panel lines, remove seams, but I finally managed to lay down the first coat on the underside, took out my old Gunze paints for this one, god I miss those, beautiful semi-gloss finish, very fine pigments, lays down beautifully and no clogging of the airbrush... Used RLM76 as the lighest shade with highlights from two other shades. While this is drying, I am working on front and main gear door replacements...

I would really like to replace the exhaust stub (which is about 4 scale inches thick right now ...) with a piece of tubing of somekind but cannot figure out where to get some, anyone have an idea...

As for the colors, I used my trusty IPMS Canada color guide, they are topside BS381C-641 Dk green Gunze H330, 638 Dk Sea Gray H331, bottom is Medium Sea Gray, I used a mix of Gunze H417 RLM 76 and H306 FS36270

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Edited by yvesff
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Completed the scratch main gear doors, you can compare with the kit parts in the picture... I made both gear doors a bit wider... went out to Udisco this PM (Montreal LHS) and got me some brass and aluminum tubing for the exhausts... now doing the underside masking... I hate masking... back to the Canadiens game then... :woot.gif:/>/>

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Edited by yvesff
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Here is the brass and aluminum tubing for the exhaust, I cut it using my small copper plumbing cutter from a hardware store. I practiced on a spare kit, cutting the plastic with my saw. The lenght is approximate but it is intentionally a bit longer than the kit, a shorter length of the aluminum tube will go inside the brass one... was easier than I thought...

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