Hasegawa 1/72 F-86D Sabre Dog

HASEGAWA 1:72 F-86D SABREDOG

Reviewer/Photos: Michael Johnson (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 30 December 2001

Aircraft:
The F-86D Sabre variant (or Sabre Dog as it was popularly known) was the all weather Sabre variant, the most numerically built and also the first major redesign of the basic Sabre. In fact only 25% of the original remained untouched (mainly being wings and undercarriage). At the time of it's first flight the USAF regarded it as a new fighter plane altogether and issued it the designation of F-95A but politics played the part in it being redesignated to F-86D as it was far more easier to get funds for an existing aircraft than for new ones. When it was introduced to the USAF it became an aircraft with the achievement of a number of "firsts" - two examples being that it was the first single seat all weather (or night) fighter and the first fighter to dispense with guns, carrying rocket armament only. The Sabre Dog was designed to shoot down bombers and thus the gun was replaced with the folding fin aircraft rockets below the cockpit. The nose radome which extended our over the nose air-intake was the most distinguishable feature of this aircraft and this is where all the wizardry was kept to enable the airplane to take on all weather capabilities. The F-86D set new world speed air records, replacing the F-86A marks, with the best being 1151.8 km/h in mid 1953 (this didn't last long as the Hawker Hunter broke this attempt a few months later).

The Kit:
I purchased this kit a couple of years ago when I first read about the upcoming Revellogram 1:48 scale F86D. At that time the only available kits were the ancient Linberg 1:48 F86D (old hawk moulds) and the new tooling in 1:72 by Hasegawa. I purchased both in a rush of enthusiasm, putting the Linberg kit at the back of the shelf to forget about, while placing the expensive Hasegawa kit on the top of the construct pile.

On opening the box, it is plain to see the kit is pure Hasegawa. There are two light grey sprues and one clear alongside a beautiful decal sheet giving options for two colourful “dogs”. Fine detail and lovely crisp recessed panel lines are the first and most obvious feature with no injection pin marks on any part of the kit. The only shortcoming I could see was the thickness of the under wing fuel tank fins. This was something I had no inclination to correct!

Far East Air Force boxing (thanks to Marcelo Rabello)

Construction:
The cockpit was a gem. I painted the bang seat dark gull grey, cushions khaki and the headrest red. Belts were painted light gull grey. I found an excellent Sabre website on the Internet and asked a number of questions of the author, who was most enthusiastic and helpful. The website includes a comprehensive modellers guide as well. All the side consoles and instrument panels are finished off using decals, thus avoiding all that dry brushing!

After completing the cockpit, the finished assembly was offered up to the fuselage and cemented into place along with the tailpipe. The fuselage halves were then cemented together and put aside to dry. I then cleaned up and cemented the wings together and started sub assembly and cleanup work on the undercarriage and under wing load out. I decided at this time not to model the kit with the rocket pack lowered, although I assembled and painted it all the same.

Seam cleanup proceeded smoothly along with rescribing of some panel lines that were filled adjacent to the seams. At this point disaster struck. (I seem to have had this lately with the last 3 kits I have made…do I need to make more sacrifices to the modelling God perhaps?) and the kit ended up on the tiled floor. Rattles announced the serious nature of the accident, the worst being the tailpipe loose inside the fuselage and a fishing sinker loose in the nose. Upset, I put the kit away and it languished in the dark for 12 months.

The purchase of a Squadron “F86 in action” book at Wasmex 2001 spurred me on to finish my “dog” so after a short flight to the freezer and careful surgery, all but the loose weight in the nose were fixed. The project was now back up and running.

Versions & Painting:
I elected to model a natural metal US Nation Guard version. The kit includes two schemes, both natural metal, so whichever version you choose out of the box, reach for the silver paint.

My NM finish of choice is Tamiya AS12, so I sprayed this onto the kit with 3 thin passes, 20 minutes apart. Left to cure for 24 hours, AS-12 provides a strong durable finish resistant to fingerprints and masking tape. Various panels were picked out using the Squadron book as a reference with varying metal tones mixed together from Humbrol metalcote paints. These paints hand paint and spray beautifully.

Decals & Final Bits:
Decaling took several hours to complete and I used Aeromaster Sol II to help bed down the decals. The decals are nice and thin but the white colour is slightly opaque but certainly not enough though to detract from the finished model. Panel lines were enhanced using a 6B pencil sharpened to a fine point. I find this gives a nice muted finish to the panel lines on NM aircraft than using a wash.

Once the drop tanks and the opened clamshell cockpit canopy were added, the kit was finally finished.

Overall:
At this point in time I seem to be building more 1:72 scale than my preferred scale of 1:48 but with kits like this one to build, scale is irrelevant. Bring on the Revellogram offering!

Reference:
Reference materials are as follows;

F86 Sabre “In Action” - Squadron
World Aircraft Files
Fighters of the Fifties - Bill Gunston

Related Reviews:-

Related INBOX Reviews:-

Hasegawa 1/48 F-86F Sabre 'Skyblazers'

web hosting • domain names • video sharing
free online games • photo sharing
free blog • short URLs