Officially finished this one about 15 minutes ago. 3 weeks start to finish. Kit is the venerable Hasegawa kit, this time the Mk.5 'Golden Hawks' boxing. No mods were required from the kit instructions, as the 1956 team were flying early Mk.6's with the same hard wing as the Mk.5. While these aircraft were dressed up operational birds, I opted to keep weathering to a minimum. I also opted to leave the stencil data off as well. Eduard color PE was added to the cockpit area, and markings for 416Sqn F/O EH "Ed" Welters' mount are courtesy of Arrow Graphics.

Comments and constructive criticism welcomed.

C[ ]

The real team in formation (I modelled second aircraft in):

Looks great Kevin.
How does the Hasegawa kit go together. I have built the Italeri one, which fits together well.
How come you didn't do the Golden Hawks one, i think the Sabre looks pretty smart in gold.
I remember the stencils well, hundreds of them :-) .
Andy

Hi Kevin

A nice batplane you have there -kapow,knuff, zack- sorry could not resist, ...

but honestly: great build and in what a short time, wow!

best wishes

Steffen

Thanks Steffen and Andy.

Andy, I chose not to build the Golden Hawks bird, simply because it is a popular option for folks building Cdn Sabres. I like to build the lesser known schemes. I have only seen one other build of this particular scheme. In fact, that build was the inspiration for me to tackle it.

The Hasegawa kit goes together very well. Overall, I rate the kit 9 out of 10 for detail and ease of assembly. Other than where specified by the kit instructions (converting the F-86F-30 fuselage), the only putty needed was on the underside just forward to the nose gear. That was actually my fault though. The wing to fuselage join was perfect, and needed nothing more than a light pass with a sanding sponge to remove the excess glue.

You've done an amazing job and love the decals.

Hi Kevin.
Very nice job,well done. I love the markings.
All the best
Nige