1/72 Academy F-86 Sabre

 by Jeremías Nicolás Luchina

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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

  

Photos and text © by Jeremías Nicolás Luchina