View allAll Photos Tagged joint-replacement
“The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns. The pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.” ~ Khalil Gibran
Hello All!
This past fall, I had lost my balance and ended up sitting on the garden pathway. So, I stayed put and decided to shoot upwards. Even though I wasn't too happy about falling (bad foot), it was a good reminder to shoot from below more often. Speaking of foot, it is still healing from its joint replacement, but I am able to walk now. I have seen two early butterflies already, so watch out world!
Thanks a million for stopping by and for your comments. I really appreciate hearing from you! Have a happy day!
©Copyright - Nancy Clark - All Rights Reserved
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE VISITS AND COMMENTS IN THE PAST 9 MONTHS.
GOING INTO SURGERY FOR SOME JOINT REPLACEMENTS>
A photo from yesterday, with Daisy looking positively fetching.....as is her habit lately. 😉
Sorry I haven't been engaged here recently. But the fact is I got some bad news from the doctor last week and I've been totally preoccupied feeling sorry for myself ever since. No, it's nothing life threatening. I've been told the only solution to my chronic knee pain and inflammation is a total joint replacement.....and I'm not looking forward to it....to say the least! 😖
Anyway, the surgery is scheduled for October 6th....so I've informed Miss Daisy that she'd better enjoy herself while she can...because once the deed is done we will have no choice but to suspend her "Daisy" time until she's gotten me through the recovery....which could be quite a while from what I hear.
In the meantime, as I believe I've had my fill of the sad sack routine, I shall endeavor to persevere....and start taking pictures and posting again. 😊💖
The best things in life are free!
What a load of crap!
The last time I checked, a bottle of vintage Pol Roger cost more than a few quid and Richard Mille wouldn’t give me the time of day. If I did have a local McLaren dealer, I doubt they would appreciate me drooling down their windows, it’s not a good look!
But seriously, there are some things in life which do not cost anything apart from just a little effort, like fresh air. There can be no doubting the cathartic value of just being out there, free from the constraints of the mobile phone, the laptop and the strait jacket. After working indoors all week the chance to escape for a few hours wandering around the great outdoors, discussing the price of fish with any passing sheep that care to listen, is just too good a chance to miss.
Having the ‘no service’ sign on the mobile is actually a blessing; my only concern would be that I couldn’t let Jo know that I’d fallen down that ravine!
I just love the sound of water, from the crashing and breaking of waves to the gurgling and babbling of a gently flowing stream. It’s like therapy without the price tag, the comfy couch and the painful confrontation of life’s accumulated baggage!
When I go out on a shoot, I’m invariably alone and as you know, I talk crap most of the time, but conversations out loud with myself can have a tendency to attract unwanted attention from intrigued by-passers. I’m usually just surrounded by the sounds of the countryside; the joyous melody of the skylark, the gently babbling brook and of course the irate guttural expletives from the farmer because he objects to you playing on his tractor!
It’s a time for quiet reflection, contemplation and of course stuffing yourself with unhealthy goodies. A time to ask yourself questions like:
‘What would it be like to have friends’?
'How much pain would I suffer if I did fall the 20 feet off this ledge to the cascade below'?
'Is Love Island really contributing to our understanding of the psychology of interpersonal relationships'?
If I sound like an old fart, it’s because I am an old fart and the kids need to put down their mobiles, tablets and laptops and get outside. It’s the same for the old gits too, joint replacements and Pacemakers permitting, just get out there. As for me, I’m off to photograph a naked man on a beach!
Of all my waterfall shots, this is my favourite, shot at Rhiwargor Falls at Lake Vyrnwy.
I make no apologies for linking this guy again, you don’t have to listen, but this is quite simply beautiful and I think it goes well with this image. It's such an emotional piece, study his expressions, you can feel the emotion, either that or he's suffering with Gall stones! I also never knew a waste paper basket could sound so beautiful.
He is doing about 6 nights in Milan in December.........Hmmmm, Citybreak?
Network Rails' Robel MMT (Mobile Maintenance Train) DR97504 slowly creeping past the entrance to Jubilee sidings at Tonbridge from the Redhill Line.
These units are stabled at Paddock Wood a few miles to the right.
There are eight MMT sets in the UK and they generally stick to a pre-assigned headcode.
This unit is MMT Set 4 (DR97504, DR97604, and DR97804) and would have been running as 6U84.
the vehicles basically allow operatives to work on p-way under cover, and in addition provide toilet facilities.
General tasks carried out by the MMT and its dedicated staff include:
Rail and insulated rail joint replacement, including welding and associated stressing.
Pad and insert replacement.
Wet bed eradication.
Spot resleepering.
Track geometry repairs.
Fishplate oiling.
A far cry from gangers in cloth caps with roll ups!
Going back in the hospital, have some more issues with joint replacement. Thank you for all your visits, comments, and invites. Enjoy the rest of the week ,
Yesterday’s first wear of my cornflower blue top with my denim skirt. I have great difficulty seeing the subtlety of colours as I am partly colourblind. I think I’ve missed out on a lot of things that people take for granted like wild poppies in a field, I can’t make them out at all! This is the cross legged pose I find difficult to hold as I had a hip joint replacement in my left leg. I’m falling apart!
Stay safe,
Jane xxx
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
SUPPLIES
-Bowl with hot water
-Super glue (or any other kind of glue you like to use that works with plastic)
-Small screwdriver
STEPS
#1: Look at inside your doll's unattached leg. You will see a small piece of plastic that broke off inside the joint. This piece of plastic is what is preventing the leg from popping back on.
#2: To remove this piece of plastic, heat up a bowl or mug with hot water in the microwave until it's bubbling (this depends on your microwave and the size of the bowl/mug).
#3: Place the unattached leg into the hot water. Make sure that the part of the leg with the broken plastic piece is soaking (the socket). The rest of the leg doesn't need to be soaked.
#4: Once the leg is softened, use the small screwdriver to pop out the broken piece of plastic. This may take some finessing. Sometimes tweezers are helpful for this step.
#5: Once the plastic piece is removed, look at your doll's hip. There should be the other half of the knob still attached. The broken piece should line up perfectly with the part that is still attached to the hip.
#6: Using glue, reattach the broken piece of plastic to the hip.
#7: Following the directions on the glue you used, let it dry. I always let the glue dry overnight just to be extra safe. If you attempt to reattach the leg before the glue is dry, it will break again...and then you'll have to repeat the entire process.
#8: Once the glue is dry, heat up the unattached leg in hot water. Make sure that the socket is the part that is soaking.
#9: Once it is soft, line up the socket with the plastic peg on the hip. Using a light amount of pressure, pop the leg bag on. You should hear a click noise. If you don't hear it click into place, then the leg is probably not attached correctly.
#10: Once you are pretty sure the leg is popped back on, gently move it back and forth. This is a way of testing the leg, and making sure it's properly attached. If it's loose and wobbly, you'll need to apply more pressure to get it on correctly.
***IMPORTANT NOTES***
*Sadly, this technique can't be used on all dolls with broken legs. It only works for dolls who have this same sort of articulation. If the doll has another kind of articulation, you won't be able to use this technique.
*Some dolls are very prone to breaking...like the Talking Barbie dolls from the 60s. Sometimes they break again even after you've fixed them. As long as you are careful when repairing them, you can continue to reattach their legs in this manner.
*Certain doll restoration websites actually sell kits for repairing vintage Barbie legs. I'm not sure how they work, but basically they sell replacement leg knobs, neck knobs, and arm joints. I definitely recommend looking into that if you need to.
*It's important not to go overboard with the glue. Too much super glue can actually have the opposite effect--the parts you are trying to glue together might not stick right. Make sure to follow the directions on the glue you are using.
*If you need to fix a doll multiple times, make sure to remove any glue from previous repairs. Rubbing alcohol and hot water should do the trick. Old glue residue can prevent new glue from sticking.
*Certain arm joints can be repaired in a similar manner.
Video tutorial:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io8829HHr30
Missing hip joint replacement tutorial:
www.flickr.com/photos/athousandsplendiddolls/18194548485/...
This has been added to my 2016 Top 10
21 November 2016
Photo #13 of ‘52 Pictures of Me’ Self Portrait Project
This was another favourite from my self-portrait project that I wanted to include in the top 10. I love the light and the relaxed feel of it, particularly with Aki the cat at my feet.
However the real significance of this photo for me is how comfortable I am showing that much skin. Admittedly it is slightly blurred and an obscure angle, but shows I am learning to love my body, which is important to me. Having lived with arthritis almost my entire life and undergoing 9 joint replacements, it’s left me with scars and parts of me I prefer not to show. I’m not ashamed of them at all, they are part of me - it’s just not something I usually flaunt!
This project has certainly given me the confidence in posing for a photo like this one. The other has been from me taking up yoga, which has been one of the most transformative things I have ever undertaken. It’s helped me feel good physically and mentally and I can’t wait to see what other benefits it will give me. The yoga and self-portrait project are working harmoniously I feel. As each week comes around, it’s like another layer of myself is being revealed.
My other ’52 Pictures of Me’ photos can be seen in this album:
www.flickr.com/photos/naomicreek/albums/72157672149817231
Original Post
Photo #13 of '52 Pictures of Me'
Well it feels like I’ve been doing this project for half a year yet I’m only 13 pics in!
