1/48 Hasegawa F-86F-40 Sabre Blue Impulse

[JNordgren42]

When I finished my Final Countdown Tomcat this summer, I sent some pics to my brother and he showed them to my nephew. Who promptly said "I wish I had that!" So, being the awesome uncle that I am, I decided to build him a fighter jet of his own. I wanted something with undeniable cool factor that also didn't have too many small bits to break off (he's 10, and I don't expect any 10 year old NOT to fly a jet around and make "woosh!" noises. ). I also wanted to pay homage to both his Japanese and American heritage (my brother and I are from the U.S. and my sister in law is from Japan). I found the perfect subject in the 1:48 Hasegawa F-86F-40 Sabre from the Japanese Blue Impulse demonstration team. It's a classic jet with gorgeous lines, and the bright white, blue, and orange paint scheme with a touch of bare metal is a head turner. As a bonus, our grandfather worked for North American Aviation, and later Rockwell International when they merged, so there is a family connection there too. I painted all the markings except for the lettering and stencils, and I had to pull out every trick I had to get it done, using Tamiya tape, flexible tape, vinyl mask, and even liquid mask for some spots. I used Mr. Color and Alclad II throughout. I also fabricated a custom stand out of 1/4 clear acrylic. I don't like drilling holes in a model, so I came up with a scheme using some stainless steel rod to clip it in.

It's not perfect, but I'm really happy with how it came out, and more importantly, I think it's going to make a little boy extremely happy.

[CardsFan]

Hi JNordgren42,

Your Blue Impulse Sabre is outstanding!  What a really clean build all the way around.  You clearly are the uncle of the year!

Quick question:  How did the landing gear doors fit in the retracted position?  I am eyeing doing an in-flight Hasegawa Sabre in the near future and was wondering how hard it would be to fit the doors.

 

Thanks, and congrats on a beautiful build!

Jeff Newton

 

[JNordgren42]

32 minutes ago, CardsFan said:

Hi JNordgren42,

Your Blue Impulse Sabre is outstanding!  What a really clean build all the way around.  You clearly are the uncle of the year!

Quick question:  How did the landing gear doors fit in the retracted position?  I am eyeing doing an in-flight Hasegawa Sabre in the near future and was wondering how hard it would be to fit the doors.

 

Thanks, and congrats on a beautiful build!

Jeff Newton

 

 

Thanks! The gear doors actually fit surprisingly well. The only slightly tricky part was the front nose wheel door, it's molded as a single piece in the open v-fold position so I had to make a replacement out of sheet stock and scribe the fold line. The air brakes also fit really well in the closed position. 

[JackMan]

That looks awesome!  I've been wanting to build the 1/72 version from Fujimi because I love that boxart with the Olympic rings depicting the opening ceremony of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics:

https://i0.wp.com/charliesplasticmodels.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/F-86F-Sabre-Blue-Impulse-Fujimi-1-72-JN4.jpg?fit=600%2C285&ssl=1

 

https://mainichi.jp/english/graphs/20190729/hpe/00m/0sp/001000g/20190729hpe00m0sp009000q

 

By the way, these Blue Impulse Sabres and the Olympic rings were featured in the Japanese movie "Always Sunset on Third Street 3".  Albeit CGI ones but it was still nice to see them. Your Japanese relatives may know the movie.

 

[lgl007]

WOW... that's just stunning!  Well done sir 🙂  What a great livery... he's gonna luv it!

 

-Greg

[Ben Brown]

Beautiful build!

 

Ben

[MikoLee]

Great build finish and subject. 

Turned out really well, my 1/72 Blue Impulse Sabre just moved up the 'to do' pile a few places