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1/48 F-86A: it's almost here...


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2 hours ago, GeneK said:

 

I'm also REALLy looking forward to those kits! 

 

In 1/48 -- it's too bad that Clear Prop didn't put all the wing parts on one (or two)  sprues ... and made those available for ordering separately. Lots of applications to existing kits including the D, E, Early F, and Canadian Sabres.  In 1/72 -- maybe a different sprue arrangement? (but I doubt it). 

 

How great would it be if Clear Prop offered Overtrees??? :thumbsup:

 

Gene K

 

I'll pass it on 🙂

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5 hours ago, GeneK said:

 

I'm also REALLy looking forward to those kits! 

 

In 1/48 -- it's too bad that Clear Prop didn't put all the wing parts on one (or two)  sprues ... and made those available for ordering separately. Lots of applications to existing kits including the D, E, Early F, and Canadian Sabres.  In 1/72 -- maybe a different sprue arrangement? (but I doubt it). 

 

How great would it be if Clear Prop offered Overtrees??? :thumbsup:

 

Gene K

 

As far as the Canadair Sabre goes, the kit wing would only be good for the Mk.1 thru Mk.4. The Mk.5 had the 6-3 hard wing(later converted to slats) and the Mk.6 had the slatted 6-3 wing.

 

Cheers,

 

John

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Posted (edited)
56 minutes ago, CF104 said:

 

As far as the Canadair Sabre goes, the kit wing would only be good for the Mk.1 thru Mk.4. The Mk.5 had the 6-3 hard wing(later converted to slats) and the Mk.6 had the slatted 6-3 wing.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

Late Sabre 4s were manufactured with the 6-3 hard-edge (and most early a/c retrofitted). Early Sabre 6s also had the hard-edge 6-3 wing.

 

Edited by Sabrejet
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Just now, Sabrejet said:

 

Early Sabre 5s had the slatted, narrow-chord wing; later aircraft had the 6-3 hard-edge (and most early a/c retrofitted). The broad-chord, slatted, short-span was introduced on the Sabre 6.

 

That's contrary to the information I have, both photographic and written.

 

Canadair Sabres c/n 701 thru c/n 1400 had the 6-3 hard wing and c/n 1401 onwards had the 6-3 slatted wing right from the factory. This includes the last 90 Sabre 4's that went to the RAF so they had a mixed fleet of slatted original wing and 6-3 hard wing. Sabre 4 c/n 701 was RAF XD780 and had the 6-3 hard wing as referenced in this accident report.  https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/148705    The RAF may have retrofitted the 6-3 hard wing to more of their earlier Mk.4's but that's only a guess on my part.

 

Sabre Mk.5 23001 thru 23370 were all delivered with the 6-3 hard wing. Sabre Mk.6 23371 thru 23610 were also delivered with the 6-3 hard wing with most being modified to the 6-3 slatted wing at a later date. Sabre Mk.6 23611 thru 23752 were delivered with the 6-3 slatted wing. All Canadair Sabres had a wing span of 37.12'. There was never a short span 6-3 slatted wing.

 

I'm not at all versed on what the Luftwaffe did with their Mk.6's but they definitely had a mixture of 6-3 slatted and 6-3 hard wing. Might just be that they bolted the slats up on the 6-3 slatted wing to keep them from popping out at inopportune times. 

 

I was being very generic regarding the Mk.5/6 in my last post so a correction would be that the kit wing would be good for the Canadair Sabre Mk.1 thru Mk.4 up to c/n 700. Sabre Mk.4(c/n701 thru 790), Mk.5 and Mk.6 through to the end of production had a mixture of the 6-3 hard wing and slatted wing.

 

Cheers,

 

John

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, CF104 said:

 

That's contrary to the information I have, both photographic and written.

