|
I
have told friends this is a collection of aftermarket parts held together by a
Hasegawa F-86.
The model features a Seamless Suckers intake trunk, a Jaguar cockpit, a
Jaguar rudder, Technics ammo bay and door, and the Cutting Edge slat wing
conversion. The
most challenging of these was the slat wing conversion, the other items all
literally dropping into place.
In particular, I cannot say enough good about the Jaguar cockpit, which
is sadly rather difficult to find these days.
The slats conversion fits well also, but requires a lot of careful
cutting and trimming of the kit wing to achieve a good result.
Taking a razor saw to the wings of your expensive Hasegawa Sabre does
give one pause!
The only real problem with the Cutting Edge set, at least in my example,
is that the replacement leading edge is too short to fit flush with the fuselage
at the root, when aligned properly at the tip.
I scabbed on sheet plastic at the root end of the resin piece to fill
this gap. Removing
the kit leading edges leaves you with a rather flimsy wing assembly until the
new leading edge is installed.
After some thought, I glued small strips of Evergreen stock to the
Cutting Edge pieces, located so as to line up the top and bottom wing sections
flush with the resin piece.
This is easier to do than to describe.
You also need to remove the fuselage fairing back to match the narrower
chord of the slatted wing, which is noted in the Cutting Edge instruction sheet.
|
Click on images below to
see larger images |
 |
 |
The
finish is mostly Testor’s Metalizer in various shades to reflect the patchwork
bare metal appearance of the F-86.
I have since fallen in love with Alclad, and will use that on my future
bare metal projects with Metalizer used in places to vary the panel tones. The
yellow and black ID stripes were painted and masked prior to applying the
Metalizer, and the Metalizer was masked using the wet newspaper method.
Alclad, of course, does not require this rather messy masking technique.
The dull anodized center wing panels are Floquil Bright Silver.
I picked out a few select panels in Bare Metal foil for added contrast.
After decalling was complete I used a combination of semi-gloss and flat
clear coats to replicate the oxidized and ‘used’ look of a combat plane.
Decals
are from Aeromaster sheet 48-446 for the F-86E of Captain Cliff Jolley, a
seven-kill ace.
Stencilling is from Aeromaster’s F-86 stencil sheet.
The base is a Just Plane Stuff resin casting, a beautiful piece of work
which looks great painted and weathered.
|
Click on images below to
see larger images |
 |
 |
I
was satisfied with the Cutting Edge conversion in spite of al the work it took
to install it, but I am interested in trying to graft an F-86D wing from the
Revell kit onto the Hasegawa wing.
It may not be any easier, but injected molded styrene does have some
strength advantages over resin.
With all the markings out there for Sabres, its hard to resist building
more.
Robert
|
|
