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Avon Sabre Conversion 1/72


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This one was started about 3 years ago, then until early this year had been left in the cupboard. I decided to push towards completion so that my Special Hobby 1/72 F-86H was no longer lonely ...... :idea:

 

The model is a very old Hasegawa F-86F (I think) mated to the Tasman Avon Sabre fuselage. It was a major surgery job getting fuselage and wings joined up. A lot of detail was lost especially under the fuselage/wing join. I took the opportunity to include some aftermarket resin details in the form of CMK wheel wells, and Pavla cockpit details. As I have a number of Sabre's in the stash (7 more after this one) I did some re-casting of these parts to help make ends meet!

 

I'm afraid the only picture I can find pre paint shop is this one:

20171029_164626

 

You can just make out the Aden gun ports which are appropriately placed alum tube, sanded to profile. Also, keen eyed amongst you might notice the wing tip surgery which happened after I realised the wing span needed shortening! That episode caused me to venture into wing span/chord variations of sabres ........ a whole new world out there.

 

The casting programme also, well some of them! A few of these are rejects.

20180317_174002

 

Much fast forward now to the task of painting. This machine will be finished as an aircraft which served with the R&D unit at RAAF Laverton in 1960. Model Allience decals will be used ..........

20171218_183239

 

The dayglo areas were airbrushed over white undercoat, then masked out ready for some Alclad silver.

20171218_183251

 

This shot shows the resin re-cast wheel interiors quite well:

20171218_18330120171218_18331220180106_092756

 

Then onto the airframe silver

20180112_192139

 

Then its time to start the decal process

20180303_204849

 

This is where she is at today

20180303_210024

 

Still quite a bit to do on both deals and finishing touches. The undercarriage is all being scratch built given the poor quality of the original doner kit, but an Airfix Sabre is providing a good subject to model from

Airfix on left, scratch on right. This needs more tidying up at the moment.

20180308_204938

 

Stay tuned and I'll post more as decals and final touches take place.

 

Cheers

 

Terry

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Decals are coming along and the canopy masking is off. Its co-habiting the workbench with the T21 build!

20180318_193219

 

And some close up shots of the cockpit:

20180318_19323820180318_19331320180318_193331

 

I used a vac form canopy. They are a nightmare to fettle and fit but worth the patience I think.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Cheers

 

Terry

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I decided to hang a couple of AIM-9B's as per the Model Alliance book and photos. I looked around for some suitable ones and in my search for accuracy and finesse, I chose Eduard's set 672036. You get four missiles and each one has a total of 7 parts if you include the protective nose cap (which I didn't). They also include full decals for the four missiles. The etched brass from fins are minute and fit into small sockets as per the real thing.

 

20180111_14223420180111_142301

 

I have scratch built a couple of launch rails to sit between them and the pylon. I think they should look a bit cool on the Sabre!

 

Cheers

 

Terry

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14 minutes ago, RidgeRunner said:

By the way, the Model Alliance fin flash is the wrong size.

 

Martin

Hi Martin, glad you like it. I realised something was wrong with the fin flash in that it didn't align with the leading edge silver patch, so I trimmed the latter to fit the flash.

 

There are several sized fin flashes on the sheet, so I used the one they said for this machine. Do you have any details on the correct size, that would help?

 

Thanks

 

Terry

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My approach was best guess based on a ailable photos. I cant remember the exact size issue but i know i used the  conversion kit fin flash as the best option. Sorry that’s not too helpful. Good luck! Build a good’n

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
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12 minutes ago, RidgeRunner said:

My approach was best guess based on a ailable photos. I cant remember the exact size issue but i know i used the  conversion kit fin flash as the best option. Sorry that’s not too helpful. Good luck! Build a good’n

 

Martin

Hi Martin, thanks. I'll do a bit more research. I'm also finding that the Model Alliance decals lack something in adhesion quality, so maybe I'll be able to correct that without too much trouble.

 

BTW I just saw your Avon Sabre from 2016. Its a beauty, most impressed!

 

Thanks again

 

Terry

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2 minutes ago, Courageous said:

They look rather neat...on the shopping list.

The problem is, once you have sampled them, you will want the sets for the AIM-9D, E, J and M/L ..........:worry:

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20 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Hi Martin, thanks. I'll do a bit more research. I'm also finding that the Model Alliance decals lack something in adhesion quality, so maybe I'll be able to correct that without too much trouble.

 

BTW I just saw your Avon Sabre from 2016. Its a beauty, most impressed!

 

Thanks again

 

Terry

Thanks Terry. Yours will easily match it, or better it :). I had a few set backs with the build but overall I was quite pleased.

 

M

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More views of the sidewinder with the scratch built launch rails

 

20180319_13475520180319_134812

 

Then I gave them a little subtle weathering, largely to the rear fins to enhance the detail there.

 

20180319_172030

 

This picture shows launch rails being test fitted. The one at the back is actually not right, as the attachment lugs on the missile should fit under the rail - fortunately NOT glued yet!

 

20180319_172200

 

While I was weathering the sidewinder I also decided to give the Sabre's wheel wells a wash of darker green. The closeness of the picture shows up a lot of imperfections especially around the main wheel wells. Just don't look too close!

 

20180319_20583220180319_205857

 

Hopefully all will look a lot better after a coat of matt varnish, and from a distance.

 

Cheers

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Not much to report on this one lately. Have been distracted by Sedbergh build and the lurgy!