More natural light shots in the bedroom again this week – mostly because I was feeling lazy. Lying around on a bed with soft afternoon light - it’s so luxurious and indulgent - it’s hard to not be inspired by the light. Aki the cat thought so too.
It seems the longer I go on with this project the more I’m happy to reveal. The more I see myself in photos and explore all angles, the more comfortable I am with myself.
This also has a lot to do with me focusing more on my health and this year I have pushed myself like never before. Since taking up yoga 8 weeks ago and really honing in on my nutrition I have not only been feeling great but there are noticeable physical changes happening that I’m very happy about and didn’t think were possible. There will always be parts of me I can’t fix or change, lots of scars and bits that don’t work properly – and that’s a frustrating fact I have to live with, but working hard on the parts of me I can change is what is important to me.
Things learned this week:
1. Seeing myself in these photos surprises me, makes me happy and proud of the work I’ve put in, and excited about what else I can achieve.
2. You can take a photo with ridiculous narrow depth of field so 99% of it is blurry but as long as the 1% is in focus it can still work.
Location: Bedroom at home next to window with even natural light
Setup: Sony A7s on tripod, 28-70mm lens, 2 second timer using iphone remote.
1/100 sec, f4.5, ISO1250
To see more pics from this shoot and others, please visit my flickr albums: www.flickr.com/photos/naomicreek/albums
Peugeot 205 5d GT (1983-98) Engine 1460cc TU3S S4 Production approx 5,000,000 (all 205s)
Registration Number A 898 FMY (London SE)
PEUGEOT ALBUM
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623690496925...
The Peugeot 205 was designed by Gerrard Welter, though sometimes accredited to Pininfarina (who were responsible for the Cabriolet) and introduced into the Supermini category in February 1983 in mainland Europe, with British sales beginning in August. The exterior styling was never face lifted or significantly altered in its 15-year production run. There was a dashboard redesign for the 1988 model year, and in late 1990 the 205 received new door design and cards, clear front indicators, new 'smoked' rear light clusters, single point petrol injection and catalytic converters were introduced, to meet the new 1992 pollution limits.
The car was among Europes best selling cars, but produced was gradually slower down from 1991, following the introduction of the joint replacement models, the 106 (1991), and 306 (early 1993), which saw 205 sales slide after 1992.T continuing in Europe until 1998.he Peugeot 205 was discontinued in the United Kingdom in 1996
Diolch am 87,637,835 o olygfeydd anhygoel, mae pob un yn 90cael ei werthfawrogi'n fawr.
Thanks for 87,637,835 amazing views, every one is greatly appreciated.
Shot 12.09.2021 at Cars in the Park, Lichfield Ref. 121-372
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
Kalahari Nightmare
We had our winter family camping trip together at Kalahari again this year January, but I do not know if we will ever go back. For those of you that do not know, Pam had a traumatic experience at Kalahari, being locked in a glass elevator that had no air holes in it. It lowered her down from the upper deck to the lower deck, and by the time I walked down the stairs, I found a good-Samaritan woman trying to get Pam out banging on the door and pressing the buttons. They keep it nice and warm in there and the glass elevator was even hotter, and I was trying everything to get her out to no avail. It took forever to get any help there and then even the supervisor did not know what to do because they never had anyone stuck before. After experimenting and trying everything many times, we finally got the door open, just as the water park manager came up. This person was only interested in getting his defense ready with his people and would not even talk to us about Pam’s care or blood pressure. I walked Pam to his office and then called for the EMT’s to check her out. She seemed to settle down and we went back out in the park, sat down, and watched the grandchildren. I talked to the front desk manager about the water park manager and at least he slipped a nice apology under our door that night. I could still tell Pam was not herself so Friday morning I left the kids there and I drove her home, as she had a migraine from her blood pressure being up. We got home about noon Friday and she slept most of the day, but then about midnight she woke me up in excruciating pain. I tried to get her in a wheelchair, but she was in so much pain I could not move her. I finally convinced her that we needed an ambulance, and fortunately, my nice neighbor had plowed my driveway, and the ambulance was able to load her in through the garage and take her to Wood County hospital. Her right leg where her new knee was replaced was swollen and red hot all the way to her ankle, and super painful to any touch or movement. They were giving her straight morphine and it did not help at all for the first 24-hours. They finally got Pam’s blood pressure down, and her headache has subsided. They are still pouring antibiotics into her to fight any infection, and treating her for a possible blood clot with CT, MRI scans, she is still in pain, and is now a little less miserable than she was. They think she might have even picked up an alleged germ off the floor at Kalahari through a cut on her foot. You have to remember they keep the place hot all the time, with hundreds and hundreds of people walking around bare-footed, it is suspected to be one huge Petri dish, full of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The photos may look nice, but this is the downside of the whole place. Just remember, you can have a lot of fun at Kalahari, but please take precautions, and protect your feet.
And just so I do not have to repeat it, and probably fifty some friends have privately asked, did they comp us for all the anxiety they put us through? I did not even know what comp meant, and I am not the type to pursue litigation, the answer is NO, they did not give us anything for our trouble, and I paid the entire bill. All I wanted was an apology from the nasty man, and I received that. All these post medical problems you face after going to a place like this, is just something you have to live with on your own. All we can do is keep spreading the word until it hits them in the pocketbook. Then at the end of February, Pam had an allergic reaction to all the antibiotics and we had to rush her to Toledo Hospital. She spent two weeks there and during that time they performed another emergency surgery on her, removing her brand new knee joint they had installed just last fall. She is really laid up now, and we do not know when she will get out. That bug attacked the titanium steel in her new knee joint, and they had to chisel it back out and fill it with some kind of medical cement. She is surviving now that they are giving her plenty of analgesics for the pain. Finally, March 6th, 2011, we got to bring Pamela home this week. The recovery hospital unit they were going to send her to, was full, so since we have our little apartment custom designed like a nursing home with all large three-foot doors, single level floors and ramps, they allowed us to bring her home. Since they removed her new knee joint they put in last September 2010, they just have a block spacer installed there now, and she wears a soft cast so she cannot bend it. Our son customized her recliner chair raising it up about four-inches so she could get up, and then she uses her walker to move around. We have nurses come in daily to check and change the dressing, plus we are still giving her strong IV antibiotics daily, and she has her vicodin as an analgesic so she can tolerate the pain. They are thinking that maybe in May they will be able to reinstall her new knee joint. I told her that is good timing because football tryouts are usually in July. The doctors now tell us if you have replacement joints, stay away from hot tubs and water parks, because they are a disease haven ready to attack your hip, shoulder, or knee joint replacement.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
Peugeot 205XS 3d (1983-98) Engine 1360cc S4 Production approx 5,000,000 (all 205s)
Registration NumberK 789 EUJ (Shrewesbury)
PEUGEOT ALBUM
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623690496925...
The Peugeot 205 was designed by Gerrard Welter, though sometimes accredited to Pininfarina (who were responsible for the Cabriolet) and introduced into the Supermini catagory in February 1983 in mainland Europe, with British sales begining in August. The exterior styling was never face lifted or significantly altered in its 15-year production run. There was a dashboard redesign for the 1988 model year, and in late 1990 the 205 received new door design and cards, clear front indicators, new 'smoked' rear light clusters, single point petrol injection and catalytic converters were introduced, to meet the new 1992 pollution limits.
The car was among Europes best selling cars, but produced was gradually slowew down from 1991, following the introduction of the joint replacement models, the 106 (1991), and 306 (early 1993), which saw 205 sales slide after 1992.T continueing in Europe until 1998.he Peugeot 205 was discontinued in the United Kingdom in 1996
Thankyou for a massive 55,003,301 views
Shot 03.07.2016 at Cars in the Park, Beacon Park, Lichfield REF 121-254
Graphic for the Health section describing which and how joints are replaced as well as their estimated duration. Illustrator, Lightwave 3d and Photoshop.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
Construction crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation closed multiple lanes of I-5 in Olympia Sept. 12-14 to replace a bridge expansion joint. On Saturday, Sept. 14 between noon and 6 p.m., traffic on southbound I-5 in Olympia was 50 percent less than it was the previous Saturday. One more weekend of closures is planned to finish the work.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
Crews are already hard at work on Friday morning, Sept. 12, exposing the old expansion joint on I-5 in Olympia in preparation for replacement.
www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/koloa-hi/harlan-amstut...
(My note, photograph from a 2015 follow-up visit, Dr. Amstutz traveling to Seattle) Well here in 2024 I am now 18 and 15 years out after having both my hips resurfaced by orthopedic pioneer Harlan Amstutz; Dr. Amstutz doing "his" resurfacing on my hips as opposed to the more traditional total hip replacement. Both my hips are working perfectly with no endpoint in sight, and they feel and perform as though they were my natural hips; for me a life with no hip related limitations. Thank you once again, Dr. Amstutz.
