1/48 Italeri F-86F "Skyblazers"

Gallery Article by Burt Gustafson on Aug 25 2010

 

For your viewing pleasure, here are some photos of my Italeri 1/48 scale “Skyblazers”.   

History

Beginning in 1949, through 1962, the USAF flew an Air Demonstration Team called the “Skyblazers”. The team put on air demonstration in the skies over Europe . During this period the “Skyblazers” flew a number of different aircraft including: the F-80B, the F-84E, the F-86F, and the F-100. From 1953 to 1956, the “Skyblazers” flew the famed F-86F Sabre Jet. However, during this time a new demonstration team based in the U.S. called the “Thunderbirds” had been formed. By 1962 the development of mid-air refueling had come a long way, and the “Thunderbirds” were able to make the trip to Europe for demonstrations. This eliminated the need for a team based in Europe , and the “Skyblazers” were officially disbanded.

 

Construction

Building this kit posed few issues. The cockpit module goes together well and paints up nicely. The instrument and side console decals, along with the molded seat belts gives the cockpit adequate detail. The assembled module fits perfectly into the fuselage. The wings and fuselage went together without problems. But, joining the wings to the fuselage presented the most serious issue of the kit. In short, the fit was poor and required a good deal of filling and sanding. The rest of the kit went together easily, including the two piece canopy.

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Painting

Skyblazer F-86s had a bare metal finish except for the fancy red, white, and blue striping. For the bare metal finish, I first primed the model with a coat of Model Masters Gloss Black and let it cure for 48 hours. For the polished aluminum finish, I airbrushed the model with two light coats of Alclad II Polished Aluminum. For the gun panels I airbrushed Alclad II Dark Aluminum, and for the engine exhaust, a coat of Alclad II jet Engine Exhaust.  

Decals

Decaling this model was challenging because of the large decals and the large area to be covered, about half the model is covered with decals. However, the decals for this model were excellent. They were not too thick and not too thin, and behaved beautifully. There was no silvering and they conformed well to the model with a little Micro Sol Setting Solution. Alclad says you don’t need to apply a gloss coating of their paints before decaling. However, because the decals for this model were so large and covered such a wide area, I hand brushed the model with two coats of Future and let it dry for 72 hours before decaling.

 

Comments

Over the years I have built many Italeri kits. Most of them were plagued with fit problems. This kit however, was one of their best. I found it to be a nice build and a fun project. To my eye, the finished model looks great.

Burt Gustafson

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Photos and text © by Burt Gustafson