[John Youngs]

Originally Posted by Mesa

Hello everyone.

Which of the FM F-86 versions are the best/worst as far as accuracy? What about the SpecCast versions?

Mesa - The best (respective to how the plane is depicted, physically) ones are the Sabres that, in real life, utilized the "hard" wing leading edge without the slats. Why? Simple - Armour chooses to make ALL of it's Sabres with that same wing mold - NONE, to the best of my knowledge, are depicted with the wing leading-edge "gravity" slats. That includes both of the Australian CAC-27/Mk32 Sabres. This is truly unfortunate, as the leading-edge "gravity" slatted wing is pretty much a Sabre "trademark" - far more were equipped with them than were not - especially after the Korean War ended. This also includes the vast majority of the Canadair (Canadian) CL-13A & B (Mk5 & Mk6) Sabres (see my photo line-up). There were some US "E" models & early "F" models produced without slats, but many of these were later modified back to a slatted wing when these kits became available with time.
The only real advantage to the "hard" leading edge was it allowed the inclusion of a fuel tank fitted within that interior space that the slatted wing had to do away with due to the slat track mechanism taking up the room. The hard-edge wing made for much higher take off & landing speeds & of course, as a result, longer takeoff & landing distances, as well.
With Armour F-86 models, you pretty much have to let the paint schemes determine your preferences - most other things being equal - Armour frequently does not pay attention to correct tanks, missles, and other external historically-accurate details, which is truly unfortunate. So go by the paint schemes you like best & you'll do as well as can be expected, in my opinion. Beyond that, they're all pretty much the same, as they're a pretty simple model to make, & the same molds have been used for virtually the entire series!!
SpecCast models are pretty good; the only thing I don't care for, personally, are the way the main landing gear struts are depicted - they're just "blocks", as opposed to oleo stuts, and aren't even painted to reflect that. On the plus side, SpecCast does two things very well that Armour has failed miserably on: (1) Their markings - pad printed, and VERY well done!! (2) Many of the models use slatted wings (slats are depicted in the extended or down position), which is as it should be!! They ALSO make some without, which ALSO is as it should be, given historical accuracy. You'd think Armour would "see the light" and follow suit... - oh well... See my previous thread on an extremely rare SpecCast Sabre (one of only 6 total made & one of only three made with slats down) I obtained from the SpecCast factory a couple years ago - see photos in my photo line-up!! I also have approx. 6 or 7 other SpecCast Sabres - most are very well done! I like them a lot inspite of the fact that SpecCast markets them as "toys", as opposed to serious collector's pieces. Hope this helps - JY

[John Youngs]

Originally Posted by Armour Addict

Hi John,
yes its been a while. I have too much work to do and spend too much $ on diecast in return.

And you? How are things? Mmmmmh, semi-gloss does look nice. I prefer the painted Sabres/Canadairs over the "bare-metal" versions. I had one of those and got rid of it pretty soon. I just did a quick research, The B11B582's availability is pretty good as far I can tell. If I won't get it here some are available in the UK. And even pad-printed? Cool!

Nope, unfortunately not. But the last couple of days I ordered a lot of other FM/A's. My Hornet collection is getting more and more complete.

And what about your collection? Any nice additions?

AA

AA - Nope, not at the moment. Trying to track down the Armour B11B931, FM # 98100 -- Japanese JASDF F-86F-40. Find one, let me know, please! Still looking for your two F-15's, unless you've located them. - JY

[Armour Addict]

Originally Posted by John Youngs

AA - Nope, not at the moment. Trying to track down the Armour B11B931, FM # 98100 -- Japanese JASDF F-86F-40. Find one, let me know, please! Still looking for your two F-15's, unless you've located them. - JY

Okay, I will see what I can do.

Here is a pic of the model:



This baby looks pretty nice!

Thx, these two Eagles still elude me.

Cheers,
AA

[Mesa]

John,

Thanks so much for the information on the F-86.

[John Youngs]

Originally Posted by Mesa

John,

Thanks so much for the information on the F-86.

Mesa - No prob - Anything to help a fellow model collector out!! That's part of what we and this forum are about!! - JY

[John Youngs]

Originally Posted by Armour Addict

Okay, I will see what I can do.

Here is a pic of the model:



This baby looks pretty nice!

Thx, these two Eagles still elude me.

