DONE!!! - Revell of Germany Canadair CL-13 Sabre 6

Allan and Brandon,

Thanks for your kind words.  Greatly appeciated.

A slight amount of new work done .  Posting these photos with the assistance of Bruce (hogfanfs - thanks!) that hopefully won't have all the text underlined as a hyperlink.

Brandon - your save is exactly what I do.  I cut off the vent and glue a small piece of plastic card behind the resultant opening.  I then glue some Evergreen strip to the plastic card on the outside and then fill and sand.  Here's the plastic card inside the fuselage.

I've also glued the exhuast nozzle in place on the iside of the right half of the fuselage and then clamped both sides together to maintain proper alignment until the TETC cures.

I've also CA glued 3 X 3.5 gram (3 X 1/8 oz) steel sinkers into space in front of the main landing gear.  The instructions call for 6 grams but I add a bit extra as insurance and I've never had the landing gear sag or splay with this extra bit of weight.

That's it for now.  Next step will see me glue the landing light piece in place at the front of the fuselage near the intake opening.  Once that is in and dried, I'll glue the fuselage halves together and add the nose ring.  Will post a few more photos as work progresses.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

This is really coming along, and thank you for sharing your knowledge about the vent only being on Japanese aircraft. I was able to saw off the vent on my Hasegawa and back it with styrene for filling with putty - before the fuselage was closed! Normally I find these things out about a day late.

Can't wait to see your build come along.

-BD-

Youre off to a great start, Murph.

rangerj

I have seen Canadian Sabres in active service and several Sabres in the air show circuit and none had modern ejection seats. I had this very discussion with one of the owner/pilots of an F-86-F  and he stated that he did not know of any Sabres with upgraded or "modern" ejection seats. Ejection would be a last resort and only if the aircraft could not otherwise be saved (re aircraft in private hands).

Thanks for the information regarding the origin of this kit (Hasagawa). I passed on it because I thought it was a re-issue of the old Monogram kit. I also love the early jets and the F-86 and the A-4 are my favorites. I'll be watching the build and keep up the good work.

All...thanks for your kind words, gents.

The Vintage Wings of Canada Sabre flown as 'Hawk One' has an ejection seat from a Tutor (Snowbirds).  Although newer than the seat supplied by Canadair when it was built (but not by much!), I think VWoC decided to upgrade from the original for safety's sake.

As for the Sabre in Luftwaffe service, many of the Sabre 6's were sent to Dornier to have Martin-Baker seats installed.  As the M-B seats were taller than the originals, it also necessitated Dornier re-working the canopy opening system to ride on rails that elevated the canopy when it was being opened and closed.

My uncle was killed flying a Sabre in France in June 1953.  Long story short, he was returning to base after a training flight in bad weather.  Although it can't be confirmed for certain, he most likely became spatially disoriented in the thick cloud and haze and when he came out of the cloud / haze he was nose down and headed for terra firma.  He ejected at about 700 ft AGL and died when he couldn't get himself out of the seat.  A safe ejection back then usually required a height of about 3,000 ft AGL as you manually had to get yourself out of the seat, unlike the systems used on today's ejection seats.  His skull was crushed between the headrest and the ground.  He was seven weeks shy of his 22nd birthday.

http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Country-By-Country/Canada/CLOUTIER_Guy_Sabre_fatal/Cloutier_Guy.htm

And when I found out this was a re-issue of the Hasegawa kit, I bought four or five of them as they were about half the price of the Hasegawa offerings.  Can't go wrong with that!

Mike

I have seen Canadian Sabres in active service and several Sabres in the air show circuit and none had modern ejection seats. I had this very discussion with one of the owner/pilots of an F-86-F  and he stated that he did not know of any Sabres with upgraded or "modern" ejection seats. Ejection would be a last resort and only if the aircraft could not otherwise be saved (re aircraft in private hands).

Thanks for the information regarding the origin of this kit (Hasagawa). I passed on it because I thought it was a re-issue of the old Monogram kit. I also love the early jets and the F-86 and the A-4 are my favorites. I'll be watching the build and keep up the good work.

You're off to a great start.  I really like the ejection seat.

I've always liked the 1950s fighter jets.