Hi fellows
modelers!!
This is my
F-86F Sabre wearing the colours of the Argentinian Air Force acrobatic team
called "Cruz del Sur" (Sourthen Cross)
In 1962
Argentina´s Air Force celebrated it´s 50th years of life. The air force
was ordered to arrange the creation of an acrobatic squad in the diferent
air groups to adhere with the celebration. In the IV Brigada Aerea (Grupo I de
Caza-bombardeo) the Cruz del Sur squadron was born with American F-86F
Sabre planes, at "El Plumerillo" air base, in the province
of Mendoza. Once the pilots gained experience on the Sabres (the machines
had just arrived to the country in September 1960) the idea of an
acrobatic team similar to the European and American squads gained force.
The 50th anniversary of the FAA was the appropiate scenary to
archive this purpose.
That year
eleven planes were painted with the characteristic colours of the squad and
the main stars of the southern cross constellation in the vertical
stabilizer. The squad participated in demostrations all arround the
country. Sadly the squad had a short life, since it was deactivated in
1962.
In 1997 the
Cruz del Sur resucitated, and now a days they fly in Russian Sukhoi Su-29
(Historic
notes are taken from the Argentina´s modelers web page www.cmargentinos.com.ar)
The model is
an Academy kit of the F-86F-40 in 1/72. It´s a nice kit, reasonably
detailed, low parts count, accurate and CHEAP jejeje.
The kit was
built mostly o.o.b. I added a few hydraulic lines and after market photo
etched seat belts (they are actually WWII period but, because of the scale
they look good anyway in this kit) and with a careful paint job the
cockpit turned out great! (I painted the instrruments one by one using a
0000 brush and a magnifying glass).
The natural
metal finish requaired a flawless surface preparation I filled and sanded
every joint line and then polished everything to a smooth glass shine.
I used Alcladd
II aluminium paint, this lacquer requires a gloss black under coat, for
which I used Krylon spray paint decanted to my airbrush. Once the paint
fully dried (two or three days) I applaid the Alclad in several thin
coats.
When the
Alclad was dry, I masked and painted the blue and red sections of the
aircraft. This was the most difficult part of the project. I use a
photocopy of the decal sheet as a template to cut tape masks.
The next step
involved the application of the decals: I used an aftermarket sheet from
Aerocalcas set Nº 72000 (www.aerocalcas.com)
the decals were thin and easy to apply, but the task was time consuming
because the high number of tiny images.
The last part
of the assembly process involved gluing the last externals bits.
The model
looks handsome and colourful and it´s a nice addition to my collection of
Argentinian aircraft.
Jeremías
Click on
images below to see larger images
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