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  1. With the upcoming F-86 Group Build due later this year, I thought I’d take the opportunity to correct a number of erroneous misconceptions related to the 413th Fighter Day Group. But first a bit of history. On 11 November 1954, HQ Ninth Air Force General Order No.62 reactivated the 413th Fighter Day Group (FDG) at George AFB in California with subordinate units the 1st, 21st and 34th Fighter Day Squadrons (FDS). On the same date, command of the Group was assigned to Col George ‘Ravin’ Laven, Jr with squadron commanders Maj Arnold ‘Moon’ Mullins (1st FDS), Maj Stephen L Bettinger (21st FDS) and Maj Richard D Creighton (34th FDS) also assigned. Thus the Group could boast two Korean War aces (Bettinger and Creighton) while Mullins had kills in both WW2 and Korea; he would be posted out to Far East Air Command on 11 April 1955 and his place taken by Maj Herbert A Pederson. Colonel Laven (whose family nickname was “Butz”) had been a P-38 ace in WW2, registering combat claims with the 54th Fighter Squadron in Alaska plus a final one on 26 April 1945 with the 8th FS in the Philippines. His combat aircraft carried the name “Itsy-Bitsy” and when he moved to the 14th FG post-war (flying F-84B Thunderjets in Maine), his personal aircraft was named “Itsy-Bitsy III”, even though by that time it was at least the fourth aircraft to carry that name. When the 413th FG reformed in 1954, it was Laven who was largely responsible for applying flamboyant paint schemes to the aircraft (of which more later). Nominally, the individual squadron colours were red for 1st FDS, yellow for the 21st FDS and green for the 34th FDS. The 413th FDG had been planned as an F-84F unit, but orders were revised to mandate the F-86H as the combat type though equipment and personnel scales still reflected ‘Thunderstreak’ during the early days. Allied to a lack of hangarage, offices and accommodation this period was one of challenge and frustration. It was therefore something of a blessing that only on 31 December 1954 were orders finally received to pick up ten F-86Hs from North American’s Columbus plant. In the interim, six F-86Fs (s/n 51-13261, 51-13263, 51-13268, 51-13322, 51-13326 plus one other) had been borrowed from the neighbouring 479th FDG in order to transition pilots onto F-86-type aircraft as well as to maintain currency. One hundred and eighteen hours were logged on these loaned aircraft up to the end of December and a further 140 hours in the Base Flight T-33 but the Sabres were a mixed bag of tired airframes and others which spent most of their time grounded due to lack of parts. But an unexpected bonus was the arrival of an F-86H-1 (s/n 52-2038) from Clovis AFB at the end of the year for filming “The McConnell Story” and this aircraft was retained on loan, allowing seven pilots to check out in the type before its return. Ground training for pilots had begun at George AFB on 1 November (more than a week prior to the Group’s official activation), though this concentrated on the F-86F as a precursor to accepting loaned aircraft from the 479th FDG. Forty-nine crews attended ground training while another 62 were able to rotate through the F-86H Mobile Training Detachment set up at Clovis AFB in New Mexico. Maintenance crews also passed through the MTD at Clovis AFB while others attended the J73 engine course at Amarillo AFB in Texas and M39 cannon familiarization hosted at Lowry AFB in Colorado. But it was a steep learning curve: though a number of Sabre-qualified pilots had transferred from the 21st FBW prior to its movement overseas, many more of the aircrews had completed their training on F-84E and F-84F fighter-bombers and the majority had no swept-wing experience at all. Expansion into more permanent facilities was made possible by movement of the 21st Fighter Bomber Wing to France during mid-December. The 1st FDS was then able to take over facilities held by the 72nd FBS; the 21st FDS moved into buildings previously home to the 416th FBS and the 34th FDS occupied facilities that had been occupied by the 531st FBS. Further moves were planned as refurbished buildings became available. The first six F-86H aircraft for the Group were assigned to George AFB on 6 January 1955, though one of these (52-2114, which had developed excessive fuel leaks) was temporarily grounded at Tinker AFB and did not follow until early February. By the end of January, fifteen of the new aircraft had arrived at George AFB, all being assigned to the 34th FDS, which was programmed to be the first squadron to fully equip. Aside from a nominal strength of 25 aircraft, each squadron would also have an authorized personnel strength of 37 officers and 129 airmen but by the end of 1954 the Group was operating at only 25% of its full complement of 517 personnel. This initial shortage was exacerbated by low levels of type specializations, low experience levels and high loss rates of personnel being posted away. Despite this, from 7 March, the 1st and 21st FDS began to receive F-86Hs and by early May the Group was in excess of its nominal 75-aircraft strength. And somehow during this tumultuous period, the Group personnel managed to apply some of the most flamboyant colour schemes ever seen on USAF aircraft. Taking advantage of newly-developed colours marketed by Switzer’s “DaGlo” company, the tail fin, intake ring, horizontal tail, wing tips and fuselage upper surfaces were given full coverage, in dayglo shades of each squadron colour. Additionally the forward tips and ‘stuka fins’ of each drop tank were also painted and a broad angled fuselage band (also in the squadron colour) was applied. Squadron Commanders' aircraft appear to have