 

I was hoping to get this one ready for tomorrows Yeovil show, but that wont happen. More decals to apply still and just getting round to sorting the undercarriage.

So far we have scratch built main legs with Pavla wheels. Main units....

20180323_113156

 

Originally I planned to source the doors from an old discarded Tauromodels F-86K as seen here http://www.tauromodel.it/inglese/R801.htm

 

These are the top set in seen below, but I'm prefering the lower pair which are home cast from the CMK undercarriage set.

20180323_115303

 

The home cast CMK version are much thinner and look better. Need to get painting these.

 

Also, for some reason I lost the original Jet pipe and so am fabricating one from a length of plastic tube. I need to thin down the rear pipe walls further. 

20180323_113727

 

One other final piece of construction work will be to sort out some landing lights ahead of the nose bay underside. I had left this till this point as originally I fancied small circles of silver decal but I just cant find anything suitable, so the current thinking is to drill a couple of very shallow holes, slightly countersunk, fill with silver paint, then fill with a blob of clearfix or similar. Grey blobs in picture show where they need to be (roughly). Note they are on the picture, not yet on the model!

 

Any other suggestions welcome!

 

20180319_205832 copy

 

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A small correction with the internal colours of the CA27 Avon Sabre wheel wells and airbrakes, they were all painted aluminium same as the external surfaces

 

There is a lot of good Avon Sabre info in this, including your fin flash dimensions

 

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/newsletter/ADF Telegraph 2017 Summer.pdf

 

and don't forget the Walkaround section

 

 

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23 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I have done lights like that with a small punched out piece of foil burnished into the conical cavity left by the drill bit & then filled with clear fix. I like the effect it gives.

Steve.

Thanks Steve, I'll consider that as an option

23 hours ago, Graeme H said:

A small correction with the internal colours of the CA27 Avon Sabre wheel wells and airbrakes, they were all painted aluminium same as the external surfaces

 

There is a lot of good Avon Sabre info in this, including your fin flash dimensions

 

http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/newsletter/ADF Telegraph 2017 Summer.pdf

 

and don't forget the Walkaround section

 

 

Hi Graeme,

I was unsure of the internal wheel bay colours so went with green zinc chromate as per American. The preserved Sabre clearly has Aluminium painted as you say and I was aware of that, but couldn't find anything that gave the colours for certain back when they were in service. Those links are helpful. If I can certainly conclude that they were aluminium at the time (way back) then I'm tempted to repaint. I'll check out the links for further info.

Thanks again.

13 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

She's coming along nicely, Terry 

 

Martin

Thanks Martin!

 

13 hours ago, Courageous said:

For future reference, this could be very useful for future builds.

 

Stuart

Thanks for that link Stuart!

 

Cheers

 

Terry

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Terry this is looking very good. There is a lot of work in the old Tasman conversion.

 

I recently finished the High Planes Models conversion of this same aircraft albeit in the earlier scheme that was prior to the Sidewinder Trials.

 

The following video may be of interest to you if you haven't seen it already. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brZZDikdoQo

 

Cheers and look forward to seeing the finished product,

 

AGW..

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 24/03/2018 at 11:37 PM, Wilks said:

Terry this is looking very good. There is a lot of work in the old Tasman conversion.

 

I recently finished the High Planes Models conversion of this same aircraft albeit in the earlier scheme that was prior to the Sidewinder Trials.

 

The following video may be of interest to you if you haven't seen it already. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brZZDikdoQo

 

Cheers and look forward to seeing the finished product,

 

AGW..

Thanks for the video!

 

I finally decided to follow the good advice I have been given on here from various folks here on the wheel bay colours. So some very extensive precautionary masking was needed given I had started decal application and final construction a few weeks back.

I didn't want to risk any overspray on any part!

20180402_181909

 

I decided to try out a new paint for me, Vallejo Acrylic Metal Colour, Choosing Dull Aluminium:

20180402_220001

 

I also did the U/C doors and nose-wheel at the same time:

20180402_21532220180402_215335

 

I was pretty pleased with the result when all the masking had been removed.

20180402_21514420180402_21521120180402_215059

 

In the photos above you can just make out the two small holes I've drilled to represent the landing lights. Plan there is to put small drops of silver into each hole then a small drop of clear-fix or thick gloss varnish on top of each.

 

Thats enough for me tonight. Next job on these will be an oil wash into the bays just to add some contrast, then I can continue with decals and final construction.

 

Cheers folks

 

Terry

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Looks good, can I endorse Stevehnz's suggestion of using a piece of 'shiny' tucked into the hole for the lamps.

It usually looks better than a drop of silver paint

 

I bet you like that Vallejo metallic dont'cha

 

😊

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3 minutes ago, perdu said:

Looks good, can I endorse Stevehnz's suggestion of using a piece of 'shiny' tucked into the hole for the lamps.

It usually looks better than a drop of silver paint

 

I bet you like that Vallejo metallic dont'cha

 

😊

Thanks Bill. I'll try the shiny recomendation.

 

The Jury is still out on the Vallejo  metallic to be honest...... the wheel wells are the first time I've tried it. Metallic up to now has been Alclad mostly. Jury out on that too but it'

... b****y train WiFi again!

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I will not use acrylics on main structures, too many 'gone wrong' moments but the Vallejo stuff works wonder in the little detailing tasks after main colours go on

I haven't had incompatible surfaces issues either, 'though some say they've had 'em

 

Dry enamels don't seem to react against acrylics, could be very different the other way round

 

😉

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