1/48 Hasegawa F-86F "Gabby"

Gallery Article by Dirk Adel

 

After completing two race car models during my summer break I am now back with another silver bird I just finished. This Hasegawa Sabre is my first 1/48-jet for a very long time (ca. 20 years). As the Sabre replaced my favourite fighter, the Mustang, I simply had to do one. My first choice for the right kit would be the one from Academy with that nice "Mike´s bird" nose art and the removable engine. But then I got that High Tech resin detail set for the Hasegawa F-86 very cheap, so I had to watch out for this kit.

 

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There is not much more to be said about this fine kit, just something about the resin add-on-parts. The detail is good as you can see on the picture. The parts fit with some trimming almost perfectly to the kit parts. Included are cockpit, weighted wheels, flaps and rudder (which I did not use). I added etched seatbelts, some brake hoses and the pitot tube made of an injection tube. I resigned to do the wing conversion to get a slatted wing of the real F-86E.

My Sabre was painted using Tamiya and Gunze Sprays, some panels got Bare Metal Foil. The decals came from Aeromaster´s sheet Sabres over Korea Pt.IV. 

Pilot was Colonel Francis "Gabby" Gabreski, Commander 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing, 25th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Suwon 1953. He scored 28 victories in WWII and 6,5 in Korea. He was one of seven U.S. pilots, who became an ace in the two wars, flying even over North-Vietnam in the 60´s. For more go to http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_gabby.html  

Dirk Adel

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Photos and text © by Dirk Adel