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F-86F30

history

The F-86 was the USAF successor to the legendary P-51 Mustang. Produced by North American Aviation, the F-86 was best known as the United States' first swept wing fighter. In December of 1950 the F-86A entered the Korean War. At the same time the F-86E was just entering production. The "E" version entered service in May of 1951 and replaced the "A" version by the end of 1952.

Combat against the MIG-15 showed that the MIG-15 was somewhat superior to the F-86E, especially at high altitudes. Then came the F-86F. First flown in March of 1952, the F-86F became the definitive version of the F-86. The new F-86F had the "6-3" wing, so called because it was lengthened 6 inches at the wing root and 3 inches at the wing tip. The leading edge slats were also removed.

These changes raised the stall speed of the aircraft, making for faster takeoffs and landings, and significantly improved its high altitude performance. The F-86F now had a firm upper hand over the MIG-15, and went on to rack up a 14-to-1 kill/loss ratio over the MIG-15. The F-86 Sabre Jet was by far the most produced Western jet fighter with a total production of all variants at 9,860 aircraft.

The Kit

The Hasegawa F-86F-30 is made up of 9 gray colored sprues and 2 clear sprues. The kit also includes one decal sheet with decals and stencils for two aircraft.

Construction

Building the Hasegawa F-86F-30 kit was an out of the box build. Overall, construction for the kit is straight forward just following the instructions, which are very good—the illustrations are excellent. The parts fit for the kit was excellent, not much seam filling and sanding was required.

Painting

USAF F-86 aircraft that saw combat in the Korean War had a bare metal finish. Once the model was built, I primed it with MM Gloss Black and let it cure and dry for 48 hours. With this model I tried something different. Instead of airbrushing Alclad II Polished Aluminum over the Gloss Black primer, I applied a coat of Future over the Gloss Black and let it dry for 48 hours.

I then airbrushed Alclad II Polished Aluminum over the Future coat. The bare metal finish turned out quite well. The wheel wells were painted with MM Interior Green and the inside of the wheel well doors and landing gears were painted with Floquil Bright Silver. The engine exhaust and the gun port panels were airbrushed with Alclad II Pale Burnt metal.

Decals

Decals for my F-86F-30 were for the most part good. They were easily applied and adhered well to the model. The decal sheet for the kit provides decals for two aircraft. I chose to use the decals for the 21st Fighter Bomber Wing Commander's aircraft. Here is where I ran into trouble. I could not get the banding decals to fit around the nose and around the fuselage, so I left them off. I also did not apply the decals for the horizontal stabilizers.

Once decalling was complete, I cleaned up the model with a damp cloth, then applied a light coat of Future over the model. To finish off the model, I airbrushed a coat of MM Semi-Gloss Lacquer Finish.

Conclusion

This Hasegawa F-86F-30 kit has been around for a while but is still a good kit to build. The detail is good, the parts fit is excellent, and the decals performed well except for the trouble I had. I was quite pleased with the look of the finished model.