CF-105 Avro Arrow Detail Sets

So now I’ll take a look at the aftermarket detail sets available for Hobbycraft’s CF-105 Avro Arrow. I was able to find the North Star Editions cockpit and MasterCasters’ landing gear and exterior sets. However, MasterCasters also released a cockpit set, or at least intended to. All sets are intended for the re-tooled Hobbycraft Arrow.

North Star Editions CF-105 Arrow Cockpit (NSE 48-001)

North Star’s cockpit consists 25 resin pieces, 3 photo-etch frets, a pre-cut acetate sheet and a four page set of instructions.

The instructions are pictorial and provide guidance in both English and French, typical of Canadian companies. They also suggest colour references for the bulk of the parts. The rest of the detail colours will need be researched or, guessed.

24 of the resin parts make up the cockpit floor, instrument panel, side consoles, seats and other smaller parts, typical of resin replacement cockpits. The cast parts are finely detailed and rendered in a grey resin. The photo-etch frets provide the side wall framing, Martin-Baker Mk 5 seat harnesses, windscreen frame and miscellaneous levers. The set also includes two extras, a photo-etch name plate, which could be mounted beside the finished aircraft and a resin upper fuselage piece, which the modeller can used is he/she wishes to display the cockpit as a separate model outside of the aircraft.

Note that in the picture, I am missing the fuselage piece as I am not using it as well as the forward canopy clamshells, which seem to have become a cat toy. I am in the process of obtaining the missing parts from North Star Editions.

What seems to be unique with this set is the canopy. North Star Editions capture the Arrow’s distinctive clam shell canopy in the open position. It consists of 7 resin pieces making up the clam shell canopy with glass inserts provided by the pre-cut acetate sheet. Also, the windscreen consists of 2 photo-etch pieces as well as the glass inserts. This will allow the modeller to paint the interior and exterior of the canopy, unlike a clear canopy part provided with most model kits. From references, it appears that North Star Editions has captured the Arrow cockpit very well. If all a modeller wanted to do was add this set, it would make a vast improvement over the stock kit.

MasterCasters’ CF-105 Avro Arrow Exterior Detail Set (MST 48003)

MasterCasters’ Exterior Detail set consists of 7 pale yellow resin pieces, 5 clear resin pieces and a single page of instructions. The set provides replacement intakes, exhaust and the clamshell canopy in the open position.

The instructions are colour and use a combination of pictures of the actual parts and narrative description of what to do. One observation, is that in a couple of the pictures, those showing the canopy installation, MasterCasters also depict the a resin cockpit, which is definitely not the North Star Editions cockpit. However, I have not found any cockpit from MasterCasters here in Canada. Hence my earlier comment at the beginning with respect to MasterCasters’ cockpit.

The replacement intakes are not that much improved over the kit parts. However, there is improved detailing in the recessed lines and each intake is one piece vice the two piece assembly of the kit. This will be a plus in that there will be no seam line to clean up except that between the intake and the fuselage. The replacement exhaust consists of the exhaust housing and two nozzles. The exhaust housing is more finely cast than the kit part and MasterCasters has also added the recessed panel detail lacking from the kit part. The replacement nozzles probably make this detail set worth the price. MasterCasters exquisitely rendered the afterburner nozzles depicting the fuels lines and panels of the nozzles. The nozzle inserts from the kit will be required to complete the exhaust assembly.

MasterCasters also provides part to replace the kit clamshell antenna. Unlike North Star Editions, MasterCasters cast the clamshells and windscreen in clear resin. This will make getting a realistic look more tricky. The typical trick of painting the inside colour on the outside of the canopy frame then the outside colour will not work as well since the Arrow canopy is more frame than glass. Thus, one will need to mask both sides to produce a realistic look. Hence, my desire to replace the North Star Editions’ parts.

MasterCasters’ CF-105 Avro Arrow Undercarriage Set (MST 48002)

MasterCasters’ Undercarriage set consists of 38 pale yellow resin pieces and a two page set of instructions. The set provides detailed landing gear bays and replacement parts for the undercarriage.

Like the Exterior Detail set, the instructions are colour and use a combination of actual parts pictures and narrative description. They are divided, naturally, into two distinct sub-assemblies, the Main Gear and the Nose Gear assemblies.

The Main Gear assembly consists of 26 pieces divided evenly between left and right sides and making up the bays, struts and doors. Each side contains a well detailed bay that will need to be fitted into the lower wing. The ribbing is rendered with very thin resin and care in handling is required, I will need to replace some of this ribbing since I was not very careful in the clean up. Each strut assembly consists of 6 parts plus a door and two wheels. This appears to be a very delicate assembly and I am somewhat concerned that it will be easily damaged in handling of the model as well as its ability to support the completed model. Unlike the kit, the wheels are a single piece.

