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Posted

Last year's big build was the monster all-white Handley Page Victor. Not having learned that lesson I figured it would be great to start this year with another big white bird. A quick trip to the secret locker of stash and I pulled out a kit that I bought back in 2012 - the 1:72 Avro CF-105 Arrow from Hobbycraft Canada. Now, this is the third generation of tooling they produced, and the most accurate in size and shape of the three. It has some issues but nothing like their first two attempts. (They should have just LIDAR scanned the remaining Arrow that is hidden in Dan Akroyd's barn.) A nice build review by David Winter is still available here and he does a nice job of comparing the new kit to drawings and pointing out some boo-boos. So what have we got here? First, the rather uninteresting box:

 

box top

 

If I were selling this kit I might have put my company name on the box top. Just saying. It is in the fine print on the box end in tiny type, but who reads that? The box is one of those end-opening jobs, but it's made of industrial strength corrugated cardboard. Revell, please take notice.

 

Inside the "black box" is a bunch of styrene moulded in white - which means it won't photograph that well. I've set my exposures darker than I would normal shoot and maybe that will prevent everything from washing out.

 

The first sprue contains the wings, where we encounter a boo-boo.

 

IMG_7282

 

The blisters for the ailerons (moulded on top of the wing in the first kit) are not aligned with the panel line. We'll see what we can do about that. The panel lines themselves, are engraved and reasonable for this scale. I tried to get a close-up here, not sure if it worked:

 

IMG_7283

 

The next sprue has the upper and lower parts for the main fuselage, split horizontally:

 

IMG_7286

 

This is a big improvement over the previous kits which had an area-ruling error in the fuselage shape near the intakes. Next up is the forward fuselage, split vertically.

 

IMG_7285

 

This is a big improvement as the nose gear well is better represented. Note also the vertical fin. The next sprue has some very nice improvements in the tail cone and exhaust area.

 

IMG_7284

 

However, even though the nose gear strut is much nicer than the earlier kits, the main gear struts have one of those "I can't believe I did that" moments. The struts and their linkages should be mirror images of each other, yet they are exactly the same. Oops. Pretty sure we can fix this. Next up are two shots of the canopy - I really wish this wasn't moulded in one piece.

 

IMG_7288

 

IMG_7289

 

The clam-shell main canopy is a very unique feature of the Arrow, and it will be difficult to cut up this one-piece part to replicate that, and I was unable to find a vacuform replacement, although I could probably make one. Let me noodle on that for a while. Of course, it wouldn't be a Navy Bird build without some resin - Mastercasters helped out with some ejection seats and "corrected" intakes. I'm not sure what was corrected, but I'll do a comparison when we get to that part of the build.

 

IMG_7291

 

IMG_7290

 

I'm not actually sure if the intakes are for this third-generation tooling, or one of the others. I just saw it and bought it. Let's see, what's left? Right, stickers. I did some research, and the kit decal sheet (left) has a few issues. I bought a replacement sheet from Arrow Graphics (right), and I think that might be worse:

 

IMG_7294

 

Both sheets have problems with the ensign and the fonts. David Winter produced the best available sheet in 1:72 scale and that was my next cash disbursement. My understanding is that this sheet is for this specific kit.

 

IMG_7293

 

Lastly, here is a quick shot of the instructions, made by the same CAD hack technician who did the box top.

 

IMG_7295

 

Hey, at least they're in colour.    :)

 

So this is the next project, unless I get bogged down and do some other kit as a side project. I managed to find a website that had oodles of detail photos of the CF-105 replica that was built - I have no idea how accurate that is, but combined with shots of the prototype Arrows it should give me some ideas for further detailing.

 

In the meantime, I'm getting older and flabbier.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Not too many parts, so it shouldn't take a year like the Victor. 11 months maybe, but not a year.    :)

  • Like 25
  • Haha 1
Posted
4 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

They should have just LIDAR scanned the remaining Arrow that is hidden in Dan Akroyd's barn.

If Only! Despite rumours of Arrow parts hidden in various Avro Engineers' basements, here's the only remaining part of a real Arrow in the  Ottawa Air Museum.

AviationII_016.jpg

 

@Navy Bird Where did you get your kit? I'm desperately searching for an Arrow Kit.

  • Like 6
Posted

I look forward to this installment. I just finished reading David Winter's review over on ARC.

 

With regards to the actuator fairings- Can they be carefully sawed off with a JLC razor saw, joined together and then re-installed??

 

-d-

Posted

Interesting thread.  I built what I suspect was the first generation kit in the late 1980s or early 1990s.  It was terrible.  :)  That said I'd l love a crack at building another one.  Best of luck.  

