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I have been inspired by phantom single handedly doing most of the builds in this GB.  He can not do it alone, and I want to see if I can build at phantom speed. I have chosen a kit with very few parts which I have built before.

 

I present the Revell F-86.  This is a monogram kit from 1976.  I will use a microscale sheet to build The Huff. I guess it is a mig killer because there are quite a few red star kill markings.

 

2v2J6qdY5x9awpY.jpg

 

The first order of business is to clean up parts which need cleanup. Since this is a 40 year old tool, it is not surprising to see some flash .. in this case it is hard to tell where the part starts and the flash ends

 

2v2J6qd7Nx9awpY.jpg

 

Any way, I cleaned up the parts as best I could and got busy with the airbrush

 

2v2J6qdRrx9awpY.jpg

 

 

I know it is a bit hard to see what is going on here, but the inside of the gear bay doors, airbrake doors, landing gear legs, wheel hubs, airbrake retraction struts, and airbrake bays were painted floquil old silver.  The gear bays were painted with Ammo of Mig gelbolive (closest thing I had to interior green)  The Instrument panel and seat are Mr Surfacer 1500 black (I was priming another model, and it is a perfect silky satin black ) and Ammo of Mig FS36231 for the inside of the fuselage and cockpit bucket.  Assembly can begin tomorrow. My goal is to have it ready for paint in one week or less. 

 

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Day two, I made some progress

 

I performed my least favorite task, painting the cockpit control panels. My bottle of Testors aircraft Interior black turned to goo, despite being sealed properly and kept in a drawer. However, mixing it up on a piece of carboard with some thinner made it brushable. It was easier with my new magnifying visor.  I also tried a wash on the area behind the seat, but I used the wrong color, it looks bad. I will go over the wash with something else

 

2v2J6rpwGx9awpY.jpg

 

 

 

I tried something new with the instrument panel. Ammo of Mig  has a set for US cockpits. One of the products is a gray wash, so instead of trying to pick out the gauges, you apply a wash to a black instrument panel

 

2v2J6rpKyx9awpY.jpg

 

 

This picture is a little dark, and the contrast between the gray and the black is a little better in real life than this picture. The effect works, but it is not as nice as a printed PE panel, or a full color decal.  There is a decal in the kit for the white  faces of the instruments. Once the wash is try I can apply the decal.

 

I assembled the wing

 

2v2J6rp1Lx9awpY.jpg

 

and the fuel tanks

 

2v2J6rpfnx9awpY.jpg

 

Meanwhile, i glued on the gun bay panel.  The fit is as expected

 

2v2J6rppgx9awpY.jpg

 

The last task was to put a little color on the tail pipe as not to hold up fuselage assembly when the time comes

 

2v2J6rpcWx9awpY.jpg

 

also visible is a wash applied to the inside of the speed brakes. A similar wash was applied to the inside of the landing gear doors. 

 

That is as far as I got tonight, I am getting tired so I will pick it up tomorrow.  If I have not forgotten any thing I can get the whole airframe together soon.

 

 

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Just curious, does your decal sheet give the Huff for the left side and Bill's Baby and Miss Jenny for the

right side or just the dragon for both sides. I have built this a few times and the original, that served in

Korea, had the dragon on the left side only, Bill's Baby and Miss Jenny on the right side. Will be watching

with interest.---John

Edited by john53
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4 hours ago, john53 said:

Just curious, does your decal sheet give the Huff for the left side and Bill's Baby and Miss Jenny for the

right side or just the dragon for both sides. I have built this a few times and the original, that served in

Korea, had the dragon on the left side only, Bill's Baby and Miss Jenny on the right side. Will be watching

with interest.---John

 

I was thinking about this very issue the other day. This decal sheet has the Dragon on both sides, and you are right the original plane  has "miss jenny" on the passenger side of the plane.  I did not do too much research, was there a second Huff with the dragon on both sides?   I saw one picture of  an F-86 which looked like it was a warbird with the dragon. I just think it looks  cool. 