The Nose Gear assembly consists of 12 pieces making up the bay, strut and doors. Given that the nose section of airframe 206, complete with Nose gear and bay, is displayed in the Canadian National Aviation Museum, the lack of detail in landing gear bay for this assembly is somewhat disappointing. All MasterCasters rendered is the ribs. However, a bit of wire and strip styrene will improve this aspect of a rather excellent detail set. The strut appears more sturdy than the main Gear assembly but its mounting point in the bay may prove to be the Achilles heel.

All in all, MasterCasters has captured the Arrow undercarriage quite well and it will prove to be a great improvement to the Hobbycraft kit.

Comparison of Hobbycraft’s 1/48 CF-105 Arrow Releases

So I had this request to compare the retooled CF-105 with Hobbycraft’s original release.

First Thoughts

Hobbycraft entered the modeling scene in the mid-80s with a number of recastings of Aurora kits, for which the 1/72 and 1/48 CF-105 kits were a couple. In Avro’s heyday, their marketing included plastic model kits, which appear to be based upon initial concept drawings of the Arrow. I suspect Aurora was the manufacturer of these Avro kits and that these initial releases from Hobbycraft were recasting of these kits. For the most part, the 1/48 kit is a scaled up version of the 1/72 kit. I purchased both Hobbycraft kits when they first came on the market.

I wanted to super detail the 1/48 kit but did not have enough reference material to start. Then the detail sets from North Star Editions and Mastercrafters came on the market, which I quickly scooped up. Unfortunately, these were both designed for Hobbycraft’s retooled release of the CF-105. There appeared to be too much conversion to the original kits that warranted the purchase of the retooled kit. In the following, I outline the differences between the two kits.

The Arrow kit is very basic kit in any rendering. Typical of most twin engine jet fighters, the fuselage consists of forward and aft sections. The forward section contains the cockpit and forward landing gear. The aft section is comprised of the aft fuselage, wings, vertical fin, intakes and exhaust. In the retooled kit, Hobbycraft attempts to improve a number of details such as the cockpit, landing gear and exhaust. The retooled kit also allows for optional positioning of the air-brakes. Further, the retooled kit has more accurate details and more refined engraved panel lines than the original release. Missing from the retooled kit are the crappy pilots and the inaccurate external stores.

Fuselage

The nose section encloses the cockpit and nose gear, both of which will be discussed further down. Other than these two sub-assemblies, the retooled nose is basically similar to the original kit. The aft fuselage consists of two long pieces, intakes and exhaust sections. Both kits have a horrible joint line that will require special care. Note that in the pictures, the white pieces are from the original release and the grey from are the retooled kit.

As can be seen, the exhaust section is much improved, reflecting more ofthe prototype aircraft. There is also an attempt to replicate the afterburner section but it is very simplistic. The intake section of the two 1/48 kits are very similar except that the retooled kit has more accurate panel lines.

Wings

Besides the more refined engraved panel lines, the only difference between the two releases are the main landing gear bays.

Cockpit

One of the big improvements of the retooled release is the cockpit. The original kit consisted of a floor, two seats, a joystick and an instrument panel. The seats are closer to 1/32 scale maybe larger. The retooled cockpit consists of a basic structure enclosing the forward and aft cockpits with decal instrument panels. Each seat each consists four pieces but also appeared too large for this scale. The cockpit appears to be fairly close to reference pictures and drawings of the Arrow cockpit and with aftermarket Mk 5 Martin Baker seats would look quite good, particularly through a closed canopy.

Landing Gear

The last area of improvement of the retooled kit is the landing gear.

The only improvements of the main gear are more accurate wheels and the placement of the gear in the wing bays. The struts still look clunky when compared to photos of the Arrow and more so when compared with Mastercrafters’ detail set. That said, with a bit of attention to detail, the main gear could turn out very nice.

The retooled nose gear is a definite improvement over the original release. First, the strut has the distinctive Y shape as the Arrow and consists of 6 pieces allowing for more accurate detailingCF105 Wing Top Compare. Second, the wheels are more accurate and finely detailed. Next, the bay doors are more accurately detailed and have the notch in the correct side. Last, although not show, Hobbycraft provides a gear bay that is made up of ribbing on the inside of the nose halves and on the bottom of the cockpit floor. Again, with a bit more attention to detail, the nose gear will look quite nice.

Of course, despite my hinting at attention detail, I will be tossing these out in favour of the Mastercrafters offering.