  • Like 1
Posted

I had no idea they had three generations of this kit.  I am sure I have the first issue of this kit and it was the first Hobby Craft model I bought.

Posted

I love the Arrow, looking forward to the build.

 

My dad was on the RCAF liaison team for the Arrow. He played on the Avro soccer team with many of the programs test pilots and engineers, including Jan Żurakowski, whom he became close friends with.

  • Like 3
Posted

 

Hi Bill.

New @Navy Bird build; check.

Not a common aircraft; check.

Difficult to photograph white plastic; check.

Resin parts; check.

Aftermarket decals; check

Me following this build; checkaroonie.

Cheers,

Chris.

  • Like 2
Posted

Funnily enough I’ve just bought one of these elusive kits, however it’s the first generation model and full of (unknown to me) errors that will probably see me annoyed once I find them out? It was a cheapish buy compared to what I’ve seen online but I snapped it up as they are very rare in my part of the world. 
 

I look forward to seeing how you get on with this one Bill, no doubt it’ll look absolutely splendid once finished. 

Cheers and all the best.. Dave 

 

  • Like 1
Posted

I bought the first generation of the kit when it came out, and it’s disappointing. I also have the Astra vacuform in my stash, and it has finer details. Cool to see this build. 

Posted

 

Another @Navy Bird adventure I'm in! 

Beer and popcorn ordered please carry on in your own time Bill, looking forward to seeing this come together

 

             Roger

Posted

Another interesting subject choice, Bill. At least being moulded in white means you won't have to paint it ;) 

 

James

  • Haha 2
Posted

Ooooh, another white beauty! I'm in!  :popcorn:  :beer:

 

Ciao

Posted

Well if anyone can build a beautiful rendition of the "Arrow" I know Navy Bird can and will do a great job of it! 👍

Spoiler

👍

 

Posted
On 09/01/2025 at 17:59, Billos said:

@Navy Bird Where did you get your kit? I'm desperately searching for an Arrow Kit.

 

Well, let me dust off the cobwebs of my brain. Result? I don't recall, but it was back when it first came out in 2012. Whomever I bought it from was sufficiently advanced in retail technology to have an inventory control barcode on the price sticker. I paid $29.99 for it, which could be US or CAD dollars.

 

On 09/01/2025 at 18:51, David H said:

With regards to the actuator fairings- Can they be carefully sawed off with a JLC razor saw, joined together and then re-installed??

 

That was my thought as well. I'll give it a try. What's the worst that could happen? A few stitches maybe.    🩹

 

On 09/01/2025 at 22:41, marvinneko said:

Items in Ottawa. Wings in the reserve hangar.

 

Don't forget a windscreen at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum:

 

100_2617

 

Plus, although the listing has ended, there was an ejection seat on eBay recently. I think you can still see the listing here if you scroll down. If we keep searching hard enough, maybe we'll have enough bits to put one back together.     :)

 

On 09/01/2025 at 22:45, Scooby said:

My dad was on the RCAF liaison team for the Arrow. He played on the Avro soccer team with many of the programs test pilots and engineers, including Jan Żurakowski, whom he became close friends with.

 

Very nice. If you have any stories from your dad I'd love to hear them.

 

On 09/01/2025 at 22:57, silverfox63 said:

New @Navy Bird build; check.

Not a common aircraft; check.

Difficult to photograph white plastic; check.

Resin parts; check.

Aftermarket decals; check

Me following this build; checkaroonie.

 

That's a lot of checks.

 

On 09/01/2025 at 23:00, Rabbit Leader said:

Funnily enough I’ve just bought one of these elusive kits, however it’s the first generation model and full of (unknown to me) errors that will probably see me annoyed once I find them out?

 

You won't want to read the build report on ARC then.     :)

 

On 10/01/2025 at 00:37, Wlad said:

I bought the first generation of the kit when it came out, and it’s disappointing. I also have the Astra vacuform in my stash, and it has finer details. Cool to see this build. 

 

How is the Astra kit? I've not heard too much about it. I don't suppose it came with two copies of a vacuform canopy did it?

 

On 10/01/2025 at 04:03, 81-er said:

Another interesting subject choice, Bill. At least being moulded in white means you won't have to paint it ;)

 

Ha! Speaking of paint, at some point I'll need to decide which of the prototype schemes to model. I like the ones with the day-glo orange areas, so maybe 203 or 205.

 

*****

 

OK, I need to start somewhere, so it might as well be the cockpit. I have a few B&W photos and it appears to be a light to medium grey colour, and that is the way most modellers have depicted it. Here is the only colour photo I've found, but it doesn't show much. I hesitate to show this pic, as it's one of the airframes undergoing disassembly after the project was cancelled. How the heck are you supposed to get in and out of this baby?

