Glad to see issue with the intake may not just be a mistake on my part. Overall, I am very happy with the model. Will be back to work on this within the next couple of days.
Good Luck on this build!!
Had the chance to work some on the model last night. I was apple to try out the Deluxe materials putty and I am happy with it so far. Very easy to use. I am also in the process of sanding the seam lines, glue spots, and any of the panels that are not flush. Still trying to figure out what to do witht he nose section that isn’t flush on the right side.
Good luck with your Sabre. For a great NMF, it’s all abut the surface prep of the plastic and the primer coat. I use Alclad for all my NMF builds. Get the surface of the model as clean and as bump and lump free as you can. As a primer for Alclad, I use Model Master enamels exclusively. Depending on the sheen I’m going for, I use MM Light Grey for a subdued look and for higher sheens I use MM Gloss Black. I spray the enamels at 18-20 psi and the Alclad at 12-15 psi in very light coats and build up instead of one thick coat.
When I think I’m satisfied with the finish of the plastic, I spray a light coat of flat grey as primer to check for imperfections and rework as necessary. I’ll then shoot my primer coat and let it dry thoroughly. If the flat light grey primer, I polish it with an old cotton tee shirt to smooth the paint and hopefully remove any lint that may have been caught in the paint while drying. If the gloss black primer, I always wet sand with 2000 grit paper to remove lint / dust in the paint. I always handle the primed model with white cotton or vinyl gloves. With practice and patience, the Alclad ‘intimidation factor’ decreases quite quickly.
Here’s a few Alclad finishes for you:
Two light gloss coats of gloss black covered with mist coats of Alclad #106 (white aluminum)
Two light coats of gloss black covered and Alclad #12 (duraluminum)
Two light coats of light grey covered with mist coats of Alclad #108 (pale gold)
Two light coats of light grey covered with mist coats of Alclad #106
Mustang: Looks good, you’re making nice progress there.
Murph: Those look great! And good advice there, thanks!
Completed some more putty and sanding work last night. Coming along, but a ways to go.
There was a step in which the nose was wider then the completed fuselage when I as assembling this. I am attempting to sand it down plus add a layer of putty to blend it together.
I gotta say:
You got a good start going there .On the NMF , now , I am a bare metal fellow .Why ? Well , I don’t really know , unless the first one I did , I took so much time getting it right , It was the first ever plane that copped an award . No , I didn’t plan that !
My students entered it in my name . In a National contest at that ! Was I embarressed ! You see , for me it was an example to my students to shoot for . Not to be in competition with !
All in all . though I think it is my preference anyway .To me Alclad and the others look to painted . To me They are beautiful in their own right . I just prefer B.M.F .
Had the chance to do some more putty work and sand some more. Not too bad. Of course, I rush and couldn’t wait to attach the canopy. Also, first time I can actually recall trying to blend in any type of a seam on a build. Room for improvement, but overall I am happy with it. I am sure I am going to regret doing so, but what can you do. [:D]
Looks pretty darn good to me Mustang.
Looking great Mustang. It’s not you, I had the same issues when I built this kit a few years ago. I look forward to your progress. My 2 cents, Alclad all the way. It’s second to none for a NMF.
Joe
Very nice work so far!
+1 vote to use alclad… - If you do, use a black goss enamel (model master’s is perfect) for base or alclad’s gloss black base.
Worked some more on the build last night. Primed using Mr. Surfacer 500. Once completely dry, I will sand it a bit and see how it looks.
I have the option of two different drop tanks, I am currently looking at using the second set based on the pictures I was able to find.
I mostly like the pilot, I understand that it is really very difficult to make the details (basing on my own experience), that is why I appreciate your work. I usually deal with 1/48 scale models, consider this size to be appropriate one, so thank you for posting!)
Thanks for the like on the pilot. It’s sealed in now, but I never liked it because the primer I used on it was too thick. Quality wise, it isn’t a bad pilot. Just needed to slow down and take my time on building it.
Just a little update. Currently have a couple of the drop tanks ready to be sanded to remove the seams and I have the pylons and air pitot primed with Mr. Surfacer 500. Also have a scrape model ready for a practice when it comes to painting. Pictures in the next couple of days.
Worked a little on this last night. Sprayed the gloss black on the airframe and primer on the drop tanks. Murphy paid a visit by snapping the pitot tube clean in half. At least it was found and I believe attached correctly. [:'(]
Worked on this over the weekend. I was able to see where I need to work on my seam work plus the use of the Alclad. Happy with it for using it for the first time, but I can see where I need to improve. I will post what the drop tanks look later, the Alclad aluminum was sprayed over Krylon Dark Gray prime to see what the difference is.
Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been sick all of last week. Had the chance to last night start on the decaling. In case anyone ever wondered about the quality of Academy’s decals for this kit… they suck! I’m not the best at this, but even I know these are lousy decals! They were so thick and hard to remove… good grief! I was gifted with some AeroMaster decals from a user on another forum, but I wasn’t 100% happy with how the paint job came out and had planned to build this one again. I will build this again, but this time not even bother with the kit decals.
I have no words for what happened in these two pictures. 
Pretty nice. This seems to be a real popular kit. Wonder why most folks pass over the Hasegawa Sabre?? What Alclad shade did u use on the airframe?
The particular shade is Aluminum. This Academy kit is good, just an fun little build that is great for practice.