As promised, here we are sharing the pictures of the newest iteration from Academy’s 1/48 F-86F. The kit at the time of publishing is not widely available in the United States. So, this kit was imported via eBay from Korea. This is the 3rd USAF F-86F added to my collection and being the 1st in 1/48 scale. This is one of my favorites aircraft. I’m lucky enough to have a block 50 F-86H on display at a nearby and it is simply amazing not to mention imposing. Although the Haswgawa kit is an excellent choice as well.
I decided to go with the Academy kit because it features optional gun bays with 6 .50 caliber guns. Also featured with this kit is a fairly detailed cockpit, engine compartment and full under-wing stores.
The kit comes with a nice glossy stock box art in a Special Edition with Limited Availability run. As with all Academy special editions, the kit features a nice set of decals printed by none other than Cartograf, ’nuff said. Fit is very good with little putty and sanding needed and a trolley to display the engine is included as well as one seated and one standing pilot.
Definitely not bad at all for the price. Get this kit while you can, the decals alone IMO are worth half the price of this kit. This F-86F was painted using Alclad 2 Duraluminum and sealed with the new line of Alclad 2 Clear Coats. More details here. The Academy F-86-F is also available in 1/72 scale.
Highly Recommended!
