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Hi Madmax

The build is looking terrific. A brave choice to add rivets in 1/48. If you want to read some interesting info on the Sabre, read both the review of the Kinetic 1/32 Sabre on the Modelling Madness web site. Tom Cleaver always include a bit of history (some you don't find in the average aircraft history books),and the one on the F-86 F-30 in Korea is particularly interesting.(The Pacific Coast Hurricane review just as interesting)

Happy modeling

Joker

I have just read the Tom Cleaver review on the Kinetic 1:32 Sabre, and I thought some forum followers may enjoy it too. Here's the link http://modelingmadness.com/review/korea ... mc3286.htm

The Sabre fuselage on its own is remarkably barrel-like. The cockpit must have been pretty spacious in comparison to a Mirage.



The wings fortunately went together without a hitch.





And they in turn went onto the fuselage very well, on top. The lower join was not as straight forward as it seemed in dry fitting, and quite a bit of sanding is required to get the join flush. Moan, moan - In comparison to some other kits I have recently tackled, it was actually a breeze. Hasegawa kits really do make the actual building a pleasure.



I don't think the intention was to have the canopy open, so the structure under the canopy is represented very simply. I like an open canopy, so some effort must be made here. I tarted up the cross member a bit.



After measuring the canopy in the fully open position, I added these rails and things to make the rear canopy shelf look functional.

That is the difference as to how the US and the Europeans design fighters.

The Europeans take an engine and mate it to the wings and empennage. They then squeeze the piping, wiring and other bits and pieces aside and make just enough space for a human to be squashed in.

The Americans start with an comfy armchair, add a footrest and armrrests, then design wings around it and an engine to push it along.

_________________
How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

Madmax,

Are you going to show the fillet at the wing leading edge / fuselage join open?

Don't think many know about it's job, in that the armourers can access the gun bay.

Geoff

Geoff, in 1:48th it is beyond me to open up panels, especially when they are about 4mm in length! Maybe one day when I get a 1:32nd Kinetic kit...


Turns out the F-86 D was good for another reason - wheels! The Hasegawa main wheels are a bit like Marie Biscuits - too thin. The Revell/Monogram wheels are more like Goldilocks would have preferred. They, as do the Hasegawa ones, have too many splines in the brake housing, and I chose to remove half of them. The nose wheel leg is moulded as an angular affair, but the real aircraft has a gently bent leg. This requires some careful sanding to correct.



Brake lines added to the main gear legs, and the curviness restored to the nose gear leg. The nose wheel tyre is also very square in profile and I sanded it a bit rounder too.



Splines were removed from the brake housing with the little chisel I fashioned from an old blade with a Dremel cutting disk.



I then re-sanded the join of the slatted leading edge more flush with the wing - to get rid of the lip that Joker pointed out was wrong.



Windshield on and sanded to shape, a bit of polish and its will be time to paint!

I elected to paint the black base color with enamel. I used Tamiya X-1 thinned with their lacquer thinners. It is a game of patience, and admittedly I prefer instant gratification and McDonalds nowadays. Days and days of drying

Micromesh to smooth out the paint surface.



The enamel doesn't like being touched at this polished state, and shows fingerprints quickly. Gloves are a good idea.

With my previous attempt at a Korean Sabre, I learned that the decals for the colour bands are quite large, complex in shape, and don't sit well - so I painted these bands on before painting the aluminium. White base first...




then a coat of red.

I sprayed "Airframe Aluminium" as the base metal colour, but as is always the case with Alclad, everything shows through. Here the tape marks from the fuselage band (that somehow affected the black enamel) made a surprise appearance. I think I will eventually use metal foil instead of these chemical time bombs!



I sprayed the black anti-glare panel over the Alclad. Mistake. You can see how it lifted the paint when I masked it to spray aluminium under the canopy frame. Once re-painted looks like rubbish where the paint lifted. Suddenly a very big job to salvage. This is the common story of anything metallic I try to paint, and there is a lot more similar trouble to come.



Finally however, I have an acceptable base coat to put those beautiful decals on. Here is where the trouble starts, but I will leave that for later. Theuns, you are not alone!

next time try the colour bands first then the black enamel, no tape marks
I use the same black enamel as my basecoat however being lazy I dont want to pollish it afterwards.
What I do is the thin all my enamels with turps, it gives a slower flash off and I can go much higher ratio turps to enamel, up to 40%.
After I have a good covered coat of black comes the tricky bit. I spray almost neat turps over the whole still wet enamel. This lets it flow and self level nicely, BUT you do need to keep an eye on it so it doesnt runs, I keep rotating and turning it for a few minutes.
Gives a glass smooth texture.

T

You're brave .....

I had two of these decal sheets, both printed in 2000. There was a cautionary note in the pack to say that if the decals were old, they should be sprayed with clear varnish - presumably to prevent cracking. I tried some stripes unvarnished, and true as nuts, they cracked into a collection of little bits. With the varnish on however, the decals developed infinite carrier film, and each decal had to be trimmed individually and as snug as possible. This worked well with the solid decals, but the stencils and numbers do show their carrier film on the alclad. The varnish made the decals just that bit thicker, and micro sol hardly did anything to soften them. Pity I didn't use them in 2000, because I bet they were brilliant fresh! They really are beautifully printed and the research that went into them is outstanding - a work of art really. I see that Charlie Hugo, Piet van Schalkwyk and Dave Bekker did the research.



The castles alone are worth the cost of the entire sheet!



The stencils are in English and Afrikaans nogal!



I chose to matt varnish the bigger decals, with these handy stick it note stencils. Tamiya tape was just too sticky and lifted the decals, so thank heavens I had two sets!

And then suddenly everything came together. I am pleased with the overall look of the model, and the slats really do make a big difference - worth the effort.







Hasegawa really do capture the lines of the Sabre very well.





Having the correct short span 6-3 wing as the basis for the modification makes things easier.

The dive-brakes with the split castles are a nice detail feature.





Soft pencil scraped with a blade and rubbed onto the surface with an earbud was the only treatment the "metal" got.





I managed to get the slats slightly asymmetrical, by accident, but I think it looks good like that.

Here a look at the right hand side, which somehow came out a bit better from a rivet and metal finish point of view. English stencils were reserved for the non-embarking side by the government of the day!







The cockpit of the Canadair Sabre is essentially grey, unlike the Korea Sabres which were black.







A look at the underside.







And a last shot...

Beautiful, well done on a fantastic effort.

_________________
How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

Beautiful, well done