CF-104 Starfighter Technical Illustration

This is an isometric technical drawing of a CF-104 Starfighter I drew in Adobe Illustrator, working from some rough blueprints I managed to locate online. Growing up we had the cockpit for one of these things in our garage, and occasionally I’d climb inside and dogfight imaginary migs or, if the garage door was open, the family caravan. To my dad’s chagrin those memories, and this illustration, are probably the extent of my interest in aviation.

Also, because this vehicle is tubular rather than box-shaped, lining up the projections was a lot harder than I’d anticipated. Instead of working up from a base, I created the forms radiating outwards from a centre line, like a lathe — this is a common concept in 3D modelling, but it took a while to figure out in 2D Illustrator.

Tags: Airplane, CADTools, Drafting, illustrator, infographic, Isometric, newspaper, Technical Drawing, Typography, visual journalism