Kit: No. 2162
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Academy, distributed by MRC, P.O. Box 6312, Edison, NJ 08818-6312, phone 732-225-2100
Price: $9
Comments: Injection molded, 121 parts, decals.
Academy's latest 1/48 scale kit represents the ultimate Korean War-era Sabre, the F-86-30. In an effort to improve the plane's maneuverability, designers did away with the air-loaded leading-edge slats, increased the chord of the wing (6" at the root tapering to 3" at the tip), and installed small leading-edge fences. The new design was known as the "6-3" or "hard" wing.
Among the features of this kit are two pilots (seated and standing with separate oxygen masks), two pairs of external fuel tanks, opened left gun bay, a choice of nosewheels, openable speed brakes and canopy, and covers for the intake and exhaust. Two bombs and two Sidewinder missiles are included, but niether weapon would be carried by Korean War Sabres.
The highlight of the kit is the detailed engine. To show it off, you have the option of severing the fuselage at engraved lines inside the halves. Bulkheads fore and aft of the break and a dolly to hold the rear fuselage complete the scene.
External detail consists of fine recessed lines. Landing-gear struts, wheels, and wells show excellent detail. While the cockpit instrument panel, consoles, stick, and throttle are great, the ejection seat has four ejector-pin marks in the pan and poorly engraved seat belts.
Academy's 15-step instructions include a history, parts map, and painting and decaling diagrams for the two USAF Sabres on the sheet.
Parts fit overall is excellent; no filler was needed. Three panels that contain fuselage vents are provided as separate pieces. They all lie on the main fuselage seam, so fitting them in after the fuselage is closed can be tricky.
I painted my Sabre with Floquil Old Silver and Testor enamels. The instructions would have you paint the cockpit interior medium gray, but Korean War Sabres were black inside. The instructions use numbered flags to point out colors, so you have to keep referring to the color key on page 7.
I'm grateful that the hard-to-paint yellow ID stripes on the wings and fuselage were provided as decals, but they were translucent and difficult to position. My sample's decals were printed slightly off register. This mainly affected the red areas of the nose art and turbine warning stripe, which are printed over white. The white peeks out around one side of each and had to be trimmed away. Since the decals are printed on white paper, you may not notice this problem until the decal is removed from the paper. Also, the blue of the insignias is too light.
I put in 25 hours on my Sabre. It measures to scale with the dimensions in my references, Squadron/Signal's F-86 Sabre in Action, and Fighting Colors, F-86 Sabre. Academy's Sabre is a fine-looking model with enough detail to satisfy experienced modelers.
- Randal Dieck