F-86 Sabre biplane - Update# 1 - Dec, 23

[Mossie]

Nuts!  I like it!

Yeah, that Hobby Boss plastic is thick, but soft & responds well to cutting & sawing.  It also takes a fair bit of bending & abuse, the pitot probe on my F4U-1 almost survived my hamfisted handling, usually I knock 'em of the first attempt!

[ChernayaAkula]

Thanks guys!

The middle section of the upper wing was puttied and sanded to an airfoil shape. It will need another coat of putty and some rescribing.





After puttying the upper wing, I thought about the undercarriage. I wanted to make a tail-dragger landing gear, as per the initial, idea-spawning pic. That would have necessitated moving the complete undercarriage bay forward. That seemed a lot of work.
I thought about making an in-flight display, but quickly tossed the idea aside.
Using the original landing gear? Nah, wouldn't have looked right.
Using a fixed undercarriage with aerodynamic fairings? No, no matter how aerodynamic they would have turned out, they'd still contrast with the sleek, go-fast appearance of the Sabre.

So I was stuck with the original, labour-intensive idea. In the end, it wasn't as bad as I had thought.

Step #1 - well, not really a step, as it's just the original kit part



Step #2 - cutting out the MLG bay



Step #3 - Ouch! Poor Sabre! - cutting out the bay for the MLG legs and some new bays where the cut-out parts were to be fitted, including wrongly placed hole on the upper right-hand side



Step #4a - fitting new MLG bay and filling gaps with styrene, including the now redundant front landing gear bay



Step #4b - top-side view of the same operation.



The fuselage sides have been puttied and sanded - The Putty-Fu is strong with this one! - but will need another coat to smoothen things out. But the modified profile is obvious now.







Later today or tomorrow will - hopefully! - see the start of painting the cockpit, sanding the intake, installing the tail wheel (from a Revell P-51 Mustang) and constructing the struts to hold the upper wing for trials.

And there's still things to be puttied!

[sequoiaranger]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Some things just HAVE to be done for the effect you want, regardless of the labor involved. And as always, something involving massive labor done RIGHT will look like no effort at all, as if it were just that way to begin with. But that is what you want, anyways, eh?

I like how this is coming together.

If you haven't already made biplanes before, beware of the painting phase. That is, it will be a BEATCH to paint the upper part of the lower wing, and the lower part of the upper wing UNLESS you do them separately, prior to gluing, and attach AFTER you paint. It's extra labor, but there is no real way around it. Best to have the lower wing integral with the fuselage, with struts sticking up (of course carefully dry-fitted and engineered beforehand), then attach the upper wing post-painting and re-touch the glued areas by hand.

[philp]

Looks like a lota work.  You must be one with the putty god.

One suggestion since you are trying to stay true to the original pic.
I would remove the markings from the top of the lower wing.  Think that would fit in more with actual biplanes.

Oh, and are you going to have the guy holding the piot tube?

[sotoolslinger]

What Big Tree Guy said. Bipes are a plane in the butt. This one should be simpler as there is less rigging but plan ahead . This one really has my pants dancin

[ChernayaAkula]

Cheers, guys! Glad you like it!

<...> Best to have the lower wing integral with the fuselage, with struts sticking up (of course carefully dry-fitted and engineered beforehand), then attach the upper wing post-painting and re-touch the glued areas by hand.

Good advice! I think that's how I will do it.

<...>
One suggestion since you are trying to stay true to the original pic.
I would remove the markings from the top of the lower wing.  Think that would fit in more with actual biplanes.
<...>

I'm not really sure what to paint it like. Something in the way of natural metal would be cool (looks fast), but with all the dents (and not just those I hacked in...) I think it may be difficult to pull off.

For the moment, I'm leaning towards this:



Nice and colourful, but no natural metal. Should I still go the natural metal route, I'll have the "USAF" just on the upper wing.

[Just call me Ray]

I'm not really sure what to paint it like. Something in the way of natural metal would be cool (looks fast), but with all the dents (and not just those I hacked in...) I think it may be difficult to pull off.

Would some of that Allcad stuff work?

[noxioux]

Alclad is the cat's meow.  But it's very unforgiving as far as blemishes and scratches go.

I for one am voting for NMF.  HOWEVER, a nice SEA camo job would look quite nice, too.

Hats off for ChAk!

[Weaver]

This a superbly mad project and I can't wait to see it finished! 

On paint, I suppose it really depends on what back story you want to concoct.

If it's a 1950s concept, then NMF would be indicated, although there might be alternatives. Perhaps it's a Navy project to operate from wartime escort carriers (i.e. really small), in which case you could paint it dark blue like a Panther or Banshee. On the other hand, it might be a STOL counter-insurgency project, in which case tactical camo would be appropriate. Perhaps it's for dispersed point-defence in Germany, so it would be in post-war Luftwaffe camo with big crosses (making it reminiscent of WWI bipes).

On the other hand, maybe it's a 1930s project, i.e. somebody got WELL ahead of the game. In that case, it would be a sin not to use a colourful pre-war US scheme.

[Eddie M.]

This is my kind of project! I tried a P-40 biplane once. It didn't work. This looks like it's gonna be a shoulda been. Looking forward to the roll out.

[BlackOps]

This is coming along beautifully!  You have done an excellent job with your modifications. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing more!

[Brian da Basher]

I'm watching with keen interest. My vote is for colorful 1930s markings. If the 13 rudder stripes are too much of a hassle, you could go with the simpler three striped red-white-and blue rudder similar to the RAF.

Brian da Basher

[John Howling Mouse]

I still can't get over how sleek she looks with the canopy moved aft.  Would you mind terribly if I did that same treatment to a Sabre and left it a monoplane?

This is bee-YU-tee-full!!!   

[ChernayaAkula]

Cheers, people! Certainly glad y'all like it!

Alclad is the cat's meow.  But it's very unforgiving as far as blemishes and scratches go. <...>

That's what I heard too. And that's precisely why this one is probably not going to be a NMF. There are lots of scratches from the conversion plus some bumps and dents courtesy of Hobby Boss. I guess these are mostly due to the plastic being of varying thickness (and thus unequal cooling of the plastic) to allow for the large sub-assemblies of an Easy Build.

<...> My vote is for colorful 1930s markings. If the 13 rudder stripes are too much of a hassle, <...>

The more I look at it, the more I'm drawn to the markings of the P-6E or P-26 with yellow wings, OD fuselage, big roundels, colourful details and of course the striped rudder.

If I can't find a P-6E as above, I may get a Revell P-26 for the decals. 

<...> Would you mind terribly if I did that same treatment to a Sabre and left it a monoplane? <...>

Not at all!  Go for it. It sure looks sleek. Here's a quickly assembled teaser for you:

[John Howling Mouse]

Oh man....that is just too good to be true!  Beautiful!  Sleek.  I realize the forward visibility would be non-existant for landings but who cares? A 1950s pylon jet racer!