Kitty Hawk 1/32 F-86K

[Grunticus]

After the joyful Italeri TF-104G it's time for me to grant myself a wish I have had for a long time: build a 1/32 kit of the, in my view, most elegant and pretty fighter the Dutch Air Force ever operated.

 

 And a rare color photo:

 

The box:

 

I bought the Big Ed set on sale, they are pretty expensive.

 

Progress. Just added a wire and of course most of the PE to the seat.

 

I use this to attach small parts: a toothpick with a small dab of kneadable eraser on the tip.

 

You get a complete air-intake duct. But boy-o-boy, pity they outsourced engineering of this part of the mould to Mach 2. Nothing a bit of skill can't overcome though. You'll find these kind of Stubs in various parts alas.

 

Some sanding and filling on the intake to do. So far, I am not impressed with this kit, virtually every part needs cleanup some sorts. Will see it through though of course 😎

 

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Grunticus

[Col.]

Off to a great start on the kit parts and some inspiring reference photographs as well

I'll not start an argument about what the prettiest fighter the KLu operated though - cough, Hunter, cough  

[Nikolay Polyakov]

Hello @Grunticus,

 

very nice ice start with a cockpit! I suggest that you’re going for a NMF bird?

 

Cheers! 🙃

[Silver Fox]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Kittyhawk  kits. They do  look good when finished but they are not what you would hope a modern kit would be.

 

Great start I shall watch with interest.

[72modeler]

Wow- looks like this is going to be a good one! Hard to pick either the Hunter or Sabre as the prettiest RNeth AF weenie cooker, but you can never go wrong with a Sabre! The cockpit is looking fantastic! Not my scale, but can't wait to see how your build turns out if the rest of it looks as good as the cockpit! Too bad it's not 1/48- you could have grafted the longer K nose section onto a Revell/Monogram F-86D.

Mike

[Nikolay Polyakov]

4 hours ago, Silver Fox said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of Kittyhawk  kits. They do  look good when finished but they are not what you would hope a modern kit would be.

Eh... Looks I’m the only Kitty Hawk fan 🤤

 

Cheers! 😺

[Grunticus]

7 hours ago, Col. said:

Off to a great start on the kit parts and some inspiring reference photographs as well

I'll not start an argument about what the prettiest fighter the KLu operated though - cough, Hunter, cough  

Oh well, yes, the Hunter is certainly also very sweet-looking. There will be a 1/32 F.4 or F.6 on the bench in the near future.

[Grunticus]

8 hours ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Hello @Grunticus,

 

very nice ice start with a cockpit! I suggest that you’re going for a NMF bird?

 

Cheers! 🙃

 Yes, NMF is the only option for Dutch F-86Ks. 66 were delivered (60 built by North American, and later on another six built by Fiat, all NMF. I am thinking of priming with Surfacer 1200, followed by Tamiya X1 black, then Tamiya AS12 Titanium silver, maybe with a few selected panels in a different shade, like the gun port panel for sure. Do you have any suggestions for this? I never used Alclad II and likes before.

 

7 hours ago, Silver Fox said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of Kittyhawk  kits. They do  look good when finished but they are not what you would hope a modern kit would be.

 

Great start I shall watch with interest.

We'll see. I don't have a shelf of doom so I'm committed to finish it 😉 As a matter of fact I don't have a shelf yet at all. This is my third build after The Big Pause, so I have to think where I am going to put them.

5 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Wow- looks like this is going to be a good one! Hard to pick either the Hunter or Sabre as the prettiest RNeth AF weenie cooker, but you can never go wrong with a Sabre! The cockpit is looking fantastic! Not my scale, but can't wait to see how your build turns out if the rest of it looks as good as the cockpit! Too bad it's not 1/48- you could have grafted the longer K nose section onto a Revell/Monogram F-86D.

Mike

There's also a Must Have Special Hobby 1:48 F-86K available.

2 hours ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Eh... Looks I’m the only Kitty Hawk fan 🤤

 

Cheers! 😺

I'm not in despair yet 😎 If I have to, I will beat it into submission 😁 This will be a labour of love, so bring it on Kitty Hawk.

 

One more for good measure...

 

Okay..two more.

