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Sword 1/72 #SW72142 North American T-39A Sabreliner - Open Box Review


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Okay, the Sword 1/72 #SW72142 North American T-39A Sabreliner kit just hit my desk.  I purchased it from Hobby Link Japan (HLJ.com) and it arrived much quicker than I expected.

 

 

Box top & backside marking illustrations.

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Main zip-loc bag with contents, front & back.

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Clear Spure & PE / canopy mask.

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Main sprue.

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Additional sprues.

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Decals. (Not bad! In register and tons of tiny data stencils.)

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Instruction booklet (10 pgs).

 

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A couple of notes.  As can be seen on page 2, some parts in the parts diagram are "X'd" out, meaning these are for another version, namely the T-39D/N Naval training version. No mounting tabs are evident, so careful alignment while gluing is required.  Also, no color callouts are provided for anything except the external markings. I will have to research cockpit and wheel wells.  The decal sheet is pretty comprehensive for these two very simple schemes and are in register.  The kit looks accurate in dimensions and outline. I like the fact that the engine splitter plates are included as PE and that window masks are also included.  

I can't wait to get started and see what aftermarket decals for more colorful schemes are released.

Kind regards,

Dutch 

 

Edited by Dutch
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  • Dutch changed the title to Sword 1/72 #SW72142 North American T-39A Sabreliner - Open Box Review

Hi-ya, Dutch!

 

Thanks for the review.  It looks like a pretty nice KIT and I just MIGHT have to get one of the Navy birds for old memories sake!

 

Take Care,

 

WARDOG

Edited by Glynn Jacobs
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11 hours ago, Cat Barf said:

It looks like it could provide the basis of a pleasant and rewarding hobby experience. 

Shirley, you jest! 🤪 😎   

Edited by Dutch
Oh, I don't know!
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Thanks for the very comprehensive preview, look forward to following your progress!

 

The color guide for the Euro I option has some dubious suggedtions: the gray color is labeled as FS "34118" - should be FS 36118, aka "Gunship" Gray.  Also, I'm not certain for this type but in the standard scheme for most transport/utility types the darker of the two greens was FS34092, vs. 34079 per the instructions.  There were variations on several types, this may be one of them but reference check is definitely in order if building this version.

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On 7/4/2022 at 8:08 PM, Dutch said:

@Quixote74, I haven't verified the FS color call outs, so I will go with your FS colors. 

 

Well since you're going off my notes I decided I better double-check the info 🤔

 

There isn't a camouflage pattern for the T-39 in my copy of T.O. 1-1-4 - which isn't terribly surprising. But I did confirm my recollection that the standard Euro I scheme as worn by most transports is FS 36118 gray/ FS 34102 medium green / FS 34092 dark green.  The only official scheme that substitutes 34079 for 34092 is the F-4's version, which was unique to the Phantom and used the darker FS 36081 gray rather than 36118 (basically just subtituting 36081 for the 30219 tan areas of the Southeast Asia scheme).

 

In any case, while not definitive, all the photos I've seen of T-39s in Euro I appear to be the typical 34092/34102/36118 scheme - as also seen on C-141s, amongst other types.

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  • 11 months later...

I cannot believe this.  Finally there is an affordable kit of one of my favorite aircraft, the T-39, and what is the box top illustration?  Old "Smokey 462" in which I flew many trips on as a young 2 striper at Hq Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs. As a member of the HQ ADC Briefing Team, I provided the audio visual support and usually traveled with a M/Gen while being "Chauffeured"  by the two pilots, a Major and a Full Bird Colonel !!  We usually always drew "Smokey 462" from the VIP

Pool at Peterson AFB and I have many fond memories of that bird - lots of trips all over the USA.  We did have one bad incident on approach into Langley AFB when there was a loud "Bang" at the rear of the aircraft and after we landed we saw that

we had taken a bird strike - luckily the Duck or whatever that hit us had impacted the edge of the starboard engine inlet ring and was not ingested by the engine.

