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Canadair Sabre Mk.4 Cockpit & Airbrakes (4445 & 4448 for Airfix) 1:48


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Canadair Sabre Mk.4 Cockpit & Airbrakes (4445 & 4448 for Airfix)

1:48 CMK by Special Hobby

 

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Airfix’s new(ish) Sabre has been around now for a while, and some folks have complained about a bit of soft detail in places, especially the rear deck behind the pilot’s head.  CMK have created a number of resin sets to improve on the base kit, of which we have two sets in for review.  Both sets arrive in their standard yellow blister packs with a card header, and the instructions sandwiched between the two halves. Both sets have Photo-Etch (PE) that are separated from the resin parts by a sheet of thick acetate, to avoid damage during shipping.

 

 

Cockpit Set (4445)

This set contains twenty-one resin parts, a fret of PE and a small printed piece of acetate sheet.  It replaces the kit cockpit completely with a new resin tub, into which the replacement resin seat and PE seatbelts are fitted, along with the three-layered resin/acetate/PE instrument panel, which has additional PE controls added after has been laminated, and before it is inserted into the front of the tub with the control column.  The pilot’s headrest is glued to the armoured upstand and spaced out with another resin part, then the replacement rear deck is joined to the rear of the tub.  The fuselage internal sidewalls are sanded/scraped down to accommodate the new resin inserts, and the front coaming is improved by the addition of two small resin parts on the aft corners plus the gunsight, and the while there aren’t any shapes printed on the acetate sheet for the glazing, a little bit of research should allow you to make the parts from the off-cuts around the instrument panel.

 

The kit canopy is last to be augmented, having a well-detailed resin insert to replace the simplistic internal structure, although it does reuse the clear ADF-loop cover from the kit sprues.  The final part is the addition of a PE rear-view in the top of the roll-over hoop, which will need some chrome paint adding to simulate the silvered glass.

 

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Air Brakes (4448)

Containing eight resin parts and a small sheet of PE, this set replaces the simplified inserts that make up the air-brake bays, relegating the kit parts to the spares bin, then replaces the brakes themselves with resin parts that are overlaid on the interior with a pair of PE skins on each one, after adding the triangular resin edges to the main brake.  They are then added to the fuselage after the build, with new resin actuator pistons supplied with the set holding them at the correct angle.

 

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Review sample courtesy of

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