I have built the Hasegawa, Academy, & Monogram F-86 kits in 1/48 scale. Hasegawa & Academy kits are very similar.  Academy kit is slightly cheaper & has 2 nice pilot figures included, but I have heard many complain about the quality of the decals. Monogram kit is nice, & cheapest of the 3, but has minor shortcomings which I felt I needed to improve when I built it.

I would say that Hasegawa & Academy kits are pretty even in quality, & give Academy a slight edge because of the lower price. If you just want a simple build for short money, Monogram gets the nod.

There is also plenty of aftermarket stuff available which can be used on any of these kits to make them stand out. Also, you can probably get any of these kits & AM parts on Ebay  at a reasonable price

Here's my Monogram F-86 just to give you an idea how they look:

I did the Academy one aome years ago, I also have the Hasegawa in the stach and for my money the Hasa is the nicer ikt detail wize and the decals I believe to work better.

Theuns

She looks great Tex!

Yeah I'd heard the Hasegawa kit is a little bit better detail wise but the Academy kit includes the jet engine and all the interior plumbing. So it seems to be pretty close between the two with the Monogram kit a little behind but still a very respectable version.  

Academy decals may not be the best but I still find them far more usable than Hasegawa ones. Several people here have given me advice on using Hasegawa decals but I still normally replace them whenever possible.

Academy makes a few different issues of their Sabre kit. I believe one issue has nice Cartograph decals instead of the standard Academy decals.

There is also an older Esci kit of the F-86 out there in 1/48. A rebox of it was recently re issued by Italeri. it is of the same vintage as the Monogram kit (mid to late 70s) with a less well detailed interior, but recessed panel lines for those that must have that feature. It also is closer to a slat winged F-86E rather than a hard winged F-86F.

Gamera

She looks great Tex!

Thanks Gamera, she did turn out okay.  At least from what the pics show anyway.  Creative photography can camouflage many faults ya know?

Gary

I've only built the Academy version of the F-86.  I've enjoyed it, just not the decals.  Have not had the chance to build Monogram's version, but looking forward to that in the future.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Nice pictures Texgunner, that the first was real so you did a good job :) I was originally looking at Hasegawa but will take a look at the Academy offerings too. I've seen a Italeri Sabre that is cheap but was wondering if anyone's had experience with that.

Haven't seen the other two, but the Monogram one is a great value, and Tex showed how well they look. Hook up a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby and it gets better.

Having built 20 or so F-86's in 48th scale, for my preference, it's:

1 - Hasegawa

2 - Academy

3 - Revellogram

I've only used Hasegawa kit decals once and it was the F-86F-30 RCAF kit with decals for 416 Sqn (three colour camo and the big yellow "X" worn for Exercise Carte Blanche) and 413 Sqn (NMF).  I went with the 413 Sqn decals and they were very good.  A little thick but they settled nicely with a bit of Solvaset.  All other decals have been aftermarket (CanMilAir, Leading Edge and Model Alliance) for RCAF Sabres.

The Academy has a good representation of a General Electric J-47 engine.  The fuselage comes in two halves but if you want to display the J-47, you have to paint the engine and separate the fuselage halves into four pieces; left front and rear and right front and rear.  There is a line engraved on the inside of the fuselage to guide you in scribing or cutting.  Either way you decide to go, you have to build the engine because of the design of the kit.  The front of the engine keeps the intake runner in place and the cockpit is glued to the top of the intake runner.  The exhaust pipe mounts to the rear of the engine and that's required if you want to keep the parts square.

The Academy and Hasegawa kits are almost identical with a few minor plot twists.  Yes, the Academy is cheaper but I find the Hasegawa a better fitting and easier to put together kit.  I don't mind paying a few extra bucks for convenience.

If you can find the Revell Germany Canadair CL-13 Sabre 6 (blue box with a Luftwaffe jet on the front and Luftwaffe markings only in the box), it is the exact same kit and plastic as the Hasegawa kit and it's cheaper than the Hasegawa and Academy offerings.