received an additional three horizontal lines of colour extending from the fuselage band and three-colour horizontal tail bands to signify the three squadrons of the 413th FDG. The intake ring was also painted with three vertical bands of each colour on squadron CO aircraft. Col Laven’s aircraft took this scheme even further, exchanging the single-shade fuselage upper surface treatment for a three-colour combination while the fuselage band also received the three-colour treatment. Above: 1st FDS aircraft in the initial colour scheme for 413th FDG F-86Hs. Above: At front a yellow-trimmed 21st FDS aircraft in the initial colour scheme; lead aircraft at back is the 34th FDS squadron CO's machine, with three-colour nose and tail bands plus squadron badge. Above: 1st FDS CO's aircraft (circa April 1955) assigned to Maj 'Moon' Mullins. Below: 53-1234, the personal mount of George 'Ravin' Laven. And here an example of an unreliable internet profile (compare with above photo): Above: a website representation of George Laven's F-86H: note lack of some colours on fuselage top surface, incorrect tail insignia etc. Below: my very rudimentary representation of the correct scheme. The 413th FDG tail logo only had three swords at the point the Group operated F-86Hs. At this point it is worth mentioning a totally different colour scheme that is depicted on Special Hobby’s 1/72 kit. The aircraft depicted (s/n 52-2109) was one of the first assigned to the unit and therefore became a 34th FDS bird. It was photographed in the ‘kit’ colour scheme on 11 February 1955 and seems to have been the first 413th FDG Sabre to receive Group colours. However, given that there is no evidence of other aircraft being painted in a similar way, it seems highly likely that 52-2109 was the only 413th FDGp F-86H to carry this colour scheme, which gave way to ‘Ravin’ Laven’s far more exotic version. Above: 11 February 1955 photo of F-86H 52-2109 in 34th FDS colours. It is believed that this was the only aircraft to wear this scheme. Below: rough representations of the three squadron schemes worn by regular squadron aircraft: 1st, 21st and 34th FDS respectively. Francis A “Frosty” Sheridan, a pilot with the 1st FDS later recalled of the 413th FDG F-86H paint scheme, “These were all in “Day Glow” paint colors. Looked like a flock of parrots when we all got airborne. Later the colors were cut down to mostly the squadron red [on 1st FDS aircraft]. Later on after Col Laven departed most planes were stripped of paint”. Laven departed on 4 October 1955, replaced by Lt Col Maurice G Long; a poor-quality photo of 34th FDS aircraft at Lake Charles in November 1955 shows what appears to be a total lack of squadron colours or markings. It would therefore seem safe to deduct that the colourful 413th FDG markings were only applied in the period from circa February thru October 1955. The Group CO was Lt Col Gordon F Blood from 16 January 1956 and during this later period squadron badges were applied to the vertical fin of some aircraft. Unfortunately there were many groundings during the F-86H period (for issues related to cockpit canopy, nose gear door etc) and with more aircraft than it was able to safely maintain, in April 1955 the Group decided to place a number of aircraft in temporary rotational storage so that each squadron would have 14 F-86Hs on strength and around 40 aircraft in storage at any one time. This situation existed until the end of the year and meant that the 413th FDG never really operated at full strength while it operated the F-86H. In September 1955 the 413th FDG received its first F-100Cs and on 31 October was directed to prepare the F-86Hs for transfer to the 312th FBW. From this time onward, the emphasis was on preparing Sabres for departure and preparing crews for the task of ferrying F-100s into the unit. One last tasking for the F-86s involved the deployment of two F-100s and three F-86Hs to Wendover AFB from 13 to 19 January 1956 for the purpose of evaluating Dart towed targets. The Sabres acted as tow ships while the F-100s made firing passes; this deployment was supported by F-86H aircrew as well as two armament officers and 28 airmen. Above: believed to have been taken during the January 1956 Dart target trial at Wendover AFB; F-100A is from 479th FDW while the 413th F-86H (still with the hard-edge wing) has been stripped of all unit insignia. This is George Laven's former mount, now in very plain-Jane colours. Mention should also be made at this point of the wing configuration of 413th FDG F-86Hs. As supplied, all of the Group’s Sabre aircraft were equipped with the ‘hard edge’ 6-3 wing with small vertical fence and initial flight assessment by 413th FDG crews highlighted the known issues of poor low-speed and high-altitude manoeuvring characteristics. The Group even recorded in its Jan-June 1955 historical report that, This organization has used every method at its disposal to have the Air Force approve and purchase for retrofit all F-86H’s in this unit with the 6 x 3 [sic] leading edge slat. It was hoped to have aircraft converted by September 1955 but this was not done; it seems likely that arrival of F-100s for the 413th rendered the slat conversion redundant and so the Group’s aircraft remained resolutely ‘hard edge’ until transfer to other units. The F-86Hs departed between January and May 1956, mainly on transfer to the 312th FBW. And thus ended a very short but colourful period in the Group's history. George Laven later applied similar schemes onto other aircraft as he moved around the Air Force. Which brings me to the subject of erroneous information. First is that the 474th FDS operated F-86Hs with the 413th FDG. Inactivated since WW2, this