Emeritus 1991 Harlan Cabot Amstutz M.D. was born in Santa Monica California on July 17, 1931. After graduating from the John Marshall High School, he went on to UCLA, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1953 with a B.A. in fine arts. While an undergraduate he played on the UCLA basketball team. He received his M.D. from UCLA in 1956. He did a rotating internship at LA County and a year of general surgery at UCLA before going to HSS for his orthopaedic surgery residency from 1958-1961. That was immediately followed by two years of military service, serving as Captain in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Minot, N. Dakota, as Chief of Orthopaedics, Consultant Hospital, for the 862nd SAC Division, Area Veterans and local Indian reservations. This was followed by two years in London, England, the first at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital as an Honorary Registrar and the next year as Research Assistant at the Institute of Orthopaedic, also in London. Harlan then returned to HSS from 1965-1970, working at various capacities including Chief of Prosthetics and Orthotics, Associate Scientist, Lecturer and Director of Bioengineering. In 1970, he was tapped for the job of Division Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCLA, taking over for the founding Division Chief, Charles Bechtol, who had served since 1959. Harlan served in that capacity from 1970-1989. From 1975 until 1989, he also served as Chief of Section of Orthopaedics at the Wadsworth VA. He became Emeritus in 1990. From 1991- 2007 he was the Medical Director of the Joint Replacement Institute at Orthopaedic Hospital. He then became the Medical Director of the Joint Replacement Institute at St. Vincent Medical Center in downtown LA. He continued to work on the technologies of metal on metal surface replacements until it closed in 2015.
Harlan Amstutz was the epitome of a true academic clinician-scientist. To his credit, he has authored or co-authored 335 refereed journal articles, over 500 abstracts and 75 chapters. He has over 1000 national and international presentations and 76 invited lectureships, as well as holding 13 patents. He is editor of Hip Arthroplasty, was the author and editor of Hip Resurfacing: Principles, Indications, Complications and Results, and is the editor of Current Status of Metal-on-Metal Hip Resurfacing. In 1996, Harlan was elected to the Royal College of Surgeons of England as an Honorary Fellow (one of only seven American orthopaedic surgeons to have been so honored), and elected in 2005 as an Honorary Member of the German Orthopaedic Society. In 2007 he received AOA-Zimmer Award for Distinguished Contribution to Orthopaedics, and in 2010 he was named Distinguished Alumnus of the Hospital of Special Surgery. In addition, Harlan seems to have been president of about everything: the Orthopaedic Research Society in 1973, the North American Hip Society in 1979, the Association of Orthopaedic Chairman in 1983, the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons in 1984, the American Orthopaedic Association in 1992, and the International Hip Society in 2000. In 1970, he was an ABC Travelling Fellow, and in 1974, Harlan, along with Mark Coventry from the Mayo Clinic, were the NIH Travelling Exchange Fellows to Russia. He is a six time winner of the John Charnley Award in 1977, 1984, 1990, 1994, 2000, 17 and 2006. In 1979, he was the recipient of the Otto Frank Award for cement fixation of the femoral head in canine surface replacements, and in 1987, along with Keith Markolf, PhD, he received the Nicholas André Award for the UCLA knee ligament testing apparatus for ACL insufficiency.
In his 19-year tenure at UCLA, he established this Division as a dominant presence in bioengineering and joint replacement surgery. There, in collaboration with the Department of Engineering, he started the first PhD program in Biomechanical Engineering. He did the first leg lengthening, established the CEU (clinical evaluation unit) in 1973, and performed the first surface replacement in 1975. In those days it was all about joint replacement. Andy Cracchiolo introduced the Poly Centric Knee replacement, Gerry Finerman designed the Anametric Knee replacement, and we all used the Zimmer T-28 hip replacement system designed by Harlan. There were 4 stem sizes and 3 cup sizes and the cups and stems were cemented. The trochanter was removed 100% of the time (except at the VA where it was forbidden). The Tharies hip surface replacement system designed by Harlan was introduced in 1975. As a brand new R2 on July 1, 1975, I picked up that first patient and scrubbed on the second case. Vibrant and exciting describe those early days for the residents and faculty. In the ‘80s, Harlan introduced the DANA shoulder replacement, “Designed After Normal Anatomy,” to round out the complement of joint replacement systems and technologies.
After an illustrious career as an academic orthopaedic surgeon spanning 5½ decades, Harlan is now retired, but rumored to still be working. He and his wife Patty now have time to enjoy their children, Julie, Mark and Catherine and their second home in Maui. All those who have worked with and for Harlan wish him and his family health and happiness in the years to come. We look upon and remember our professional and social experiences Harlan and Patty as privileged.
Jeffrey J. Eckardt M.D. December 2015
Related photograph www.flickr.com/photos/tellytomtelly/7895343866
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
Peugeot 205 5d GL (1983-98) Engine 1124cc S4 Production approx 5,000,000 (all 205s)
Registration Number H 559 MVT (Stoke-on-Trent)
PEUGEOT SET
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623690496925...
The Peugeot 205 was designed by Gerrard Welter, though sometimes accredited to Pininfarina (who were responsible for the Cabriolet) and introduced into the Supermini catagory in February 1983 in mainland Europe, with British sales begining in August. The exterior styling was never face lifted or significantly altered in its 15-year production run. There was a dashboard redesign for the 1988 model year, and in late 1990 the 205 received new door design and cards, clear front indicators, new 'smoked' rear light clusters, single point petrol injection and catalytic converters were introduced, to meet the new 1992 pollution limits.
The car was among Europes best selling cars, but produced was gradually slowew down from 1991, following the introduction of the joint replacement models, the 106 (1991), and 306 (early 1993), which saw 205 sales slide after 1992.T continueing in Europe until 1998.he Peugeot 205 was discontinued in the United Kingdom in 1996
Many thanks for a fantabulous
44,306,306 views (adjusted and readjusted during FLICKR re-engineering, reduced by around 650,000)
Shot 23.08.2015 at Lupin Farm, Classic Vehicle Gathering, Orgreave, Alrewas, Staffordshire - Ref 109-976
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
Multi Specialty,Critical Care & Joint Replacement Center- Hospital in Dombivli East.
Website: shivamhospital.net/hospital-in-dombivli.html
Hospital equipped with 50 bedded multispeciality & joint replacement center providing quality & dedicated health care in DOMBIVLI. Shivam hospital have experienced teams of Doctors, Administrator & paramedical staff to provide quality services round-the-clock.
Medical Services:
ICU & Critical Patient
Accident-Fracture
Emergency
Orthopaedic
Joint Replacement
Arthoscopy
Spine Surgery
Surgical & Laproscopic Surgeries
Cancer Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Maxillofacial Surgery
this pump is inserted for a contant supply of painkillers into the patient, without having to swallow pills and harm the stomach. it's usually for severe local pain (e.g. after a knee joint replacement) or for long-term treatment.
copyright © Mim Eisenberg/mimbrava studio. All rights reserved.
I'm so glad frigid temperatures like this do not last long here in metro Atlanta. I feel bad for those suffering through even more severe weather during this polar vortex.
A friend of mine, a New Yorker, posted these helpful reminders on a professional listserv we belong to:
Layers, layers, everyone. You MUST wear a hat outdoors. Heat escapes from the top of your head. Line your boots with newspaper for extra insulation. If you have long underwear, WEAR IT! Silk glove and boot warmers (found at ski shops) are great. Use lip balm.
Put dog booties on your pups. I'm not talking pampered dogwear here. The ice gets between their foot pads and it's very painful for them. If they won't tolerate booties, bring a small hand towel on your shortened walks. Make sure snow doesn't get packed between their toes. [Here in Atlanta, just helping keep their feet warm with booties would be a good idea.]
Wear socks with slippers in the house. Keep your chest warm by wearing a vest indoors. If you wear it open, you won't get too hot.
Provide lots of extra water for your pets. Radiator heat in particular can be very drying.
Be very careful with your space heaters. (Keep them at least 15" away from bedksirts, long drapes, and newspaper and magazine stacks.)
Oh, I know this would never happen to one of you, but always check your clothing dryer before you turn it on. Warm laundry is very inviting to some of our four-legged family members, particularly on colder days. And sometimes they burrow deep.
If you have heart conditions, are pneumonia prone, had joint replacement or have arthritis, please stay indoors.
After my epidural steroid shot on the 30th, I'm feeling considerably better, though even before the shot I'd been improving due to the nerve pain medicine I'm on or the chiropractic treatments I've been getting (thanks, Danny, for the referral). I'm still getting tingling or a sense of pressure in my leg and sometimes pain in my groin, but I'd say it's discomfort of 3-4 on a scale of 10, versus the initial pain of 8-9 I felt when this first presented at the end of October. I know the injection will wear off one of these days, but meantime I'm not doing anything stupid and am enjoying just relaxing. I have no transcription or editing work at the moment, and that is helpful, too.
I hope you are doing well, and I extend my best wishes to you for a healthy new year filled with love and joy.
Zoe Bear is doing well, even coping with these frigid temperatures when she has to go outside to do her business. She has her up and down days (as do I), but most days are as good as they can be. Thanks to all for caring about her.
*****************
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+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
BAE Lightning F.6S general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
Well here in 2021 I am now 15 and 12 years out after having both my hips resurfaced by orthopedic pioneer Harlan Amstutz; Dr. Amstutz doing "his" resurfacing on my hips as opposed to the more traditional total hip replacement. Both my hips are working perfectly with no endpoint in sight, and they feel and perform as though they were my natural hips; for me a life with no hip related limitations. Thank you once again, Dr. Amstutz.
