Hasegawa / Kinetic 1/32 scale kitbash
The Ultimate Sabre

by Mike Prince

Kinetic's 1/32 scale F-86F-40 Sabre is available online from Squadron

The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) Sabre differed significantly from the original design produced North American Aviation.   Based upon the F-86 E, the CAC Sabre incorporated numerous changes, the most significant being use of the Rolls Royce Avon 26 jet engine, which necessitated a larger air intake to cater for its greater power, and positioning the engine further aft to maintain the aircraft’s centre of balance despite the engine’s lighter weight.   CAC also upgraded the fixed armament from 6 x .50cal machine guns to 2 x 30mm ADEN cannons.   Sabres served with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) from 1956 to 1971 in three versions;   the Mk 30, 31 and 32.  

Between 1969 and late 1971 the RAAF donated 16 Sabres to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).   A94-983 was one of the aircraft donated in 1971, serving as FM983.   However by 1976 the Sabres were being retired from Malaysian service as well.   Hearing this, the Officer Commanding 75 Sqn RAAF, then based in Malaysia and operating Mirages, approached the RMAF and was successful in securing a former Australian Sabre for restoration by squadron volunteers.   After a two year restoration FM983 flew again in July 1978, after which it was formally handed over by the RMAF.   Thus began a second chapter in the life of A94-983, which has seen the aircraft restored twice more, most recently returning to the air in July 2009.   The aircraft remains owned by the RAAF Museum but is now operated on their behalf by the Temora Aviation Museum.

The Kits

This model has drawn upon the best of two kits – the venerable Hasegawa version of the F-86 F and the much more recent Kinetic / Italeri F-86 E offering.   Both have their good and bad points and with a little work, both will make up into a reasonable likeness of their respective originals, though producing the Australian CAC Sabre takes a little extra effort.  The complexities of ‘Australianising’ the model are shown on the construction photos that accompany this article.  

But first, why use two kits?   Well, I bought the Hasegawa one on sale a few years ago, but then found I didn’t have the skills to engrave all the panel lines (I’ve had practice now).   I then bought a Kinetic one that, on closer examination, looked like more work than the Hasegawa one already in the stash.   So, in the end, I combined the best of both.

In summary, the Hasegawa offering has much better shape, except around the cockpit canopy.   So, this build combined the forward upper fuselage of the Kinetic kit with what was otherwise a Hasegawa kit.  

The Hasegawa rear fuselage mates almost perfectly with the Kinetic forward fuselage, needing only a small sliver of scrap plastic to fill the lower seam under the rear fuselage.   Pylons and drop tanks were also taken from the Kinetic kit.  

The only aftermarket items used were a resin seat from Avionix along with the control column and a few parts for the area behind the seat.   Everything else was scratch built or modified.

The 37 construction photos in the thumbnail gallery below show all the steps taken both to combine the two kits and convert the result into a CAC Sabre.  

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Thumbnail panels:

In the photos the darker plastic comes from the Kinetic kit, while the lighter plastic comes from the Hasegawa kit.   When engraving, it’s always worth using either a scribing template or Dymo labelling tape.  If necessary, make templates from thin plastic card.  

Once you have finished engraving, run a marking pen along the new lines then sand it off the outer surface.   The marking pen will remain in the engraved line and, more importantly, will show up all the slips and scratches that might need to be fixed.   For this, I use superglue applied with a pin inserted in the end of an old paint brush handle.

Painting

While preparing the surface for painting took several goes to remove all the scratches in readiness for a silver finish (see above), the fact that Australian Sabres were painted made things much simpler than if they were bare metal.  

To paint the model Tamiya rattle-can Silverleaf was used, decanted into a bottle then sprayed through the airbrush.  

Testors Modelmaster Metaliser Sealer was used for the clear finish.

Markings

Generic Australian markings came from Aussie Decals, while the specific aircraft markings and stencilling came from Southern Sky Models.  

These cover all of the aircraft’s three slightly different schemes since first being restored in 1978.

This was a deceptively complex build as there are numerous small differences between a CAC Sabre and the original North American F-86.  

Additionally, no single manufacturer has yet produced the definitive model of an F-86, while capturing the elusive shape of the CAC Sabre’s nose takes more work than first appearances might indicate.  

Still, there aren’t many people who have a 1/32^nd scale CAC Sabre on their shelves, so it’s simply a question of, how much do you want one?

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2011 by Mike Prince
Page Created 14 March, 2011
Last Updated 14 March, 2011

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