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Joe Roamer
8 articles

Hasegawa F-86F in 1/48 scale

January 5, 2022 · in Aviation · · 17 · 1.9K

Hello everyone! This is my first build, and I found it different from my traditional Tamiya builds (mostly instructions & decals). I built a in my youth, so it was fun applying my skills & techniques and brought back some nice memories. The large decals going on to rounded, compound curves was a test for sure - lots of Micro Sol helped out quite a bit. I swear I'll never do Eduard photo-etch parts again, I just don't have the small hands to work with such incredible small parts. The front canopy was a bear, even after I dry-fitted it, there were some major gaps. But I used Ammo Ultra Glue sorta as spackle, applying it with a toothpick, then smoothing it over with a moist brush; that was really the only option, given I couldn't fill & sand at that stage in the build. Just like the F-16, I liked the effect of the Alclad metal layered paints to create that dark burnt exhaust area. Thought about doing more shades of aluminum, but figured the steel color applied to the 50 caliber gun bays was sufficient. Does anyone know the purpose of the red protruding part, just forward the engine bay area on the left side? Googled it & came up empty, but curious what the heck its purpose is!? Anyway, really glad to add this classic fighter to my growing 1/48th collection, now on to my Meng F-18E Super Hornet!

Stay safe, be well, and happy modeling everyone!

Reader reactions:
12  Awesome

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17 responses

  1. Your F-86 looks great, just like the others you have posted !

  2. Hasegawa may be old tech but they still build up nice and you've done justice to this one. Very good looking build. Far's the oddball part on the left side, I looked for it and could not find it in the pics

  3. The red protruding object on the left side I believe is a fuel vent pipe. Also, you did a great job. looks great. I may dig mine up and finally build it.

  4. Joe, your Sabre looks great!

    I recommend this entire video (Steve Hinton is the man), but you can see your answer at 8:28:

  5. Looks beautiful, Joe @jroamer
    Very colorful marking at that time.
    Great painting and weathering as well as detailing.

  6. Nice work on this - the Hasegawa Sabre is still the best kit out there.

    • Thanks, Tom. It is a very solid kit, but I manage to create my own share of user errors! 🙂

      BTW, I put a good dent into your book while my wife & I were vacationing in the Dominican Republic a few weeks ago; pretty sad that so many lost their lives over a handful of incompetent fools. Given the number of global hotspots today, I cannot help but wonder if another Gulf of Tonkin "incident" is on the horizon. Hopefully not.

  7. Great looking Sabre Joe! That's a beautiful model sir! ?

  8. Looking good, Joe!

  9. Very nice Sabre! I build a lot of Hasegawa kits - for the price, I find them great quality - usually only a few niggles per kit (extra flash, some filing and filling here and there, etc.).

  10. Great looking Sabre, one of the better looking American designs.

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