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Converting the Hasegawa 1/72 F-86D Sabre Dog into a K? Do-able?


Wm Blecky

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In short, no.  There are some differences in the fuselage and not just the provisions for the guns.  IIRC there is a slight length difference that is spread out throughout the length of the fuselage so that just trying to splice in a section won't work.  Special Hobby previously did a K and L model F-86.  While not the best kit, it at least can get you started on a K.

Later,

Dave

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Thanks Dave.  I've been trying to find the Special Hobby kit, not much luck.  I did find out about the fuselage length difference, not too much as you've said, but my idea for just splicing in a small section is out window then.

 

I suppose I will keep hunting for the Special Hobby kit.

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It is in theory possible to add the extra length, the problem is that this is not located in one single section but it's located in two sections.. and that would be easy, the difficult part is that you would have to do two L shaped cuts. I have a diagram somewhere, I was hoping to be able to do the same but than gave up when I saw the diagram. Then SH issued their K, that is not too accurate but at least is a K straight from the box. Even if SH made a mess of the wing...

(Edit: Andre just posted a similar diagram while I was typing, see what I mean with having to make L shaped cuts)

 

Speaking of wings, another aspect to keep in mind of a conversion is that most K used the F-40 wing, meaning that if you convert a Hasegawa kit you also have to find such a wing, unless you build one of the early aircraft. Some users never had the early wing so this will limit your options.

 

As you say unfortunately this kit seems to be pretty hard to find at the moment. There's one currently on that well known auction site, but for a price that IMHO is quite steep. It's funnily easier to find the resin Tauromodel kit. This is not an easy build (to be honest though the SH kit isn't that easy either...) and I have vague memories of a number of inaccuracies being discussed in the Italian modelling community.
Really today the best option is to change scale and get the Special Hobby 1/48 kit, that from what I heard is more accurate than their 1/72 offering and is currently easily available from several outlets at a price that IMHO is quite competitive. Of course this may be a good kit but it is not a 1/72 F-86K...

 

Edited by Giorgio N
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1 hour ago, Giorgio N said:

It is in theory possible to add the extra length, the problem is that this is not located in one single section but it's located in two sections.. and that would be easy, the difficult part is that you would have to do two L shaped cuts. I have a diagram somewhere, I was hoping to be able to do the same but than gave up when I saw the diagram. Then SH issued their K, that is not too accurate but at least is a K straight from the box. Even if SH made a mess of the wing...

(Edit: Andre just posted a similar diagram while I was typing, see what I mean with having to make L shaped cuts)

 

Speaking of wings, another aspect to keep in mind of a conversion is that most K used the F-40 wing, meaning that if you convert a Hasegawa kit you also have to find such a wing, unless you build one of the early aircraft. Some users never had the early wing so this will limit your options.

 

As you say unfortunately this kit seems to be pretty hard to find at the moment. There's one currently on that well known auction site, but for a price that IMHO is quite steep. It's funnily easier to find the resin Tauromodel kit. This is not an easy build (to be honest though the SH kit isn't that easy either...) and I have vague memories of a number of inaccuracies being discussed in the Italian modelling community.
Really today the best option is to change scale and get the Special Hobby 1/48 kit, that from what I heard is more accurate than their 1/72 offering and is currently easily available from several outlets at a price that IMHO is quite competitive. Of course this may be a good kit but it is not a 1/72 F-86K...

 

Thanks Giorgio.

 

Coincidentally, I would actually end up with a spare wing.  My plan was to use the wing from the F-86D kit and make a F-86A or a Mk.2 Sabre.  I accidentally bought a Fujimi F-86F-40 kit and that would be my F-40 wing right there with the fuselage going to the F-86A project.  I also have a number of extra Hobbycraft Canadair Sabres, so I think those bases are covered.  I thought that I could possibly salvage the remaining pieces and give myself an F-86K.

 

I did find one Special Hobby F-86K from a seller in France, its pricey, which I could almost accept, but he wants a ridiculous amount to ship it to Canada, so I'll put that idea on the back burner.

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IIRC, we had a lot of discussion on this topic and it included how to convert a Sabre D into a Sabre K. As Giorgio has stated, you have to make an L-shaped cut in the fuselage to insert the two plugs, very much like how you would convert an F9F-2 Panther into an F9F-5. I'm thinking @Sabrejet @Courageous or @RidgeRunner  were participants in the topic discussion, which you could look up- certainly Sabrejet would be the man to ask. There is also a modelers manual on building all of the the versions of the Sabre, the link to it is below;  it lists and illustrates all of the changes necessary to make each variant of the Sabre and Fury. Hope this helps.

Mike

 

https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/ref/arc/book_arc_9002a.shtml

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3 hours ago, 72modeler said:

IIRC, we had a lot of discussion on this topic and it included how to convert a Sabre D into a Sabre K. As Giorgio has stated, you have to make an L-shaped cut in the fuselage to insert the two plugs, very much like how you would convert an F9F-2 Panther into an F9F-5. I'm thinking @Sabrejet @Courageous or @RidgeRunner  were participants in the topic discussion, which you could look up- certainly Sabrejet would be the man to ask. There is also a modelers manual on building all of the the versions of the Sabre, the link to it is below;  it lists and illustrates all of the changes necessary to make each variant of the Sabre and Fury. Hope this helps.

Mike

 

https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/ref/arc/book_arc_9002a.shtml

Not me on this one, Mike. I'll leave Sabres to the experts, ;) especially the shnozz type ;)

 

Martin

 

 

Edited by RidgeRunner
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See below as @Giorgio N mentioned: the splice represents a move forward of the front fuselage - hence the change in station numbers forward of Stn.187.4 at the top, etc. The difference in stations at the rear are due to the diagram being for non-brake-chuted F-86D vs. brake-chuted K.

 

xx2

 

Edited by Sabrejet
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4 hours ago, Wm Blecky said:

Thanks Giorgio.

 

Coincidentally, I would actually end up with a spare wing.  My plan was to use the wing from the F-86D kit and make a F-86A or a Mk.2 Sabre.  I accidentally bought a Fujimi F-86F-40 kit and that would be my F-40 wing right there with the fuselage going to the F-86A project.  I also have a number of extra Hobbycraft Canadair Sabres, so I think those bases are covered.  I thought that I could possibly salvage the remaining pieces and give myself an F-86K.

 

I did find one Special Hobby F-86K from a seller in France, its pricey, which I could almost accept, but he wants a ridiculous amount to ship it to Canada, so I'll put that idea on the back burner.

 

The Fujimi F40 wing would be perfect then.

I have seen that K sold from France, I wonder if being in Canada it may work better for you to get something from the US ? I've seen a US dealer selling a Tauromodel resin kit for a price that at the moment is IMHO acceptable... don't know however what postage is like from the US to Canada, to Europe is generally quite steep (while from Canada to Europe is generally very reasonable).

I have in the meantime found some more info on the Tauromodel kit and this had very bad wings. Not a problem of course if you're replaing them. I've heard different ideas on the fuselage, some say it was good while some say it was the same length of the D.

There have also been a couple of conversion kits in the past, one from Model Art in resin and a vacuform from Airmodel.

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Interesting thread this, anything on any Sabre always is IMHO!

 

So that diagram Duncan @Sabrejet, is an excellent way of seeing where the real differences exist. From another thread some months back, on the accuracy (or otherwise) of the SH F-86H, it would be great to have a similar diagram for the H itself, that could then be scaled to match the kit profile ......... but I seem to recall that was the challenge, i.e. none existed that we could find?

 

Terry

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