1/72 Hobbycraft CX-100

Gallery Article by Dave Bailey, aka The Rat on Jan 6 2016

Silly Week 2016

 

      

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, an Incom T-65 X-wing fighter lifted off from a Rebel Alliance base for a test flight after routine maintenance. In his haste the engineer had left his maintenance manual laying in the astromech droid socket (no droid was necessary on this flight), and by one of those rare coincidences that manual came loose at the same instant that the fighter entered hyperspace. Well, not exactly, although it would have appeared that way to the humanoid eye. In relativistic physics even the most imperceptible difference in time at the instant of hyperlight transition can have very different consequences, and so it was that, instead of following the same trajectory as the fighter, the manual shot off not just through space, but time, and also into another dimension.

In 1951 a member of the Canadian Rangers, patrolling on Southampton Island, discovered a strange device laying on the tundra. He turned it in to his superiors, and it was sent to the National Research Council in Ottawa, where it was examined. Against all odds, the scientists learned how to power and activate the device, and the information gathered from it was, conservatively, a quantum leap in knowledge. 

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The first device constructed from the information was a small robot, which amused the researchers for a while as a servant in the staff cafeteria. But bigger things were planned for their toy. Avro Canada was tasked with constructing a simplified test article based on the fighter plans contained in the manual, and work commenced on a modification of the CF-100 Canuck. After a lot of chopping, re-aligning, mating, and swearing, the finished product bore many of the parts of its forefather, but was so altered as to be unrecognisable as a conventional aircraft. 

Testing began with the legendary Jan Zurakowski at the controls, and his initial flight report was generally positive. The assistance of the robot was most welcome, in his opinion, because it was able to activate controls and rapidly compensate for changes in various flight characteristics. The alien flight suit was also tested, and was found to be serviceable. 

Flying continued at a steady pace, and increasingly sophisticated versions soon graced the skies above remote locations in Canada, far from prying eyes. Soon they were ready for production, and it was decided to terminate the Avro Arrow program, as it was no longer needed. Thus it was that on February 20th, 1959, the Government of Canada killed off the1950s, and simultaneously flew several centuries ahead. 

This model represents the initial test article, designated Avro CX-100, as it first flew in 1954. 

Dave Bailey, aka The Rat

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Photos and text © by Dave Bailey