squadron was not re-constituted (as the 474th Fighter Day Squadron) until 26 September 1957 and activated on 8 October. It was assigned to the 413th Fighter Day Group concurrent with its activation and did not operate the F-86H since it was not active until 18 months after the last of the type had departed the 413th. Next up, colour scheme misidentification #1. In Squadron/Signal Publications “Aircraft Number 126 – F-86 Sabre In Action” (pub. 1992), a range of colour side views includes a depiction of F-86H s/n 53-1409 with the caption “1st FDS/413 FDW at George Air Force Base”. But the attribution is in error, and it seems that the link between ‘F-86H’ and ‘dayglo’ had resulted in this scheme being labelled as a 413th aircraft. In fact 53-1409 was never operated by the unit and the scheme is not that of the 1st FDS. Moreover, the March Field Air Museum in California seems to have used the Squadron/Signal publication as the source for painting its restored F-86H s/n 53-1304 (a genuine 413th veteran) in the same colour scheme, erroneously believing it to represent the 413th. Above: the erroneously-captioned Squadron/Signal profile. Below: similarly-marked F-86H at the March Field Museum, also incorrectly attributed to 413th FDG. Adding to the confusion of schemes, a further F-86H (s/n 53-1250, not a 413th FDG aircraft) displayed at the Lakeville Veterans Memorial in Lakeville, MN carries a similar scheme, but this time with green replacing dayglo/orange. Again, the colour scheme is not that of the 413th FDS, and it would seem that someone used the Squadron/Signal reference and reinterpreted it with the 34th FDS green shade, but in the wrong scheme: So what is this scheme? Simply put, it is the scheme worn by test support aircraft assigned to the McClellan AFB Sacramento Air Materiel Area from 1961 to 1966. They were painted with extensive dayglo areas and each had the Sacramento AMA badge on the vertical fin. Two aircraft were painted in this colour scheme: serial numbers 53-1399 and 53-1409. Above: Sacramento AMA test support F-86H s/n 53-1399 after being retired to a children's playground at Truckee, CA. Below: detail of the tail of the same aircraft. Though heavily faded, remnants of dayglo orange paint can be seen on the lower rudder mass-balance and traces of the white central panel also apparent. Note too the Sacramento AMA badge. And finally to colour scheme misidentification #2. An online website captions this scheme as “413th FDG USAF” while an F-86H conversion article here (https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=1037) follows a similar line, but this time with white as the trim rather than dayglo. The aircraft depicted had in fact previously served with 413th FDG aircraft (s/n 53-1283) but not at the time it wore this colour scheme. It was in fact another test support machine, but this time assigned to the Oklahoma Air Materiel Area at Tinker AFB from February 1961 to March 1965; this aircraft doesn’t appear to have carried an Oklahoma AMA badge on the tail. Colouring of this scheme is a moot point: dayglo is more likely than white, but monochrome photos do not show the usual evidence of dayglo fading/breakdown that would normally be visible. I’d still tend toward dayglo, but either way it’s not a 413th colour scheme. So hopefully that sorts things out. Good luck later this year and maybe we’ll see a few 413th FDG, Sacramento AMA and Oklahoma AMA F-86Hs built, but with correct unit attribution!
  2. What's better than a Sabre? A Sea Sabre of course! Except that the Sea Sabre was known as the Fury. Esci issued this kit in 1979. It was one of their earliest 1/48 kits. It was re-released by Italeri forty-two years later. As you can see, it's a nice simple kit befitting its late-70s origins. Lovely! But there is a major problem with this kit. It was adapted from the Esci F-86 kit and as such you cannot actually build an FJ-3 from this kit. You cannot even build an FJ-2! The tail fin is pure F-86. On the FJ-2/3 it was moved forward. The panel for the cannons is incorrect as the cannon ports need to be further forwards and angled downwards. The intake is suitabe for an FJ-2, which had the same General Electric J47 engine as the F-86. The FJ-3 had a Wright J65 engine which required a much deeper nose and intake, similar to that of the F-86H. This is not included in the kit, so it will need some surgery. Wikipedia has a nice history of the type. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_FJ-2/-3_Fury @Jon Kunac-Tabinor built this kit seven years ago which turned out to be a tour de force. As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I will be using his build as reference for mine. As mine is the Italeri repop I'm hoping that I won't have the same problems with the plastic as Jon had. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234981173-north-american-fj-3-fury-148th-esci-with-added-elbow-grease/ I will be building it in a different colour scheme: that of a drone chaser. Oh... and I might fold the wings...
  3. Bronco Models is to release a 1/48th North American F-86F-30 Sabre kit - ref. FB40411 Sources: http://www.moxingfans.com/new/news/2019/0809/6153_2.html http://www.moxingfans.com/uploads/allimg/190809/1_190809163830_8.jpg For me, a N.A F-86H Sabre Hog in the same scale please... V.P.
  4. Hobbytime Modelkits from Turkye has juste released a 1/48th North American F-86E Sabre - Flying Swans THK demo team - kit - ref. HT063 Plastic source: Academy. Sources: https://www.hobbytime.com.tr/urun/hobbytime-063-1-48-f-86e-sabre-ucan-kugular-demonte-plastik-maketi https://www.facebook.com/hobbytimecomtr/posts/pfbid0AC7LiWkar1K96ipZw8PEuDkynVwK2d6QrfLczdGvo5PZE2k21vpHaWF2ja8aoD1Ml V.P.