Emeritus 1991 Harlan Cabot Amstutz M.D. was born in Santa Monica California on July 17, 1931. After graduating from the John Marshall High School, he went on to UCLA, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1953 with a B.A. in fine arts. While an undergraduate he played on the UCLA basketball team. He received his M.D. from UCLA in 1956. He did a rotating internship at LA County and a year of general surgery at UCLA before going to HSS for his orthopaedic surgery residency from 1958-1961. That was immediately followed by two years of military service, serving as Captain in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Minot, N. Dakota, as Chief of Orthopaedics, Consultant Hospital, for the 862nd SAC Division, Area Veterans and local Indian reservations. This was followed by two years in London, England, the first at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital as an Honorary Registrar and the next year as Research Assistant at the Institute of Orthopaedic, also in London. Harlan then returned to HSS from 1965-1970, working at various capacities including Chief of Prosthetics and Orthotics, Associate Scientist, Lecturer and Director of Bioengineering. In 1970, he was tapped for the job of Division Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCLA, taking over for the founding Division Chief, Charles Bechtol, who had served since 1959. Harlan served in that capacity from 1970-1989. From 1975 until 1989, he also served as Chief of Section of Orthopaedics at the Wadsworth VA. He became Emeritus in 1990. From 1991- 2007 he was the Medical Director of the Joint Replacement Institute at Orthopaedic Hospital. He then became the Medical Director of the Joint Replacement Institute at St. Vincent Medical Center in downtown LA. He continued to work on the technologies of metal on metal surface replacements until it closed in 2015.
Harlan Amstutz was the epitome of a true academic clinician-scientist. To his credit, he has authored or co-authored 335 refereed journal articles, over 500 abstracts and 75 chapters. He has over 1000 national and international presentations and 76 invited lectureships, as well as holding 13 patents. He is editor of Hip Arthroplasty, was the author and editor of Hip Resurfacing: Principles, Indications, Complications and Results, and is the editor of Current Status of Metal-on-Metal Hip Resurfacing. In 1996, Harlan was elected to the Royal College of Surgeons of England as an Honorary Fellow (one of only seven American orthopaedic surgeons to have been so honored), and elected in 2005 as an Honorary Member of the German Orthopaedic Society. In 2007 he received AOA-Zimmer Award for Distinguished Contribution to Orthopaedics, and in 2010 he was named Distinguished Alumnus of the Hospital of Special Surgery. In addition, Harlan seems to have been president of about everything: the Orthopaedic Research Society in 1973, the North American Hip Society in 1979, the Association of Orthopaedic Chairman in 1983, the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons in 1984, the American Orthopaedic Association in 1992, and the International Hip Society in 2000. In 1970, he was an ABC Travelling Fellow, and in 1974, Harlan, along with Mark Coventry from the Mayo Clinic, were the NIH Travelling Exchange Fellows to Russia. He is a six time winner of the John Charnley Award in 1977, 1984, 1990, 1994, 2000, 17 and 2006. In 1979, he was the recipient of the Otto Frank Award for cement fixation of the femoral head in canine surface replacements, and in 1987, along with Keith Markolf, PhD, he received the Nicholas André Award for the UCLA knee ligament testing apparatus for ACL insufficiency.
In his 19-year tenure at UCLA, he established this Division as a dominant presence in bioengineering and joint replacement surgery. There, in collaboration with the Department of Engineering, he started the first PhD program in Biomechanical Engineering. He did the first leg lengthening, established the CEU (clinical evaluation unit) in 1973, and performed the first surface replacement in 1975. In those days it was all about joint replacement. Andy Cracchiolo introduced the Poly Centric Knee replacement, Gerry Finerman designed the Anametric Knee replacement, and we all used the Zimmer T-28 hip replacement system designed by Harlan. There were 4 stem sizes and 3 cup sizes and the cups and stems were cemented. The trochanter was removed 100% of the time (except at the VA where it was forbidden). The Tharies hip surface replacement system designed by Harlan was introduced in 1975. As a brand new R2 on July 1, 1975, I picked up that first patient and scrubbed on the second case. Vibrant and exciting describe those early days for the residents and faculty. In the ‘80s, Harlan introduced the DANA shoulder replacement, “Designed After Normal Anatomy,” to round out the complement of joint replacement systems and technologies.
After an illustrious career as an academic orthopaedic surgeon spanning 5½ decades, Harlan is now retired, but rumored to still be working. He and his wife Patty now have time to enjoy their children, Julie, Mark and Catherine and their second home in Maui. All those who have worked with and for Harlan wish him and his family health and happiness in the years to come. We look upon and remember our professional and social experiences Harlan and Patty as privileged.
Jeffrey J. Eckardt M.D. December 2015
Related photograph www.flickr.com/photos/tellytomtelly/7895343866
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
A jackhammer on a mini-excavator stands ready to start breaking apart the concrete on the westbound I-90 East Channel Bridge near Mercer Island.
The concrete will be chipped out and removed so crews can replace two 33-year-old deteriorating expansion joints on the bridge.
Replacing the expansion joints is critical highway safety and preservation work to ensure the integrity of the bridge and the safety of drivers.
WSDOT contractor crews chipping out the old expansion joints on the southbound I-5 Steamboat Slough bridge near Marysville, WA.
This is one of dozens of bridge expansion joints on I-5 between Everett and Marysville.
The weekend of March 19-20, contractor crews began replacing the left half of the two expansion joints on the bridge.
The expansion joints on this bridge are 20 years old and deteriorating. Our bridge crews frequently find them broken into pieces and weld them back together.
Bridge expansions joints are critical to ensure the safety and integrity of the span. The expansion joints allow the concrete decks to expand and contract with the weather and changing traffic. A failing expansion joint can compromise a bridge and pose a safety hazard for drivers.
Kalahari Nightmare
We had our winter family camping trip together at Kalahari again this year January, but I do not know if we will ever go back. For those of you that do not know, Pam had a traumatic experience at Kalahari, being locked in a glass elevator that had no air holes in it. It lowered her down from the upper deck to the lower deck, and by the time I walked down the stairs, I found a good-Samaritan woman trying to get Pam out banging on the door and pressing the buttons. They keep it nice and warm in there and the glass elevator was even hotter, and I was trying everything to get her out to no avail. It took forever to get any help there and then even the supervisor did not know what to do because they never had anyone stuck before. After experimenting and trying everything many times, we finally got the door open, just as the water park manager came up. This person was only interested in getting his defense ready with his people and would not even talk to us about Pam’s care or blood pressure. I walked Pam to his office and then called for the EMT’s to check her out. She seemed to settle down and we went back out in the park, sat down, and watched the grandchildren. I talked to the front desk manager about the water park manager and at least he slipped a nice apology under our door that night. I could still tell Pam was not herself so Friday morning I left the kids there and I drove her home, as she had a migraine from her blood pressure being up. We got home about noon Friday and she slept most of the day, but then about midnight she woke me up in excruciating pain. I tried to get her in a wheelchair, but she was in so much pain I could not move her. I finally convinced her that we needed an ambulance, and fortunately, my nice neighbor had plowed my driveway, and the ambulance was able to load her in through the garage and take her to Wood County hospital. Her right leg where her new knee was replaced was swollen and red hot all the way to her ankle, and super painful to any touch or movement. They were giving her straight morphine and it did not help at all for the first 24-hours. They finally got Pam’s blood pressure down, and her headache has subsided. They are still pouring antibiotics into her to fight any infection, and treating her for a possible blood clot with CT, MRI scans, she is still in pain, and is now a little less miserable than she was. They think she might have even picked up an alleged germ off the floor at Kalahari through a cut on her foot. You have to remember they keep the place hot all the time, with hundreds and hundreds of people walking around bare-footed, it is suspected to be one huge Petri dish, full of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The photos may look nice, but this is the downside of the whole place. Just remember, you can have a lot of fun at Kalahari, but please take precautions, and protect your feet.
And just so I do not have to repeat it, and probably fifty some friends have privately asked, did they comp us for all the anxiety they put us through? I did not even know what comp meant, and I am not the type to pursue litigation, the answer is NO, they did not give us anything for our trouble, and I paid the entire bill. All I wanted was an apology from the nasty man, and I received that. All these post medical problems you face after going to a place like this, is just something you have to live with on your own. All we can do is keep spreading the word until it hits them in the pocketbook. Then at the end of February, Pam had an allergic reaction to all the antibiotics and we had to rush her to Toledo Hospital. She spent two weeks there and during that time they performed another emergency surgery on her, removing her brand new knee joint they had installed just last fall. She is really laid up now, and we do not know when she will get out. That bug attacked the titanium steel in her new knee joint, and they had to chisel it back out and fill it with some kind of medical cement. She is surviving now that they are giving her plenty of analgesics for the pain. Finally, March 6th, 2011, we got to bring Pamela home this week. The recovery hospital unit they were going to send her to, was full, so since we have our little apartment custom designed like a nursing home with all large three-foot doors, single level floors and ramps, they allowed us to bring her home. Since they removed her new knee joint they put in last September 2010, they just have a block spacer installed there now, and she wears a soft cast so she cannot bend it. Our son customized her recliner chair raising it up about four-inches so she could get up, and then she uses her walker to move around. We have nurses come in daily to check and change the dressing, plus we are still giving her strong IV antibiotics daily, and she has her vicodin as an analgesic so she can tolerate the pain. They are thinking that maybe in May they will be able to reinstall her new knee joint. I told her that is good timing because football tryouts are usually in July. The doctors now tell us if you have replacement joints, stay away from hot tubs and water parks, because they are a disease haven ready to attack your hip, shoulder, or knee joint replacement.
