1/72 Esci CF-5A "Bruce the Moose"

Gallery Article by Geoff McDonell on July 1 2002

  Canada Day 

 

Bruce the Moose CF-5A:  

Another eye-catching commemorative paint job from the hangers of 419 “Moose” Squadron of the Canadian Armed Forces.  The model was built almost straight from the box using the Esci 1/72 scale kit of the CF-5A.  The decals were provided by Arrow Graphics and they did require some care and attention to get right.  The Arrow Graphics decal instructions provide some masking templates for the white and red separations, and I found that Testor’s Model Master Chrysler Engine Red was a very close match for the red colour of the decals.  The one area where I had a problem was in applying the large maple leaf decal to the belly of the model.  There are no cut-outs for the landing gear wells and there are a variety of curves and edges to deal with.  If I were to do this model over again, I’d mask and paint the maple leaf to get a better result.  

 

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The departures from the “straight out of the box” model were the addition of seat belts and a map stuffed into the windshield coaming, along with the small parachute hooks at the tail fairing.  Panel lines were enhanced with a sharpened drafting pencil using HB lead, with some “oily” wash at the landing gear areas.  I also added some small sensors and antennas from scrap plastic and foil bits, and made up the nose guns from hypodermic tubing.  

As someone once said to me “why build Canadian aircraft- they were so dull”….

Geoff McDonell

      

Photos and text © by Geoff McDonell