 

The Huff is special to me, when I was a kid, one of the first models my Dad built upon returning to the hobby was the then current Monogram F-86  "the huff" boxing.  I want to say he bought the kit at the gift shop of the Air and Space museum when he took me there.   It is hard to remember, but I think I helped him with the build.  As far as more accurate markings go,  the monogram kit with these markings was released in the early 80s, then as a SSP release in the early 90s.  It looks like Cutting edge did these markings at some point.  Academy also did a release with these markings, which is on ebay frequently from Korean sellers. 

 

This is a fun build so I am going to build the best model I can with what I have on hand. If I were to do a serious F-86 project, a magnum opus, life  work sort of build I would start with the Eduard Ultimate sabre and scour the planet for the cutting edge decals.

 

Speaking of which I should probably get a Eduard sabre before they are gone.  In the meantime I will do the best I can on this model. I really think I can build quickly if I can stay focused.

 

 

Edited by Kurt H.
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No there was only one The Huff. I have no idea who or why the other Dragon was added

but it's not there, I've seen the real Huff pictures. Also I think Monogram as every other

F-86 maker does, has the drop tanks in the wrong location. They are suppose to be on

station 99, that means from the center line of the fuselage to the center line of the drop

tank its 99 inches , hence from drop tank center to drop tank center it should be 99 plus 99

or 198 inches, that would be 4 1/8 inches in 1/48 scale, check it out and let me know if Monogram

got it right. The gent that clued me in on this said the only model that has the drop tanks right is

the Revell F-86D, all others are wrong. I checked it out in some pics and HE'S RIGHT!!!!---HTH---John

Just looked in my books and be aware that not all decal sheets have the Dragon the right colors.

Fujimi has the dragon green with green spikes on it's back, the REAL dragon was dark green with

red scales on it's back, Airfix has come closest so far for colors.---John

TQbwg1Z.jpg

Edited by john53
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Hey John53, thanks for the pic. 

 

I have made more progress. I forgot to take pictures, but I did more work on the seat and painting the control stick

 

The gun bay door was not a great fit. If you remember my F-104 build from the classic kits build, I used to go scorched earth with 220 grit sand paper and tons of putty. It does the job, but you sand away half the model. I have since refined my approach.  I start with 400 grit sand paper and use accelerated CA as filler. Not only can you sand immediately, the CA is hard, and does not shrink.  I have also started using files after watching lots of you tube videos.

 

So instead of sanding away half the airframe and waiting hours for putty to dry, after 30 minutes of work, this is what I  ended up with

 

 

 

 

2v2J6zCKMx9awpY.jpg

 

I lost more raised detail than I would like, but still better than a mess like this: (my aforementioned f-104)

 

2v29L52Dyx9awpY.jpg

 

Spot priming reveals I almost had it perfect in one shot. Just a few scratches to fix

 

2v2J6zC1zx9awpY.jpg

 

I have things to do tomorrow, so it is an early nite. Till next time ....

 

 

 

Edited by Kurt H.
fixing multiple errors
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It looks like Microscale has remastered and re released this sheet. It is not yet in stock. It does have the dragon on both sides, but It also has nice clear stencils, and nice instrument panels.

 

http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MD&Product_Code=ac48-0061&Category_Code=NEWRLSAir 

Edited by Kurt H.
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The dragon colors  look right but I still don't understand why they don't

have the correct decals for the right side of the aircraft. I've always

been told to be leery of certain decal makers. Although Academy got

it right!!!!! Airfix isn't much better, I have the right dragon but no decals

for the right side!!!!!--John

v3rye72.jpg

 

 

Edited by john53
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I am posting from my phone, for some reason i can not access arc forums from verizon fios. 

 

I did a little more work in the cockpit

 

2v2JtEw14x9awpY.jpg

 

I picked out details with a toothpick, and painted the straps on the seat

 

Hopefully verizon will sort out the connectivity issue.

Edited by Kurt H.
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Last night I clear coated the seat and cockpit tub with tamiya X-22 in anticipation of  an oil wash

 

2v2JtAbarx9awpY.jpg

 

This gives a nice base to  do a wash

 

2v2JtAbQMx9awpY.jpg

 

The effect might be a bit overdone, but it has more depth and shadow to the seat

 

I used payne gray in the cockpit, just to give a little tonal variation

 

2v2JtAbejx9awpY.jpg

 

 

After installing the instrument panel and stick, I saw no reason not to proceed to join the fuselage halves

 

2v2JtAbbzx9awpY.jpg

 

Sanding and then wing and nose wheel bay tomorrow.