  5. I have noticed a number of modelers on BM that seem to have long running threads of their builds and thought that that would be very useful for my finished Sabres. So here we go. F-86A Sabre 'Miss Louise, 4th FIW, USAF, Kimpo AFB, Korea, cir. 1951. Built from the Hobbycraft kit; backdated the wings, pylons moved inboard, correct gun-sight fitted, got rid of the tail plane actuator fairings, Pavla canopy. Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium enamel paint. Decals from Matchbox kit. TF-86F 2-Seater Sabre Trainer Fuselage is a Vacform by Falcon. Everything else came mainly from a Hobbycraft kit and spares bin, wings backdated, pylons moved inboard, correct gun-sight fitted. Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium enamel paint. Hobbycraft decals, serials and such were DIY. WiP here: Canadair CL-13 Mk.2 Sabre. Aircraft '19241' of 421 Squadron, 2 Wing, RCAF, Grostenquin, France, 1954. Hobbycraft kit with backdated wings, pylons moved inboard, correct gun-sight fitted. Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium enamel paint. Model Alliance decals. F-86E Sabre. 'Lt Col. Ed Heller' aircraft 'HELL-ER BUST X', 16th FIS, Korea, 1953. Hobbycraft kit with backdated wings, pylons moved inboard, correct gun-sight fitted. Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium enamel paint. Kit decals. F-86E Sabre. 'RUTH I' No. 2 "Flying Cheetah" Squadron of the SAAF, Korea. Hobbycraft kit with backdated wings, pylons moved inboard, correct gun-sight fitted. Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium enamel paint. Kit decals. Microscale decals. Stuart
  6. Hi All Just finished building Airfix's 1/48 F-86F-40 in the JASDF scheme. In all my years of modelling this was my first natural metal scheme so it could have possibly turned out a bit better but I am happy with it. With the last photo I tried to get a shot of the detail in the cockpit, as the Eduard Zoom set really dresses it up well but, as usual distortion from the canopy prevents a good shot. I could have displayed it with the canopy open but I preferred the look of it closed Regards Mick
  7. F-86F Sabre | HobbyBoss | 1/72 West German Air Force, 3. / JG71, 1963 I finished this on May 30th, 2022. I originally bought this kit for my Norwegian Sabre build because it was the only one that I knew for sure had the extended wing. When I got it I found that the wing's chord was way too narrow and luckily I was given the number of the Fujimi kit that I needed to do my project. This kit was destined to be a paint mule, but I needed to clear out some stash space in a hurry, so I elected to build it, thinking that maybe it wouldn't look so bad if I kept it apart from the more accurate Sabres. As I built it I found more and more wrong with it. I considered fixing things, but figured it was a waste of time if I couldn't fix the wing chord. This kit may be more accurate for the secondary scheme they provide which is the Blue Impulse aerobatic team from Japan. For the West German scheme it is very inaccurate: The West German Sabres didn't have extended wings, the German seats were Martin Bakers (I used a resin MB seat), the drop tanks are the wrong style, There should be a white stripe between the yellow on the nose and the tulip petals, there should also be a white stripe between the yellow on the tail and the tulip petals. The tulip petals are too narrow and too close together. Ugh... that's a lot! And to top it all off, the landing gears are 3 or 4 millimeters too tall, making it look somewhat stork-like. That could've been an easy fix, but I would've had to cut down the gear doors too and at that point I just didn't care anymore. Another frustration of this kit was the nose decal. I thought about painting the nose, but I've always liked the performance of HobbyBoss decals so I decided not to worry about it. Well, this is the one kit where the decals stink. The nose decal ripped twice and never conformed despite all of the solvent I put on it. I finally gave up and took it off and painted the nose instead. That was a bit of a challenge, because HB decals tend to have washed out primary colors. So the yellow was lighter than a normal insignia yellow. I painted the nose white first, and then sprayed on a highly diluted yellow, comparing often with the decal sheet, until the yellows matched. I'm not happy that the kit is so inaccurate for this subject, but I am pretty happy with how the finished turned out. Still, though, the wings look really spindly and that's a big distraction. Paints were Mr. Color C330 dark green, C333 dark gray, and C306 light gray. The only aftermarket was the resin seat. Here's a picture of the Hobby Boss wing against the Fujumi wing to show the inaccuracy of the wing chord. Well, I hope you like it. Comments, questions and constructive criticism welcome.
  8. After the 1/72nd kit (link), Airfix is to release during Winter 2019-2020 (?) a new tool 1/48th Canadair Sabre Mk.4 kit - ref. A08109 https://uk.airfix.com/products/canadair-sabre-f4-a08109 3D render V.P.
