Canadair CL-415 Super Scooper 

The Canadair CL-415 is designed specifically for aerial firefighting.

My wife and I saw a couple of these planes in action last week at Stagecoach Reservoir in Oak Creek , CO. They were "gathering water" for the Elk Creek Fire, which they and the ground crews obtained 100% containment on. Quite spectacular flying... here's a video:

Canadair 415 Fire Fighting Plane - Stagecoach Reservoir - Elk Fire - Oak Creek , CO August 2025

So my mind got to thinking about a scale version of the plane, but as a rocket. The upper wing would be removed for flight... or perhaps the plane could be made as a glider.

 

 

 

2025-08-22 CAD Drawing Of Fuselage

 

 

2025-08-23 Fuselage Blank

Glued up the fuselage blanks... I mean... after all... what else wood I use... it is a Boat / Plane / Rocket. 

 

2025-08-24 Fuselage Fabrication

Used my wood lathe and a 2" diameter Forstner bit to bore the hole. Then cut the bevels on the table saw, and sanded the final profile.

Came out pretty nice... and the weight was even less than the CAD model. All in all a pretty good end result.

 2025-08-29 CAD Model... In-Process

 

 2025-08-30 Drawing Set, Rev 01