Profile Photo
bob mack
59 articles

Hasegawa 1/48 F-86F-30 Sabre “The Huff”

January 28, 2019 · in Aviation · · 37 · 3.9K

Lt. Jim Thompson piloted this aircraft out of Suwon AFB South Korea. In May 1953 he scored his first kill, a Russian MiG-15 flown by a red Chinese pilot. The MiG had a marvelous dragon painted on the nose which enamoured Jim so much he ran to his crew chief asking if he could paint one on the side of his . The result was one of the most stunning schemes of the whole Korean conflict. He delivered his second kill in July 1953.

Reader reactions:
15  Awesome

37 responses

  1. What a beautiful Sabre, and a excelent built. I like it so much.

  2. Nice work, Mr. Mack - always liked this jet.

  3. Beautiful build, and interesting back story!

  4. Thanks for building my favorite Sabre. (Probably because it was the first one I ever saw in the air!) Combat Jets Flying Museum had this F-86 along with MiG-15, Mig-21, T-33, A-4 Skyhawk, Hunter and a TF-104 come to EAA in the early 90's and subsequently donated them. I was so sad when the F-86 went to Canada and they painted The Huff in Golden Hawks colors. At least it , the A-4 and the TF-104 are still flying. (The A-4 with the Warbird Heritage Foundation in Illinois and the F-104 with Starfighters in Florida.) The Hunter will probably never fly again due to severe corrosion in the cockpit (and probably elsewhere underneath) from years of rain flooding the cockpit in outdoor storage.

    Your Sabre really looks fine. You should do "A Dragon and His Tail" as a counterpart!

    • thank you josh...that's heartbreaking it was repainted...thank you for that wonderful information...i actually have "the dragon and his tail" decals and "cocktail hour"

  5. Neat article and build. "The Huff" seems to attract the eye of everyone who looks at the kit. Monogram,Airfix and Hasegawa all have come up with this great combination. The 64.00 dollar question ...what did that Mig-15 with the painted dragon look like?

    Two thumbs up on this one.

  6. A beauty of a Sabre! Love the dragon and the overall scheme. Well done.

  7. Beautiful job Bob, very well done.

  8. Gorgeous work, and thanks for sharing some backstory of how the nose art came to be!

  9. Very interesting explanation and a BEAUTIFULLY DONE Sabre!ll Like the others, I wish we could see the dragon on the MiG that was the inspiration ... "those other guys" didn't seem to personalize their aircraft very often.

    Bravo !

  10. A wonderful scheme Bob.
    Lovely work, she looks superb!

  11. Beautifully made and finished Sabre. Excellent.

    ‘Liked’

  12. Simply beautiful Bob, great job.

  13. Beautiful!
    And how's the kit?

  14. thank you Manuel...the kit fit very well and you can see any shape issues...typically over fiddly hasegawa but not too...their trademark but no complaint

  15. Cracking Sabre.

  16. Well done Bob! She looks great.

  17. Very nice model, Bob.

    Interestingly there were two F-86 pilots named Jim Thompson, the pilot of "the Huff" being in the 51st FIW and "the other Jim Thompson" being in the 4th - both at the same time frame, and both scoring 2 victories at the end of the conflict, which has created "difficulties" for the less-discerning students of the war. "The other Jim Thompson" is a good friend of mine. A very interesting guy who became a Presbyterian minister in his native Alabama after the war, and worked with Martin Luther King during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and throughout the civil rights movement, one of the few white ministers in the state to do so.

  18. What a gorgeous build! I’m definitely not a jet guy, but the Sabre is on my future builds list.

  19. Slick looking Sabre, Bob! What did you use for the metal finish?

    • thank you very much John...the finish is the new vallejo metal finish...i used no primer...it's tricky stuff...definitely needs to be misted on gently...then i sealed it with future/ it didn't detract any from it...i don't advise masking it even a week later...prepaint everything else [anti-glare and even dis-similar panels] then mask that and apply the silver...still learning myself but it's bright and shiny

Leave a Reply