Edited November 24, 2018 by Grunticus
added images

[Nikolay Polyakov]

8 hours ago, Grunticus said:

I am thinking of priming with Surfacer 1200, followed by Tamiya X1 black, then Tamiya AS12 Titanium silver, maybe with a few selected panels in a different shade, like the gun port panel for sure. Do you have any suggestions for this?

I build only the one model after hiatus (Voodoo) and I chose the Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminium and Gunze H8 Silver for a NMF, because I don’t want to enter the world of enamels again and I use only the acrylics. I think your plan for the NMF is the best decision and your Sabre will look great!

 

I’m looking with interest!

 

Cheers 🤝

[Grunticus]

A bit more on this one. I am still not impressed. Internally, I would call this a higher-end short run kit and nothing more. Too much cleanup of small parts is required, and sprue attachment point were engineered to give us all more hobby-time. Now the big, big plus: The fit of the external shell is very, very good, and so far it looks like I will only need very small amounts of putty, even around the complexly shaped nose area. So not at all bad overall.

 

For example, the gun-bay panel. Shown here just separated from the sprue, half a swipe of the sanding stick, and gently pushed in to the hole without glue. There is just enough friction in the fit so that one can gently position it perfectly and then glue it with thin glue from the inside (I left the bays out):

 

And another seam:

 

The complex nose. Some shadows in the seams here (exaggerated by the camera), but easy to clean-up when dried:

 

This is where it stands now:

 

About the instructions: they suck. Vague, incomplete. The assemble sequence for the engine was copied from the F-86D, and make no mention of the extension ring to accommodate the longer -K fuselage. Of course, I found out after I glued in the engine and intake duct subs-assembly. The nose gear bay was one cm short of where it should be 😔

 

Managed to fix it though. It's the external appearance I am looking to make as good as possible anyway. But still, bad, bad Kitty.....

 

On to the tail and wings...

Edited November 27, 2018 by Grunticus

[pommie commie]

Interesting..........in that last photo you can make out faded "Air Force" markings. Maybe a former USAF D model, converted to a K?

 

Looking at the kit............now I know why you see so few made up. Damn.

[Grunticus]

9 hours ago, pommie commie said:

Interesting..........in that last photo you can make out faded "Air Force" markings. Maybe a former USAF D model, converted to a K?

 

Looking at the kit............now I know why you see so few made up. Damn.

The machines that were delivered from America had full USAF markings. This one still shows that. It was never a -D. -K's were newly built airframes. The kit is not bad, it just requires a bit more cleanup before assembly, maybe I was too harsh. 

[Nikolay Polyakov]

23 minutes ago, Grunticus said:

The kit is not bad, it just requires a bit more cleanup before assembly, maybe I was too harsh.

Yes, the Kitty Hawk’s kits require some attention and dry fitting, but after some smart sanding parts will went together well.

 

The progress looks great 👍

 

Cheers! 😎

[Col.]

With the clever application of some thought and modelling skills you are doing a fine job on this one. The bent plastic runner keeping the intake rim in place is really impressing me 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Col.

[Grunticus]

On 28/11/2018 at 20:45, Col. said:

With the clever application of some thought and modelling skills you are doing a fine job on this one. The bent plastic runner keeping the intake rim in place is really impressing me 

Thank you sir! These come in handy once in a while, I keep a few at hand. The seam on the tail-to fuselage going will need some putty and sanding, the didn't mate too well. Good on one side, less so on the other.

 

 

I have started on the gears, and replacing the vortex generators with the ones from the Big Ed set. My poor eyes just don't cut it anymore.... I have to start looking for some stand-alone magnifying apparatus. I have barely managed to glue each individual generator in place, 16 of them. Luckily the larger one is one part and one just needs to bend the vortex generators 90° upward. 

 

 

[Flyingdutchman]

Very nice, as a fellow Dutchie I can appreciate the work you put in the F-86. Nice High-Res photos too.

 

Evert

[Mr B]

Interesting subject and some class work going on there.

