North American F-86F Sabre
![Album image #1 Album image #1](/albums/img/4/7/8/344478-16302-50-720.jpg)
Alclad II worked fine, although I expected it to be stronger, in the plastic spoon it sticked very hard but in the model, as I was sanding, it nocked out some chips that I had to sand down and retoutch, about 2 times,but in the end that´s the result.
![Album image #2 Album image #2](/albums/img/4/8/2/344482-16302-99-720.jpg)
Here is the right side of the wing done, with rivets and polished with finger nail polisher stick, we can compare with the original side on the left.
![Album image #3 Album image #3](/albums/img/4/8/0/344480-16302-90-720.jpg)
After a visit to the Wernigerode Luftfahrtmuseum, were I could analize the real plane very close, I notice the complete absense in the kit of the landing lights that fold flat in the surface, so here I will recriate that as good as I can
![Album image #4 Album image #4](/albums/img/4/7/9/344479-16302-37-720.jpg)
The rivets were done all free hand and I think next time I will try to use a ruller to get them more straight, some areas they were a bit too deep and in others almost vanishing, but I gess that´s the way to learn: practice, overall I like the result...
![Album image #5 Album image #5](/albums/img/4/8/1/344481-16302-57-720.jpg)
After a lot of sanding, polishing, gap and sink marks filling riveting, polishing more. 3 coats of primer with sanding and repairs in between, the gloss coat is done.
![Album image #6 Album image #6](/albums/img/4/8/3/344483-16302-48-720.jpg)
Airfix have the sprue gate located exatly over the center welding line of the tank, in one of them I maneged to reshape the missing bit but in the other I damaged the surface around, not nice for NMF, so I sanded off completely to add stretched sprue.
![Album image #7 Album image #7](/albums/img/9/9/8/345998-16302-85-720.jpg)
First color on, mrp super silver metallic
![Album image #8 Album image #8](/albums/img/9/9/9/345999-16302-93-720.jpg)
I masked some of the black primer to paint them in another shade
![Album image #9 Album image #9](/albums/img/9/9/7/345997-16302-23-720.jpg)
Second color on, MRP Chrome, I have not maskedked anything, I just removed the masks that protected the black in the previous step
![Album image #10 Album image #10](/albums/img/0/0/0/346000-16302-88-720.jpg)
The chrome covers very slow and have not much effect overcoating the silver, I can still see clearly the demarcation line if the tape
![Album image #11 Album image #11](/albums/img/7/6/9/346769-16302-52-720.jpg)
Adding some variation to the metallic surface
![Album image #12 Album image #12](/albums/img/7/7/0/346770-16302-77-720.jpg)
I used some mr color 8 in the center of the panels of the ailerons and flaps to add a bit of interest in the model
![Album image #13 Album image #13](/albums/img/8/3/0/346830-16302-20-720.jpg)
Decal madness on the way!
![Album image #14 Album image #14](/albums/img/8/5/4/346854-16302-25-720.jpg)
We have wheels... and it's not a tail seater, good thing!
![Album image #15 Album image #15](/albums/img/9/7/7/346977-16302-50-720.jpg)
Airfix haven't provided any way to make the front cover, not even a panel line gap, so I made myself one decal out of the provided "spare decal" using one circular cutter.
![Album image #16 Album image #16](/albums/img/6/4/9/347649-16302-36-720.jpg)
Finished! it is still reflexive in places under some angles, but without clear coat I run the risk of finger prints and the decals to came off eventualy (when I was masking some areas to retouch the metal finish, chunks of the big "USAF" came right off!
![Album image #17 Album image #17](/albums/img/6/5/0/347650-16302-31-720.jpg)
I'm afraid of the durability of the finish, After the incidend with the "USAF" decal camming off in the masking tape I was scared to death, thankfuly I repared the damage and so far I have been handeling it with care using latex gloves
![Album image #18 Album image #18](/albums/img/6/5/1/347651-16302-39-720.jpg)
I placed one order for one alclad ll aquagloss, I'll try it to seal the model, I used Tamiya pannel accent wash for the airelons and flaps only
![Album image #19 Album image #19](/albums/img/6/5/2/347652-16302-92-720.jpg)
Not much weathering going on, panel lines are already very deep, I'll not "accentuate" them
![Album image #20 Album image #20](/albums/img/6/5/3/347653-16302-94-720.jpg)
that was a longer road than I was expecting, but I loved the experience.