 

 

 

Edited by Kurt H.
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Despite my best effort,  the fuselage seam was slightly mis matched. After a pass with 400 grit sandpaper, I used accelerated CA to feather the ridge, and sanded a bit more. The seam ended up pretty nice in 15 minutes, 2 rounds of sanding and glue.  This would have taken me several days with putty. Since it looked ok, I glued in the nose gear well.  I did some minor gap filling on the wing, and glued it in place as well. 

 

2v2JtkqPrx9awpY.jpg

 

I made sure the upper joint was level at the expense of a bit of a ledge on the bottom. That will be easier to fix than a mess on the top.

 

I will pick this up again tomorrow.

    

Edited by Kurt H.
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With lots of time today, I came somewhat close to my goal of being ready for paint in 1 week, but not quite.

 

I did two rounds of CA, Sand, repeat and ended up with this. I plugged the hole for the tail prop with a strecthed sprue nub, and sanded it smooth.

 

2v2JtqAvVx9awpY.jpg

 

 

It feels smooth, primer will reveal the truth.  

 

The wings had a bit of a gap. for this gap, I decided to use perfect plastic putty, I like this putty for this kid of gap,  since it is hard to sand. I used a Qtip moistened in water to smooth the joint If I am lucky it will address the gap. 

 

2v2JtqfNVx9awpY.jpg

 

The same thing was done with the stabilators

 

2v2JtqfFWx9awpY.jpg

 

 

Since this is a tail sitter, I glued two sinkers in place

 

2v2JtqAoGx9awpY.jpg

 

next, I attached the nose 

 

2v2JtqfLSx9awpY.jpg

 

 

it is slightly smaller in diameter than the fuselage

 

After I a few hours I decided to try CA again... I figured it was worth a try, but I figured it might need putty instead, but CA did the job:

 

2v2JtqfTLx9awpY.jpg

 

 

The bottom looks good as well

 

2v2JtqfYyx9awpY.jpg

 

I will not be able to work on this for a few days, but being ready for primer in 1 week is an improvement for me, I typically build at a glacial pace. 

 

till next time!

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You're beating this one into shape, Kurt.  Nice.  I used a spare set of Hasegawa intake and exhaust plugs on the Revell Sabre I built.  A bit of sanding required but it took care of the blocked off intake.  I also found the main gear struts to be a really weak point in this build.  I thought Tamiya Extra Thin would be fine.  WRONG!!!!  Use CA glue, if you don't already.

 

I don't know if you can fix it, or if you want to fix it, but as an FYI, that triangular scoop on the right side by the speed brake well is unique to Japanese Sabres.  North American, Canadair or CAC  built Sabres didn't have them.  Not trying to rain on your parade but if accuracy is a concern, you'll want to remove it before you get to painting.  If not, I'll just close my yap and let you continue.

 

Looking forward to more progress.

 

Mike

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On 4/14/2018 at 8:56 AM, AX 365 said:

You're beating this one into shape, Kurt.  Nice.  I used a spare set of Hasegawa intake and exhaust plugs on the Revell Sabre I built.  A bit of sanding required but it took care of the blocked off intake.  I also found the main gear struts to be a really weak point in this build.  I thought Tamiya Extra Thin would be fine.  WRONG!!!!  Use CA glue, if you don't already.

 

I don't know if you can fix it, or if you want to fix it, but as an FYI, that triangular scoop on the right side by the speed brake well is unique to Japanese Sabres.  North American, Canadair or CAC  built Sabres didn't have them.  Not trying to rain on your parade but if accuracy is a concern, you'll want to remove it before you get to painting.  If not, I'll just close my yap and let you continue.

 

Looking forward to more progress.

 

Mike

 

Ah yes I know I read about that scoop somewhere. It would have been easier to fix before assembly, but I like some plastic surgery, I will see what I can do.  

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I did some spot priming tonight

 

2v2JYN6vWx9awpY.jpg

 

 

and the bottom

 

2v2JYN6Umx9awpY.jpg

 

 

over all the seams are pretty good,  there are a few spots which need some more work, but for a first pass, I am pretty happy.

 

I took more pictures, but it was hard for me to capture with a camera what my eyes can see, and the lighting at my bench is not optimal for photography.

