CAC 32 Avon Sabre

by Bruce Graham

Hasegawa's 1/48 scale F-86F Sabre is available online from Squadron.com

The basic kit is Hasegawa's 1/48 F-86F-40 Sabre, converted to the unique Australian Avon Sabre.

The Red Roo Avon Sabre conversion was used, along with Aires Sabre cockpit set. Resin replacement parts for the instrument panel, rear cockpit deck and flaps were also used.

Quite a bit of work was required to get the four lots of parts together, but ample dry fitting, filing, sanding and scratch building got them in place. It was a pleasant relief, and sometimes a mystery, how well the parts eventually fitted.

Pieces of sprue were attached internally as guides for fuselage halves and various items.

The resin cockpit floor was shortened about 1mm. This was to align the side instrument consoles to what I believe to be their correct position.

The ejection seat and gear on rear cockpit deck received a little extra detailing.

This version required a dorsal and ventral vent, which got there, although its fidgety stuff. The shallow intakes were done , quite neatly, with the side of an engraving tool. I would have liked the larger intakes to be a bit neater but left them as moulded.

Removing the seams from the intake duct, exhaust pipe and nose area in particular took some time but was worth the effort.

After looking at many photos of Sabres, it appeared their main undercarriage doors were always fully up or fully down. I opted for half way.

Sidewinders were a late addition to the Australian Sabres. Using the kit pylons the early generation missiles are from Hasegawa Weapon set C

The cannon ports were drilled out and rebuilt.

As this is the only Avon Sabre I'm likely to build I opted for the cleanest possible finish, even though Red Roo supplied some excellent decals for display team Sabres.

My Sabre is finished in Humbrol silver No 11 to simulate the bare metal finish. Primer grey I made to match from colour photos. Cockpit interior primer grey and flat black. I replaced the fin flash and fuselage roundels. A couple of stencils were also substituted from a RooDecal sheet.

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2002 by Bruce Graham
Page Created 01 December, 2002
Last Updated 04 June, 2007

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