![Album image #21 Album image #21](/albums/img/6/5/4/347654-16302-81-720.jpg)
Froom some angles is possible to see the carrier film of the decals, I will try some Alclad ll aquagloss as soon as it arive to see if it can fix the problem...
![Album image #22 Album image #22](/albums/img/6/5/5/347655-16302-70-720.jpg)
The overall looks convincing to me.
![Album image #23 Album image #23](/albums/img/6/5/6/347656-16302-72-720.jpg)
The landing lights were improvised, the rivets were done with RB production.
![Album image #24 Album image #24](/albums/img/7/7/6/347776-16302-48-720.jpg)
The black detail in the front of the nose cutted off from the spare decal really worked well, I used Revell decal soft and hair dryer with a lot of patience it conformed nicely to the surface with minimum wrinkles.
![Album image #25 Album image #25](/albums/img/7/7/7/347777-16302-26-720.jpg)
The navigation lights on the tip of wings were sanded off early in the building process, I used one blob of 2 part transparent epoxy to recriate that, and I used on top clear green, red and orange in the tail.
![Album image #26 Album image #26](/albums/img/7/7/8/347778-16302-66-720.jpg)
the machine gun´s pannel was masked and painted with Mr Hobby buffables in a mix of iron and stainless steel, and than buffed to shine
![Album image #27 Album image #27](/albums/img/7/7/9/347779-16302-21-720.jpg)
Seat from Pavla, had to sand the sides to make it fit,They do also the full interior for this kit, the back of the canopy was improved with some wiring, the "Maj Blenn" should be placed in the frame of the canopy, but obviously there´s no space
![Album image #28 Album image #28](/albums/img/7/8/1/347781-16302-51-720.jpg)
after painting one thing anoys me: the difference in the rivet's depth, too deep in one wing and vanishing in the other, next time 'll be more carefull using ruller to straight them up and be sure they look consistent troughout the model.
![Album image #29 Album image #29](/albums/img/7/8/2/347782-16302-95-720.jpg)
real lights as well as the navigation lights were chopped off early in the build process, replaced afterwards for 2 part clear epoxy, here painted over with orange clear from tamiya
![Album image #30 Album image #30](/albums/img/7/8/3/347783-16302-31-720.jpg)
the landing lights that I created previously in front of the noose landing gear, were painted with Molotow liquid chrome marker and filled with Revell Contacta Clear (similar to micro kristal klear) the tip of pitot tube was replaced for hipodermic needle
![Album image #31 Album image #31](/albums/img/7/8/4/347784-16302-30-720.jpg)
one lesson learned is that when I atempt to make rivets, I have to be more constant in the pressure and carefull wen sanding it: some areas are deep and in others it almost desapear
![Album image #32 Album image #32](/albums/img/7/8/5/347785-16302-29-720.jpg)
the resin wheels are realy one welcome improvement over the kit ones. I think now that I could have used some aftermarket pthotoetch for the instrumentation as the canopy is very clear.
![Album image #33 Album image #33](/albums/img/7/8/6/347786-16302-62-720.jpg)
overall alignment is ok, the shape of the canopy could have been better fron the front section and the frame in the rear botton is far too thin, but worked out nicely.
![Album image #34 Album image #34](/albums/img/7/8/7/347787-16302-75-720.jpg)
also the ejector seat helped a lot, it is very visible from the canopy, I have removed the internal transparent locator tabs from the clear part because they would be evident later, I chopped them off, sanded and polished, I think I did a good job there.
Commenti
1 6 May 2017, 20:51
![](/profiles/img/10792-966-s.jpg)
Very nice work so far Cesar 👍 Looking forward to the first coat of the NMF.
Cheers, Christian
7 May 2017, 08:58
Album info
In this project I will test my Ideas in refining my NMF output, fully riveting, and polishing the textured surface from airfix, bringing the overall look to be less toy-like, let´s see what I can achieve.
I don´t have many construction pictures this time, hope to get it done faster and put the pictures of the result as soon as I can