DavidWinter

Congrats! That turned out beautifully. Given that the CF-100 was NORADS front line interceptor for many, many years, it still amazes me that this is the only 1:48 scale kit ever produced.

[edit] - sounds like there's a real kit in the works https://www.facebook.com/Hong-Kong-Models-Co-Ltd-1375731456009809/timeline/ And like I said over on ARC, it wouldn't surprise me if it were true. If you want a kit of something produced, the best way to get that done is to start scratch building or converting your own.

Canuck's minimum decal print run is 100 sheets, which is probably the smallest amount of kits you could make to allow you earn a profit greater than zero. As for the artwork, well yes, obviously you need to do the artwork. But there are so many resources for references that really you should be able to put the vector art together in a couple of weeks. The most difficult and time consuming part of any decal sheet is gathering the reference materials. Once you have those you've made the rest of your job pretty straight forward. Every decal sheet in my brand has full stencils and as many applicable unit badges and other markings as I can stuff in, and if you have enough references, then the art goes together rather quickly. Like I said, decals were the absolute least of my worries. The reason my attempt at one of these conversions died on the vine is the cost of resin casting. My screen printing services are not inexpensive, but some of the casting quotes seemed like the businesses were trying to pay their years mortgage from this one project.

Decals really shouldn't be a show stopper. Yes, they take some time to do and they cost money to print, but given the scope and expense of the rest of the project, decals were never the concern for me when during my efforts to produce a conversion kit.

Hi everyone As some others in this thread had noted, I'm working on a personal build with a work in progress thread here - http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=285216This project started life as a conversion kit along the lines of the wild-hare conversion out a few years ago. I was working on the masters, and making some good progress and things looked positive. I then approached some resin casting companies, those that would even be willing to take on a project of this scope were coming back with quotes that just made it impossible for me to move forward with a conversion. Each set would have been hitting the $350 CAD mark (this was over 5 years ago, it's likely over $400 CAD now). It seemed there was little chance for me to even break even so the masters lay around in a box for a couple of years and then I just decided to build it up as a personal build. That all said though, I received a couple of emails last night regarding the SPEY exhausts I'm working on for this build. These are 3D printed by Shapeways and I would be happy to make some additional prints available for those that want to cover the cost. Right now they're coming in around $20 USD each ($40 base price for the pair + shipping etc...) for the highest detail print. A few caveats though. These are not done in a true CAD software package. I do all my modelling in 3D Studio, a software tool designed for game and film modelling. These are dimensionally accurate but because these types of models rely on polygons to create rounded surfaces (and any other shape), you have some faceting on the outer wall that needs to be sanded smooth. This really isn't a big deal. A little 400 paper and some primer and you'll never notice that. The other thing to consider is that they're designed around my research for dimensions - cm: 3.23 x / 3.23 y / 1.35 z . Those with detailed measurements of the real thing might find inaccuracies, but these fit my build and seem to be close to scaled up Hasegawa parts. And finally, some portions of my file are below shapeways' minimum wall specifications. As near as I can tell, they still print just fine (as you can see) but it wouldn't be something I could guarantee would work for every single print. As the old idiom goes - 'You pays your money and you take your chances'. Prototype print on top of the Tamiya parts. This was my first attempt a producing a 3d model for printing and my first print. The purpose of the exercise was to see if anything would even work. All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the first efforts and then spent time to improve the model and add the previously omitted details. Updated 3D file with more detail added and corrections made after seeing the prototype. I hope that helps with some questions but always chime in if you have others. thanks David

Yep, they show up on eBay and at model shows from time to time. The tooling for the HC kit was, apparently, destroyed long ago. And even if they could be used, there's, also apparently, an outstanding question of ownership. I've looked into it, no repops of those.

Yeah, I'd hoped the Argus would have had more traction but sadly no. I still think it would be a fantastic kit and more interesting than yet another obscure BF-109 variant. I do have one Astra kit tucked away in my special stash of security house-elf protected kits. I've spoken at length with Hugh, the owner of Astra models and sadly he has no more kits around and the tooling is gone. So if anyone ever sees on on eBay or at shows, grab it! They've become a very endangered species. David

If you haven't found one already, Panther Hobbies in Toronto has a bunch in stock. http://www.pantherhobbies.com/ (caution, turn your speakers off, the web designer of that site thinks it's a good idea to play sounds without user input) Once you find yourself the kit, I sell replacement decal sheets for it at www.canuckmodels.com With a little extra effort around the intakes, the new kits build up nicely. I have a full build log here: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=249877 thanks David

There is no suggestion of either on the kit. I will now be able to carry on with my quest. Best Regards WEEMAN There's little suggestion of anything to do with the Arrow when it comes to the first issue of that kit.

There are three small circular cut out areas of the inside of the gear door frame. It's just part of the frame design.

The 'replica' has numerous issues with it. Taxi lights were never fitted to the 5 operational aircraft or the first MK2 (RL*206). This is the forward landing gear from RL*206. Note lack of taxi lights. The navigation lights were on the tips of the wings and on the vertical fin.

Just an FYI, I counted something like 31 errors on the Canadian markings. Can't speak for the USAF stuff, but if you want to do an RCAF/CAF build, I'd recommend replacing the decals.

I'm just absolutely shocked at the "quality" of those RCAF roundels. Seriously. I don't even know what to say about those.

That is looking amazing!!! You really don't see a lot of Vacuum formed kits built anymore. But you've done a fantastic job with this biggy! David

Give that so little of the cockpit can be seen inside of the Arrow's canopy when closed, I'd grab some seats from any 1:72 scale jet and use those. The Arrow used Martin Baker MK C5 seat. You might find something similar (close enough) from other MB seats from the 50s. Even a F-4 Phantom seat could be modified to work well enough considering what you can see. The other option is to put a decal over the canopy windows and blank them out completely. That's fairly common with Arrow models.