Kalahari Nightmare
We had our winter family camping trip together at Kalahari again this year January, but I do not know if we will ever go back. For those of you that do not know, Pam had a traumatic experience at Kalahari, being locked in a glass elevator that had no air holes in it. It lowered her down from the upper deck to the lower deck, and by the time I walked down the stairs, I found a good-Samaritan woman trying to get Pam out banging on the door and pressing the buttons. They keep it nice and warm in there and the glass elevator was even hotter, and I was trying everything to get her out to no avail. It took forever to get any help there and then even the supervisor did not know what to do because they never had anyone stuck before. After experimenting and trying everything many times, we finally got the door open, just as the water park manager came up. This person was only interested in getting his defense ready with his people and would not even talk to us about Pam’s care or blood pressure. I walked Pam to his office and then called for the EMT’s to check her out. She seemed to settle down and we went back out in the park, sat down, and watched the grandchildren. I talked to the front desk manager about the water park manager and at least he slipped a nice apology under our door that night. I could still tell Pam was not herself so Friday morning I left the kids there and I drove her home, as she had a migraine from her blood pressure being up. We got home about noon Friday and she slept most of the day, but then about midnight she woke me up in excruciating pain. I tried to get her in a wheelchair, but she was in so much pain I could not move her. I finally convinced her that we needed an ambulance, and fortunately, my nice neighbor had plowed my driveway, and the ambulance was able to load her in through the garage and take her to Wood County hospital. Her right leg where her new knee was replaced was swollen and red hot all the way to her ankle, and super painful to any touch or movement. They were giving her straight morphine and it did not help at all for the first 24-hours. They finally got Pam’s blood pressure down, and her headache has subsided. They are still pouring antibiotics into her to fight any infection, and treating her for a possible blood clot with CT, MRI scans, she is still in pain, and is now a little less miserable than she was. They think she might have even picked up an alleged germ off the floor at Kalahari through a cut on her foot. You have to remember they keep the place hot all the time, with hundreds and hundreds of people walking around bare-footed, it is suspected to be one huge Petri dish, full of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The photos may look nice, but this is the downside of the whole place. Just remember, you can have a lot of fun at Kalahari, but please take precautions, and protect your feet.
And just so I do not have to repeat it, and probably fifty some friends have privately asked, did they comp us for all the anxiety they put us through? I did not even know what comp meant, and I am not the type to pursue litigation, the answer is NO, they did not give us anything for our trouble, and I paid the entire bill. All I wanted was an apology from the nasty man, and I received that. All these post medical problems you face after going to a place like this, is just something you have to live with on your own. All we can do is keep spreading the word until it hits them in the pocketbook. Then at the end of February, Pam had an allergic reaction to all the antibiotics and we had to rush her to Toledo Hospital. She spent two weeks there and during that time they performed another emergency surgery on her, removing her brand new knee joint they had installed just last fall. She is really laid up now, and we do not know when she will get out. That bug attacked the titanium steel in her new knee joint, and they had to chisel it back out and fill it with some kind of medical cement. She is surviving now that they are giving her plenty of analgesics for the pain. Finally, March 6th, 2011, we got to bring Pamela home this week. The recovery hospital unit they were going to send her to, was full, so since we have our little apartment custom designed like a nursing home with all large three-foot doors, single level floors and ramps, they allowed us to bring her home. Since they removed her new knee joint they put in last September 2010, they just have a block spacer installed there now, and she wears a soft cast so she cannot bend it. Our son customized her recliner chair raising it up about four-inches so she could get up, and then she uses her walker to move around. We have nurses come in daily to check and change the dressing, plus we are still giving her strong IV antibiotics daily, and she has her vicodin as an analgesic so she can tolerate the pain. They are thinking that maybe in May they will be able to reinstall her new knee joint. I told her that is good timing because football tryouts are usually in July. The doctors now tell us if you have replacement joints, stay away from hot tubs and water parks, because they are a disease haven ready to attack your hip, shoulder, or knee joint replacement.
The new expansion joint on the left half of the Steamboat Slough Bridge is in place and workers pour and smooth concrete over it.
Over the weekend of March 19-20 contractor crews began replacing the left halves of the two expansion joints on the bridge.
The expansion joints on this bridge are 20 years old and have reached the end of their useful lifespans.
Bridge expansions joints are critical to ensure the safety and integrity of the span. The expansion joints allow the concrete decks to expand and contract with the weather and changing traffic. A failing expansion joint can compromise a bridge and pose a safety hazard for drivers.
More information about the I-5 Union, Steamboat and Ebey Slough bridge expansion joint replacement project is available on the WSDOT website: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/UnionSteamboatEbeyBridgeRpr/...
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
BAE Lightning F.6S general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
These Post-it notes are not a tactical wheel for sport fencing (1) but are an abstract cutting diagram that's used for my longsword solo drills. CrappyCat art by Trevor Van Meter (aka VanBeater) is used to cat things up. I'm going to start off by saying that I'm just another voice on the internet. Always verify using other sources and in fact the serious looking for information should skip directly to the provided links or better yet contact a school or club. The drills, exercises, diet, and philosophy works for me but everyone is a little different. Experiment to see what works for yourself. I've been sitting on this pic for over four months so let's get to it.
Preparation
Practicing solo entails several things: stronger academics than what some competition-oriented schools may demand from students, no partner drills, no pressure testing through sparring for verification, and horrible (in my case non-existent) foot work. It fits my schedule and budget though.
Safety
I've ask different martial arts practitioners over the years what basic exercises they recommend outside of martial arts to improve their practice, and all of them recommend to just do the drills for the martial art that's being studied. Looking through some primary and secondary sources on medieval fighting manuals there was advice to run for long distances and throw heavy rocks. Ok. Then there's the account of Jean Boucicaut, a French knight during the Hundred Years War who chop wood, leap onto horses, climbed ladders upside down, leap onto the shoulder of a man that's already on a horse (2)... Fffffffu yeah no, guess it's time to just dive in.
I've viewed a number of Historic European Martial Arts videos on YouTube and initially only Swordsage who practice the Chinese jian and Scholgadiatioria who focuses on Western military sabre warned about locking up the joints. Roland Warzecha in his Viking shield workout video also mentions joint shock. I don't recall any martial art practitioner mentioning this in-person either. When I was an anthropology student taking osteology it was noted that hip and joint replacements were on the rise for active 40-50 year olds and excessive wear from incorrect instruction was a contributing factor. It sounds basic but as someone with no other background in martial arts I'm glad I caught this info early before I receive my longsword waster back in November.
For warmups I use basic arm movements from carrier flight deck yellow and blue shirts, lots of circular movements along all three axis that has a mild resemblance to some of the Kung Fu warmups I've seen. Sometimes I also schedule walks for an errand to add to this or failing that I do some stairs.
Basics
My ramblings on longsword grip for beginners - TL;DNR - pistol grip to start with, but can be dynamic and any gripping style can be used as long as it does the job:
www.flickr.com/photos/vmax137/18639432510/in/dateposted/
A lot of these exercises and drills start off with a very basic longsword stance. Dominant is usually right and off-hand is usually left but it can be reversed. To start off the body is sideways, foot at off-hand's side is front and pointed straight, foot at dominant hand's side is back and pointed roughly 45° out. The space between the feet should be enough to have one foot taking a step without being off balanced while not close enough where mobility is hampered. Weight for now is evenly distributed between both feet with the back straight. Dominant hand on top of sword grip, the off-hand below about one hand's-width away. The crossguard is high at side of face with the blade slightly angled back. It's not a katana or a baseball bat - we're dealing with a sword that has relatively long reach that can hit that elbow and a long grip to maximize mechanical advantage so elbows in.
Mental
The human body is very flexible with what it can use for energy especially for younger people. Starting healthy eating habits early is valid but I've seen lots of people give up because they introduced too many stressors. I prefer to ease into a diet that I can live with long term while occasionally pushing to improve it.
I often perform a slow version of what I intend to do first. This strengthens pre-visualization and ensures that surrounding stationary objects won't be smashed.
For one-handed work I sometimes keep my off-hand on the hip but occasionally I hold it high at the chest ready to grab or deflect. This can bring out the Floating Hand Syndrome where fatigue can cause the hand to slowly drop further and further away from the chest until it becomes an offering as an easy target, so it's good to practice being mindful of it.
I take at most maybe 20-30 seconds break in between sets while tossing the sword from one hand to the next with arms extending out. If there's a fumble that means I need to take a longer break. If not then I'm keeping the muscles warm and blood flow up. I try to keep breaks to a minimum.
