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F-86A in 1/48


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I am speechless, Duncan! Without a doubt, this is the most accurate, colorful, and best-built Sabre I have seen in a long time- in any scale! I can't wait to see her finished! I have learned a lot about A's following your posts and this build, and I thank you for that. The windscreen looks right on the money, too- well done, sir! :clap2:

Mike

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3 hours ago, 72modeler said:

I am speechless, Duncan! Without a doubt, this is the most accurate, colorful, and best-built Sabre I have seen in a long time- in any scale! I can't wait to see her finished! I have learned a lot about A's following your posts and this build, and I thank you for that. The windscreen looks right on the money, too- well done, sir! :clap2:

Mike

You are more than kind sir: I know where the rough bits are, and I think the camera has been kind to it! Canopy done last night, so just the screen, slats on and those darned decals.

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4 hours ago, 72modeler said:

I have learned a lot about A's following your posts

Not only that,  it has also been very much a voyage of discovery for me too, a lot of the queries I've had about the -As now answered.

Steve.

 

Edited by stevehnz
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Well thanks for your lovely comments: you have made me realise it's been worth posting this stuff. Right then, with jobs-to-do dwindling while I wait for the decals, I took the plunge and fixed that missing vee-screen. Option 1 was to make the whole thing from a thick sheet of clear plastic, filed to a vee-shape and polished (downside: probably difficult to polish and retain a defined edge to the vee); Option 2 was to cut two thin sheets of acetate and cut them to shape and join the two pieces into a vee-shape, as on the real aircraft (my preferred idea); or Option 3, which was to try and make it out of one piece, with a score along the 'inside' of the screen along the centreline and a bend to obtain a vee shape. That latter one seemed difficult on the one hand, but for obscure reasons it was the one I chose to try first - and it worked first time :)

 

So this is the acetate, scored and bent on the reverse side:

 

 

61 (1)

 

And then trimmed and Kristal-Kleer'ed into place: it really was a simple job - about 30 minutes start to finish. Why did I worry?

 

61a

 

61b

 

Edited by Sabrejet
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13 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

That looks very neat indeed. One can see why they changed it though - that couldn't have done much to help optics for gunnery!

It's actually not that bad to look through, though I imagine at certain angles to the sun it would cause some strange reflections. And contrary to some claims, it's not a strengthened or bullet-proof screen - just two plates of thickish glass, joined at the centre and at the time thought to give the best behaviour in terms of high-speed aerodynamics.

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5 hours ago, Johnv said:

Beautiful work! Hopefully someone at Tamiya or Hobbyboss is watching this and

taking notes. I like the V windscreen, slick idea.---John

 

Whilst I agree with you on the beautiful work, I wouldn't want Tamiya to touch this subject because it would be unaffordable and I definitely wouldn't want Hobby Boss anywhere near it because they'd contrive to mess it up somehow.

 

Duncan, thanks for explaining the intricacies of the windscreen and I'm really looking forward to the end result.

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7 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I don't fancy trying to replicate that in 1/72 so I think the Pavla canopy with an armoured screen placed inside it will do for me. it is nice to know exactly what it is one is trying to show.

Steve.

Hi Steve,

 

Actually, I am building right now the Airfix 1/72 Sabre as an F-86E(M), the only version besides the "A" that had the reinforced windscreen (that's how I know and told Duncan about it) and I have bought the Pavla canopy. In contrast, to Duncan's work I have to install the reinforced glass.

 

Cheers

 

Bill (aka Shalako)

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Excellent work on the screen.:yes:

As Steve says, don't know how easy this would be in 1/72. I do want to do an RF-86A, so it might get an airing :hmmm:.

5 minutes ago, Shalako said:

the only version besides the "A" that had the reinforced windscreen

The Canadiar Mk2 Sabre also had the 'V' screen.

 

Stuart

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13 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

 

screen1

 

My first thought was, "He's either getting in awfully close to fire, or should be yanking back on the stick."  I also chuckled at prominent instructions-

Pilot: Hmm, things seem to be getting rather dire, perhaps I should be considering a tactical retreat.  Let's see, how am I meant to do this again?  Step 1: Lean forward to read instructions.  (I can see why they only select the eagle-eyed for this job!)  Where was I?  Ah yes, Step 1...  :giles:💥

 

 

58 minutes ago, Shalako said:

Actually, I am building right now the Airfix 1/72 Sabre as an F-86E(M), the only version besides the "A" that had the reinforced windscreen (that's how I know and told Duncan about it) and I have bought the Pavla canopy. In contrast, to Duncan's work I have to install the reinforced glass.

 

Bill, I have a strange feeling that you jumped in a few pages into this WiP- perhaps you should return to Start and review.

 

SJ/Duncan, superb!  The only problem is that you make it look as if any of us clots could do it...  (Not talking about you, Bill, I have faith!)  Now could you take some shots of the model without the "Make it look like fine art" setting on?

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1 hour ago, gingerbob said:

Bill, I have a strange feeling that you jumped in a few pages into this WiP- perhaps you should return to Start and review.

True, true!

 

I've focused on the photos !!

2 hours ago, Courageous said:

The Canadiar Mk2 Sabre also had the 'V' screen.

 

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

 

Good point!!!

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9 hours ago, Courageous said:

Excellent work on the screen.:yes:

As Steve says, don't know how easy this would be in 1/72. I do want to do an RF-86A, so it might get an airing :hmmm:.

The Canadiar Mk2 Sabre also had the 'V' screen.

 

Stuart

And the F-86E-1 & F-86E-5; and the Canadair Sabre 1 and 3! :)

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8 hours ago, gingerbob said:

SJ/Duncan, superb!  The only problem is that you make it look as if any of us clots could do it...  (Not talking about you, Bill, I have faith!)  Now could you take some shots of the model without the "Make it look like fine art" setting on?

I'm a fellow clot: I'm pleased with how this went because I must admit I wasn't convinced it would be a neat job to do a "F-86F+F-86D=F-86A" job. The technical bits I know: the execution was the hard bit, but I just did a bit at a time, and when I got to the 'polished, round screen' stage I knew I had an option to do an F-86A-1 if the vee-screen looked like a step too far. 

 

Just give it a go and please post anything you do!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally! Decals have arrived!!!! Good job and very professional-looking too. Just to be on the safe side I gave them a coat of gloss. They came from Josh at Bedlam Creations (www.bedlamcreations.com)

 

62

 

And despite going to look at this:

 

P1550538

 

I still got home in time to finish the F-86A: RFI to follow later tonight.

 

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1 hour ago, Sabrejet said:

And despite going to look at this:

Like the decals Duncan, but now I am distracted and very intrigued as to where you will have got a nice snap of a B-52 on final ............. I'm guessing maybe Fairford or possibly Mildenhall?

 

Terry

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14 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Like the decals Duncan, but now I am distracted and very intrigued as to where you will have got a nice snap of a B-52 on final ............. I'm guessing maybe Fairford or possibly Mildenhall?

 

Terry

Fairford: possibly two more tomorrow but it's going to be even colder and wetter so I may give those a miss.

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