Hobby Boss 1/72 F-86F-30

The North American F-86 Sabre was a successful transonic swept-wing fighter that became famous in effectively countering the Soviet MiG-15 during the Korean War (1950–1953). With its versatility and overall capability allowing it to prove itself worth also in other eras and with numerous air forces, it came as no surprise that no less than 9800 units of all variants were built.

Hobby Boss Easy Assembly kits are in general cheap, quite simple and easy to put together. They can mostly be snap-fitted, but can also be permanently glued. They are very well done in their own manner, with the level of detail in some cases approaching interestingly closely the one found in other “Non Easy Assembly” kits, as is the case here.

The subject kit is the F-86F-30 2020 reboxing of the 2007 original edition (previewed by Graham Mison here). By the looks of things, apart from the box which is now side opening and the method of packaging (the handy tray of the 2007 boxing is not present any more, but otherwise everything is neatly packed), all the rest seem identical.

Upon opening the box, you are greeted with just 30 light gray styrene parts. Of them, the top fuselage including the fin and the main wing including the lower fuselage are impressively molded as single pieces, simplifying assembly a lot. The rest of the pieces are arranged in two equally sized small sprues. Molds seem to be still in excellent condition, as all parts are nice and crisp with no flash. Panel lines are finely recessed and look correct.

Cockpit is quite decent with flat instrument panel and side consoles, stick and an acceptable seat. Strangely, no instrument decals are provided, which is quite an omission, as the instrument panel is quite prominent even under the closed canopy, so you might consider fitting a leftover decal from your dungeon. A gun sight molded on the clear fret would have been very welcome too, as its absence is also quite noticeable under the canopy.

The distinctive intake is well done and relatively seamless (its upper section contains the cockpit tub). The exhaust is simplified and not very deep. Landing gear is acceptable with some detail molded in the wheel wells, which have sufficient depth. Finally, the air brakes can be posed open, with the innards featuring some detail (as well as ungainly looking ejector pin marks), but, worse, the port one’s hinge is totally wrong (possibly to key them, so that they cannot be attached inversely) - better glue them “closed” and fill/sand.

The canopy is well molded and crystal clear. Instructions are printed in the back of the kit box and are nicely done. No color callouts are provided during construction, but this can quite effortlessly be solved with some net research (downloading some other kit’s instructions that contain color info, for example). Two Korean War schemes are provided, both in NMF with the distinctive yellow bands on the wings and fuselage: one is Major Jabara’s bird and the other a very nice South African Air Force example. The scheme colors are provided in Mr Hobby codes and in generic form. The decals look superbly printed and should work well.

Instructions want you to first assemble the cockpit/intake subassembly and insert it from the inside of the fuselage upper section, with the nose lip, air brakes and tail planes following. The lower fuselage/wing is next attached having the exhaust trapped in between. The landing gear and wing tanks are then assembled and attached, followed by the canopy, ending a simple and seemingly very pleasant build. No nose weight is mentioned, but be sure to stuff some 10g or so in front of the cockpit, to avoid tail sitting.

This fine kit is a solid example of what Hobby Boss Easy Assembly kits stand for: nicely molded, more or less correctly shaped, with fine engraved panel lines, few parts that promise an effortless build, adequate details all around, nice transparencies, good instructions and great decal sheet. All these are offered at a surprisingly low price, making the kit, among others, an ideal candidate for a toddler’s first build.

True, this unpretentious kit lacks compared to a number of “Non Easy Assembly” ones, (which are sold at much higher price, though), but, really, not that much. Nevertheless, what you get for this price is quite noteworthy.

If you want a quick, effortless build that will result in a fine looking Sabre without spending a lot, this is definitely a kit worth tackling.

Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas