Hobbycraft's 1:72 scale Avro Arrow: Update #10

All good things must come to an end...The Avro is finally done!!  And how appropriate as it was 55 years ago today in 1955, then Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker cut funding from the Avro project and order the dismantling of all the airframes. This also meant 30,000 people lost their jobs that day too, called 'Black Friday'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow#Cancellation

So I finally got this model finished.  I would have got this done sooner but I've had a shoulder injury and staying seated has been challenging.  I'm on the mend.  Unfortunately I didn't take enough pictures of the decal process but needless to say, there all there.

I decided to use some subtle weathering to get rid of the 'toy look' and a clear matte top coat to seal the decals and weathering.  I find that even with a matte coat, there is still a satin-like finish which is what I've been going for.

FINAL ASSEMBLY

The last thing to be addressed with the model is the base.  The switch is a simple toggle switch with a 9V clip-on battery (+) soldered on to it.

For the top of the base I had a few touch ups on my custom decals.  Some of the edges rippled causing the the black ink to chip off so I touched it up using 'Tulip', a fabric paint which is also a great paint for 'light blocking' when building an illuminated model.  Also really good for creating bumps like rivets.  I then used 5 coats of Rust-o-leum clear matte finish, and 0000 steel wool to remove any bumps or crumbs that are airborne.

To connect the model to the base, I used very light weight wire nuts so the model can be detached, if necessary from the base in the future.  The 9V batt is attached by a velcro strap which is hot-glued in place. 

FINISHED MODEL

In these pictures you can see the cockpit lighting - too bad the canopy is 1/16" in thickness.

Here are the Iroquois Engines lit up and you can barely see a white dot on the top of the tail section.  That blinks via fiber optics cable along with red & green for port & starboard navigation lights.

I you enjoyed this build up, even if it took a heck of a lot longer than I thought it would (difficult to pursue a hobby like this when you're freelance).

I leave you with a final image as I close this chapter and move on to finishing two different scaled Star Trek TOS USS Enterprise models in different scales (1/1000 & 1/1600).

Happy modelling!!

Hobbycraft's 1:72 scale Avro Arrow: Update #9

Greetings, it's been a while...

Life has been really busy and well, I ended up ordering replacement decals for this project.  I really wasn't pleased with their appearance from the original kit and I was less pleased when I tried to remove them.  My custom decals came off easily with Micro Sol.  The kit decals nearly ruined the paint job.  It not only dissolved the decal but the ink in the decal ran all down the model.  I gave it some serious thought about repainting them I took high tack tape to it and it came off easily.  I ended up having to touch up the heirloom white and re-clear coat it with gloss to make it work.
 
The decals I ordered are from Canuck Models.  They are made in Ontario and reasonably priced.  For quality and accuracy, I'm really impressed. 

The instruction sheet folds open with more of the model's panel lines marked off, something I wish I would have known of when I started this project.  The most difficult decals to apply are the 'walk lines', the black striping along the wings which denote safe areas to walk on the aircraft.

I replaced all of the decals with Canucks.  Unfortunately I had one tear on the 'flash' markings.  I can repair that with another decal.




This is where I am with the model.

I'm really impressed with all the minute markings, it adds to scale and realism.

I have finished the port side of the aircraft and still have to put the remaining decals on the starboard side as well as wire the model in it's base.

I should have a completed model by the end of the weekend...stay tuned and happy model building.