1/72 Special Hobby North American F-86H Sabre Hog

by J.C. Bahr

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The F-86H was the last Sabre variant built by North American Aviation and was to be the best of the Sabre line, having a more powerful 8,900 lbst GE J73 engine which necessitated the need for a deeper fuselage and intake due to airflow requirements for the new engine.  Firepower was improved with the incorporation of four M39 20 mm cannons in place of the Sabre's previous six .50 calibre machine gun armament, a lesson no doubt learned from the Korean War and Project Gunval.  Instead of a sliding canopy, the H-model had a rear-hinged clamshell canopy.  The Low Altitude Bombing System (LABS, also known as "toss bombing" or "over-the-shoulder bombing" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toss_bombing ) was incorporated which gave it a 1,200 pound "special store" atomic capability that could be carried on pylons that were in-board of the fuel-tank pylons.  Early H-models used the '6-3' Sabre wing with fences, before changing to the F-40 extended wing with the earlier versions being retro-fitted.

Production was limited to 473 aircraft due to the development of the F-100 Super Sabre which would have supersonic capability.  The H-models were rapidly passed from the active duty USAF to the Air National Guard by 1957 and all were with the ANG by June 1958.  Due to the 1961 Berlin Crisis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Crisis_of_1961 three units (101st, 131st and 138th TFS) of the Massachusetts ANG 102nd TFW were called back to active duty and were deployed to Phalsbourg AB, France, where they remained until August of 1962.

The H-model was also used as an aggressor to simulate the Mig-17 threat that F-4 Phantom pilots were facing in Vietnam towards the end of the 1960's.  These were the lowest timed airframes that were turned over to the U.S. Navy when they had ended their time with the ANG.

My model represents 31300 from the 101st TFS while it was based at Boston's Logan airport.  This aircraft found it's way to the Combat Air Museum (CAM) in Topeka, KS. in the 1980's where it has since been displayed (fairly completely) in just plain natural metal with no other markings whatsoever.  I had always wondered what markings this aircraft wore in service and thought it would be neat if it had served with the 101st with it's colorful green shamrock markings.  I was mightily surprised when I asked the director of the museum about it one day and he produced a black/white photo of it in Massachusetts ANG markings!... and even more, it had two red boss bird stripes on the fuselage behind the canopy!  Thankfully, work has started to return this bird to her former glory and with the level of work done on a recent re-paint of an F-84F in the museum collection, I'm sure this bird will be a beauty when finished.

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When Special Hobby (SH) came out with their limited-run F-86H, I just had to have one as I've always been intrigued by the one at CAM.  There's just something intimidatingly more "brutish" about the Hog variant than earlier Sabres.  Unfortunately the first issue of SH's kit came with active-duty USAF markings only.  Colorful as they were, I wanted the MASS ANG and did not savor having to try to create them myself... mainly the white/green which was causing me reason to balk.  Thankfully, SH released an ANG version that included the 101st markings in that release, HOORAY!  A quick e-mail and the gracious person that responded allowed me to purchase a set without having to buy a complete new kit.  Many thanks!

The build of this kit did not present much difficulty, being comparable in quality to the Hobbycraft and Fujimi F-86's in this scale, but as is typical with limited-run kits, there was just a bit of clean-up work and additional test fitting to make sure things would go fairly smoothly.  As with the Hobbycraft Sabres, I would highly recommend gluing the intake ring to the intake trunking and allowing it to fully cure before installing the interior/trunking and closing the fuselage halves.  Try as I might, I still ended up with a slight off-set to one side with the nose that resulted in some areas that took careful filling and sanding, but it's barely apparent, so I lived with it and moved on.

The kit does not come with deployed slats, so I did my best to cut them out and deploy them.  It wasn't the best or most accurate job, but I'm pretty pleased with the way they came out for being a first time attempt at doing such.

The bulk of the markings were modified from those provided by SH, but they did a different variation which had "MASS ANG" on the rear fuselage around the national insignia, so I had to create "MASS AIR GUARD" and this aircraft's associated serial number with my lazer printer.  In creating/placing the markings, I came to figure out that I believe SH may have incorrectly located the cockpit and canopy.  The panel lines on the sides of the fuselage seem to be accurate in placement, but the canopy would seem to sit several scale inches too far back on top of the fuselage.  By the time I realized this, it was too late in the build to have done anything and I'm not sure I would have, had I known it going into the build anyhow, as it would be a very complex fix.  Otherwise, it appears to be a fairly accurate Hog variant straight out of the box and with few other manufacturers rushing to release other kits of this variant, we can't be too choosy.  Although, there is no option for an open canopy and to be more accurate, one needs to blend the rear of the canopy with the fuselage a bit with some putty, as out of the box it's a pretty sharp angle that is not evident in pics of the real article.

Painting was done with Citadel Mithril Silver, Chainmail and Bolt-gun metal acrylics.  I also used Floquil Platinum Mist enamel and Model Master Chrome Silver enamel.

The decals provided by SH were some of the best decals I've ever worked with in regards to how well they snuggled down onto the surface of the model and how realistically thin they appeared to be... but unfortunately, they're very fragile and do not slide well at all once on the model, so a lot of care must be taken in positioning them correctly.  I don't believe I had any boo-boo's with mine in this area, but wanted to make sure anyone building these kits is aware of the hazard that awaits them.

On this particular aircraft, there appeared to be a specific red armament box painted on the right side of the nose and part of the gun-blast panel.  SH does not include this with the stencils in their kit, so I had to create this and make my own decal.  Not the best, but would've bugged me if it wasn't there.

One questionable part of this build that I was not able to obtain the answer on, is the green horizontal stripe on the vertical stab.  In kits and pictures of other 101st birds, this always seems to be green, but has been depicted in red also.  The director at CAM informed me that they'd been told that it was a "medium blue" while they were researching it's markings from the picture they had.  Considering that references on these birds are fairly scarce and I couldn't find anyone that knew the correct answer, I decided to go with the green.  I suppose I could always change it if new information ever comes to light.

The Hog seems to sit slightly nose-high/tail-low, but the kit out of the box appears to be too flat and level.  The nose-gear strut appeared too short to my eye, so I did some surgery and extended it a bit, fitting new oleo scissors in the process.

I opted to omit the photo-etch vortex generators on the underside of the horizontal stabs and the sides of the rear fuselage in that same area.  They were just too small to mess with and I'm sure would've driven me in search of a stiff drink if I'd have made the attempt!

I'm pleased with the way in which this kit turned out and that it was a fairly hassle free build.  I'd definitely recommend this kit to anyone wanting to do the Hog variant of the famed Sabre family.

J.C.

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Photos and text © by J.C. Bahr