With one-handed drills I also do a spirited sword toss from one hand to the other when switching arms. I remember from a J.D.M. Option video where a fan was invited to do hot laps around a track with his car while various Japanese professional drivers watch. After the laps the pros and Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya admonished the fan by saying his driving follows the racing line too closely, that being so composed with no dives into the corners, the driving lacks raw emotion to help him push past what was memorized. So this show-off mechanic is for me a reminder of that lesson. Additionally if there's a possibility of foot traffic I try to be at a vantage point to ensure people can safely witness my power metal poses and I can bask in their awed reactions.
Other
Having plenty of sleep and a reasonable meal a few hours prior to allow settling and digestion helps.
Exercises and Drills
-Wiggling backwards and forwards, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
-Windshield wipers, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
I initially got this exercise from people who played tennis and practiced it before I found it was a thing done in fencing. The longsword waster I assembled from parts ordered makes it 3 lbs. with a point of balance about 2” away from the guard closes to the hand. To protect my joints the wiggling isn't done more then 45° and the windshield wiper is done closer to half that. If I want range I use a Chinese dao waster that weighs 1.5 lbs. but with a point of balance 8” from the hand. It wouldn't help much just flailing about either, I use the background as guides for consistent movements.
Scholagladiatoria demonstrates this all the way up to about 1:20. Take care with range of movement and inertia when using a heavier weapon!:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYGLtIDc1vQ&index=3&list=...
-Horizontal cut shoulder height, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
Concentrate on blade's flight path, then work on edge alignment, then speed.
-Sword handling drill, left and right hand dominant, 30x each.
Initially grabbing the bottom 1/3 of the blade I now attempt to consistently grab the halfway point. I often do this with eyes closed for better concentration.
I use the long thrust drill at around the 53 second mark:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_y5qGwRNFU&index=4&list=...
-Two-handed vertical half-cuts, 3 target points center, left, and, right. Left and right dominant hand, 50x each.
Just like the horizontal cuts, concentrate on blade's flight path, then work on edge alignment, then speed. Outside of the office I added footwork by taking a few steps along the 8 basic cardinal directions after a certain number of cuts. Basically I move the foot closest to the direction I want to head to first followed by the other but timed to lag slightly behind the cut.
-Mordhau / Murderstroke, straight strike stationary. Left and right dominant hand 10x each.
Turn the sword into a war hammer! Starting with sword up at the side of dominant hand and with the crossguard near the face, reach up with the off-hand to grab the blade and perform mordhau. Dominant hand closest to the crossguard should be straight ahead, hand closest to sword tip ends under (not in!) the armpit area.
How often was this used? Certainly it was used often for armour (3) but not as much for unarmoured fencing (4). Of course the crossguard can be used as a punch or a hook as well so I also attempt to recover back to the original position with the same effort and tempo instead of stopping and slowly recover.
-Mordhau / Murderstroke, diagonal strike with step. Left and right dominant hand 10x each.
That was ridiculously metal! Let's turn the sword into a war hammer again, but while taking a step forward to increase pummeling range! Starting with sword up at the side of dominant hand and with the crossguard near the face, reach up with the off-hand to grab the blade and perform mordhau. As the swing arcs up step forward with the foot on the dominant’s hand's side. The pommel will arc diagonally with the dominant hand closest to the crossguard should be pointing at to the side, hand closest to sword tip ends under (not in!) the armpit area.
Mordhau demonstration, first stroke is straight strike, second stroke diagonal strike, many variations. Obviously with no partner to wind and bind it's my responsibility to provide the yelling:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e0xr-aZJos
-Sword handling drill, 10x inside line, 10x outside line left dominant hand then right dominant hand.
Having a dynamic grip will aid in keeping the edge alignment during the upward diagonal cuts.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9SqRAVaJkg&index=2&list=...
-Wiggling backwards and forwards, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
-Windshield wipers, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
-Sword handling drill, left and right hand dominant, 30x each.
-Horizontal cut shoulder height, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
These are repeated from earlier, and may later generate speculative conversations on the activity that helped build the bulging forearm muscles.
-Meyer square exercise, 4 cuts, descending left/right diagonal cuts, ascending left/right diagonal cuts with true edge while shifting foot positions, 10x sets on left and right dominant hand each with corresponding foot placement changes. True edge? Pretend the blade has a single sharp edge facing away from the body, that's the true edge and is what's cutting during say a descending cut.
Dynamic grip is key to keeping edge alignment.
-Meyer square exercise, 4 cuts, descending left/right diagonal cuts, ascending left/right diagonal cuts with false edge while shifting foot positions, 10x sets on left and right dominant hand each with corresponding foot placement changes. False edge? Pretend the blade has a single sharp edge facing away from the body. A sharp edge then appears on the opposite side pointing straight back at the body making it the false edge and can be used for an ascending cut in this exercise.
Since the ascending diagonal cuts are done with the false edge, grip is mostly static.
Meyer Square exercise slow:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt-EuyF2RNY
Meyer Square exercise at speed. I'm at maybe half speed:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DqxKb3hXb4
-One-handed vertical half-cuts, blade position from vertical with the guard near face to horizontal almost in a punching motion, 3 target points center, left, and, right. Left and right dominant hand, 50x each.
Working with the sword's center of percussion will help with speed. Just like the horizontal and vertical cuts previously, concentrate on blade's flight path, then work on edge alignment, then speed. Outside of the office I added footwork taking a few steps along the 8 basic cardinal directions after a certain number of cuts. Basically I move the foot closest to the direction I want to head to first followed by the other but timed to lag slightly behind the cut. In brief ideally for beginners the hand should lead followed by the arm, body, legs and foot (5).
For cool down I look over at the 12 guards and try to switch from one guard to another:
www.swordschool.com/wiki/index.php/The_12_guards
Why are there Holes in My Gloves?
I made it! This may be a warm up session with less footwork for the average European HEMA practitioner but this is more than enough to hone this Cheetos chiseled work of art! It used to take over an hour to go through this once a week. Now even with corrections I can finish in 25 minutes and am at this point doing it three times a week while adding more foot work to push closer to 40 minutes.
Speaking of which the seriously low amount of footwork described here is because the office is a little too confined for movements with a longsword. I've since found a number of locations in the summer that will allow foot work so when I have the time I will follow up with a part 2. Maybe.
Other Exercises
Other exercises includes a random number of squats with arms on chest using a door frame as a safety. Seattle has a number of hills so I took the advice of the masters and detour to those hills. I'm not about to carry rocks but I load up 20-30 lbs. of grocery and walk a mile or so on gentle hills. I use a tactical pack built for that and the trick is to make sure the straps on the backpack are heavily padded and the straps are tight. A poorly padded strap will dig in causing bruising and can halve the amount ofweight that can be tolerated. My routes don't usually descend but if your does descents are often rougher on the knees so depending on the load, grade, and surface go slow.
Plan your hill climb torture here:
veloroutes.org/elevation/?location=seattle
Diet
Drastically cut down on bread, pasta/noodles, rice, junk food. Reduced meat intake, increased light soups, using fruits and vegetables to fill gaps from previous foods. This is intended to be long-term so looking forward to a scheduled cheat day is for me the wrong mindset. I think it's better to have unscheduled gorging since it helps mentally as long as it's done sparingly and is rigorously balanced by additional physical activities.
Recovery
I try to keep a half bottle of ice frozen at an angle for rapid cooling of water. Wait half an hour to an hour to eat, and eat slowly to prevent over indulgence. For myself just laying around for the rest of the day is will cause some major soreness the next few days so I do mild active recovery through walks, light house work, or other movements to promote blood flow. All of this with the required sleep helps cut down recovery by a day or two for me.
Results
A greatly increased respect for men-at-arms from anywhere, increased wrinkles on forehead during Game of Thrones' fight scenes, and starting seriously from January a loss of 15lbs. as of June. A few months of research was absolutely needed prior to build up a workable drilling and exercise format while inhaling cheeseburgers like a smiling Happy Cat.
Conclusions
Eat slightly less, move slightly more is sustainable long term for me. Learn to enjoy GoT more as it deviates from its source and it becomes more difficult for readers to spoil things for the show's viewers.
Need additional footwork, need to add complexity to drills, need to add something physical such as a pell or rings suspended by a string from the ceiling (6). Additional improvements in form will require video recording which entails great risk to current paying web cam viewers. It might be easier for everyone if I just join a club.
“Would You Like to Know More?”
Historical European Martial Arts covers martial arts roughly from the Viking Era to WW2, with implements as diverse as swords, polearms, axes, bows, and bayonets. Studies are not solely limited to Europe proper either as many martial arts have changed or have outside influences when used in other regions. It's not that sport fencing and reenactments aren't fun or have a great deal to teach - they absolutely do. It's just that HEMA is closer to its martial roots.
HEMA at its core is broken down to practice and academics. Focusing on one or the other isn't wrong but even a strong bias towards one aspect with some input from the other will produce more informed interpretations.
Want to start but don't know from where? Pick a weapon that's interesting, check out some YouTube videos, and then look at the available treatises written by masters. If possible attend HEMA classes even if what's being taught isn't a first choice. When the time comes it will make learning that first choice a lot easier and long term it's not good to limit understanding to a single weapon anyway (7). Pressure testing through sparring is incredibly important as something that works at half speed sparring drills may not work at all during full speed. Sparring in clubs is great and there's as much or more to learn sparring between clubs.