  9. Canadair Sabre F.4 (A08109) 1:48 Airfix The North American F-86 Sabre was a first-generation swept-wing jet that saw active service in Korea and beyond in US service, and was license-built by Canadair in a number of variants. Small numbers of the Mk.1, 2 and 3 were built before the Mk.4, which was destined for the RAF to fill a void in their inventory that couldn't yet be filled by indigenous types. The Mk.4 retained the GE engine, and were leased by the RAF from 1953 to 1956 as a supposed stop-gap while they waited for the Hawker Hunter, because the previous Meteors and Vampires were by that time outclassed by more advanced swept-wing jets being fielded by both our Allies and the Soviet aligned Air Forces. Curiously, some of the RAF Sabre squadrons, many of whom were in Germany at the time, eventually transitioned back to Meteors at the end of the lease. That must have been quite a come-down, akin to going from a Morris Minor to a Trabant. The airframes reverted back to Canadair, and eventually went out to other customers after being refurbished. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling of the Canadair built Sabre Mk.4 from Airfix, and there’s been a lot of excitement in the run-up to release. Since then there has been some chatter about various relatively minor issues, and as no kit is perfect that’s not surprising, but they’re pretty easy to fix once you’ve got your head round them. The Canadair Sabres have quite a following with Britmodellers due to their RAF service, so you can hardly blame them for the scrutiny. I’ve cheated and sought the advices of a Sabre aficionado, our own Sabrejet, or Duncan was we call him. Julien has chipped in a few comments as well, as he’s a bit of a Sabre fan too, with over 70 kits in his stash. Have a read of the review first, and I’ll link to the discussion thread near the end. Construction begins in an unusual place for a change, the intake trunking. It is split horizontally, and has alignment pegs on the outer edges, plus a square of four pegs on the topside to which the cockpit tub is fixed. The rear deck is moulded into the tub, and here is one of the first areas where a little work might be on the cards if it perturbs you. The details here are a little simplified, and if you’re detail focused there’s some minor changes to be made. The seat is put together from the L-shaped base, two side supports and the headbox cushion, which was usually brown, as were the armrests. As it is inserted into the cockpit tub, the instructions show it briefly with seatbelts, but there aren’t any on the sprues or on the decal sheet, so just ignore that. A pair of decals are supplied for the side consoles, and another is there for the instrument panel that slots into the front of the tub. The decals have a clear background, so you’ll be able to paint the panel in the correct colours, which incidentally should be black, rather than the Gull Grey (140) mentioned in the instructions. A very dark grey with some lighter highlights, followed by a black wash should achieve the desired effect. The control column has a gaiter at the bottom that has a separate section added to give it the appropriate width. The cockpit trunking assembly has a set of stator blades fitted to the rear along with a two-part intake bullet, and at the front you have a choice of either the hollow intake lip, or the same part with a FOD guard inserted into the trunk first, blocking off the intake for a grounded bird. Airfix have helpfully provided a pilot figure in their traditional “hands on lap” pose, and apart from the slightly passive posture, the moulding and detail is good. Flipping over the trunking, there are some ribs and equipment moulded into the underside for the nose-bay roof, which is boxed-in by a two-part wall, and should be painted interior green, while the doors should be silver. The fuselage has a couple of holes in the forward end to accept inserts, including the gun bay doors that can be closed up, or left open to show off the gun bays. The bays are a single curved box, into which the breeches of the guns fit at an angle, with the help of scrap diagrams showing the correct orientation as each one is glued into position. The magazines are inserted into the lower section of the bay, and have their ammo feeds glued to the top, leading to the gun breeches. The same process is carried out in mirror image on the other side of the fuselage, then the bays are glued in place from the inside, correctly marked as painted in silver. The airbrakes on the rear fuselage sides can also be posed open or closed by inserting a closed bay door with supporting ledges that should allow you to glue them flush to the outer skin (possibly after some fettling, so test fitting is essential), or the open bay with the bay doors fitted in the open position later, with the back of the panel painted interior green. In order to close up the fuselage you need to make up the exhaust trunk, which has the rear engine face inserted in the flared forward end, and an optional circular FOD cover over the hot end. There are two supports for the forward end that fix into sockets on the inside of the port fuselage, and a moulded-in lip near the aft end slots into a corresponding slot inside the rear, ensuring correct positioning. You are advised to put 10g of nose weight in the gap between the cockpit and intake lip, but a little more probably wouldn’t hurt, as there’s plenty of space. The cockpit & intake are also inserted into the left fuselage with the aid of sockets to hold them secure, then a long insert is placed in the area between the tail and the exhaust trunk, which also makes up the lower side of the tail fairing. If you are modelling your Sabre in-flight, you need to put in the single nose bay door insert in now, and this too has ledges to help with fitting, then you can close up the fuselage and set it aside to cure while you make up the wings. Airfix have moulded the lower wing as a full-width part, and many think they missed a trick by not adding a slatted-wing to the moulding, but we might yet see that later – who knows? Again, if you’re going for wheels-up, the single main gear bay insert should be fitted now, and this too has ledges around the edge to help with alignment. A pair of pylon holes should be drilled in each wing if you are fitting them (see my note later about positioning), and the bay walls are made up from narrow parts around the rear edge, plus a more substantial front wall that will need a pair of blocks removing if you are depicting your Sabre with the inner doors extended, as these are only used when the doors are closed, again to stop them from dropping inside the bay during fitting. There’s another nubbin under each door on the front bulkhead, so treat that the same if you’re dropping all the doors. The bay roof has two depressions moulded-in to accommodate the wheels, and this assembly is fitted into the lower wing, with additional parts installed in the outboard section, and don’t forget to give the upper wing interior a quick squirt of the same interior green, as there is roof detail moulded-in there too. If you took the decision to open up the gun bays, the very tips of the wing roots should be cut off the wing leading edge uppers along the