Canadair CL-87F "Firespotter", December 2015

[nönöbär]

Canadair CL-87F "Firespotter", December 2015

The Plane:

After the end of World war II, allied forces had a lot of interst in German aviation industry. Not surprising, expecially the jet aircraft and aircraft designs caucht must of the interest.

However, one of the old and outdated designs got some interst as well: The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. Some technicans of Canadair inspected captured German constuction plans of various aircraft as they were looking for ideas to find the solution to fight forest fires in west Canada.
It is not known why and how they made their desicion, but rumors say that a lot of beer was involved in it as well. Anyway, one of the engineers came up with the idea to take the Ju 87, put it on float planes and use it to dive bomb water containers on forest fires. And so the "Firebomber" was born.

The first model flew in 1948. While not being fast, the plane had good flight characteristics and even with its huge floats, it was still able to excecute "dive bomb" manouvers.
The first tests of the Mk I "AirSplash" waterbomb were made one year later, but the results were not satisfiying. While the Airsplash could be delivered with pinpoint efficency to the target, the amount of water that was delivered was simply not enough. The usage of bigger flying boats with much more water capacity was more effective. 
But descpite those tests, this was not the end of the CL-87F. Where the plane was very successful was its usage as a firespotter, therefore the bomb equippment was removed and the aircraft were mainly used in this role since the 1950s.

A total of 27 Cl-87F "Firespotter" were build and while 3 of them got lost through accidents, they were activly used intil the early 2000s. Several of them were then later sold to private owners, but one plane was restored in its 1960s appearance and kept into flying conditions. The "12844" is now loacated at the Sproat Lake near Port Alberni, BC and can be booked for scenic flights there.   

The model shows the Canadair CL-87F "Firespotter" registration "12844" as it looks in December 2016.

Various views of the Canadair CL-87F "Firespotter"













The Model:

The  CL-87F is based on a Revell 1/72 Junkers Ju 87 kit. The floats were taken form a Matchbox/Revell Heinkel He 115. The landing gear was removed and instead the floats were added. Besides this the Junkers model was build as normal.
The raint schmee is like one of oter Canadian waterbombers and made with Revell Aqua Color. Decals were taken from the spare part box (the Canadian ones) and form the original kit.

Remark:
In summer 2015, I was on vacation to Vancouver Island and what you saw there were a lot of float planes. Therefore I had to build a What-If of this theme and of coruse it should be something Canadian this time.

[NARSES2]

That works 

[kerick]

The red and yellow suits it well! Love it!

[ericr]

long live floatplanes!

[sandiego89]

Nice! I bet painting the canopy was fun 

Well done.

-Dave

[Captain Canada]

Them is some pretty big boots ! Must be Mukluks   But they sure work ! I really like the look of this one, for some reason.....Great job !

[zenrat]

Brilliant.  With boots that big they could hold either fuel or water.

More Stukas.  We should have a Stuka GB...

[Cobra]

Superb Build This looks So Cool & Convincing,You'd Swear it was Real! Keep up the Superb Work Dan

[nönöbär]

Nice! I bet painting the canopy was fun 

I can tell you stories about it......
Its always this terrifying moment when you remove the masking of the canopy when the final finish is added to the model and you see if it worked or not. This time it was more or less ok, but I saw easier canopys to make so far.

And thx everyone for the feedback 

[zenrat]

Thats why I brush paint them without masking.  Much less fraught.  I can see how i'm stuffing it up in real time...

[ericr]

Thats why I brush paint them without masking.  Much less fraught.  I can see how i'm stuffing it up in real time...

[nönöbär]

Thats why I brush paint them without masking.  Much less fraught.  I can see how i'm stuffing it up in real time...

My attempts for hand painting them without masking were even less successful. Therefore I switched to masking and airbrush. But this model here was one of the harder ones to make with all this small sections to mask.

[NARSES2]

For canopies like this I use painted masking tape. I have tape which is 0.5mm and is very thin 

[Glenn Gilbertson]

That looks terrific - and very convincing! well done!

[The Rat]

Cracking job on that!  One of these days I'll get my Spotfire finished, but sourcing Province of Ontario markings isn't easy. Might have to get them custom made.