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Special Hobby F-86K


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This one nearly made it before the end of 2015 but real life got in the way.

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The Special Hobby kit is a bit of a nightmare, the fuselage is a couple of mm out in all dimensions and the wings lack aerofoil, there is none of the neccessary detail to allow for an open cockpit and the etched brass vortex generators are fiendish puzzle devised by a sadist but it is the only game in town.

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The Italain option on the nicely done decal sheet is for the perserved machine in the Italian Air Force Museum but I wanted to portray it as it might have looked in service. The 23o Gruppo was the longest serving unit on the 'Kappone' and was for a long time part of the 51o Stormo.

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I replaced the vortex generators with slivers of plastic card and as the AIM 9Bs lacked forward fins or at least anything that looked like the real thing I replaced them with ones from the spare box.

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Thanks for looking.

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Considering that it was a `challenge' to build you`ve done a splendid job and I`d go so far as to say it is well up there amongst your best ever models. It really does look the bee`s knee`s and a great start to 2016,

Cheers

Tony

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I like how the -K was designed to be a "downgraded, export" variant of the -D, lacking the high-tech rocket/radar computer installation and yet only a few years later the advent of the Sidewinder made it far more effective than the D ever was. I'd love to do one to sit beside my -D but for the moment I'll just have to admire yours :)

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I like how the -K was designed to be a "downgraded, export" variant of the -D, lacking the high-tech rocket/radar computer installation and yet only a few years later the advent of the Sidewinder made it far more effective than the D ever was. I'd love to do one to sit beside my -D but for the moment I'll just have to admire yours :)

Yes it is ironic. I can't really understand why the USAF didn't operate them. I suppose the F-100 and the F-102 would do the job better but the ANG units would have been a natural fit.

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