panel line, as that section is integral to the bay door and is supplied as part of the open door parts. A scrap diagram holds your hand through this, then you can join the wing halves and fit the hard-edge leading edge lower panels with their chopped off tips if appropriate. Another hole may be needed for the drop-tanks too. The short, stocky wing fence is a little broad in the beam thanks to the limitations of injection moulding, which can easily be corrected by thinning it down, or chopping it off and replacing it with thin styrene or brass sheet planted in a razor-saw cut in the correct place. Before you can join the wings to the fuselage, there are two intakes under the fuselage that are moulded as holes in the lower wing. The inserts are installed from the inside, so fitting them later would be horrible. With that, the insert in front of the tail fin is fitted into the upper fuselage, and the wings are attached beneath, adding the L-shaped wingtip and aileron insert to the trailing edge of the outer wing as you go. The elevators are both single parts and attach with the usual slot and tab method, while the rudder is separate and can be glued deflected as you wish, but don’t forget to offset the control column to save yourself from the purists. They’ll get you! There are inserts to be added above the wing root trailing edge, then it’s gear and bay doors. If you have elected to pose your model gear up, you can skip this part, but even with the gear down you still have choices. The main bay inner doors can be posed up by using one part, or down by joining two different parts in a very sharp inverted V-shape, remembering that the short section of bay wall should be interior green, but the door should be silver. They’re supported by a short jack in the front of the bay, then the main gear leg and its captive door can be joined and inserted. Here you’ll need to remove the tiny link that has been included in error because Airfix scanned a museum airframe that either didn’t have any pressure in the strut, or was being supported to prevent sag. Some careful trimming and sanding will have it looking correct in no time, and you can carry on with putting the main wheels on, which will line up the flat-spot with the ground automatically thanks to the axles and hubs having a keyed fitting. Moving to the nose gear, there are a pair of flip-down landing lights just in front of the bay, and you can depict these in the flush position by using a clear part and masking off the circular lights, painting the rear silver before you install it, or you can use the styrene part and fit the deployed clear lights later in the build. The nose gear leg is a single part, and fits into a keyed slot in the front of the bay, and has a smaller two-part wheel slipped onto another keyed axle. A retraction jack fixes to the back of the strut, and the folded front door clips in place either side of the wheel, with a scrap diagram showing the correct location and where it links to the strut. The rear door can be posed closed or dropped sideways with a strut holding it at an angle, with that and the open lower gun bay doors shown in place on a frontal diagram for your reference, but the upper gun bay panels aren’t mentioned again, so you’ll either have to severely thin the unused closed-up inserts, or tell everyone some erk wandered off with them. The open air-brakes glue into the fuselage with their stays holding them to the correct angle, and slightly further forward next to the intakes under the fuselage you are given two small parts to locate on tiny depressions between fairing panels. These are jacking points, and were only fitted during maintenance, so unless you are planning a diorama that involves jacks, leave them in the box and if you can see the depressions, pop a tiny amount of filler in there to make them disappear. Under the tail there is a small blade to fit into another small depression, which is best left off until after main painting. There are two types of drop-tanks supplied on the sprue, a smaller pair with no fins, and a larger pair with a choice of simple fins or larger fins with a perpendicular stabiliser. I’m told that the RAF tended to use the smaller tanks, but check your references and see which style your decal choice used. They fit to the lower wing on quite stout pins, so when the instructions tell you to make 2.3mm holes, don’t skimp on the size. The big tanks have stabilising struts fitted between the body and the smaller 0.8mm hole in the leading underside panel, regardless of the style of fins. We understand that the positioning of the tanks is slightly adrift, and should actually be 52.33mm from the centre line, so if you want to get the look dead-on, you’d better get out your callipers. The model is finished off by adding the kinked pitot at the tip of the starboard wing, the optional popped-out lights under the nose, a clear gunsight, and the canopy. The windscreen is separate from the sliding canopy, and there is an insert that fits inside with a clear “lamp” at the midpoint, which is actually the radio compass loop antenna. This is a simplification of what is there, and could have been a little better, but it would have required more parts, and those details cost time and money. As it is, you have a reasonable approximation of the parts in the area, but if you have gone to the trouble of detailing the deck behind the pilot, you’ll probably want to do something similar here, detailing the support cross-member and the cockpit pressure regulator in the very rear. Once you are satisfied, the canopy can be posed open or closed to suit you. Markings There are two decal options on the sheet, and surprise, surprise! they’re RAF airframes. They are period correct schemes for the squadrons depicted, with a green/grey topside and a PRU blue underside, although the colours are printed slightly differently from each other on my instructions. Each aircraft is shown in four views, and empty space around the profiles is taken up with research notes and drawings of the drop tanks and their stencil locations. A separate sheet shows the locations of the many stencils around the airframe to avoid repetition and cluttering the pages with too many lines. From the box you can build one of the following: XB984 No.3 Sqn. RAF Germany, Geilenkirchen, 1954 XB854 No.4 Sqn. RAF Germany, Jever, 1954 Note that on the paper profiles in the kit, the fuselage codes are presented as T.B from the port side. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s a welcome new tool with a few accuracy notes mentioned in the text that shouldn't stress you to fix, a couple of colour changes needed during detail painting, but it’s a Canadair Sabre F.4, something that’s been wanted by aficionados for quite some time. You can find the initial thread on the kit here. Whilst writing, thanks to Duncan (Sabrejet) for the additional information that helped enormously in writing this. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  10. Hi All! Another item from the madhouse Hobby-Boss 1/72 easy assembly kit Colours RLM 74/75/76 Paints Gunze Enjoy watching!
  11. F-86K's at The Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection (though it now seems the one outside has been moved), pics thanks to Mikemx.