 

 

 

John,

 

See my edit: I think your post coincided with my self-edit 🙂

Edited by Sabrejet
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On 8/13/2024 at 2:57 PM, Sabrejet said:

 

John,

 

See my edit: I think your post coincided with my self-edit 🙂

 

Saw it a while after I posted. Anyway, we both ended up saying the same thing. 🍻

 

Cheers,

 

John

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On 8/14/2024 at 8:42 AM, Ben Brown said:

I broke down and finally ordered one yesterday. Resistance is futile.

Yes, how can/could anyone resist this kit, Ben?

 

Sabre wing pylon locations (and tanks types) are almost as confused a topic as wings, so I offer the following as a clarification on the CP wings:

 

__ The CP Instructions direct drilling locating holes for the wing tanks as shown below at 52.7 mm on the left wing, and and 52.6mm on the right (don't know why the .1mm difference). Clear Prop does, however, already have flashed over holes on the wings ... BUT they differ on each side. For the A model (which had single-pylon wings), the holes should be at Buttock Plane 99.5 -- 99.5 inches from centerline. That's 252.73 cm in 1:1, or 52.27 cm in 1/48. Thus the locating holes on the CP left wing are correct, but corresponding holes must be marked (and drilled if wanted) on the right wing as shown in the photo below.

 

111718405_CPTankPylonLocations.thumb.jpg.fa12d25b0abca413969bee5011e4501c.jpg

 

The "extra" flashed over holes on the right wing are at ~ 62 cm, which is BP118 - where tanks would be located on dual pylon sabres, like the late F-86F. Hint of things to come - a short span, short chord, slatted Sabre with dual pylons?  :hmmm: See SabreMaster Duncan Curtis'  detailed dissection of Sabre tanks here  ... which will intrigue as concerns BP 72.5 too.

 

Yes, we are modellers who can figure all  that out, but maybe this long winded "hint" will streamline determining the CP tank pylon locating holes.

 

Gene K

 

 

Edited by GeneK
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Yes unfortunately the tank mounting holes were noticed too late for a change to be made to the moulds. On most early aircraft the drop tanks were rarely fitted, so possibly not a massive issue for some. Mountings are the same distance from the centre line, so the instructions' slight disparity is strange but only 0.1mm different after all.

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3 hours ago, GeneK said:

Yes, how can/could anyone resist this kit, Ben?

 

Gene K

 

 

Weeeeell, I’ve sort’ve blown my modeling budget on race car kits lately, so I was trying to behave myself for a month or two.😄

 

Ben

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4 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

Weeeeell, I’ve sort’ve blown my modeling budget on race car kits lately, so I was trying to behave myself for a month or two.😄

 

Ben

 

Hehe. Me too: I just bought the Alpha Models Rexy kit (it's gorgeous), but there's always something new round the corner....

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2 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

 

Hehe. Me too: I just bought the Alpha Models Rexy kit (it's gorgeous), but there's always something new round the corner....

I’ll get a couple of photos of Rexy for you this weekend at the VIR. I see the kit is already sold out on Alpha’s web site.

 

Ben

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2 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

I’ll get a couple of photos of Rexy for you this weekend at the VIR. I see the kit is already sold out on Alpha’s web site.

 

Ben

 

I really need interior shots: not sure if it's white or silver in there...

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35 minutes ago, Sabrejet said:

 

I really need interior shots: not sure if it's white or silver in there...

I’ll see if the crew will let me take a few pics in the paddock. They usually keep the cars closed up during the pit walk.

 

Ben

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I get a kick out of modelers complaining about the high cost of airplane kits. 

 

I picked up a MFH 1/43 1967 Gerney-Weslake Eagle kit.  Incredible kit, but it was a budget buster.  

 

Now they’re doing a 1/12 at 81,180 Yen.

 

The Rexy looks like it will be a fin kit to build.  Imaginative paint scheme.

 

Bryan

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2 hours ago, BWDenver said:

I get a kick out of modelers complaining about the high cost of airplane kits. 

 

I picked up a MFH 1/43 1967 Gerney-Weslake Eagle kit.  Incredible kit, but it was a budget buster.  

 

Now they’re doing a 1/12 at 81,180 Yen.