I read a lot of posts where the original poster is one or several hours away from a club. With a full schedule and the normal interruptions of life it's a legitimate question to ask about creating a group or long distance learning. Right now anyone can be a HEMA instructor, but obviously not everyone should. For those who found like-minded beginners with no access to instructors or local organizations it might be better to start off with a flatter and more fluid hierarchy. For example a study group can have individuals become temporary guides based on knowledge and ability.
Here's an example of HEMA being practiced far away from other clubs in Taiwan. While some of the gear isn't ideal the techniques and fighting spirit are there:
esfinges1.wix.com/e/apps/blog/historical-european-martial...
The in and outs of HEMA in South Africa is another example with detailed look into some of the logistics and ways to deal with vast distances:
armoury.co.za/the-in-and-outs-of-hema-in-south-africa-and...
More on long distance learning:
www.reddit.com/r/wma/comments/3bdra1/i_have_no_way_to_lea...
If practicing longsword fencing isn't an option, then sport fencing is a good way prepare for it. Tempo, measure, footwork, and more will definitely transfer to longsword fencing.
Since HEMA is a broken lineage with no living practitioner from the past to directly pass down oral and body mechanic information, interpretations are just that and will frequently be modified or discarded as new information arises. Even renown past and present masters can have incorrect information or interpretations. It sounds chaotic but it's the same principle model used in academic research so be prepared to constantly test and relearn.
“I don't give a damn for destiny. Anyone worth a Chig's ass will take responsibility for asking themselves, then answering: 'Who am I and what's the point?'”
-Col. Tyrus Cassius McQueen
Guy Windsor in The Swordsman's Companion dedicated a number of pages solely on the type of students he's encountered, detailing their motivation, abilities, and their path. It's a good question to ask (8) and it should be asked often, because even when an answer is found there's always a chance that the answer will change.
Thanks for reading, stay fit and have a good fight!
Notes
1-Sport fencing tactical wheels, descriptions and examples. I should add that unlike the Meyer Square the tactical wheel was designed for beginners and to train basics in sport fencing:
thefencingcoach.org.uk/tfc/coaching/tactical-wheels/
Huh what do you know, found opinions by those much more knowledgeable and experienced on the tactical wheel:
www.reddit.com/r/wma/comments/3b9dhl/do_hema_practitioner...
2-Knightly Training, a discussion on the HEMA Alliance Forum:
hemaalliance.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1422
3-Sparring practice using armoured half-swording techniques with one guy as the buffalo. Only a small subset of armoured fighting, even with modern protection joint locks and hooking are difficult to do safely with speed. Then there are things that shouldn't be seen such as Sigmund Ringeck's recommendation of using body weight and both knees to land on a fallen opponent's crotch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bdMfaymGlk
4-An opinion on how often halfswording techniques for unarmored fighting were used compared to what Talhoffer' depicted in his treatises (primarily Württemberg Fechtbuch of 1467).
thehemaists.com/2015/05/18/what-are-we-really-seeing-with...
5-Roland Warzecha's Tactics 2: Fighting in True Times:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0LpsnO0E4U
6-Sword Carolina's HEMA tools for solo drills:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9HrjmSIDdc&list=PLCni2cUc_Co...
7-“You should not have a favorite weapon, or any other exaggerated preference for that matter. To become overly attached to one weapon is as bad as not knowing it sufficiently well. You should not imitate others, but use those weapons which suit you, and which you can handle properly. It is bad for both commanders and troopers to entertain likes and dislikes. Pragmatic thinking is essential. These are things you must learn thoroughly.”
- Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings
In praise of diversity: why we train so many weapon styles:
armoury.co.za/in-praise-of-diversity-why-we-train-so-many...
8-The Fencer with Many Faces, an interesting take on fighter personalities:
freefencer.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/the-fencer-with-many-...
CrappyCat art by Trevor Van Meter (aka VanBeater):
Crews use portable sound-absorbing noise shields to quiet down air compressor noise during expansion joint replacement work on the I-5/West Seattle interchange.
Learn more: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/SpokaneStBridgeRepair2012/de...
Peugeot 205 Junior (1983-98) Engine 954cc S4 Production approx 5,000,000 (all 205s)
Registration Number F 627 GHA (Dudley)
PEUGEOT SET
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623690496925...
The Peugeot 205 was designed by Gerrard Welter, though sometimes accredited to Pininfarina (who were responsible for the Cabriolet) and introduced into the Supermini catagory in February 1983 in mainland Europe, with British sales begining in August. The exterior styling was never face lifted or significantly altered in its 15-year production run. There was a dashboard redesign for the 1988 model year, and in late 1990 the 205 received new door design and cards, clear front indicators, new 'smoked' rear light clusters, single point petrol injection and catalytic converters were introduced, to meet the new 1992 pollution limits.
The car was among Europes best selling cars, but produced was gradually slowew down from 1991, following the introduction of the joint replacement models, the 106 (1991), and 306 (early 1993), which saw 205 sales slide after 1992.T continueing in Europe until 1998.he Peugeot 205 was discontinued in the United Kingdom in 1996
Many thanks for a fantabulous
45,246,434 views
Shot 11:10:2015 at the Midland Auto Club, Curborough Sprint - Ref 110-456
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Canadair’s impressive CF-151 ‘Kodiak’ interceptor had a long development story, and the fact that Canada developed an indigenous high-end fighter after the demise of Avro Canada’s CF-105 ‘Arrow’ in the late 50ies was an amazing achievement.
The Kodiak’s stillborn predecessor, the Avro Canada CF-105 ‘Arrow’, was a heavy interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Canada as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the delta wing CF-105 held the promise of near Mach 3 speeds at altitudes likely exceeding 60,000 ft. (18,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.
It was a very promising aircraft, but not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review in 1959 had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. UK also had interest in the Arrow, but this, too, was halted when the Government decided that the age of manned fighters had come to an end – the EE Lightning was just lucky enough to survive this decision.
Anyway, this sudden end to the national interceptor project left Canada with a touchy defense gap in the vast Northern Territories. In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 CF-101 Voodoo aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected, to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow. But this was only seen as a stopgap solution – what was needed was a missile-equipped long range interceptor with excellent range, loiter time and the ability to make prolonged dashes at high speed. A true dogfight capability was not required, since it was expected that the targets would be heavy bombers, coming in at high altitudes and subsonic speed.
With the technical advances in the late 60ies, variable geometry aircraft became a promising solution to combine these requirements in a single airframe. Canadair (at that time heavily linked with General Dynamics in the USA) started in 1962 a design study for a heavy swing wing interceptor for the RCAF, which would replace the Voodoos in the 70ies. This was surely driven by the multi-purpose F-111 development for both USAF and USN at that era, but the Canadian aircraft would be a completely new design, tailored to the local needs and with an indigenous weapon system.
The project received the internal code of CL-151 and was an impressive, if not elegant aircraft: with its low-set wings and the tandem cockpit for pilot and system operator it differed greatly from the F-111.
Most fuel was carried in the fuselage, between the air intake ducts and the fixed wing roots. Only the outer wing parts were moveable – a much simpler construction than the F-111. The main weapons, exclusively missiles, were carried semi-recessed under the fuselage, even though pylons under the fixed wing parts, just outside of the landing gear wells, could carry drop tanks. Additional smaller hardpoints on the inner wings' leading egdes could carry up to two Sidewinder AAMs each for short range combat and self-defense. An internal gun was not mounted, even though external SUU-23 gun pods were an option.
Unique features of the CL-151 were its ability to take-off and land on semi-prepared airstrips (specifically, on packed snow and soggy ground), so it received a massive landing gear with low presure twin wheels on all legs, as well as an arrestor hook for forced landings. In order to fit the main landing gear into the wing roots without sacrificing too much depth in the fuselage it received tandem bogies, similar to the Swedish Saab A37 Viggen. Another novel feature was an APU, which was installed together with a heat exchanger in the fin root, so that the CL-151 could be operated with as little maintenance infrastructure as possible.
Core of the CL-151 weapon system was the indigenous CMG-151 radar. This was a state-of-the-art all-weather, multi-mode X-Band pulse doppler radar system with a huge 38” dish antenna in the aircraft’s nose - light years ahead of the vintage Hughes MG-13 fire control radar of the F-102, which was also installed in the CF-101, a design of the early 50ies.
Functionally the CMG-151 was very similar to the American AN/AWG-9, even though less capable. It was designed to detect bomber-sized targets at ranges exceeding 60 miles (100 km) and it featured look-down/shoot-down capabilities, making the fighter suitable to various interception tasks, e .g. against low flying tactical bombers.
The CMG-151 offered a variety of air-to-air modes including long-range continuous wave velocity search, range-while-search at shorter ranges, and the first use of an airborne track-while-scan mode with the ability to track up to 16 airborne targets, display 8 of them on the cockpit displays, and launch against 4 of them at the same time. This function was originally designed to allow the CL-151 to shoot down formations of bombers at long range. The CMG was also coupled with an infrared sighting and tracking (IRST) under the aircraft's nose, which offered with a fire control system enhancement against hostile ECM. This feature was incororated in parallel to "Project Bold Journey", which was an CAF F-101B upgrade programm, running from 1963-66.