  12. Trumpeter is to re-release in late August 2020 the ex-Century Toys 1/18th - North American F-86 Sabre kit - ref. 81808 Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=163&l=en V.P.
  13. Hi comrades! So, here my F-86F-25 USAF 53rd Fighter Day Squadron, Bitburg AB-Germany, mid 1950s finished. The build is here It was my first try of NMF, and I made a lot of critical mistakes in every possible area... 1) Hasegawa kit is fantastic! Built OOB with only addition of ejection seat by Quickboost. Decals was dead (after 20 years... - my fault), but some of them were cured with liquid decal film. 2) Prototype - I'm not a Sabre fun, so my basic research was limited just to find the right decals for the type of the wing in my box. A missed the Sidewinders... 3) Armycast decals are fantastic, but they don't forgive any mistakes. I distorted one of them, the other was just destroyed...Sad, but acceptable for the "try project". 4) I used the Gunze MC 218 like the base color. It was my major fault. The paint is fantastic, but not in the case You want to mask it and paint with other colors - its just lifts up with masking tape with or without gloss lacquer over it...My next NMF model was painted with different series of Gunze metallics. Nevertheless, this "try project" finished. Thanks for looking!
  14. Hi, Please find my latest completion, the f-86K in Netherlands air force markings by MustHave models. I found this a very nice kit to build. It is basically the revell f-86D, but with 2 injection moulded fuselage halves in order to make a "K". Some photo etch and resin is supplied in the kit as well, but not too useful apart from the seat belts. As usual there were some challenges along the way, but all of my own making. The only item that I couldn't get to fit perfectly was the canopy, so I decided to place it in the open position. (Although I did make some pics with a shut canopy before I permanently attached it in the open position) It is not 100% accurate, but overall I am reasonably happy with the result. The good thing is that I am finally a little more comfortable with the All metal finishes after having build this and the recent Thunderflash. Metal colors all by AK xtreme and some touch ups with metalizing powders UvdR and Mig. Hope you like it. The build thread below: That's all. Thanks for watching. Any feedback or critique is welcome.
  15. Hi, Received a MustHave f-86K through the post today, so this will be my next project for the next few weeks. The kit looks great with lots of options for markings, but I will go for the RNLAF version. Time to start.....
  16. Here is my 1/48 Hasegawa Canadair Sabre MkVI in FAC markings (Colombian Air Force). Un saludo.
  17. Hi all. After watching this YouTube video I find myself deficient of a Fighter Bomber Sabre in my growing collection of Sabres in 1/72. Firstly, can anybody tell me where the bomb pylon would be located as I have heard/ read and seen different things. I've read that due to fuel tank plumbing, the bomb pylon is located further outboard but the video shows it located inboard of wing tank? Does anybody have a better image of the bomb pylon? Does a decal sheet exist for Fighter Bomber Unit from Korea, for an F-86 Sabre? Hopefully @Sabrejet, @Tony Edmundson and other helpful fellows will bale me out. Stuart
  18. F-86F-25/30 Sabre (F-40 Wing) (72-064 & 48-034) 1:48 & 1:72 Hi-Decal Line There are quite a few F-86 Sabre models out there, however the decal options in the kits tend to be pretty standard. If you want something a little different the Hi-Decal have a sheet out in 1/72 & 1/48 for those used by the lesser know Air Forces. The options on the sheet are; F-86F-25 51-13244 / 3-133 - 103rd TFS, Imperial Iranian Air Force, in Natural Metal Finish, deployed to Kamina AB,Congo, in 1963 as part of the UN Fighter Wing during the Katanga crisis. F-86F-25 51-13224 / 3-140 - 41st TFS, Imperial Iranian Air Force, in Asia Minor camouflage scheme,4 TFB Vahdati, 1969 F-86F-25 51-13240 / 275 - 1st Fighter Bomber Sqn, Imperial Ethiopian Air Force, in Asia Minor camouflage, Asmara AB, 1972 F-86F-30 52-4576 / "DRAGON" - 9th TFS, 5th TFW, Philippine Air Force, in Jungle camouflage, Edwin Andrews AB, Mindanao,1973. The sheets provide all the national markings as well as stencils for each option. The information concerning the Ethiopian option has only just been researched by Hi-Decal. Registration, sharpness and colour density are all good, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Recommended for your next Sabre build if you like a little something different to the kit options. Review sample courtesy of
  19. F-86 Sabre | Airfix | 1/72 Pakistan -- Muhammad Alam, Pilot I completed this kit in November of 2017 and felt I should post it because I mention it in a post about Alclad and Decal incompatibilities. I intended this kit to be a Norwegian F-86 as part of a project of mine to make a model of every major Norwegian fighter. As such, I intended it to be an "Airshow" finish -- That is, like a mirror (which I'd done before on a Hasagawa Sabre). The Airfix Sabre plastic seemed kind of rough, so I sanded it with progressively finer paper down to 12000 grit. When the Alclad polished aluminum was applied, it didn't look like a mirror, but more rough or weathered. At that point I chose a different subject from the same decal sheet: the Pakistani ace Muhammad Alam. Finishing: Seams filled with CA (superglue), entire surface sanded down to 12000 grit Paints: (applied from base coat to surface): Tamiya spray gloss black > Alclad polished aluminum > Alclad Dark aluminum w/ a dusting of steel > Alclad Aqua Gloss > Decals > Alclad Aqua Gloss > weathering (oil washes) > Alclad Aqua Gloss Detail paints: Testors Model Master red, black, gray (don't remember the exact color) in cockpit, Testors MM Zinc Chromate in wheel wells, Alclad aluminum and Tamiya Nato Black for landing gears/wheels Decals: Cutting