F-86 colors?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hey all - I’m trying to finish up an F-86 that’s been on the bench since last summer. I need to know the colors of the interior of the airbrakes and the wheel wells. I also need to know the same for the inner surfaces of the leading edge slats and their recesses.

Thanks,

stinger

2

According to some references I’ve seen, the interior of the airbrakes and wheel wells were Interior Green FS34151. I’ve also seen references that say they were bare-metal on some AC. Not sure about the inner surfaces of the LE slats, but in photos appear to be bare metal. If you can manage, get a copy of Osprey Frontline Colour No.2 & Squadron’s F-86 Sabre Walk Around. Essential reading for the Sabre modeler.

3

Most Aircraft had inside wheelwells and inside speedbrakes interior green. The inside of gear and divebrake doors most often are bare metal. Cockpits were in interior grey for most F 86 E and Fs but most F86 As and some early F & Es were interior green. This was a intermediate period airplane when interior colors were going through transition. Best to check references for A/C you are modeling.
Hope this helps
Butch

4

Thanks guys - I’ll look for those ref’s. It’s been so long since I touched the model that I forgot to see which F model it is. I’ll check it all out and maybe finally get this thing finished.

Thanks again,

stinger

5

stinger,

Try this.
http://f-86.tripod.com/colours333.html

Richard

6

I looked through F-86 in Color last night. It said the speed brake wells, and landing gear wells were chromate green. The inside of the doors, and slats wer painted silver. All other interior surfaces were chromate yellow. The entire cockpit, until 1953, was black, walls, floor, instruments, and seat. The headrest was red. After '53, the cockpit was gray, and the seat stayed black.

7

Thanks Richard, Wayne, and all the rest.

The way I’m building this kit is not all that accurate anyway. It was just the first build that I started when I got back into the hobby last year, and was kind of a test bed to get back my skills (such as they are).

The kit is Hobbycrafts Canadair MK6 (F86F-10). I didn’t like the Canadian markings so I used a set of Microscale Korean war aces decals, which included markings for an F-86F, T-33, and F-80. The F-86 yellow band wouldn’t go on right, so I ended up using the band for one of the others. It isn’t right, though in that the band doesn’t come to a point on the fuse top. At that point, I stopped caring about the accuracy. Here’s a pic from last year.

This was the first time I had used my airbrush in over ten years, and I was quite surprised with the results.

It keeps talking to me to finish it, so maybe now I can, thanks to the help from of you who replied.

Thanks again,

stinger

8

Stinger,

It really looks good. I can see why you want the correct colors. Show it off when she is done.

Richard

9

It’s very easy… for the interior wheel wells and the interior of the airbrakes is interior green FS 34151… cockpit interior is Dark Gull Gray (I don’t remember the FS number)… for the inner surfaces of landing gear doors, slats and airbrakes is bare metal… if you want no problems with interior colors or something like that, try to buy an Academy model kit…

10

Thanks zeroenna - Too late for the cockpit interior, but maybe I can at least get the rest of it right.

Picked up the interior green this last weekend, so maybe I’ll have this finished soon. I’ll post some finished pics.

stinger

11

Inside of slats are bare metal. Also NEVER was a Sabre cockpit painted interior green or chromate green or any other green. Maybe on one or two prototypes but no production Sabre ever had a green cockpit. It is a myth perpetuated by the folks at squadron, I have the book they printed this error in, but hey we are all human. All “A” and “E” model Sabres had black cockpits as did most early “F” variants. Most Korean war F-86s had black cockpits. A few fighter-bomber F-86Fs toward the end of the war had gray offices but they were the exceptions. I have literally hundreds of pics of Sabres in Korea and they were black, black instrument panel, black consoles and black deck behind pilot. The head rest varied, some were black, some were red and some were a dirty olive. Most appear black or red. *Something you probably already know - when painting a scale black cockpit lighten the black or your cockpit will just look like a hole. For a 1/48th scale bird I use a dark charcoal grey. When it dries it will look black but you will be able to see detail.

Mike

12

Thanks Mike - My cockpit is indeed flat black, so all is now correct as far as color goes. I appreciate the response to such an old thread. Will post pics as soon as I return home and finish the details.

stinger