Hasegawa 1/48 F-86F Sabre, by H Davis Gandees

Captain Joseph McConnel was the top Korean War ace with 16 Mig victories and 5 damaged. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and Distinguished Flying Cross.

He was killed August 25,1954 testing the F-86H, losing control because of a faulty bolt installation. Chuck Yeager who investigated the crash replicated the accident however at a higher altitude giving him the ability to gain control.

THE KIT

The excellent instruction sheet is 8 pages with good color call outs. There were 7 well molded sprues with finely recessed panel lines. There are detailed speed brake bays, but I elected to close mine up. The nice cockpit includes good detail including a nice gun sight with clear reflector but unfortunately no seat belt/harness assuming a pilot would be installed. The cockpit detail includes a pilot figure and instrument panel and side console decals.

CONSTRUCTION

Starting with the cockpit and engine the fuselage halves were closed up with the cockpit positioned on the intake trunk assuring good cockpit placement in the fuselage opening. There are holes that need to be completely drilled out for drop tank or Sidewinder missile pylons. I only installed the drop tanks. It was a straight forward build with good fit of all parts.

COLORS & MARKINGS

The Korean War F-86s were very clean except for gun smoke stains but as with all my American Fighter Ace Collection, a clean museum type finish was selected.

A 50/50 mixture of Alclad II Chrome and Polished Aluminum was airbrushed at 15 psi at an angle to the surface. The center panel of the wings and the gun bay areas were masked and painted with Alclad II Aluminum prior to the main painting. The kit decals performed well including the bright yellow stripes. I avoid using Solvaset or other solvents on Alclad II. Nav lights were painted with Tamiya clear red and green.

CONCLUSIONS

The Sabre was finished in 30 hours, and I highly recommend this excellent kit. I regret I didn’t add a seatbelt/harness, maybe I’ll install Joe?

REFERENCE

Squadron F-86 Sabre in Action

KIT #:	09483
PRICE:	$30.00
DECALS:	One option
REVIEWER:	H Davis Gandees
NOTES:	Having built the Monogram F-86 in the mid-90s, when it was time to build Joe McConnel’s Sabre for my American aces collection I decided to upgrade to the excellent Hasegawa kit.