North American F-86F Sabre

James C
The F-86 has been on my "to-do" list for a while now.
I've finished cleaning up and assembling the main components like the wing, engine and cockpit etc and just about ready to throw some paint at it.

Spanjaard
I got it in my stash, so really interested to see what you do with it 🙂

James C
Thanks mate. So far, after dry fitting the fuselage together with the wings and engine etc, the fit appears to be pretty good, so hopefully any clean-up of the joins will be minimal.

I've not decided yet if I will use the drop tanks, as I definitely won't be using the pair of bombs that were also included so as to preserve the lines of the airframe. The kit would be ideal for diorama builders, as all the access panels (to rearm the guns etc) airbrakes and canopy etc can be displayed opened. (mine will be closed up as much as possible)

And if your feeling particularly adventurous, you can opt to cut the airframe in half to expose the nicely detailed engine, and have the tail section resting separately on a trolly which is also included and is a delicate little kit in itself.

John
Got it in the stash here too. Got as far as painting the cockpit then put it aside because I wasn't up for a NMF. But it is a good kit. Cockpit could use some sprucing up but for sure, everything fits pretty well.

Spanjaard
Thanks for the info!

James C
@ John - Yeah, that's why I've been holding off until now as well, as doing a half decent looking NMF is tricky (for me at least) to pull off. The F-84 I did last year was a bit of a confidence booster, but still tons of room for improvement. That... and the decals! 😉

@ Spanjaard - NP. I'll make a note of any issues if/when I come across them 😉👍

I had intended to at least get the internal components primered yesterday, but just ran out of time in the end. Hope to get it done today, and then make a start on the cockpit interior. Will update the album when there's more to see.

John
Yep, ran into the exact same issue with the exact same airframe, well the -F anyway, ha. Might be that Eduard's new decals where you can remove the carrier film will be just the trick.

Spanjaard
Well, I do not know about the decals since I have not tried them, but the ones that Academy included in the F-4J were just fantastic. Printed by Cartograph. Worked like a charm

Neil
Following! 👀

Bruce Huxtable
Following with interest, James. Mine is rising to the front of the queue....

Peter de Bruin
Following 😊

James C
Welcome aboard Neil, Bruce & Peter... thanks for the interest 🙂

I made a fair bit of progress today with the cockpit interior painted, and I scratched together some harnesses made from Tamiya tape applied to ordinary kitchen foil. The rough surface texture of the tape gives them a "fabric" look, and the kitchen foil allows me to bend them to shape. While they won't win any awards for realism, they should do ok to dress up the ejection seat a little (which is sadly lacking) beneath the closed canopy.

With that done, I then installed the interior (including the intake trunk and engine assembly) then closed the fuselage up and attached the wings. The fit was pretty good... not fantastic, but definitely better than I was expecting. Still going to need a fair bit of work to eliminate the joins while preserving the engraved detailing.

I tried to update the album with some progress pics, but am not able to at present due to an error.
Scalemates may be out of disk space again?

Spanjaard
So it seems ... SCM Newsfeed

James C
Cool, working again now 👍

James C
I've been plodding away on this one cleaning up the fuselage joins, and am just about ready to shoot a coat of gloss black over it.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Oh, a Saber! 😎 I'm in, James. 👍

James C
Thanks Robin 🙂

I got the gloss black base done yesterday, but not happy with the end result as it's not a smooth a finish as I was hoping. Additionally, the seam line on top of the fuselage opened up slightly again while handling. I'm hoping I can salvage it, but may end up just binning it and break out the Hasegawa kit instead.

John
Don't give up yet! Some 2000 grit and a little Mr. Surfacer 500 should do it.

James C
Thanks John and yeah; while I admittedly was really annoyed (with myself) I thought it over, and decided to rub down the entire airframe again (after fixing the join) and just re-spray it. I was really loathed to do it, but you can't take short cuts with these NMF paint jobs.
I got a much smoother finish, and better depth of sheen the second time around.

John
It's true, nmf hides no sins. I've found getting a smooth gloss coat rarely happens for me on the first spray. I have to shoot a coat, lightly sand and then I may get a decent one. Maybe I need to adjust my mix, or airbrush...or eyes.

Mathieu
That's fast &fine progress James! Talking a seat before the nmf spray !

Spanjaard
Second black base seems really great, NMF is certainly unforgiving with surface details, but it looks you have all the bases well covered

James C
Thanks guys, I'll probably leave it another day for the black to cure a bit more before I give it a coat of aluminum (Vallejo)

My biggest concern about sanding and respraying the black was obliterating the panel lines in the process, but the paint pigments (of the gloss black) are so fine that this was a non issue in the end... thankfully!

Also, another assembly tip... leave the horizontal stabilizers off until after painting to make it easier to mask and paint the darker exterior fuselage panels at the rear. This was a big oversight on my part and has made things unnecessarily more difficult than they needed to be!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Very nice application of the aluminium. 👍

James C
Cheers mate 🙂

Next up is to get the landing gear installed, then protect the paint with a couple coats of clear gloss.

