Seems like iModeler is awash with Sabres lately. Which inspired me to get back to work on mine, George @gblair. We had our two grand children staying with us most of June so not much progress on any muddling accomplished. Our two are 8 and 13 and they have an active sports and social life. I now know what it's like to be a taxi driver. I forgot all about that aspect of child raising.

Meanwhile this Sabre is assembled and I'm getting it prepped for a metal paint job. Here it is in the paint booth waiting for a coat of black Vallejo acrylic primer:

And here it is primed top and bottom:

One thing I like about black primer, it really shows where the flaws are:

All filled and sanded now and ready for more black primer:

OK. Fully primed and ready for the metal paint job. I will be using Mr. Color's new Super Metallic2 paints for the first time. I hope they are as good as the buzz on the net says. Check back in a few days.

Glad to see your F-86 is moving toward completion, Eric (@eb801). I understand the grandparent thing, and my granddaughter has first dibs on my time in all cases. I am hoping to be around long enough to build models with her. When my daughter was in her early teens, we built cars together. Maybe some of the modeling genes were passed on. Our granddaughter turn 4 later in the month, and I always feel like I need a nap after she leaves. The cockpit colors on F-86s can be a real puzzle. While I was researching cockpit colors for mine, I discovered just how confusing it can be. US Sabres in Korea had a black cockpit, but after they became gray. So, there is a period after Korea that you can find both gray and black cockpits. Then you throw in Canadian-built Sabres that often had gray cockpits. Then there were the planes that were upgraded and sent to foreign countries that usually had the cockpits upgraded to new standards and then repainted gray.

George @gblair: lucky you to have built car models with your daughter back in the day. When my grandson was 6 he and I built snap-tite cars and jets. Although he destroyed them soon after, he really liked building them. Then came Legos and he got totally hooked on those And started to lose interest in a snap-tite kits. About six months ago his buddies started getting into Minecraft computer games and that was it. Not even Legos anymore!

Now He has a Nintendo because “all the other kids do” and it’s all I can do to get him off that screen when he’s here, but we are slowly making progress. Distraction is the key.

Heard this scenario before? He’s going to be 9 soon so I’ll try another car kit.

Excellent progress, my friend @eb801! Nice that the black primer revealed all areas needing attention.
Looks like there's little one can do to detract kids from the computer/cellphone/console saga.

Scott over at MM is well versed in "Sabreology" and has noted several mistakes with Hasegawa's F-86F-30. First of all, he points out that Hasegawa moulded this as a F-86F-40 variant and a Japanese Sabre at that. Only Japan's Sabre 40 series featured the intake air vent on the rear right fuselage as seen on Hasegawa's right fuselage below:

Series 40 Sabres used by the USAF and other countries did not have this vent. So it needs to be eliminated as the 30 series didn't have it either.

Another thing I noticed is the fuel drop tanks appear inaccurately moulded as there no horizontal weld seam and the tank shape is a little too smooth and oddly tapered. Sabres went through a lot of fuel tank design changes during the course of its life. Here's a photo of what it should look like:

Spiros @fiveten - I think I will leave it be. I was thinking of gluing a thin piece of stretched sprue horizontally on the side of the tank to mimic the weld bead but I had already primed it. So many variations of fuel tanks were used on Sabres that I doubt anyone will notice.

Nice correction on the intake, Eric @eb801
As you said, likely no one will notice this weld seam. They look fine as is.