Hasegawa F-86F Sabre
by Duncan Curtis
Duncan apart from being an exellent modeler also know the Sabre inside-out, he runs a page devoted to Sabres, and also wrote a book on Sabres this was published by Crowood on 26th June - 200 pages and 250 photos. Hardback ISBN 1-86126-358-9.
I first built Hasegawa's magnificent 1/32nd scale F-86F in 1980; at the time I recall being overwhelmed by the amount of detail. That, and the size of course. Well, times change, and though I initially built the kit 'out of the box' - and was happy with it - over the years, I wanted to put more detail in, and correct a few things.

The starting point. This is the 1/32nd F-86F I made twenty years ago. Note the stalky appearance of the undercarriage - more of that later. Markings are standard kit items, engine and machine gun detail also as per the kit.

Starting with the corrections, first off, the ejector seat is really woefully inaccurate, and though the cockpit instrument consoles are well done, the same can't be said of the gunsight and cockpit walls. Other 'internal' areas - especially the undercarriage wells - look simplified, but you could rightly argue that here's where you can excel in detailing. Another area that needs attention is the undercarriage legs themselves - they are too tall and 'stalky' for a laden aircraft - check plans/photos to correct this one (I checked with accurate plans, and ended up chopping 3mm out of the nose leg and 2mm out of the main gear legs - that means you also need to shorten the main undercarriage fairing doors).

Finally, the incorporation of machine guns (though laudable) gave me the impression of being something of a gimmick; the idea itself is a good one, but the details are basic. And again, the inclusion of a J47, though worthy of praise, is let down by the inclusion of vinyl piping, which is much too thick and lacks the ability to form the complex bends of the real engine pipework. And though I am not against diorama, I prefer to see my Sabres in 'alert' pose; that is, canopy open, slats open, speed brakes open and flaps lowered. But it's not all bad news - this kit is a fantastic base for a really in-depth superdetailing project. As I'm using a 20-year old built model as the basis, it's also (for me) incredibly cheap! Oh, and just to show how big it is, the shot at left shows the forward fuselage compared to Aeroclub's diminutive 1/100th F-86F.

I aim to build the engine up again as a separate model, and my Sabre's rear fuselage would therefore be glued permanently onto the forward section, with the gun access panels also shut.

Thus, starting with an already-built and somewhat jaded-looking Sabre, my desire was to correct the above problems, along with a few modifications. This was chiefly in order to reconfigure the aircraft to F-86E(M) standard and incorporate Tauro's various Italian AF decals on a camouflage colour scheme.

A number of people have asked me how to cut the wings to get from 'F-40' to '6-3' configuration, and as the wing of the F-86E(M) was of the '6-3' variety, this was one item that I needed to tackle. So here goes.

The Wing
Starting with the wingtip (wing assembled), I cut Hasegawa's wing immediately outboard of the aileron (red shaded area (left)), cut off the wingtip from the 'discarded' portion, and then glued it back onto the wing. The wingtip then needs to be cut as shown below, and the small trailing edge portion glued onto the outer edge of the aileron. The 'missing' portion is a function of the wing's taper; fill this area and sand to get a good profile back.

Here's the built-up wing tip section (left), with the small wing-tip section glued onto the aileron. The re-shaped aileron tip is shown on the right, next to the built-up wing.

With that done, you have a slatted, '6-3' wing; if you stop here, you could build the Canadair Sabre 6. However, the 'normal' '6-3' wing did not feature leading-edge slats, so my next task was to glue them shut and fill any gaps; top view above and underside below.

Here are comparison views after sanding and priming. Another decision I made early on was to rub off all the raised detail (some of which is incorrect for the F-86E(M)) and rescribe the panel lines. These are visible on the larger image. Note also that I've filled the drop tank locating slot.

As mentioned above, the drop tank locating slot was filled, as the Hasegawa wing represents the dual-store version. The F-86E(M) used a single-store wing, with the single pylon located at station 99 (that is, 99 inches from the fuselage centre line). This distance was reduced to 1/32nd dimensions and holes for brass tube inserts drilled. The masking tape line shows where the drop tank was previously sited. View below shows a drop tank trial fitted on the new pylon location. The 120-gallon tank is correct for '6-3' winged machines, rather than the 200-gallon finless type seen in my 'before' view at the top of the page.
A further modification is to the pitot tube. The original (F-86A/E & early F-86F) version was kinked to allow the slats to open at the outer end. With the 'F-40' wing, the siting of the probe on the tip extension meant that this was no longer necessary, and a straight probe (as modelled in Hasegawa's kit) was fitted. Thus, to get 'back' to the correct standard (and even though the '6-3' wing is not slatted), the kinked example needs to be made and installed; I used brass tubing.

Basic details (pipework, frames etc.) added to the main gear well, as well as a beefed-up undercarriage mount. The kit's raised detail in this area was ground off prior to gluing the wing halves together.

One further item needs to be addressed - the wing fences. As these items will be susceptible to damage during the build process, I aim to fit the fences after painting is finished.

The Fuselage
Fuselage modifications. The prominent engine duct was cut out and modelled using plastic card (left). This duct was featured on F-86As, F-86Es and Canadair Sabres Mk.1,2 and 4. (and thus, also the F-86E(M)). Note also the filled oval duct aft of the fuselage break line; this was not incorporated onto the F-86E(M).
Fuselage side views showing filled gun access panels and rescribed panel lines.
To detail the speed brake wells, I thought it best to start from scratch and cut off the back wall. Here, I've added a new piece and added basic details prior to starting in anger.
The Cockpit
Here's my scratch-built seat. Interior colour for my mid-fifties Sabre is black; later F-86Fs had black consoles but just about everything else was mid gray.

Back to 'in the works'