Revell F-86D Sabre Dog 1/48

[Steve_L]

Good morning addicts, ;-)

here is another build - I have finished this one during my christmas vacation (I know quite a long time ago). But I want to share it with you and I am very interested in your feedback.

Enjoy...

Thanks

Steve

P.S. English is not my mother tongue - please forgive me any translation errors you might find.

 

[DreamKnight]

Nice Sabre! Great job

 

[Grendels]

Looks good, and your English is fine!

 

[Junkie]

Cool. Great finish on that one.

 

[Steve_L]

Thanks so much! This means really a lot to me!!!

 

[Bullet21]

Wow! Very nice work. I happen to be building that same kit right now and (if you don't mind) I'm going to use these pics for inspiration. I've got the 'pit and gear bays done so far. Did you find any problems with the kit anywhere?

 

[Steve_L]

Hi Bullet21,

No, I don't mind, actually it would be a honor for me!!! I had no problems at all - this kit is engineered really well and everything fits perfectly. I guess this is the reason why I have two more on stock ;-)

Just let me know if you would like to have some extra pics.

 

[Bullet21]

Thanks Steve. Silly me, I glued the wings together and realized I had forgotten to drill out the holes to mount the fuel tanks. Could you snap a pic of the bottom side for me? I need a reference as to where they would be, and did you paint that unit or is that left in the molded color? I ask because I like it, and if that is unpainted I will do the same, it looks GOOD. But just so we don't look like twins I will use different unit markings on mine, lol. And how did your cockpit turn out? I lost 2 of those tiny parts and kinda made something to fit, hope they look alright.

 

[Steve_L]

Okay, I will upload some pictures tonight. Together with a little update of the M1A1 (Pit Bull)

 

[Steve_L]

Hi Bullet21,

Okay here we go… don’t laugh – it happened almost to me, too! I was so impressed by the kit that I wanted it to glue it together as fast as possible. I had the glue in my hand and prepared myself to stick the two halves together. From the corner of my eye I recognized the two fuel tanks and a voice in my head said to me – buddy you forgot something important! After this almost crash I slowed down a bit ;-)

I painted everything with Alclad colors. The body of the kit was painted with ALC-101 (aluminum) the darker areas were painted with ALC-119 (airframe-aluminum) fuel tanks I painted with magnesium to give the whole bird a tonal change and to make it look more interesting. The jet exhaust I painted with jet exhaust color and the cover of the engine was painted with chrome and hot metal blue to give it that burned metal look.

Here is a little trick I use for small parts. Take some white tack or some sticky tape. Press the sprue with the small parts into the white tack or onto the sticky tape. Then use your regular knife or side cutter and cut the part from the sprue. Due to the stickiness of the white tack the small part doesn’t jumps away and the carpet monster won’t get it ;-)
On the first pic you can see the bottom of the F-86

Second pic is a detail shot of the cockpit – came out a bit blurry. For the radar screen I used a big blob of Tamiya x-25 clear green. After the color dried it has a clear dark green color and looks like a switched off radar screen.

Number 3 and 4 shows the unpainted sprue of the F-86. There are on both sides some tonal changes. This is where you need to drill the holes for the fuel tanks. I checked my two other kits, both of them have the dark areas. On picture three I marked the tonal changes of the mold with a red circle. Just drill into the darkest part of the material to get the right position for the fuel tanks.

I really hope you do understand what I mean. This is the very first time for me to make such a description in English.

Please show me some pictures of your progress – I am really curious!!!

Steve

 

[Bullet21]

Thanks Steve, those pics helped alot. I've never tried those paints you used, I will have to find some, that finish looks great on your bird. I will try to post some pics as soon as I can get some more bench time, hopefully this evening.

 

[Junkie]

I agree, the finish is really great.

 

[Steve_L]

Here is the link to the manufacturer website

http://www.alclad2.com/alclad-home.html

These colors are really great the pros are:

- Great metal finish - in my opinion the best metal colors on the market so far
- big assortment of ddifferent metal colors

cons:

- Only for airbrush systems
- very expensive
- they stink horrible (good ventilation is essential)

Some tips for spraying

- The preasure should be somewhere between 15 to 20 psi.
- Avoid puddles or wet areas
- Apply thin coats
- Base coat needs to be glossy black to get the perfect metal finish.
- Surface has to be really smooth and dust free.

After my M1A2 project I wanted to build a P51 with a metal finish, if you like I can make a tutorial how to use Alclads II.

 

[Bullet21]

I scoured anything resembling a LHS here yesterday afternoon while she was shopping, told her I was in desperate need of a left-handed monkey wrench, but found nothing. I will look through some online shops to see if it's available and if it can be shipped, some places won't put paint in the mail, but I definetly want to try that stuff. Your tips are very helpfull, thanks for the heads up! And hey, did you have to add the recommended 20g's of nose wieght? If so, what did you use? I am a tread-head at heart and am learning by the minute when I build, well, anything other than tanks. And even there I'm always learning new tricks. Gotta love this hobby. My cockpit looks a tad less tidy than yours, which I think looks awesome btw, but it looks ALOT better than the last one I did so I jammed 'er in there and glued the sides together. But I can't get over the finish on yours, I have gotta try that stuff.

 

[Steve_L]

Yesterday I tried to trick her, too... I said I need to clean up the basement as soon as she went upstairs I was sitting down in front of my desk and started building. I know it is not the finest way - but I was in the mood to build something!!

I know a very good store in the UK - and they do ship it worldwide http://www.modelsforsale.com/

Thanks for the compliment!!! Appreciate it!!! But I am still in the learning process, too. It is very often trial and error, if it works out it is okay if not I try to do it better next time. The F-86D has some mistakes, too... but fo rthe next build I know how to avoid them. Unfortunately this is part of the learning curve :-( but this makes this hobby so interesting!!!

And I am happy to share this feeling with all of you ;-)

I added the 20g - I uses little lead beads. These are the same beads they use for trimming remote controlled planes (diameter of each bead is 2 to 3mm). You get it in lead shots / birdshots, too. I added some white glue in the nose / radom and press the lead beads into it.