Hi Colin (@coling): I am doing a lot of experimentation with this plane. I am trying to find solutions to the seams in the intake and exhaust. I am more annoyed by the fact that both areas have alignment pins and ejector pin depressions in highly visible places, not to mention the big cutouts in the intake where the gear well and the cockpit are molded. Natural metal finishes are always an experiment for me. I have avoided them religiously and have only attempted them in the last few months. I have tried a couple of different ways to do NMF. I really like Humbrol metals in the spray can. They have a number of different colors of metallics, and they look good and have a really tough finish. They are easy to spray and get a nice finish. When I use Humbrol, I use Vallejo metals to get the variation in the panels. I have used Vallejo metals for a couple of planes. I plan to use one of them for the F-86, but I have a small collection of metals I might try, including Alclad II, Mig, and a couple of others. I have never used them on a model, so I figure I need to do some experimentation on something other than the model I am building. Like you mentioned, Vallejo is easy to fix if there is a problem. I didn't like the color I picked on some parts that hadn't been added to the model, so I dropped them in a dish with some alcohol, and it stripped back to plastic. Acrylics are great!

I forgot to answer one of your questions, Colin (@coling), as far as which plane I plan to go with. Spiros (@fiveten), John (@johnb), and I were talking about building a trio of F-86s, all in Greek colors. Spiros is doing a NATO camouflage. Several of the F-86 squadrons had similar paint schemes with all natural metal finish, along with the entire tail painted in squadron colors. John is doing one with a red tail, and I will do one with either a yellow tail or a green tail. John plans to display his model with the tail separated and showing the engine, while mine will be in one piece. I am planning to do a 2nd model, with either Edwards test markings or perhaps a QF-86. Draw Decals just released new decals for each of these. Yeah!

Some impressive progress, George @gblair
The 3D printed tailpipe is a huge improvement over the original one, need to see how I'm going to deal with mine.

George (@gblair), the more I see of you doing these 3D prints, the more I keep reminding myself that I need to start down that path. I can think of any number of things I could have done differently with this technology. What I need to solve to get going is the cost, infrastructure (where to put this device), and for me personally, the knowledge to learn and use them. So many things going on in my life, that it often seems daunting to add something else, that in my mind at least, seems like it will take a fair amount of effort to accomplish. I am sure this is partly mental on my part.

Anyway, the Sabre is looking great. I like your solution to the tailpipe. I am looking forward to getting back to my Fury now that I am nearly done with the RAAF Lightning (article coming soon).

I had electricians running around the house today, so not much accomplished. I taped the wings together and tried a preliminary dry fit on the fuselage. Everything looks pretty good there. I started wet-sanding the fuselage. The top and intake seem to be in pretty good shape and required minor filler and sanding. The bottom didn't fare so well. I like to use a sanding stick that is designed for doing women's nails that has four different grits on it. By the time you use all four grits on the stick, you can polish the plastic to something near glass. Since this will be a natural metal finish, my crystal ball sees a lot of use for this stick in the future. I may even drift on over to Sally's Beauty Supply and pick up some more just in case, or you can get them from Amazon. Tomorrow I hope to add the wings and fit the many panels on the fuselage. Cheers.

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Yes it is, George.

Looks very smooth, that stick seems to be a valuable tool, George @gblair
You are making some good progress on the Sabre.

So far so good with my email notifications here, my friend @gblair.