Kit#: PT13.
Price: 47$
Decals: Two options.
Notes: Aerocalcas 48014 used.
History:
The F-86 in Argentinian service: "By the end of the 1950s, the Argentinian Air Force negotiated the acquisition of a total of up to 112 Sabres, which didn´t come to fruition. The possible acquisition of these aircraft cancelled the local production of the Pulqui 2.
After attempts to buy 36 Canadair Sabre, the FAA manages the USAF to sell them 28 planes of the F-30 model. These machines had between 1200 and 2000 flight hours, 16 of which were stored at the Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona. In May, they are sent to the North American plant at Inglewood to be refurbished, while the remaining 12 were storaged at Mclellan AFB, and were sent to Inglewood. In North American, they're modified to the F-40 standard, which had slatted wings and the possibility to carry underwing stores.
Once the refurbishment was complete, the in-flight delivery operation to Argentina began. Operation "Sabre" consisted in several delivery flights. The Argentinian pilots which were sent to the United States in 1959 made their training flights in Lockheed T-33s and F-86F belonging to the 4530th Combat Crew Training Wing on the Williams AFB.
The first lot of 12 units departs Williams AFB on August 18th, arriving to El Plumerillo AFB in Mendoza province on September 26th. This squadron was under command of Commodore Jorge Martínez Zuviría, and with him there were Major of the USAF Manuel J. Fernández, Korean War veteran, who served as consultant for the operation of these aircraft in Argentina.
After departing Williams AFB, they made a stop on the Alabama AFB, waiting for hurricane Donna to pass, which was hitting the Florida coast. After the hurricane, they flew again, landing at the Florida AFB, Kingston (Jamaica), Howard AFB in the Panama Canal zone, and from there they made a non-stop flight to the Talara AFB in Perú. Later they did a stop on the Pisco AFB in Perú, and later in Antofagasta, Chile.
Of the 12 planes, only 9 would arrive to El Plumerillo, due to C-116 having to remain at Talara to repair a generator failure, and C-109 and C-115 had to remain in Antofagasta due to minor failures. On the transfer operation, logistical support was given by the Argentinian Air Force with two Douglas C-54s and a Grumman S-16 Albatros of the USAF.
By December 10th of 1960, all the aircraft arrive at Argentina, and they're sent to the 1st Fighter Bomber Group, IV Air Brigade, based at El Plumerillo, Mendoza, forming two squadrons."
The Kit:
Inside the top opening box there's a total of 10 sprues, nine in light grey hard plastic and one in clear plastic. Parts a perfectly moulded without visible blemishes or flash.
The single instruction sheet is of the foldable style with 14 construction steps diagrammed in black and white. They're very clear and easy to follow.
There're two colourful decal options provided on this kit:
1) F-86F-30 FU222 of the 21st Fighter Bomber Wing, Commander's aircraft.
2) F-86F-30 FU877 of the 8th Fighter Bomber Wing, Commmander's aircraft.
Construction:
I began by painting all the cockpit pieces in light grey (Revell 76) and black. Once the pieces were dry, I glued them together and waited for the glue to set. Meanwhile, I set off to work on the wings. Since I was building an Argentinian aircarft, I filled the holes for the wing fences, opened up the underwing fuel tanks location holes, and glued the wings together. Once I had that done, I glued the dried cockpit above the intake tube, together with a bunch of lead weight to give the aircraft a heavy nose. After glueing the lead weights with epoxi glue to the intake, I glued the fuselage halves and taped them together. After that, I glued the wings and the horizontal stabilizers.
Colours and Markings:
The Aerocalcas decals I had to use showed me the aircraft was in an NMF overall colour. I primed the entire plane with Light Grey (Revell 76), and then brushed the surfaces with Revell Steel (91). After that, I masked and painted the black antiglare panel on the nose. Once the paint had set, I brushed to coats of Revell's gloss varnish in preparation for the decals.
Aerocalcas decals are thin and a bit brittle, but they perform well and don't disappoint. I chose Sabre C-111, since that was the aircraft shown on the decalling instructions. After decalling, I coated the aircraft with two coats of Revell's matt varnish.
Final Construction:
This section is where you glue all the little and fragile pieces that may not make it til the end of the painting stage. For me it involves glueing the landing gear, adding the wheels and glueing the clear parts. The landing gear struts were painted in the fuselage colour, the wheels were painted with steel coloured hubs with tank grey tyres. The clear parts were painted and glued into the aircraft, and the aircraft was completed.
Conclusions:
A good kit to build, with nice fit and excellent details, highly recommended.
References:
http://www.amilarg.com.ar/north-american-sabre.html
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