Cheers,
AA

AA - Yes, but you can see what I mean about Armour using the same molds for each and every doggone F-86 Sabre model "depiction" that comes along!!! What REALLY makes me madder'n hell (as a PRIME example) is this Armour B11B931 JASDF "F-86F-40" Sabre shown above - NO wing slats, NO wingtip extensions - just the USUAL, SAME, damned "hard-edge" wing that they use for ALL of their F-86 models... - sometimes I feel like traveling to & flogging EVERYBODY at Armour that had ANYTHING to do with the "decision-making" process involved in the selection of the wing design for this (and other) F-86 Sabre model(s) - as opposed to creating the historically-correct ones...!!!
Even SpecCast, who markets their F-86 models as "toys" for collectors (I continually get their "Toy Collector" catalogs in the mail), does a FAR superior job (referring to the wing design) in this department with their F-86's - what does THAT tell you about Armour/FM's management and the F-86 - as well as many OTHER model "efforts" of theirs - ESPECIALLY considering their much-vaunted "...we're historically-accurate..." statements found in ALL of their annual catalogs...???!!! - JY

[Saeta]

I still think that their Sabre is one of the nicest models, even if not always completely accurate technically. Overall they look noce, specailly the chrome ones. I have a Spanish AF one and I am very happy with it.

[John Youngs]

Originally Posted by Saeta

I still think that their Sabre is one of the nicest models, even if not always completely accurate technically. Overall they look noce, specailly the chrome ones. I have a Spanish AF one and I am very happy with it.

Saeta - I don't disagree with you there - I've got two of the Spanish birds & bought them for only $22 each from two different sources on eBay. The market's flooded with them - I have no idea how many of these were made, but you can find them easily many times for as little as $10 or $12 each, not incl. shipping. I think they're so cheap over here (US) simply because foreign markings aren't too popular and so few people are buying them. The original "Pigeons/Eagles" F-86A Sabre is one of the really nice chrome ones they've put out - you can still find them at reasonable prices even though they're out of production now. I'd LOVE to see a Japanese F-86F-40 "Blue Impulse" Sabre with CORRECT fuel tanks some day!!! - JY

[Mesa]

John,

Do any of the SpecCast F-86s have the wingtip extensions? Where, aside from Ebay, can I find SpecCast F-86s? Thanks for your help.

[John Youngs]

Originally Posted by Mesa

John,

Do any of the SpecCast F-86s have the wingtip extensions? Where, aside from Ebay, can I find SpecCast F-86s? Thanks for your help.

Mesa - "No" on the wingtip extension depictions - from either Armour/FM or from SpecCast - they all utilize the standard F-86 wing design, aside from the fact that, depending on the specific model involved, SpecCast does use both "slatted" as well as "hard-edge" wing designs; Armour uses nothing but the hard-edged wing design for ALL of it's models - apparently we're all to stupid to know the difference; along with that they seem to have an "Oh well - too bad, so sad - tough- " attitude towards collectors in general. There could be such great models made if they'd only pay a little more attention to the historical accuracy that they claim to have, but clearly do not use, in my opinion. SpecCast airplanes (specifically, the F-86) can also be obtained directly from SpecCast - just go to "SpecCast.com" in your Google search box & you'll find the appropriate link(s). There's only maybe one or two available right now - the remainder of the other ones will have to be found in the "secondary" market, as they're out of production. One I've been looking for for a long time, but have never seen is their rendition of the "Skyblazers" F-86E Sabre. It was produced sometime back in the late 90's to very early 2000's, but I've never seen one, although I've seen plenty of references to it in various publications relating to SpecCast. Armour finally did come out with their 1/48th scale version, which actually came out half-way decent in my opinion (more of a fluke, I suspect - past practices taken into consideration here...); nevertheless, some of the early SpecCast F-86's are now getting more and more difficult to find - I'd just keep up a steady search of eBay & Craig's List, as well as a continuous search on Google for specific models - eventually, you'll come up with what you're looking for. Don't be afraid to search the numerous eBay "seller's on-line stores", as well as something I've done that eventually got me the Armour B11B584 Australian CA-27,Mk32 Black Panther Sabre - don't be afraid to "contact the seller" of folks selling OTHER SpecCast F-86 models on eBay - you never know when one of these folks just might have what you're looking for lying around & they never assumed someone would want it or ask for it! I've gotten quite a few items that way over the last several years! Just contact the seller of a particular item, tell him or her that while you're not interested in the particular item they are selling; nevertheless, should they ever come across this "other" item that you ARE interested in finding, then by all means, please contact me at your earliest convenience... - or words to that effect. You'll discover all sorts of things out there that otherwise would never have come to your attention! Lastly, there are undoubtedly other places you could look - this forum being one of them. Once you find the specific, individual SpecCast models you're looking for, just post a new thread & say "Hey, folks, I'm looking for a 'this' or 'that' - anybody got one they'd like to sell...?? - Again, you'd be surprised at what you'll come up with. Don't be afraid to ask - the worst that'll happen is you'll either get a "nope" answer, or simply no reply. Can't hurt! All the best in your quest! - JY