Avro Arrow

A model of the plane and its stand, designed for 3D printing and display purposes.

At the start of Grade 11, I created my first CAD plane, a model replica of the Avro Arrow. I used an extremely rough lofting technique, using profiles of the plane that I copied off of cross-sections online. This gave me a rough body, which I worked on for a week, adding a lot of minute details and cuts to attempt to recreate the individual panels of the Avro Arrow. As it was my first CAD plane, while I had only a month or so of experience with Inventor, I believe I did a good job for my skill level at the time. I believe the lofting strategy was the easiest for me to comprehend at the time, but it definitely wasn’t the best for replicating the plane and having it look good. I also believe I added too many unnecessary details for the plane, as the minute panels and components didn’t add to the model, and made it very crowded. I wasn’t thrilled with the final result at the time, but still decided to create a quick stand which would angle the plane up when on display, before printing both. In the end, I learned a lot of lessons with this plane model, and it helped me to figure out which plane to do next and where I had to work on my skills. I believe I did a good job of staying focused with the plane model, but I didn’t spend enough time on the details that would have actually counted in a physical 3D print or display model.