1/32 HASEGAWA F-86F kit[s]...?

[sixgunns]

My question concerns the old 1/32 HASEGAWA F-86F kit.

Is the HASEGAWA F-86F [uSAF decals] a different kit from the kit # 08060 F-86 F – 40 Sabre J.A.S.D.F. ? Are the wings re-tooled for the -40 kit ? I have no way of comparing this with the other Has. 1/32 Sabre kits. That is the one I have and have finally just acquired the Eagle Strike 32046a USAF 1/32 decal . It is nicer than I expected.

 

Of course the more I read the more I had to wonder if this is a post-Korean War version. I didn’t want the -40 ‘HighGrade Series/ALL TRANSPARENT PARTS’ version just a Korean War finish in 1/32 scale. And this – 40 Sabre J.A.S.D.F. kit looked like high quality.

 

Can I build, Detail and apply my 32047a decals ?

 

If not maybe I will convert to a -2 'Gun Val'. The 4X T-160 20mm s would be interesting. There would be a cockpit change, maybe the gunsight. Presently I only have the color image in Martin Bowman's Airlife 'Combat Legends : F-86' book. Omitted [surprisingly] from the wonderful Osprey book " F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units over Korea " (Osprey Frontline ) . Any helpful reference suggestions for a -2 'Gun Val' ?

 

TIA. [ I was posting a year or so ago before the new site came on. Very nice improvement – nothing wrong with the old. Thanks for all the suggestions, photos of great work and links.]

 

J.K. / sixgunns

 

 

 

“ Make it fly or scratch-build it.”

[CharlesMetz]

J.K.,

 

Let me say first that I'm by no means an expert on F-86s. However, I am aware that Hasegawa has never re-tooled their molds to provide shorter (i.e., earlier than -40) injection-molded wings but did recently release a "Sabre Mk. 6" kit with Luftwaffe markings that includes resin wingtips for converstion of the old kit parts.

 

Others here may know more about this.

 

Charles Metz

[Juggernut]

In short, no, Hasegawa has never retooled the wings on their Sabre to model anything prior to the F-86F-40. The only thing they did was change the decals as is customary with Hasegawa. The recent release of the Canadair Mk. VI Sabre has the resin wingtip modifications contained in the kit but if you don't have one, no biggie, just cut the wingtips off the -40 JASDF version, remove that portion of the wing from the outboard portion of the L.E. Flap on out and reinstall the wingtips on the wing. Presto! You have an F-86F-30 and I believe you can use the Eagle Strike decals on a corrected airframe. You may have to do a little modification of the wingtip because on some of the F-86's (I can't remember which ones off the top of my dome) the aileron extended all the way to the end of the wing.

 

HTH

 

TimC.

[Jack]

Hi guys, maybe this drawing will help, used it myself on the Golden Hawk conversion, which used the F86F-30 version.

 

regards,

Jack

[LSP_Ray]

One other note:

I believe (please check, my memory hasn't been too sharp lately), that the -30 USAF aircraft did not have leading edge slats??? But, I believe the Canadair Mk. 6 did. Not a hard thing to fix, but something to check as it affects panel lines.

[Juggernut]

The F-86F did have the slats but not the E version. They called the E, the "hard wing" or something to that effect. The E also had a wing fence where the F did not.

[Edgar Brooks]

Er, no, it was the other way round; originally, the E had slats, but, when the "6-3" wing was introduced, the slats were deleted. This was continued in the F series, up to, and including, the -35. Pilots had experienced problems when, in combat, one slat, only, deployed, causing mayhem. Removing the slats meant a higher landing speed, but they were prepared to put up with that, if combat became easier. If you're building an E, and are not sure if it had the 6-3 extensions, look at the gunbay covers. The extension covered the doors, so the inboard corner, of the leading edge, was made detachable, and, occasionally, you can see it hanging down, on a length of chain. The -40 was, originally, a Japanese version (the ANG did, eventually, get it,) and reverted to having the slats, plus extended wingspan. On Canadair Sabres, 5s had no slats, but they were reintroduced, on the 6, so some had slats, and some did not.

Edgar

[smithery]

On Canadair Sabres, 5s had no slats, but they were reintroduced, on the 6, so some had slats, and some did not.

Edgar

 

To further complicate matters, not all 6's had the slats. The first 240 Mk.6 aircraft (23371-23611) had the same hard wing as the Mk.5, but some of those did not have the wing fences. The aircraft were later retrofitted I believe, but depending on the plane, and the era, you have to go by your references.

 

As an example, I'm just finishing up a 1/48 Mk.6 project, but it did had the Mk.5 wing, no fences, and oddly enough, no sugar scoops. Pics to prove it too.

[Juggernut]

Whoops, sorry for the misinfo... Should've checked my sources b4 posting...

[sixgunns]

Thank you all for the help.

TimC. I kind of thought the re-tool was a NO. Reinstalling tips after lopping off the -40 tips will be the answer for me. Jack’s drwg. shows the aileron extended all the way to the end.

Jack, that drwg. of your F86F-30 version is very nice. I probably would not have found it.

Edgar, I read about the variation for the models with & without the LE slats. And I see a larger gun bay door for the -2 'Gun Val' I’m interested in. So that extension covering the doors on the E model note is helpful.

Smithery’s aircraft I.D. list will obviously help me to narrow down particular AC with pilot’s [ i.e. Joe McConnel, 39th FIS ] mounts. The 334th and the 335th had great pilots with leading kills too. That in fact is a good way to approach this. I’ve already run across a comprehensive list of WWII P-51 squadrons histories and tabular data in a Google search. The color published book images are impressive but I’ll try Google for F-86 questions too.

 

I did see another Eagle Strike USAF 1/32 decal for the F-86 listed. Has anyone seen this ? I have Eagle Strike 32046a and this is one of the reasons I wanted to go ahead with this project. But if I build a -2 'Gun Val'. With the T-160 20mm guns it will be another research project. No biggie, just another decision – negating the decal use partially.

 

That color pic from Martin Bowman's Airlife 'Combat Legends : F-86 book is an “ F-86F-2 “ 1953 at K-14. I'll assume this is 4th FIW.This view is about 30 ft. back broadside and the left side gun bay door is off with armorers working. Now I see three additional pics all left side showing presumable 20mm gun applications in this book. A 1957 F-86H-10 parked : Air Guard, A 1970 F-86H-10 parked : Air Guard and an aerial 1955 F-86H-10 : USAF.

Martin Bowman : “ Four F-86E-10 and six F-86F-1 “models recvd. these T-160 gun conversions. They were “re-designated as F-86F-2 “. Also “Two F-86F-1 armed with Oerlikon-type 20mm guns were redesignated as F-86F-3.”

 

Maybe I’ll build two Sabres.

 

J.K. / sixgunns

 

 

 

“ Make it fly or scratch-build it.”

[Ayovan]

I'll be doing the wing mod to change to the 6-3 hard wing on my Hasegawa  (f-86-f-30) and was wondering if anyone had some demensional info for the wing fence. I have the basic shape but not finding enough info to get a correct size.

[Dragon]

If you haven’t seen this:

http://yocumusa.com/sweetrose//duncan/wings.htm

[Ayovan]

Thank you Dragon. Exactly what I was looking for.

[Ayovan]

16 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

Holy 15-year old thread reincarnation Batman!

Good info never goes bad

[Steve C]

Pretty much the definitive source for all things Sabre was Duncan's F-86 website.  Too bad it is no more.  

Here is the link from the Wayback Machine website, but all the pictures are gone.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20040903144324/http://f-86.tripod.com/

 

Steve