Hasegawa 1/48 F-86F Skyblazers

HASEGAWA 1:72 F-86F SABRE "SKYBLAZERS"
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Simon Skinner (rec.models.scale)

This is one of the many renditions of the F-86 and F version in quarter scale by Hasegawa with a new decal sheet to cover the mid fifties USAF aerial display team called the Skyblazers.

Inside the box are four main sprues and five smaller ones, most of these joined together by a common sprue branch. There are about 80 parts in the box and the quality of the mouldings is typical Hasegawa with no flash, and generally very nice engineering of the parts. The surface detail is quite nice and the panel lines are engraved.

The breakdown of parts mirrors the same as the other F-86F releases, as I am pretty sure there has been no alterations made to this kit. This is backed up by the instruction sheet which tells you to fill in the air intake on the starboard fuselage which was not used by the display team examples of this aircraft. The fuselage halves are vertically split with each having half the tailfin already molded. The wings breakdown consists of a single underwing piece and the upper halves. Drop tank and missiles are included for stores in the kit but only the former will be required if depicting the Skyblazer display team (the latter can go straight into the spares box), with holes having to be opened in the underwing piece.

One sprue is also included containing the eight clear parts which comprise of a two-piece canopy, allowing that to be displayed open, as well as the various other small components such as landing and navigation lights. These are nicely moulded and should fit well on the model.

The wheel wells have a reasonable amount of detail in them. The engine and intake trunking are catered for on one of the small sprues, and thus extend inside the airframe which makes some of these earlier Hasegawa kits. The nose intake ring is separate, as are the airbrakes which can be displayed open. Test fitting of the major components suggest their shouldn’t be any real concerns ahead of you when putting this kit together.

The cockpit is a bit on the sparse side but I believe there are aftermarket resin replacement cockpit sets for the Hasegawa F-86F kit, meaning they will be okay for this one as well. A pilot figure is provided with separate arms, as well as a seat, instrument panel (with decal) and control column, which are all placed inside a tub that has side panels. Don’t forget to add some weight in the nose to prevent one of the most notorious of early jet tailsitters, with the instructions suggesting 5 grams.

Talking of the instructions, if you have built Hasegawa kits before then you know what to expect here. Very well detailed assembly steps with commentary for painting taken from the Gunze Sangyo/Mr Color ranges. There is a sprue map and comprehensive diagram showing the decal placement and markings for the one version catered for by the kit.

Talking of versions, only one option is offered which is 53-1192 wearing fuselage code FU-192 in overall natural metal from the Skyblazers display team in 1956. The decal sheet is comprehensive with a large array of stencilling, and covering all the Skyblazer display team banners and logos on the aircraft, whether that be wing, fuselage, tail fin or drop tanks! There is no need to get out the paint brush to add any of the display team logos or banners anywhere. The USAF insignia and Fuselage codes are even broken up to allow for part of the decal to be fitted on an open airbrake door, which is a great touch. The decals are a bit thick and glossy but should present no problems when putting them on the model. I am not sure if the colour of the decals is quite right, both the red and blue appear a bit on the dull side to me.

Overall this should be yet another winning kit from the Hasegawa team with an accurate and easy to build model that should suit most modelling skills. The decals will present the modeller with a bit of a challenge, more in time and patience than difficulty of putting them on. The only real downside to this kit is the heavy price tag, but that’s what we now expect from a quality moulding such as this one. Highly recommended if bought cheap!!

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