Hasegawa F-86 Sabre "Blue Impulse"

I'm not sure where the idea of eggplanes originated, but Hasegawa are the ones who have made it into a popular part of the modeling world. Other companies have grabbed onto the idea and while not called eggplanes, cover a variety of other subjects such as armor and ships.

The original Hasegawa eggplanes came with a display stand that had things like other characters or buildings on them with a section of curved wire leading from the stand into a slot on the underside of the fuselage. More modern re-issues have eliminated the base and have substituted different decals. Such is the case with this F-86.

To expect any fidelity to the original subject wouldn't be logical. Each of the subjects cannot be mistaken for anything other than the type they portray, but you won't find anything even remotely the same as what's on the real deal except for maybe the shape of the wheel. There are no gear wells on most of these and gear doors simply tack in place to where it looks believable.

These kits are also quite simple, generally with the main subject being under two dozen parts. There are fuselage halves, one piece wings and tailplanes, landing gear legs and wheels along with gear doors. A canopy is provided along with a very basic interior that has a seat and floor. Some of these kits include pilot figures, but not this one. Anything you stick in the interior for this purpose with have to come from another source.

This boxing is for a Blue Impulse jet. All of the various markings, which are considerable, come on the fairly large decal sheet. The aircraft itself is overall white with the underside of the wings in aluminum. The drop tanks are in an orange shade which will need to be painted. The well printed decal sheet contains serial and nose numbers for several aircraft.

I have built several egg planes over the years and found them to not only be easy to build, but a nice break from fiddly Eduard or Zvezda kits. These kits are not only fun for more experienced modelers, but something that the youngsters might enjoy as well.  

February 2023