1/48 Academy F-86F30

[Deleted]

I am sure some have already seen this on other forums, but I wanted to share here since I have received a lot of help from the people here.  This is the Academy F-86 Sabre, one of the first I picked up back when I was stationed in South Korea.  The plan is for this to be a test on doing a NMF bird, so far it is coming along.

[TRM]

Nice little Sabre you have going there! Keep up the good work!!

[Leon]

Ah!!! One of my fav jets,looking good ULV.

[Deleted]

Thanks all. I plan to work some more on the sanding tomorrow night. Hopefully I will be able to also get some work on the canopy. Need to mask it and install.

[dupes]

Pretty weird, man...guess what I was painting just now before I came up out of the basement?

Going RAF camo on mine.

[John Everett]

I've always thought that the 86 was one of the most attractive military jets ever produced.

It looks like you've done a good job of sealing up the gaps.

So you bought the kit while in Korea? Too bad those airplanes never saw service there.

[Deleted]

I know right.... rofl-roll

[deafpanzer]

Looking good... please count me in too!

[wbill76]

Looks like you're beating it into submission nicely. One of my favorite jet designs, something about those clean/sleek lines I guess.

[Deleted]

I will put this out there though, the kit came with 2 different drop tanks. I must be blind, but I am having a hard time determining which ones to use. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Deleted]

Completed some more work on this last night. Fixed some of the seams and the step from the nose to the body is not as pronounced as it was earlier. Had to putty around the canopy since it didn't want to sit flush, but it seems to be fine now.

[deafpanzer]

I really like what I am seeing! Wish I can help you with the drop tanks... maybe one of wingy guys can help you. You can post pictures of those two and we will see for ourselves.

[Deleted]

Still working on this build, just limited by time. Had the chance to work some more on this last night. Primed using Mr. Surfacer 500. Once completely dry, I will sand it a bit and see how it looks.







I also have the option of two different drop tanks, I am currently looking at using the second set based on some of the images I was able to find online.

[deafpanzer]

Man, it is looking awesome primed!!!

[Deleted]

Thanks. Second time using Mr. Surfacer so definitely worth paying to have it shipped.

[Deleted]

Getting there. Had the chance to spray the primer on the drop tanks and the gloss black for the airframe. Alclad order is on the way.   As for the picture quality.... well, we won't talk about that.

[TRM]

The black base looks great U!! Looking forward to you hitting the Alclad, should look sweet once applied!

[tigrazor]

This weekend Im probably gonna visit an aircraft museum near my hometown. Theres a F-86 as well. If you need special pics, please tell me!

[Deleted]

I'll take any pic's you can send. Thank you.

[tigrazor]

Youre welcome.

[Deleted]

Was able to work on this over the weekend. First time using Alclad. Wonderful thing to use.... once I was able to get it to spray. Found out your airbrush is never quite as clean as you think it is until it stops working.
I can see where I need to work on some of the seams along the wing join, but some of the step issues with the fuselage came out okay. More practice will help in the long run.

[deafpanzer]

Have heard plenty good things about alclad paint... one day I will try them if I ever build something with wings. Nice paint job!

[Leon]

Nice work on the base coat

[Deleted]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been sick all of last week. Had the chance to last night start on the decaling. In case anyone ever wondered about the quality of Academy's decals for this kit... they suck! I'm not the best at this, but even I know these are lousy decals! They were so thick and hard to remove... good grief!
I was gifted with some AeroMaster decals, but I wasn't 100% happy with how the paint job came out and had planned to buidl this one again.
You can see some of the did rip, and they were so thick they just couldn't be put into words.








I have no words for what happened in these two pictures.

[dupes]

I love a lot of Academy's kits...but the first thing I do is swap out decals. Have NEVER had them work properly.

That being said, some of the newer offerings have Cartograf printed markings - should be good to go with those.

[Deleted]

I've heard the newer one's are good. Since this kit is about 15 years old, lesson learned.

[deafpanzer]

Jet looking real good... am always fan of those yellow stripes!

[Leon]

Looking good despite the decal issues!

[Deleted]

As I stated on another forum, I am going to call a "do over" on this one. While I am happy with the overall build, not so happy with how thick some of the Alclad came out on portions of the bottom. So I purchased another Academy F-86 to start over again. This should go better since I will forgo using the rattle can(for the black) and stick with the airbrush. Plus I will add polished aluminum to the build.
At least I will have some more spare missiles for the AA-2 (AIM 9B) for my MIG 21 build if I read everything correct on the versions.

[Deleted]

As stated, I had planned to redo this build since I wasn't happy with how the paint came out. So I purchased another one on eBay and though it was already painted silver, it wasn't an issue to strip the paint and start the build. This go around, the painting of the pilot figure went better then the first attempt. Still trying to get better at painting the cockpit panels. One of my better attempts, but still not up Doog's quality that I see in his posts, but that is what practice is for right?

After the paint has been stripped:



With the silver still on:


The pilot:


Cockpit and engine: