Lord Riot Posted April 10, 2018 Author Share Posted April 10, 2018 After studying quite a few images of German-based RAF Sabres, I think I'm going to leave the drop tanks off this one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 10, 2018 Author Share Posted April 10, 2018 So, she's almost ready for a coat of DSG spray! The kit provides two sets of airbrakes and nosewheel doors, so I used the 'closed' option ones to stick in with blu-tack to cover pre-painted interior parts. Take care when removing the canopy from the sprue, the attachment points are really chunky and the canopy quite delicate. It'll need the remnants of the attachment points filing down carefully once detached too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted April 10, 2018 Share Posted April 10, 2018 Looking fine. Just a pointer, those side vents need to be at bottom right corner on port side and bottom left on starboard side a tad in board from the corner of the panels they are in. To create them, what I have done is to use a pointed knife blade to mark the opening by way of cutting deepish scores then with same blade carefully slice the vent in place by holding the knife at a suitable angle and cut away the plastic. Don't forget, the Airfix main canopy frame is too shallow too. Pavla do replacement vac form ones or, if you like gently scrape away the line on the canopy and just paint the frame deeper than it was with the aid of canopy masking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 10, 2018 Author Share Posted April 10, 2018 Probably too late to change anything now, I did my best on the extra vents - Sabres seem to be riddled with them! DSG coat added, ready for overnight drying. I'll hand paint Tamiya XF-81 green, then Humbrol 230 'PRU blue' underneath. Hopefully the green won't gunge up and mix with the grey! Apparently it's best to add the tailplanes even after the decals, as there's a black angle incidence indicator line on the rear fuselage behind them. I'm dreading trying to get the squadron bars each side of the roundel over the open airbrakes. I guess I'll have to cut them before soaking off and hope I get the shape spot on! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted April 10, 2018 Share Posted April 10, 2018 I don't tend to worry about the 'holes' on my Sabres, as you say, lots of them, too many for me to get in the right place. I have never tried putting decals across the brakes either but it will have to happen sooner or later. Good work so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 11, 2018 Author Share Posted April 11, 2018 (edited) Green hand-painted. The contrast between DSG and dark green never quite looks enough to me, but photos from this era suggest the grey should be this dark, as do all the instructions - it just doesn't look quite right to me! More suitable for a Harrier or Tornado? Does anyone use medium sea grey for 50s/60s RAF fighters? I know Meteors were a paler grey, but Sabres, Hunters, Swifts and Javelins all seem to be DSG. Perhaps I need a darker green? Edited April 11, 2018 by Lord Riot 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 If you are thinking that the colours are off, how accurate are you paints? What paints are you using? It may all come down to weathering? And we open that Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 11, 2018 Author Share Posted April 11, 2018 I use DSG mixed to BS638 from a spray can, and Tamiya XF-81 dark green acrylic, handpainted. The DSG was mixed at a professional paint factory, to order - cost about £20! It looks perfect on my Shackleton, and I've since used it for any DSG on jets, apart from V- bombers which almost always look paler. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 11, 2018 Author Share Posted April 11, 2018 This was my first time with 'PRU blue/cerulean blue', and I take back what I once said in an earlier thread - it actually looks a beautiful colour on these jets! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 Cerulean Blue is a description for that type of blue whereas official the RAF nomenclature (good military word meaning name of), is PRU Blue (though probably in the perverse way the MoD names things, Blue, P.R.U). Regarding drop tanks, whilst you do see pictures of RAFG Sabres without them, they were mere often than not fitted. It's mentioned in Duncan Curtis' book Sabre - The Canadair Sabre in RAF Service that the RAF pilots were quite often frustrated by the performance of their jets against other Sabre users that were flying without tanks or had more powerful engines, I would suspect that in peacetime, it was frowned upon to jettison the tanks unless there was an emergency. Nice work on your Sabre BTW, it's what I plan to do for the Stranger on the town GB or the 1950's NATO vs Warsaw Pact in Europe GB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 11, 2018 Author Share Posted April 11, 2018 Thanks Wez. I think with the tanks I was put off by having to move them as apparently Airfix have them in the wrong place, so I filled in the holes. I guess I could still add them. Plus, most of the photos I have of RAF Sabres seem to be without them! I'm going to have to add them aren't I! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 2 minutes ago, Lord Riot said: I'm going to have to add them aren't I! I would but that's me! It's your model, you can do what you want. I can quite understand being put off relocating the slots for the tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 11, 2018 Author Share Posted April 11, 2018 Does anyone have any measurements for where the drop tanks should go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 This thread might help... It's been a while since I've looked at the Airfix Sabre, I had it in my head that the positions for the tanks were slots but now I see they're holes - a bit more forgiving (and easier to recover) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 Re the decals over the air brakes, what I do and would do is to fix them in place with blu tack once happy with the paint work apply decals accurately to where thay should be and then.... with a very new pointy scalpel blade carefully cut through the decals...... BUT ONLY when decals are fully dry and well fixed to the model!! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Hemsley Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 (edited) Quote Does anyone have any measurements for where the drop tanks should go? Like I mentioned in a PM, the centre of the pylons are a scale 6' from the wing root ... much easier to measure than from the CL. Six feet (6') in 72nd translates to 25.4mm. However, if your references show RAFG Sabres with no tanks,, you'll be just as right to leave them off as you would to include them. Choice is yours. Btw, I completely agree with Paul on the decals-over-the-speed brakes. Scott Edited April 11, 2018 by Scott Hemsley 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 Second coat of blue applied as I wasn't happy with how it dried with brush strokes visible. I also marked the new positions for underwing the tanks which I'll now probably add as apparently they were carried more often than not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 12, 2018 Author Share Posted April 12, 2018 Blue looks much smoother after a second coat. I still can't decide whether to have the little doors at the wing root open or closed. Most photos seem to show them closed, but to me models tend to look better the more things are open or hanging. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 13, 2018 Author Share Posted April 13, 2018 Drop tanks now fitted! I didn't make new holes under the wings, just filed the fitting points flat and glued them in place with liquid glue after carefully marking out the lines in the right place. Just a bit of detail to tidy up now, then she'll be ready for decals after the weekend. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 13, 2018 Author Share Posted April 13, 2018 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 Well after a cracking weekend it's back to the Sabre. For a small model it has a lot of stencils! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 17, 2018 Author Share Posted April 17, 2018 (edited) Stencils finally done! Allow a few hours to add them all, and do it in good light, some are tiny! The '0' from a set of Tornado decals seemed to fit perfectly, so minimal change was needed from the kit serial (XB772). When stencilling, remember to add the wing roundels before you do the upper wing stencils, as there are two tiny ones (just about visible in the photo) that sit on top of the roundels. Tomorrow I'll see if I can cut the 4 squadron roundel bar to fit the open airbrake. I may be some time. Edited April 17, 2018 by Lord Riot 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 18, 2018 Author Share Posted April 18, 2018 Getting the decals around the airbrakes wasn't too bad, just needed careful measuring. I offered the decals up first then just used Mk.I human eyeball to judge where to cut. Time for a coffee! The Airfix Sabre is a great little kit, and fits together splendidly. Not much filling needed, and very detailed decals. With aftermarket decals available too there are so many options for different squadrons. The next photos should be in the RFI section ... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Looking very nice. I have never had to decal around anything like the air brakes but it'll come. Would another option be to seat the air brakes in place on say a bed of BluTac, apply decal, cut... Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted April 18, 2018 Author Share Posted April 18, 2018 1 hour ago, Courageous said: Looking very nice. I have never had to decal around anything like the air brakes but it'll come. Would another option be to seat the air brakes in place on say a bed of BluTac, apply decal, cut... Stuart I'm not sure in this case it would have worked, as there are two different airbrakes in the kit depending on whether you want to display them open or closed. The open airbrakes have longer arms so can't be temporarily fixed in place as they don't fit in the closed position - just to make it more awkward! 😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now