Academy 1/48 F-86FSabre, HAF

Started by George R Blair Jr · 149 · 7 months ago · Academy 1/48 F-86F, F-86E(M), Hellenic Air Force, Icarus Decals, Sabre
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    George R Blair Jr said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    I have been a big fan of the F-86 and I have a number of unbuilt F-86 kits in 1/72, 1/48, and in 1/32 scales. Recently, Spiros (@fiveten), John (@johnb), and I started talking about each building an F-86 in Greek Markings. I originally thought that I might build mine in 1/72 scale, but I didn't have HAF decals for the model. I finally decided to use the great set of 1/48 scale Icarus Decals I had for the HAF F-86, and I also figured I would use the same 1/48 scale Academy F-86F for my build.

    The first step is to make sure the Academy's F-86F would match the configuration of the F-86E(M) used by the Hellenic Air Force. F-86s had a number of sub-types, with a lot of internal and external differences. The most visible difference between the sub-types is the wing. The F-86s used by the Hellenic Air Force were Canadair CL-13s that were transferred from Canada to Greece. The CL-13s were basically an F-86E, which featured a wing with slats. Prior to delivery to the HAF, the wings were removed and replaced with a hard (non-slatted) 6-3 (extra width) wing. The Hellenic AF Sabres were called F-86E(M), which means that it was an F-86E that had been (M)odified with different wings. So, will the Academy F-86F work as an F-86e(M)? Early F-86F s had a slatted wing, but later F-86Fs had a hard 6-3 wing. Luckily, the Academy F-86F had a hard wing, which makes it perfect for the Hellenic AF F-86E(M). Yeah!

    As a side note, I was originally planning to build Airfix's new 1/72 F-86E(M). It has the correct hard 6-3 wing. When I decided to switch to 1/48 so that I could use the Icarus decals, I wanted to use the new Airfix 1/48 F-86F. I knew in my heart that it would have the same hard wing as the 1/72 kit and would be a perfect fit for a 1/48 Hellenic F-86E(M). But I checked the kit and it had a slatted wing. Boo... Luckily the Academy kit will work. Yeah!

    So, in summary:
    -Hellenic F-86E(M) from either 342 Squadron (yellow tail) or 343 Squadron (green tail)
    -Use 1/48 Academy F-86F kit
    -Icarus Decals for the Hellenic Air Force

    Off we go...

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Jay Mitchell said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Looks like you’ve got some nice decals to choose from, George @gblair !

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    A wonderful entry, my friend @gblair! Either marking option is eyecatching!
    Looking forward to your next steps!

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    George R Blair Jr said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Thanks, Jay (@ssgt) and Spiros (@fiveten). This will be a fun build. I should be able to get started today.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Great entry, George @gblair
    Definitely going to follow your build closely since I'm having the same kit, your progress will be very helpful.

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    George R Blair Jr said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    We will see who helps who, John (@johnb). My money is on you coming up with the solutions.

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    Alfred van Paaschen said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Very nice start, George!

    I will follow in a few weeks time, as I have still an T-33A on the bench currently which I want to finish first.

    Most likely I will also opt for the Academy kit.

    Will watch your progress closely together with respective projects of John and Spiros @johnb @fiveten so I am prepared for potential pitfalls!

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    Eric Berg said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Great kit choice, George @gblair. if I was’t so backed up with several WIPs, I’d jump in on your group build here as I have yet to add a F-86F to the cabinet. So I’ll just watch from wayside. You got a good group going here.

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    George R Blair Jr said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Hi Alfred (@alfred): T-33s are another one of my favorites. There are a bunch of really cool paint schemes for the T-33. I am looking forward to seeing the model. Apparently the Academy kit is the way to go, although I also have the Hasegawa kit in the garage. Feel free to jump in to the group whenever you are ready.