Edge Decals F-86Fs & Sabers #3: foreign aircraft (ca. 1999) -- primary markings / Airfix kit decals -- stencils I didn't have a WIP, so some building notes are at the bottom. Also, I have a terrible time getting good pictures of reflective models (imagine that!), so I'm not sure these quite do it justice. Building Notes: This Airfix model was a joy to put together. I would tend to agree with critics that say the panel lines are too deep and too wide (although that seems to be improving), but for a $12 model, this is a super value. The only gripe I have is that the wing assembly was a little ill-fitting, requiring a little work on the seam on the bottom behind the landing gears. It looked really good, but after I dropped it on the concrete patio (nice and wet from a coat of Tamiya black spray paint at the time 😲), I think I damaged the plastic, because I couldn't quite get looking the same. To get different shades of Polished Aluminum, I masked panels that I wanted darker, sprayed a couple of coats uniformly over the whole aircraft, then removed the masking and sprayed a couple more coats uniformly over the whole aircraft. This way, I let the transparency of the Alclad show the black undercoat through to create different shades of the same paint. Therefore, the center panels on top of the wings were masked for the first couple coats, and then were unmasked and painted with the rest of the wing for the next couple of coats. Weathering was difficult, and ultimately inaccurate. I found very good close up pictures of Alam and his aircraft after I was finished (of course ) and they showed that his Sabre was not nearly as reflective as I depicted it. The weathering was very difficult on the slick Alclad Aqua Gloss surface, as you might expect, and seems kind of artificial to me. I should've backed off on it, if the whole aircraft was going to be so shiny. In the end, I'm very proud of the NMF, but disappointed in the weathering. Overall, the build was a ton of fun, with a good kit and great decals. Hope you enjoy. Comments, constructive criticism, questions and tips always welcome!
  20. Here a a comparison build between a Hobbycraft and an Aifix F-86 aircraft. The silver aircraft is the Hobbycraft and the Golden Hawk is the Airfix. Although the Hobbycraft is much older I did prefer this version over the AIrfix. No Measurement just build and details. I thought the Hobbycraft was more detailed. Although they are different versions the basic kit is my judgement point. I added Pavla seats to both models and sprinkled some Eduard Photo-etched in both interiors. Both models used Alclad over Black decanted Tamiya rattle can for primer. Both models have issues with details ,but Photos and distance improve the final subjects. They were both a bit of a challenge as I have to stop in mid-build to get new Golden Hawk markings. I will be better prepared in future. Stopping is not to my forte. I did add Scoops to the Golden Hawk version , I had scoops on Silver bird but was informed these are not presents I removed. Thanks for Looking Comments Welcome Cheers Bill
  21. Hi Folk's finally after a good half dozen epic fail's I've moved out of WW2 into the jet age(apart from the recent Meteor),built for the ongoing NATO GB it's Hobbyboss's little easy kit of the Luftwaffe of JG 71 in1963.The kit i'm told has the wrong wing for this aircraft but for just over four quid I'm not loosing any sleep over it the kit decal's were used and were pretty good too.Many thank's for looking in.
  22. This is the Kinetic kit, straight out of the box. It's a decent kit, but it does has issues. The fit in places is not the best and the instructions could be clearer in terms of colour call outs. They also misnumber numerous parts and decals, so you need to read the instructions carefully. Decals settle down nicely, but the black tulip on the nose has cut outs for the gun ports that don't line up. Thus I had to fill in the gaps with some leftover white decal and black paint. It was meant to be a quicker build, but ended up taking 4 months! I'm pretty please though with how it's turned out. I've also chosen not to weather the machine much at all, just applied a semi gloss coat to it. These aircraft looked pretty clean in service thus I've kept my model that way.
  23. Do you remember the old 1/72 Matchbox Sabre? I must have made about half a dozen back at the turn of the 80s/90s when I was a kid. I really liked the shape of the aircraft and the cool Arizona Air National Guard decals, not that I really understood what the ANG was back then. I usually built them 'in'flight', it was the quickest and easiest way to get kits built and I was impatient to have a finished 'plane (later, I started doing them gear-down and open cockpit, and I remember being proud of how good they look. They where probably terrible). Browsing Hannats website I happened across Microscale's 1/48 decals for the f-86 featuring the very same Arizona ANG 'roaring lion' scheme, so I couldn't resist. The Hasegawa kit is obviously way more detailed than the Matchbox (but only in one colour plastic, unlike Matchbox's which had some parts in a fetching baby blue, as I recall), but I stayed true to my roots and did it 'in flight' - which required some filling in with Milliput as mature, serious modellers don't do in flight, and the kit isn't designed for that. The decals caused me a few headaches with the long side decal spliting into 3 on the starboard side, line up issues on the nose band and masking-tape lifting off bits, even after a coat of varnish (and others - see what you can spot!). Massively enjoyable blast from the past, now I'm off to run around the living room 'flying' my Sabre. There's a Sabre in my garden!
  24. Good day, gentlemen. This is my next model. I used 3 sets of resin parts to build this model. It was very hard to put all these sets inside one plane.
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