 

rgds

[Grunticus]

Today I got a real education about working with PE. I really never used it, so it is a new aspect for me modelling-wise. I have ordered a stand-alone magnifying glass from Amazon 😁

 

All vortex generators are on now. Eduard have you use a PE template for exact placement, but that is more in the way than that is is any kind of help, especially when removing the template which sits way too tight around the generators is almost impossible without tearing them off again. I just Tamiya-taped a path and placed them on one by one freehand. Not very perfect, but okay for a first attempt. I noticed I got better at it along the way. On a side note: I learned that each individual aircraft had them in different locations and quantities! Like the lead weights on car wheels. They were placed where they were needed. Did they test EACH plane in a wind tunnel to assess where they should be put??

 

 

The small fuselage intake was overlooked by Kitty Hawk (which is strange since it is included in their F-86D kit). Eduard came to the rescue. Not sure if I like it yet though, might make a new one from stock. I will see how it looks under a coat of Surfacer first. These intakes were present on some aircraft but mostly not present. Maybe a seasonal thing.

 

 

She's starting to look like one:

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by Grunticus

[Nikolay Polyakov]

Hi @Grunticus,

 

you did an amazing job! PE parts is a great addition to your Sabre Dog 👍

 

Cheers! 🙃

[Col.]

Good work dealing with all those tiny metal parts 

[Grunticus]

Have had a little time for it again. The discoloration around the gun ports is too far aft, I will have to fix that. Don't be a dork like me and mask and paint the exhaust area BEFORE you attach the horizontal stabilisers, this will save you an hour of your life for something else 😁 Gear is ready also, and I will now start weathering that and the wheel-wells first.

 

[Nikolay Polyakov]

3 hours ago, Grunticus said:

Wow, she’s beautiful!👍 @Grunticus, how you painted her?! The Kitty Hawk’s panel lines is great...

 

Cheers! 😎

Edited December 6, 2018 by Nikolay Polyakov

[Grunticus]

4 minutes ago, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Wow, she’s beautiful!👍 @Grunticus, how you painted her?! The Kitty Hawk’s panel lines is great...

 

Cheers! 😎

Yes these panel lines and rivets will really come to life easily with a black wash later on. I primed her with Surfacer 1200, and then Revell 66 silver, which I chose over Tamiya AS12 Titanium Silver after painting the gear with the Revell color. The tanks will be AS12 for some contrast.

 

Apparently even Dutch Decal is not to be trusted with the Dutch Air Force subjects. My plane will be Q-900, a Fiat-built example, which had a differently painted anti-glare panel compared to it's North-American built counterparts. The DD instruction sheet shows all as identical is this respect. Luckily I noticed.

 

Here's Q-900 (55-4900, scrapped mid-1964) albeit earlier in life, with a ZX-1 squadron code instead of Q-code:

 

 

Here's Q-902, also Fiat-built. Compare anti-glare panel with the images earlier in this thread.

 

 

Anyhow, it was a quick fix:

 

)

[Nikolay Polyakov]

45 minutes ago, Grunticus said:

Yes these panel lines and rivets will really come to life easily with a black wash later on. I primed her with Surfacer 1200, and then Revell 66 silver, which I chose over Tamiya AS12 Titanium Silver after painting the gear with the Revell color. The tanks will be AS12 for some contrast.

Thanks for an explanation!

 

45 minutes ago, Grunticus said:

Anyhow, it was a quick fix:

Sure thing, now it looks great 👍

 

Cheers! 🙃

[Grunticus]

Calling it a day with this one.

 

Summary kit: satisfying build, but testing my personal attention span limits, especially the extra clean-up required. Instruction sheet full of vagueness, parts call-out wrong, but manageable. Outside shell fits great and looks good. VERY nice surface detail, ideal for weathering. Worth the price IMO.

Summary Eduard Big Ed set: very nice and very extensive, but overpriced (got it in a special).

Summary Dutch Decals: fragile, inaccurate (the dash that makes a "Q" a "Q" is way too narrow, had to correct it), inaccurate instructions (no discrimination between the U.S. and Fiat built examples in regards to the differences in the anti-glare panel)). Not worthy of a Dutch company doing Dutch subjects IMO. Plus side: roundel colour looks very good, react well to Daco Medium.

 

 

 

More in RFI.

Edited December 10, 2018 by Grunticus