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Honduran Sabre Finished!


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Hi all,

This is my entry for the group build, my first group build as well.

I will be using the Airfix new tool F-86 for this one as it happens to be the right version for what I want.

The following are the usual box and contents shots.

sabre002_zps9a9800da.jpg

sabre003_zps79cc90db.jpg

Fortunately the Hondurans didn't exactly cover their aircraft with markings, which is good as I don't have any! I will be using spare decals from other projects or masking and painting.

Any comments and help are always welcome.

Thanks for looking.

Craig.

Edited by modelling minion
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Thanks Cliff, and thanks Henrik for the link.

I am aware of the Aztec sheet, but unfortunately I don't have a copy of the sheet. I don't think this will be too much of a problem though as I have lots of other Latin American sheets, some of which I am sure will have Honduran markings (I only need the tail markings as I'm doing a camouflaged one from late in their careers).

Cheers.

Craig.

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Here we go then.

Thanks to the weather I've been able to make a good start. I will be building pretty much OOB with the only additions so far being some seatbelts and arm rests for the seat, which would look pretty bare without them. I have used the decals supplied with the kit for the instrument panel and side consoles as I think they are ok in this scale.

sabre003_zpsaa17b16b.jpg

sabre010_zps0895325c.jpg

I have also glued together the wings as a separate sub-assembly. They went together ok but with a couple of gaps on the leading edge which I have filled with super-glue and will sand smooth.

sabre006_zpsb436e540.jpg

Everything has gone together well so far, and I have to say I am really enjoying the build. Hopefully this evening I shall get the fuselage halves together, with some added nose-weight as I don't trust any manufacturers estimates of what will stop their kits from becoming a tail-sitter.

As always all comments/criticisms are welcome and thanks for looking.

Craig.

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Slowed down a bit due to the return to work after Christmas and preparations for a job interview.

The fuselage is now built and has been attached to the wings and the joints sorted.

The canopy has been "Kleared" and masked and needs to be attached prior to filling and sanding, somehow I never manage to avoid this no matter how many other people are able to build kits without using any filler at all.

I will post some pictures over the weekend, when hopefully I will have more time to do some modelling.

Craig.

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Fortunately the Hondurans didn't exactly cover their aircraft with markings, which is good as I don't have any! I will be using spare decals from other projects or masking and painting.

Hi Craig,

thanks a lot for this highly interesting entry.

One question: how are you going to paint your FAH Sabre? In their SEA-livery or in that 'final years of service', grey-overall one?

AFAIK, they've had some (ex-Yugoslav?) F-86Ds, and these used to wear huge sharkmouths around their intakes...

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Hi Craig,

thanks a lot for this highly interesting entry.

One question: how are you going to paint your FAH Sabre? In their SEA-livery or in that 'final years of service', grey-overall one?

AFAIK, they've had some (ex-Yugoslav?) F-86Ds, and these used to wear huge sharkmouths around their intakes...

Hi Tom,

I plan on painting my Sabre in the SEA scheme. I like to finish my models in unusual schemes and as most Sabres are finished in natural metal the SEA scheme appealed to me instantly.

I also plan on building some in the Asia Minor scheme from both Iran and Ethiopia when Hi-Decal release their sheet, which will hopefully be soon.

Yes they did indeed have some later F-86's but they were K's rather than D's. Honduras purchased 6 of them from Venezuela (who had purchased them from West Germany some years earlier) but only 2 of them were flyable. At least one is now in the Honduran Air Force museum at Tocontin, still with the huge Sharkmouth painted on it.

Thanks for showing an interest.

Craig.

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Okay it's time for another update, with photos this time!

I have not taken as many photos as I probably should at different times (got carried away with building the kit!), but this is where the Sabre is at as of now. I have primed her in Tamiya chrome silver to show up any flaws (I always have a few!) and so that when I weather her I can gently scratch through the paint to reveal the "metal" underneath, just like the real thing.

I have since painted the undersides and then masked them off and applied the Vietnam tan over the upper surfaces.

sabre2002_zpsfa83fb62.jpg

The photo above shows the under-surfaces, complete with masking after the grey had been applied.

sabre2001_zps6983954f.jpg

And this one shows the upper-surfaces after the tan has been applied.

Hopefully I will get the other two colours on over the next couple of days, I shall post more photos when the camo is complete.

As usual all comments and criticisms are welcome.

Craig.

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Thank you for the very kind comments guys.

Hopefully I will be able to mask the tan tonight in preparation for the mid-green.

Yes cliff you are right, the Sabre really does look different with a coat of paint on it. I plan to add a few more to my collection in camo colours including Bolivia, Ethiopia and Iran.

Craig.

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Okay it's time for an update!

Since my last update I have completed painting all the upper-surface colours (including the usual touching up!), applied a coat of Klear and have now applied the decals and done a bit of weathering/chipping.

Now I know what you are thinking, the decaling must have taken all of 5 minutes. Unfortunately this is not the case. As I mentioned at the start of my build I do not have a specific decal sheet covering this subject so I have had to have a really good rummage through the decal bank and have used markings from a variety of sources. The ejection warning triangles came from a set for 1/48 Aermacchi MB-326's, the flag on the tail is from a 1/48 set for a Salvadorian P-51 (I won't tell them if you won't!) and the letters and numbers came from an old set from a Fujimi E-2C Hawkeye. And that's where the fun started as I had to cut each letter/number individually from the sheet and then align them on the model, so there are actually a lot of decals!

Anyway here is a photo of how she looks now.

sabreupdate002_zps4fb67904.jpg

As usual all comments and criticisms are welcome, and thanks for looking.

Craig.

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That is a good looking F-86, Craig. Very nice paint chipping effect. I like having to put together a set of markings from various sheets; though I use aftermarket sheets often, somehow it can feel like copping out.

Edited by T7 Models
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