 

I left HQ ADC in June of 1966 for my next assignment to the 600th Combat Photography Sq located at Tan Son Nhut AB in Saigon.  While there, I volunteered to fly courier duty during my off time aboard the "Scat back" T-39 Aircraft based at Tan Son Nhut.  My job was to pickup and guard classified film from several bases throughout SE Asia.  These trips included stops at two of our F-105 bases in Thailand and the missions were usually flown during the overnight hours.

 

The first evening I went to board the T-39 parked on the apron, to my surprise there stood "Smokey 462"!   I couldn't believe she had followed me to VietNam.  The only thing which had changed was that the ADC Badge had been removed from

the tail fin and when I climbed inside, I noted that the parachutes had been removed from their usual place between the front cabin bulkhead and the rear facing seats.  That area was now used for stowing cargo.  A Lt Colonel arrived and started

doing his pre-flight tasks and I mentioned to him that I had spent a lot of hours aboard that particular T-39.

 

"Like Hell You Did !"  He said with disdain, looking at my 3 stripes.  "This was a VIP Bird out of Colorado Springs and I never saw you assigned to it."  So I explained to him that I only flew with a dedicated crew of my own, not those 'pedestrian' VIP

pilots from the pool.  As soon as I told him who I usually flew with, the M/General, he immediately backed off and apologized.  After that, my first night flight aboard "Smokey 462" , now a"Scat Back" bird, was truly memorable.  We flew into a really hairy thunderstorm near the Thai border and each time lightning flashed, I could see the pointed Karsts and jungle below us.  Then we hit the worst turbulence I had ever encountered and "Smokey" rolled almost inverted before the pilot got us back to level flight.  My first thought was "Where the hell are the chutes?"  Then I realized that there would have been little hope of bailing out in that kind of weather.

 

Now I'm a retired USAF SMSgt.  I've been retired since 1984 and on Halloween of this year I will have been retired from my blue suit days all of 39 years.  I just turned 80 and many of my friends have already passed on including the M/General and

crew I used to travel with.  But I still have my memories from that career and one of the best was those many flights aboard that silver and white swept wing Biz-Jet........"Smokey 462"  !!  😏

 

~Rick Fluke

Arlee, MT

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That is so cool, Rick! I don't know which serial I flew in, but I did catch a flight in a T-39 out of Tan Son Nhut in late '72 or early '73. I think I was going to NKP to take aerial pictures of the base from an HH-53. Can't remember what type I flew back in - it was a long time ago.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks for the review. I will see about acquiring one, now that they are available. My father who passed away in 2008, was a crew chief on T-39s in Wiesbaden Germany from 1964-66. I always wanted to build one of these for him, but the only one I could find was a vacuum form spendy one with little detail. I had a career in the Air Force too and can remember these noisy buggers on the ramp. 

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Thanks much for the photos!  I may find myself purchasing the kit!  Looks every bit the part.  Might need the Hobbycraft 1/2 F-86 kit as a slat donor.

 

Much appreciated.

 

 

My dad flew this one out of Poughkeepsie for IBM.  I have a goal of 3D printing the model in 1/48.  In 1962/3 this was one EXPENSIVE paintjob. But hey, in a ramp dio, door open, a few businessmen with thin ties and white shirts....

 

Yeah.

IBM Sabreliner.jpg

Edited by VADM Fangschleister
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On 7/27/2023 at 6:59 PM, Dutch said:

Don't forget hats on those businessmen with their skinny ties. They were all the rage back then, and.. they are making a comeback.

Indeed!

 

The old fedora.  You could tell a lot about a man by his hat.  How he wore it, what kind of condition it was in, his manners with women and his chapeau.  

 

I got my kit this week and immediately started trying to figure out how to add a passenger window on each side, in-between the two that are there.  The plastic is a bit thick but I think making a stencil on tape from the holes and then slowly dremeling out a new one might work.   Not absolutely necessary but for the purposes of accuracy with what I want to build....I'm thinking it's necessary.  I'll figure it out.

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