F-86F SABRE (1:48 SCALE)

A number of years ago, I was volunteering at the local Portuguese Air Force Museum (Polo de Ovar), in the preparation of an old derelict Piper Cub for static exhibition in the museum collection (it is now part of the museum collection).  When some of the museum personnel became aware that I built models as a past time, they recruited my help for a simple  project they were planing. The museum had a F-86 canopy in its collection and they wanted to display it in a simple set up, using it to enclose a simple diorama, depicting an airstrip, with a F-86 model in FAP colors and some ground personal. They needed help with the model and I immediately accepted the challenge. The scale was chosen and a kit was sourced (1:48 scale Revell’s F-86F-40 kit #04562 ). The aircraft we decided to depict was tail number 5354, from esquadra 52 “Os Galos”, having the following photo as our main reference (if can be found in the book “5 Monte Real, 50 anos”, ISBN: 978-989-20-1654-2, published in 2009, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Portuguese Air Force Base n. 5 in Monte Real), dated from 1961.

To depict this exact aircraft, I recruited the help of a modeller friend, who is also a professional graphic designer. His invaluable help allowed us to print all the decals necessary for this aircraft on a clear film decal sheet. These were later cut out from the continuous decal film and applied as any other decal.

As we chose to display the model with and open canopy, some detailing was carried out, using plastic card, plastic rod, masking tape and copper wire, complementing the detail already provided by the kit’s parts. If you have good references available, this is a cheap way of adding some extra details to your models.

The model was built without any problems (only adding some details to the cockpit and landing gears) and it was painted using Vallejo Model Air acrylics and Alclad II lacquers (for the metallic colors). This was a very enjoyable project, that now lives inside a canopy of the same type of aircraft it depicts.