James C
I got the landing gear installed then gave it three light coats of Pledge floor polish to seal the paintwork.
Will leave it now for a few days for it to cure properly, then move onto a panel line wash and then the decals.
Will install the wheel bay doors and FOD covers on completion.

Spanjaard
Looking forward to it

James C
I made a start on the decals yesterday, and got most of the larger yellow bands and assorted insignia applied to the upper surfaces. On checking this morning, I was really pleased with how well they settled down overnight after only a couple coats of "Microsol". I hadn't been looking forward to doing them at all (particularly the large yellow bands on the wings and fuselage) but all my concerns were mostly unfounded. Today I hope to get the bands done underneath, then apply all the various stencils... which there are a LOT of.

Mathieu
James, I can imagine the anxiety before starting the session, and the joy once it's all over, especially looking at that magnificent dragon on the fuselage. Hell of a job! Congratulations

James C
Thanks Mathieu 🙂

I spent another couple hours yesterday applying more decals and am about 90% done now with just a number of the smaller stencils remaining. It's surprising how many decals there are in total in this kit given the small size of the aircraft. Have also noticed that the right main landing gear is bowed inwards slightly, so am going to have to sort that out somehow as well. It must have shifted slightly after the initial installation. Will update the album when there's more to see...

Spanjaard
Decals seem certainly successful!!

James C
Thanks Spanjaard 🙂

I got the decals finished finally yesterday and then sealed today under another coat of Tamiya X-22 clear gloss. I also got the FOD covers on the front air intake and engine nozzle installed, along with the wheel bay doors and their actuator arms.
Just the external fuel tanks left to install now.

I'm going to try and add a little panel line wash to the yellow bands to match the exposed metal surfaces, but the thickness of the decals has largely filled the panel lines beneath them, and I couldn't get them to sink any deeper unfortunately.

A question...

I had been intending to shoot a coat of Tamiya XF-86 flat clear over it to dull the gloss sheen down a bit, but excluding the rubber tyres (which I can resolve with weathering pastels) the more glossy finish is kind of growing on me.
So, should I dull it down or leave it?

John
I can only speak for myself but I gave the F-84F just the slightest overspray of flat to tone the shine down and hold oil a bit better but I was going for a more weathered look. Nothing wrong with a nice shiny finish, it looks quite good as is. After all, if it stops growing on you, you can always add flat later but it's real hard to take it away!

James C
Thanks for the feedback John. 😉👍
I did the same with my F-84G last year, and after mulling it over will probably do the same as well on this one so they better match each other when sitting side by side in the display cabinet.

I'm hoping to knock it off this weekend, then maybe squeeze in one more quickie before Xmas.

James C
I finally finished it off yesterday.

For an inexpensive kit that I wasn't expecting much from, I was quite pleasantly surprised with this Academy boxing. The fit was quite good overall and the decals which I was also expecting to have a ton of trouble with were fantastic.

The only minor issue I had is that the cockpit is a little sparsely detailed (especially the pilots seat), so you might want to consider a resin replacement or 3D decals to dress it up with if displaying the canopy open etc.

While the kit gives you the option of displaying the airbrakes open as well as removable access panels for rearming the guns; the control surfaces are all fixed along with the landing flaps which I thought was a bit of a missed opportunity.

The kit does not include slats on the leading edge of the wings either (as seen on earlier E and F models) and rather than being an oversight, I believe that this is due to this particular model having a slightly larger wing, on which the slats were done away with entirely.

All up, a great little kit and I would definitely recommend it.

Spanjaard
Fantastic job James!

James C
Thanks mate 🙂

Murad ÖZER
Beautiful Sabre there, great job mate. 👍

John
Turned out great. But you did't put the optional Sidewinders on... 😉

Neil
Very nice indeed 👍

Neuling
Clean, careful, beautiful. Top finish!

James C
Many thanks guys, very much appreciated 🙂

Björn Svedberg
That's a beautiful Sabre! Love it! 👍

Marius
Beautifly done!

James C
Many thanks Björn & Marius 🙂

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Wow, beautiful work James!
The colourful decals look awesome on the metal finish. 👍

James C
Thanks Robin, Cheers mate 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
Lovely Sabre - this one´s got everything on it - stripes, colors, geometric patterns, extensive artwork... 👍 Looks great with the super-mild weathering (altough a worn one would surely be cool too 😉 ) The comparison with the other jets is also interesting, particularly how much better the sight out of the Sabre cockpit compared to the MiG must have been... Nice & clean job start-to-finish 👍

James C
Thanks mate, still need a lot more practice with NMF schemes but am reasonably happy with how this one turned out, and especially being a cheap kit. 🙂

Bruce Huxtable
Very nice end result for sure, James. I have been inspired by your build to start mine (almost finished but having to hand paint....)

James C
Many thanks Bruce. 🙂

Johne 69
Top work James 👍

James C
Thanks Johne 🙂

John
It looks great next to the MiG and Thunderjet! 👍 I like how the finish turned out...matte but not TOO matte.

James C
Thanks John 🙂