CF-105 Avro Arrow

The CF-105 Arrow was a supersonic interceptor developed in the 1950s. I love this beautiful plane and I felt a need to model it, despite having no idea how to model such complex shapes.

Please read on to learn some history and to learn about my modelling approach and what I learned sculpting in Fusion360 for the first time ever.

Some history:

The Avro Arrow was designed as a follow-on project to the CF-100 Canuck as a supersonic, all-weather interceptor by the Avro Canada company.

Designed to fly at Mach 2+ speeds at 50,000 feet, this plane was meant to operate in the Canadian north to intercept bombers flying over the north pole. The RCAF would have operated the Arrow, but the project was cancelled before the plane entered service.

The rollout of the Arrow happened to be on the same day the USSR put Sputnik in space in 1957 and the CF-105 first flew in March of 1958.

Due to political reasons, the entire program was cancelled on February 20th 1959. This date, known as Black Friday, put nearly 30,000 people out of work, leading to a brain drain from the Canadian Aviation industry, bolstering the American efforts in the Space Race. Sadly only 5 Arrows ever flew.

When the Arrow program was cancelled by the government, all documentation, drawings, and hardware were ordered destroyed, including all 5 of the flying examples and all partially completed airframes.

(Lovingly Paraphrased from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro\_Canada\_CF-105\_Arrow)

P.S. – I know the paint scheme in the renders is incorrect! I was limited by the surfaces that Fusion 360 would let me select :P I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!

P.P.S. – I don’t have a multi-colour/material printer so a multi-material model is not an issue for me, but if there is enough demand for one I might consider making a multi-material model!

P.P.P.S. - Please note that I rendered the images of the CF-105 model prior to adjusting the top of the engine inlet ducts where they blend into the boundary layer ramp near the cockpit. The final STLs provided have a more accurate gusset-ing in this location.

Print instructions

Category: Vehicles Print Settings

Printer Brand: Prusa

Printer: i3 MK2.5

Rafts: No

Supports: Yes

Resolution: 0.15mm

Infill: 20%

Filament: iPrint3D PLA White and Black
Notes:

This is a bit of a tough model to crack when it comes to orientation as the wings are very thin and almost, but not quite, flat. Also, there are not really any flat surfaces to conveniently set it on.

First, I scaled the model up from the STL size which had a 50mm wingspan. I've printed two models, one scaled to 2x for 100mm a wingspan (~1:150 scale) and one to 5x for a 250mm wingspan (~1:60 for the two models I printed). I then rotated the plane model by 55 degrees to be tail up and cut it into 3 sections lengthwise. I then glued the pieces together to assemble using CA glue, but your (and my) mileage may vary in this endeavour. I'll post photos soon.

I’m also planning on trying it at 5cm wingspan on a Form2, just to see what happens 😊
I’ll keep you updated on my progress with this!

How I Designed This

I designed this model in Fusion 360 for the following reasons:
-I couldn’t find any models of the Arrow that I really wanted to print and,
-I couldn’t print any of the models I found that I liked

This modelling experience was the first time I used the Sculpting environment in Fusion360, and I learned a great deal during the process. I based the model on some isometric views I found of the plane, which were imported and scaled into 360 as canvases for reference. To get the contours of the plane, I imported section views of the fuselage and wings into 360, aligning and scaling them using construction planes.

The sculpting essentially involved stretching, pulling, pushing a simple cylinder into an exceedingly complex shape to define the wings, fuselage, and engine ducting. Cubes sculpted to model the vertical stabilizer and the elevon hinges. The resultant closed volumes were then Boolean-ed together to get the shape of the plane. After this, I returned to a more familiar modelling environment to use sketches, lofts, and extrudes to add details for the wing fences, the decal-ing, and surface details to show the cockpit windows, the weapons bay, and the location of the elevons and rudder.

As I learned how to use the sculpting tools in this modelling process, I am very pleased with the results, and I hope you are too!

For your printing pleasure, I’ve included the following three versions of the model:
-One version of the model is only the exterior geometry of the plane (Clean)
-One version of the model has added debossed details showing the windows, the weapons bay, and the control surfaces (With Details – No Decals)
-One version of the model has all of the above plus debossed decals of RCAF roundels and the RL-201 identification markings on the fuselage in honor of the first prototype of the Arrow to be completed and take to the skies.

As an extra bit of fun, I’ve also included a “Low-Poly” version of the Arrow cut from a singular block based on 3 sketches of the outline of the Arrow as per the isometric 3 view. This was my first attempt at modelling the plane and it gave me a great feel for the plane in Fusion 360. If you wish to print this instead, it is conveniently scaled the same as the other models so it should easily fit on the provided bases.

Any great plane deserves to be displayed and I modeled a lovely display stand to go with the model for just this purpose! This was modeled around an SVG version of the Avro logo I found online, and was scaled with a copy the CF-105 model I designed as a reference. (Glue may be needed)

I’ve included 3 versions of the base for you to choose from:
-The Lithe version of the base has a thin curvy arm for style (I haven’t printed it so YMMV on whether it supports the model well)
-The Beefy version of the base has a beefier version of the arm, just in case
-A version of the base without an arm in case you want to use a dowel or armature wire to display the Arrow

This plane was modeled in Fusion360 in feet with a wingtip distance of 50ft. The STL often is imported with a wingtip distance of 50mm. This gives a scale of ~1:305, but feel free to scale it as you want! The STLs are exported in Fusion 360’s highest fidelity so you shouldn’t lose any detail by making it bigger.