There was also a projected, corresponding long-range missile, the AIM-151 ‘Swan’. This was a derivate of the US-American Bendix AAM-N-10 ‘Eagle’, which had been developed for the US Navy’s fruitless ‘Missileer’ program. During its development, the capabilities of the new missile grew tremendously. Growing ever larger, the missile's range was extended to 100 miles (160 km), using an Aerojet-General XM59 solid-fuel motor. Since this would be beyond the range of effective semi-active homing, a new active-radar terminal seeker was added to the missile. But things got more and more complicated, and in the end the AIM-151 was cancelled in 1966. Nevertheless, the CL-151 needed a guided weapon to fulfil its task - and the aircraft' armament were also an important political decision, since the CF-101’s unguided, nuclear AIR-2A ‘Genie’ missiles had been a constant issue of debate and controversy.
In the end, and as a cost-effective compromise, an updated version of the AIM-7E 'Sparrow' was bought, the AIM-7EC. This version was optimized for a longer range (50ml/80km) and equipped with better avionics, making it comparable to the British Sky Flash AAM. Four of these weapons could be carried under the fuselage, and up to four more could be mounted on the wing hardpoints.
Overall, the CL-151 system was a very ambitious and prestigious project – just like the failed CH-105 before. It was not before 3rd of April 1968 until the first prototype made its maiden flight in Montreal. The aircraft’s all light-grey livery and sheer, massive size earned it the nicknames ‘Moby Dick’ and "Grey Goose'. Officially, with its service introduction in November 1969 as CF-151A, the aircraft was christened ‘Kodiak’.
The Kodiak proved to be THE interceptor Canada had long been searching for – but it was costly, could have achieved more and fell victim to ever new political controversy, so that effectively only 43 airframes (two prototypes, one static test airframe, five pre-series aircraft and finally 35 serial aircraft) were eventually built at slow pace until 1973. There had been hopes to find foreign customers for the CF-151, but potential users of sucha specialized, complex and simply large aircraft limited the circle of potential users.
Great Britain was already settled on the Tornado ADV and Sweden, as a neutral country, preferred a national solution which would lead to the JA37 Jaktviggen and later to the JAS 39 Gripen. So, the CAF would be the only user of the Kodiak, and all machines, except for the three initial development airframes, were allocated to various interceptor squadrons and served alongside the ageing CF-101 Voodoos, primarily in long-range patrol duties in Canada's far north.
Time did not stand still, though, and technology developed in a fast pace: through the 1970s, the increasing obsolescence of the CAF’s CF-101 and the CF-104 led the CAF to plans for their joint replacement by a single type. This respective ‘New Fighter Aircraft’ program was launched in 1977 with the intention of finding a replacement for the CF-5, CF-104 Starfighter and CF-101 Voodoo. An updated Kodiak as well as Grumman F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, Panavia Tornado and the Dassault Mirage F1 (later replaced by the Mirage 2000) were all considered and evaluated as potential replacements.
Cost considerations eventually reduced the choice to the F-16 and F-18, and the F-18 ultimately prevailed, likely because of the additional safety of twin engines when flying in remote areas. The decision for the (C)F-18 was announced on 10 April 1980.
This was the end of the CF-151A, just after one decade of successful service. Ironically, the CF-101s, which the CF-151 had been supposed to replace, soldiered on until retirement in the 1980s. When these had been replaced with McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighters, the death knell for the big and complex Kodiak rang, too.
The CF-151 was quickly becoming outdated and an aircraft of very limited use, despite its formidable capabilities as a heavy interceptor. But potential war scenarios had changed, and economical as well as political developments could not justify the expensive (and small) Kodiak fleet anymore. Consequently, the last CAF CF-151 flight took place on August 18th 2000, when the last indigenous Canadian fighter type was replaced by CF-18s, too.
Canadair CF-151A general characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 21.2 m (69 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: spread (20° sweep): 17.14 m (66 ft 3 in); swept (65° sweep): 11,65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Height: 5.55 m (18 ft 2 in)
Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Powerplant:
2× GE TF30-P-3 turbofan jet engines, rated at 12,000 lbf (53 kN) dry and 18,500 lbf (82 kN) at full afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h) at altitude and in clean configuration
Combat radius: 1,330 mi (1,160 nmi, 2,140 km)
Ferry range: 4,200 mi (3,700 nmi, 6,760 km)
Service ceiling: 66,000 ft (20,100 m)
Rate of climb: 25,890 ft/min (131.5 m/s)
Armament:
4× AIM-7E3 'Sparrow' medium-/long-range AAMs, semi-recessed under the fuselage
4× AIM-9M 'Sidewinder' short range AAMs on wing hardpoints
2× drop tanks under the outer fixed wings
Theoretical external ordnance of up to 15.200lb (6.900kg)
The kit and its assembly
A bold and weird project. It all started when I was pondering the idea of a whiffy, large VG fighter in the class of a F-4 or MiG-25. While reading book about OKB Tupolev, when I realized that the Tu-22M had pretty fighter-like lines, even for a bomber. Some math revealed that reducing the aircraft by 50% in any dimension would yield a proper airframe, and so I started out searching for a 1:144 kit which would be turned into a fine 1:72 interceptor!
Strangely, respective kits are rare and expensive. The Dragon kit is 1st choice, but I found a re-boxed Dragon kit from 1985 under the obscure “New Craft” label (supposed to come from Japan) in North Carolina, only for US$12.
Its fuselage and wings would be taken 1:1. Three areas needed modification/donations, though. One issue is the tail fin. The Tu-22M’s fin, with its broad root section and the tail barbette, would not look good on a 1:72 kit, so it was completely replaced with a fin from a Panavia Tornado (Italeri). On the other end of the kit, I decided to implant a new front with a tandem cockpit. At first I just wanted to cut open the fuselage’s upper side, implant some seats and cover it with a TF-104 canopy, but I discarded it as impractical. Additionally, too much of the Tu-22M’s silhouette would be left.
As a surprising solution I found that the forward fuselage from a Su-15 (I had fuselage parts from a PM single-seated version still in the scrap box from my Ha-410 project) could be easily transplanted onto the Tu-22M fuselage, just in front of the air intakes! Dimensions and shape fit VERY well, and since the PM kit is cheap and widely available I ordered a NiB Su-15UM (a two-seater) from PM as a donation kit, for just US$8, instead of fighting with the single-seater.
The rest were rather minor modifications: the cockpit interior was built from scratch, with dashboards from a Tornado IDS, two IAI Kfir ejection seats and side consoles made from styrene strips. Nothing fancy, but the PM kit is totally bleak... Externally, the fairing for the 1:144 AS-6 ‘Kingfisher’ missile was closed (with a piece of styrene, cut to size), jet nozzles from a Tornado IDS added (drilled open and simply glued onto the Tu-22M nozzles), and a spine implanted between the canopy and the fin.
The landing gear is also completely new: the front wheel comes from a F-18 (reversed, though), the tandem bogies for the main landing gear are leftover pieces from a VEB Plasticart Tu-20/95 bomber kit, placed on struts from a F-117 kit and fitted with wheels which actually belong to the dolly in a Amodel X-20M missile kit.
The missiles are leftover pieces from a wrecked Italeri Tornado F.3. The drop tanks belong to a Revell F-16 - I originally wanted to use even bigger ones, from a vintage "box-scale" F-100 from Revell, but these proved to be to bulbous: they'd contact the landing gear.
Painting and markings
While a lot of Soviet design went into this aircraft, the idea of a Canadian alternative/successor to the F-101 and CF-105 prevailed. Additionally, I also organized a complete marking set for CAF CF-101s (from Wintervalley in Canada), so that authentic markings could be applied. While it sounds a bit boring, the simple, all-grey livery of CAF interceptors suits the Kodiak’s elegant lines well. Hence, the whole aircraft was painted in glossy FS16515 (Testors 2039), with a black radome and a blue fin rudder with three black stripes (a 409 Squadron marking) – very simple.
In order to emphasize details and pint out panel lines the model received a wash with thin black ink, as well as some dry-painting with lighter shades of grey on the upper surfaces. Canadian aircraft look rather tidy, so a thorough weathering or true worn look was not intended.
Cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140), the landing gear as well as the air intakes in white (Humbrol 130). The landing gear interior was painted white, too, everything was kept rather simple. Additionally, some weathering and stains were added with dry-brushed shades of grey.
As mentioned before, all markings come from an aftermarket decal sheet from Wintervalley Model Products from Canada (now Canuck Models). Great stuff - if you search for authentic and high quality markings for ‘something Canadian’, look there!
Finally, everything was sealed under a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss acryllic varnish, just the glare shield in front of the cockpit became totally matt.
What should I say? An idea that lingered for months finally became hardware, and it is a big and impressive bird. Surely, with the real CF-105 background, this model has a melancholic touch... Who knows what might have been if the CF-105 had not been axed in the late 50ies...? Maybe the Kodiak! ^^