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    George R Blair Jr said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Hi Eric (@eb801): You really need an F-86 in your display cabinet, or perhaps a Fury. :o) I have both the Hasegawa and the Academy, but I thought it would be fun to do the Academy when I saw that both Spiros and John are using the Academy. I know how you feel about all of your builds. I am constantly shuffling my building queue to adjust for new ideas or new groups. The group will be around for a while, so please feel free to jump in whenever you can. I plan to do a couple of models for the group, so I am sure I will still be working away. Cheers.

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    George R Blair Jr said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

    I have spent the last couple of days getting everything ready to close up the cockpit. This was made slower because of some idiosyncrasies with the kit, and some experiments that have slowed things down a little.

    The first "problem" is with the intake. Like most intakes, it is molded in two halves, a top and a bottom. Academy has molded the nose landing gear bay as part of the lower half of the intake, while the cockpit was molded as part of the upper half of the intake. Cool idea, but the problem is that there are huge rectangular depressions on the inside of the intake where these parts are molded. I suspect that Academy figured a lot of modelers would want to hide this problem, so they have included intake and exhaust covers. This was my initial plan, but I think I will try to leave the intake open. Academy was thinking ahead because the only locating pins for the intake are at the rear-most end of the intake. Sadly, they didn't use this level of thinking for the exhaust, which has a very large and visible pair of locating pins near the end of the exhaust pipe.

    Next problem was the photoetch. I had two options, neither of which was for this kit. I initially planned to use the Eduard PE for the Hasegawa F-86F, which interestingly included both a metal set of instruments and a set of instruments on film. I also had an Eduard Space set, which includes the resin-printed decals for the interior and the PE seatbelts. I decided to try the Space set. These are really easy to use, almost the same as using decals. The problem with this set is that they are really undersized. I didn't realize how small they were till I applied them, but I was just stubborn enough to try to make them work. I spent a long time trying to make their size seem less noticeable. On the opposite end of the scale, the grip on the control stick seems very large, almost large enough that a 1/48 scale pilot could use two hands on it.

    I experimented with the intake to try and find an easy way to hide the seam lines down both side. I squeezed a bunch of Vallejo Acrylic Putty in a small container and thinned it slightly with water. I sealed the front of the intake, and filled the front part of the intake with this slurry using a pipette to add the filler from the back of the intake. I let it dry for 10 minutes and then allowed the excess to flow out. I then used a broad brush to smooth a couple of wavy areas and now it is drying. If I need to, I can use either water or alcohol to further smooth the interior after it is dry. Did it work? So far, so good. Working on another idea to eliminate the seams in the tailpipe. More later.

    18 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Despite the challenges, cockpit looks really nice, my friend @gblair! Great idea to smooth the intake with thinned acrylic putty!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Quite some challenges but with very nice results, George @gblair
    Your ideas will definitely help in getting mine going.

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    George R Blair Jr said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb). I am getting close to closing the fuselage, so things should move a little faster then. Everything moves slowly while you are getting the all the detail ready for the fuselage interior. I still need to be careful to get the panels on the fuselage lined up and fitting carefully that Spiros warned us about. I read several reviews about this model that thought it was similar to the Hasegawa F-86, but some of design choices that Academy has made makes me wonder. Today is game day with the kids, so not much work till later. Cheers

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    Colin Gomez said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

    Looking good, George. The interior looks really sharp. I really like the weathered finish of the seat. I doubt the IP size issue will be all that noticeable once the fuselage halves are closed up. The eye of the observer is drawn to the instruments I would think, rather than space around them.

    Good approach to the intake, I don't want to think of the hours I have spent smoothing out intake trunks on my 1/32 F-4J or my Hasegawa F-8 of long ago. Lots of sanding with custom- made sanding sticks. Your approach would really save time.

    You have a real variety of nice HAF schemes to choose from. Have you settled on one? I am also curious about what you will use for the bare metal portion. I really like the acrylic metal coat I have been using. It is very forgiving, especially in that you can peel off sections within panel lines if anything goes wrong (like cat hairs drifting in to the finish!). Other than that, I am always tempted to try BM Foil again.