The Revellogram kit is the cheapest of the lot but it's also, in my opinion only, the worst of the bunch.  The intake trunk is moulded closed about a 1/2" back form the opening.  It's not a very convincing depiction of the FOD covers.  It also allows you to model the jet with the machine gun bays and speedbrake wells open but detail is sorely lacking.  Closing them up is your best bet.  The wing fences (F-86F-30) are molded onto the wing, as is the pitot tube.  Be careful not to break off the pitot.  I was fortunate.  It also has separate landing flaps but fixed ailerons.  The flaps on real Sabres NEVER drop when parked.  The main gear struts are VERY flimsy.  Be careful with them.  The two things that I REALLY like about this kit is that the makers have indents for vents on either side of the fuselage (1/2 way down the fuselage just aft of the canopy) and they vent along the spine, just in front of the tail, is flat like those built by Canadair.  The dorsal vent North American built Sabres was bulged.  All my Sabres are RCAF builds.

Then there's the Italeri rebox of the old Esci kit.  I've read a few reviews and it seems a bit of a dog to build.  I've never built it so I can't offer fair comment on this kit.

Ultimately, it's your decision but I hope I've provided you with some information to help you make an informed decision.

Best of luck with your project.

Mike

Great looking model Gary

plasticjunkie

Great looking model Gary

Thanks brother!   I appreciate that.

stikpusher

Looks like a F-86 to me ;) Very nice job sir!

Stik, if those kind words were directed at me, that was sure nice of ya!

Gary

Yes they are Tex. Very much so.

Silver

Any way,great job on yours.

Thanks!

Gotta agree with others here, Tex.  Great looking F-86!  I'd snap up the Monogram F-86 any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  They're fun builds and, as you proved, the make for a great looking F-86.

For the record, I've build a number of Monogram ones and one Academy F-86.  I will admit that I love the Monogram F-86s because of their simplicity, cost and nostalgia.  The Academy offering was great fitting but the decals stunk to high Heaven.  If I could ever find an Academy kit but at the Monogram price, I'd snap up a bunch of those, too, along with some aftermarket decals.

Eric

echolmberg

Gotta agree with others here, Tex.  Great looking F-86!  I'd snap up the Monogram F-86 any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  They're fun builds and, as you proved, the make for a great looking F-86.

Eric

And thanks to you too Eric!  I appreciate all the nice comments on that old kit.

Gary

...And the Monogram decals were good?

Nathan T

...And the Monogram decals were good?

Nathan, the best I recall, the decals are a mix of kit and after-market; it's been quite a while since the build was done.  I know that Monogram provided the yellow ID bands but I didn't use those and painted the yellow areas instead.

(Scratching my head here...)  Well, I don't remember them as being bad.  I guess I'll put it that way.  I just remember using the Academy decals and they were like stiff plastic.  No amount of decal setting solution would make them conform to the slightest bump or recess.  I can't say I've ever had that happen with my Monogram decals.

Eric

That is a great looking model. Really nice finish. Revell sent me an e-mail today indicating that the replacement lower main wing is in the mail. The wing in my kit was severly warped.

I have a question. What did you do about the raised panel lines?

JohnnyK

That is a great looking model. Really nice finish. Revell sent me an e-mail today indicating that the replacement lower main wing is in the mail. The wing in my kit was severly warped.

I have a question. What did you do about the raised panel lines?

Thanks Johnny!  The paint was SnJ aluminum, some panels polished more than others.   As for the raised panel lines, why, I just painted right over those bad boys!   Never gave them more than a passing thought as I recall.  They were the nature of that beast.

Good news about the Revell service too, they treated you right.

Gary

Great build there!  In regards to Academy's decals... I still have nightmares about those!  I've seen some Monogram F-86's at the store nearby, definitely going to have to pick one up.

Thanks mustang!  (today is International Ford Mustang Day, btw)

A few different pics of that bird:

Texgunner,

What did you use as a base for the photos? It looks like a real runway.