 

cockpit overhead

 

I'll leave today with a few photos of the roll-out. Looks like a men-only affair.    :(

 

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow roll-out

 

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow roll-out 2

 

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow roll-out 3

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 18
Posted

Would you climb into it, or would you have to slide down a chute hidden behind a picture, Thunderbirds style?

 

 

James

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Posted
34 minutes ago, 81-er said:

Would you climb into it, or would you have to slide down a chute hidden behind a picture, Thunderbirds style?

 

 

James

Are you even a real fighter pilot if you don't?

 

So I have a second gen, and an Astra vacform. I intend to kit bash the two into something reasonable in, oh, about ten years or so. Unless Zsolt gets his 3d printed kits available in 1/72 before hand. Then I'll buy one of them and flog the old stuff.

 

Good luck on this one Bill, I'll be following so I can learn what mistakes not to make!

  • Like 2
Posted (edited)

I have the Astra vacuform and the first and second gen Hobbycraft kits. The Astra is a very good vacuform with excellent panel lines, but being a vacuform, the details are up to you for the most part. It is likely the most accurate outline-wise, but the experts will no doubt turn up. The second gen fixed some of the errors of the first, the most glaring being the aileron blisters relocated to the bottom of the wing-I just double checked my kit.

 

The Astra kit furnishes some flat clear acetate for the canopies-no shortcut to an open canopy there!

Edited by Robin-42
  • Like 2
Posted

Hi Bill, I'm new(ish) here, any objections if I pull up a chair for this build? The CF-105 looks like a real brute of 'plane!!

  • Like 1
Posted
3 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Ha! Speaking of paint, at some point I'll need to decide which of the prototype schemes to model. I like the ones with the day-glo red areas, so maybe 203 or 205.

There are a number of images of the prototypes lined up outside the assembly hangar in various stages of destruction, at least 4 of which have orange fins.  I'm not sure but I think one of the jets might be "RL 207", but the resolution on my phone screen is rubbish, and she didn't have the orange fin.

  • Like 1
Posted
3 hours ago, David H said:

I too have wondered how you climb into this thing, in a hurry.

 

I found some pictures in a book (remember those?) showing the crew doing some ingress/egress testing. In one, it looks like the guy has his feet on the side consoles. I hope the switches weren't active!    :)

 

3 hours ago, scautomoton said:

Good luck on this one Bill, I'll be following so I can learn what mistakes not to make!

 

I'll be sure to make some mistakes for you then.    :)   :)

 

2 hours ago, Robin-42 said:

The Asta kit furnishes some flat clear acetate for the canopies-no shortcut to an open canopy there!

 

Bummer. I could probably fake the windscreen that way - the panes certainly look flat. Does Astra provide the clam-shell frames separate from the acetate? I would think they would have to.

 

1 hour ago, Trumpton_Orbital said:

Hi Bill, I'm new(ish) here, any objections if I pull up a chair for this build? The CF-105 looks like a real brute of 'plane!!

 

Welcome aboard! All we ask is a donation of Doom Bar for the unfortunate soul attempting to build this kit.     :drink:

 

*****

 

The cockpit tub, bulkhead, and side consoles are separate bits, and in the finest Special Hobby-like tradition it's up to you to figure out how it all goes together. I think I figured it out and applied some glue. I hope it's right!

 

BTW, this kit has quite a few sinkholes and a whole heck of a lot of ejector pin marks. The latter seem to be strategically placed where 1) you can see them, and 2) it's virtually impossible to fill and sand them. Bad, bad engineer. I think what I'll do is cut pieces of plastic paper (0.005" styrene) and just cover each one up that way. Worth a try.

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 7
Posted
14 minutes ago, stever219 said:

There are a number of images of the prototypes lined up outside the assembly hangar in various stages of destruction, at least 4 of which have orange fins.  I'm not sure but I think one of the jets might be "RL 207", but the resolution on my phone screen is rubbish, and she didn't have the orange fin.

 

I think 207 would have been one of the Mark II variants which were under construction. I have stickers for 201 through 205 and I'll probably go with 203 or 205 as they have the red tail. Gotta break up all that white. Like this:

 

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow60

 

Cheers,

Bill

  • Like 12
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Posted

Does anyone know of any decent 1/72 plans for this subject? 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

Posted

So I've just pulled my kit out and I lied, its a Victoria Products kit.

 

1 hour ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Does anyone know of any decent 1/72 plans for this subject? 

You are in luck, this Victoria kit has some decent looking 1/72 drawings, they're A3 ( or something similar but slightly longer) so I'll have to scan them in two go's, but expect a PM

  • Thanks 1

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