1/48 Hobby Craft Avro Arrow Mk. 2

Gallery Article by Shawn "phantom" Weiler on July 28 2017

 

      

Some times you need a " simple build. I picked up a Hobby Craft Arrow with a partial after market cockpit a couple months ago. After closer examination I found the resin ejection seats and the open shell door canopy were missing. Thanks to everyone's ARC friend Elmo I now had his extra canopy. I also had some old resin seats for a German Starfighter. Hmmmmm.. Close to the same age if the Arrow was not scrapped and maaayyyybe..went into service....The build begins! 

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The cockpit was very well done so no modifications there. IF and its a big IF, if the Arrow HAD gone into service it would not have had the overall white paint job we all remember. It would have been natural metal. So using a Patrick Martin paint scheme book of the RCAF as a reference point I figured the paint scheme would have been similar to the interceptor Canucks of the early 60s. The biggest change the kit needed was the Mk. 2s Iroquois engines which where much more powerful and lighter then the Mk.1s American supplied engines. All I did here was wedge a F-4 Phantom engine afterburner into the kits engine hole. Looks neat if not correct. Next the paint, aluminum. Overall that's it. Then I figured if it was to be used as an interceptor over the arctic it would need leading edge de-icer units. Paint, black over all the leading edges. Gave the Arrow a nice sinister look. The decals are a mix of Canuck brand decals for a CF-100 Canuck and Leading Edge for the Sabre. They looked the part. From the Sabre sheet I picked a squadron decal which was replaced in Germany by a squadron of CF-100 Canucks. Lets pretend....IF the Arrow had gone into service then just maybe Avro could have supplied all kinds of revenue to the Canadian government through sales and taxes. Then maybe just maybe we would not have been reduced from the 4th largest Air Force in the late 50s into a shell one third the size once Trudeau senior took over in the late 60s. Smaller still now.

So, in my mind the displaced Sabre squadron 413 might have reformed in Canada with our new interceptor. One of the biggest problems the real Arrow had was the weapons system. So perhaps we changed the internal weapons bay into a semi released system like the Phantom or Tomcat used. Fit a couple nuke Genie missiles underneath with a couple Velvet Glove Sparrows. Then a underbody gun pod, just because it was in the spare bin. I think the internal weapons bay could have been replaced with another fuel cell. Negating the need for external tanks. As this is my 7th Arrow built I wanted to do something different. Now I had done a grey Arrow around 20 years ago which just looked stupid. Also a cam'd one sort of semi Sabre style. But both of those looked childish. I figure the basic silver interceptor paint is the most believable scheme had the Arrow actual made it into service. Also picked a low number, 220. In case Avro only finished a squadron or two worth of these legendary untested, and unbuilt planes. Now, this is NO show winner. Not even close. I just needed to make something simple. Lots of mistakes, but overall I kind of sort of like it.

"phantom" 

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Photos and text © by Shawn "phantom" Weiler