 

I will pick it up again tomorrow.  

 

 

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Now I am getting to the phase where there is not a much visual progress, yet it still takes a lot of time.

 

I touched up the small areas which required attention. There was a chunk missing on the tail which I filled in with putty. I gave the model a good scrub, and masked the transparent parts. I glued the windscreen on after masking with frisket film.

 

2v2J7u2Nyx9awpY.jpg

 

After a lot of fettling this was the best I could get with the fit, it fits ok in the front, and on the drivers side, but the other side, there is a step.  I think I can massage it with perfect plastic putty

 

2v2J7u2r5x9awpY.jpg

 

I also cleaned up the wheels, but it was more than flash, more like a mold mismatch. I scraped them into some semblance of roundness

 

2v2J7u2jNx9awpY.jpg

 

 

I am tired so I will call it a night.  see ya next time 

 

Edited by Kurt H.
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Quick update, I am at a bit of a standstill waiting on putty to dry

 

I found gaps around the windscreen.  I filed down the fuselage where it meets the windscreen to reduce the step. Next, I used perfect plastic putty followed by a wet qtip.

 

2v2J7pJoMx9awpY.jpg

 

 

I will let that try then spot prime

 

It looks like it is slightly crooked

 

2v2J7pJvyx9awpY.jpg

 

It does not line up properly on this side. I had a lot of trouble getting it to stay put, maybe the fuselage halves are not quite squared up, or I messed up something else. I think it will look ok as long as the gap is not prominent.

 

I have plenty of other projects to keep me busy, and I need to straighten up the work bench, so I have plenty to do until tomorrow when this putty is dry enough to prime

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I noticed when looking at my last post I sanded or filed through the masking on one side. :doh:

 

So, I was was left with a primered spot that was also scratched. I removed the mask on that side and my fears were confirmed.  The picture did not come out well, but it was not pretty.

 

I figured I could remove the primer, and polish the scratch in one step with a tri grit sanding stick, followed by novus plastic polish.

 

2v2J749zGx9awpY.jpg

 

It came out ok. Not perfect, but better than a big scratch. I have also used mr surfacer 500 to try and fill in the gap.

 

I decided to mask it again,  however this time I used strips of tamiya tape, cut from a length of 6 mm tape

 

2v2J74uonx9awpY.jpg

 

I filled in the center with more tape, and applied another coat of mr surfacer. I will not settle for poorly fitting glass!

 

bye for now

 

 

 

 

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I have not forgotten this thread. I have spent the last week trying to beat the windcreen into shape. I figured I would spare you the torture of more posts of the same area of the model.  Any way, the last round of mr surfacer, sand, prime repeat still shows a small area to address. I could not get a good picture.  I applied some more mr surfacer 1000 and hopefully it will be enough.

 

By the end of the week my goal is to have the model primered

Edited by Kurt H.
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The adventure continues with the F-86

 

I glued the main canopy to the frame. It fit ok, but not perfectly

 

2v2JsyLonx9awpY.jpg

 

I used Perfect Plastuc putty and a wet Q-tip to address the gaps

 

2v2JsyLvdx9awpY.jpg

 

so, then it was on to primer. I used Mr, Surface 1500 Black

 

here are the wheels, and tanks

2v2JsyLUyx9awpY.jpg

 

and the whole model:

 

2v2JsyL95x9awpY.jpg

 

I did notice at least once area which needed attention, but for the most part the seams and surface look good. 

 

 

Edited by Kurt H.
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  • 2 weeks later...

The past two weeks have flown by and I did not have much time to devote to models.

 

In the time I did find, I decided to remove the canopy for some reason, since it slides open and closed. Unfortunately, clear part came detached from the frame. I glued them back together, but I ended up with a gap

 

2v2JkT16Fx9awpY.jpg

 

I did some sanding and realized "real" putty was required, so out came the 3M acryl blue

 

2v2JkT1tdx9awpY.jpg

 

that looks bad, I know. I tried removing excess with a putty spatula but this putty seems to develop a bit of a skin when you apply it so you get this crusting effect.

 

Careful sanding should smooth it all out.I did notice a few things to fix on the airframe, so another round of primer is needed regardless.

 

well .. see ya next time.

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