 

The Rexy looks like it will be a fin kit to build.  Imaginative paint scheme.

 

Bryan

 

I've made a few 1/43 and 1/24 MFH kits; have a 1/12 kit in the stash too. They are indeed awesome.

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2 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

 

I’ll see if the crew will let me take a few pics in the paddock. They usually keep the cars closed up during the pit walk.

 

Ben

Many thanks! Wish I was there, but will be at Silverstone Classic instead. Hopefully a few Group C and IMSA GTP cars to keep me happy.

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3 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Many thanks! Wish I was there, but will be at Silverstone Classic instead. Hopefully a few Group C and IMSA GTP cars to keep me happy.

Silverstone looks like a lot of fun!
 

Sorry for the thread-jack, Sabre fans! And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.
 

Ben

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I'm in the final stages of assembling a Korean War collection; just a few more models to build for me and my team. I look forward to doing the F-86A Sabre from Clear Prop - in 1/72 scale, that is!

 

Trivia: Can you name two aircraft that served in the Korean War, one Marines, one Air Force, that have never been kitted in any scale? I'll wait a day or so to see if anyone can answer.

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25 minutes ago, Paul Boyer said:

I'm in the final stages of assembling a Korean War collection; just a few more models to build for me and my team. I look forward to doing the F-86A Sabre from Clear Prop - in 1/72 scale, that is!

 

Trivia: Can you name two aircraft that served in the Korean War, one Marines, one Air Force, that have never been kitted in any scale? I'll wait a day or so to see if anyone can answer.

Sikorsky HO5S-1 and I don't know what the other might be....

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Right. HO5S and the L-13. Can't recall where I read it, but I saw mention that the served as an air ambulance there. There are a few HO5S in Museums. Ah. You are right, Sabrejet. From Wikipedia:

"United States Army received 43 ex-Air Force L-13As following the outbreak of the Korean War, serving in the Continental United States to free up aircraft for active service overseas.[8]

But that doesn't mean the USAF didn't use it. More research is due. But since there is no kit, the point of including it in a Korean War collection is moot.😐

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The L-13 didn't serve in Korea. Farthest east they got was in USAF service with the Support Squadrons at Kwajalein and Eniwetok.

 

The 3585th Flying Training Wing (Liaison Helicopter) actually commenced training Army L-13 pilots but none was ever assigned to the Army Ground Forces. Instead, 48 L-13As were assigned to the Army National Guard, with crews trained again with the 3565th Basic Pilot Training Wing (as it had been by then redesignated). All of these aircraft were new-build, assigned direct from San Diego under Project GNG-DL-5180 to the Army National Guard. Again, none served in Korea, and none were ex-USAF.

 

I have done a great deal of research into the L-13s; probably their finest hour was with the 'lower 48' Rescue units. The Alaskan use of L-13s with the ARS was less successful and a great deal of the problem was with poor quality control of the Aircooled-manufacture engine. Following the final of many accidents in 1949, Alaskan Air Command concluded its investigation with, "It is recommended that all L-13 type aircraft be grounded due to their unsafe flying characteristics and engine performance." That was by no means an uncommon comment, and demonstrates why L-5s were used in Korea rather than the L-13, which had been procured as its replacement.

 

The Eniwetok and Kwajalein units faired better, managing to keep them in service until 1954, but again there were a number of (mainly) engine-related accidents. The L-13 fleet had previously been grounded for more than a year in 1948/49 due to build quality issues at Convair, engine problems (again) and also because of ineffective rudder control at low speeds and with flaps extended.

 

The type eventually proved to be reliable and rugged, but mostly after the bugs had been ironed out just as it was going out of service. They saw much more use on the civilian market (85 L-13A and 14 L-13Bs made it onto the US Civil Aircraft Register) and many were (unsurprisingly) re-engined by outfits such as Caribbean Traders, Longren and Clevenger.

 

Having said all that, it's a type I really like, and I wish someone would do one in 1/48 scale!

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