F-86F The Huff

Clifford Keesler
Nice, I have both of these also. Think the Acadmey is better kit.

wilky
Big difference in the decals

Clifford Keesler
That there is. Acadmey has much better decals.

Donald Dickson II
Well, the Monogram kit is a LOT older. And the decals in the Academy kit are Cartograph. So there is going to be a big difference. But the ones in the Monogram kit are not awful.

The Monogram kit is nice, just smaller parts count. The Academy kit has a lot of detail for the engine, which is going to go to waste because I am NOT cutting the plane in half. I will just slap it together for weight Balance, but that's it. The guns on the Academy kit are nicer.

I got a general marking decal sheet for the yellow bands and other stencils the Monogram kit is missing. Also got the SAC gears for the Monogram kit. I already had them for the Academy. I also bought the zoom color pe set that's made for the Hasegawa kit. I figure I can make it work on both of them. Trying to keep everything as equal as I can.

Wim van der Luijt
Count me in, nice project, looking forward to the build!

Gary
The yellow decal bands on the Academy are a waste of time. They don't fit well. The kit is great though. As I remember, it's already cut in half. Gary

Donald Dickson II
Nope. Full fuselage for both of them. Thank God.

Donald Dickson II
So I got some work done. First I did the wings. Simply because I wanted to make sure there were not going to be any major fit issue. Some putty will be needed for both, but not a lot I think.

Got the cockpits done for both. Slight differences in size and shape, but both turned out well. Both had good molded detail, but the PE looks great.

John Thomas
Very nice

wilky
Big difference in the cockpits too

Clifford Keesler
I use Hasegawa PE, sets for just about all my Revell/Monogram models, they work great. Looking very nice sir. I like you got a generic stencil sheet for my Monogram one,for the missing yellow stripes etc.

Donald Dickson II
Thank you gents. 🙂

Cliff, yeah, I really did not feel like painting the stripes. I don't mind doing the wings, but the fuselage is a total pain.

Clifford Keesler
I know what you mean. I much prefer the decals also. Like you, I don't mind painting the yellow on the wings.

Donald Dickson II
OK, so further work done. As you can see, the fuselage fit on both was pretty good. The join at the the wings and front gear well on the Monogram were not great. But they were not terribly hard to deal with. The Academy was good all around until...

As you can see in the pic, there is a HUGE issue in the intake alignment. As there was all around the nose ring. I failed to take pics before I set at it with the Dremel. Yes, it required power tool usage. And the fishing weight would be further back if I were going to have the intake open. But, the kit comes with intake and exhaust FOD covers which I will use. Good thing too, considering how badly that intake trunk lined up. And no, it wasnt me. There are locating pins. And if you look at the front gear well and cockpit (which are all tied together) they line up perfectly.

On the Monogram, I will simply paint the interior red, add a handle and wallah! Its a FOD cover instead of just a closed intake part needing drilling out.

No pics, but I have the wheel wells and air brake and gun ports sprayed interior green. Will work on canopies and then initial priming and stuff.

wilky
That intake alignment of the Academy kit is atrocious. It's pushing me to choose the Hasegawa kit for my CAC Sabre conversion kits

Clifford Keesler
Sorry to hear about the problem on the nose.

Donald Dickson II
I have seen the Hasegawa kit in the Eduards re boxing, the Ultimate Sabre. I want that kit so I can give it a go and see how it is. It LOOKS great.

Clifford Keesler
I would like it also, but will settle for the Hasegawa boxing.

Donald Dickson II
OK, been a while on this one. I was side tracked by Christmas and all that. Then I got a model of a fictional AC from the video games Ace Combat that I built for my son. He is a huge fan, but not into building models. And at 21, I dont think I am going to get him to it any time soon. LOL

So, for the 86s. I primed them both with Mr Surfacer 1500 black. Then glossed them. I used Alclad aluminum. I went back correcting stuff several times. As you can see in the last pics, I still need to do work on the Monogram canopy.

To that, I have started the decal work on the Monogram kit. It is a mix of kit decals (for the unique to the plane stuff) and a set of generic 86 decals from Warbird Decals. The original decals...good Lord! I dont remember decals being this bad back when. They are THICK. And glossy as all get out. I had to use solva set to get them to do anything. And I had to apply it 2 or 3 times!!!! If you know solva set, you know how strong it is. Barely made a dent in these things. The Warbirds decals are good modern day decals. My only complaint with them so far is the yellow ID bands on the wings are not long enough to to cover the leading and trailing edges. So I have to find a yellow paint that matches them. I hove ordered lemon yellow and camel yellow. One should be close enough to do the trick.

Gary Brantley
Great article Donald! I like the comparison idea. Those are looking great too. 🙂
I've built the Monogram Sabre; mine came in the double-kit with a MiG-15 many years ago. I didn't want to deal with the intake issue on mine so it got a scratchbuilt FOD cover. I did use some of the kit decals but bought an aftermarket set too. I wound up painting the wide yellow bands and used the kit's black outline decals. Here's how it looks: Monogram North American F-86F-30 | Album by texgunner. Looking forward to more progress from you! 👍

Robert W Martel
Another one of my all time favorites. Lookin' Good !! 👍

Donald Dickson II
Gary, very nicely done sir! I plan on doing a FOD cover for the Monogram also. Going to use the one in the Academy kit as a template.

Gary Brantley
Thanks Donald. 🙂

Clifford Keesler
Looking good Donald.

Donald Dickson II
James, I haven't done the Academy kit yet. I have been away from my table the last couple days. I'm going to work on finishing the Monogram up tonight and tomorrow. And then start on the academy.

Donald Dickson II
I have half the Monogram done now. Fiddly little stencils. LOL

Donald Dickson II
So both are now done with decals. As you can see in the pics, the Academy has its legs on in these pics. It's done except for the fuel tanks. The Monogram is getting legs now. Have to scrounge guns as I seem to have lost them. I think I have some from the Revel kit I did with the gun door closed. Should have all done tonight with luck.

Recovering from surgery is giv8ng me plenty of tune to work on this stuff. 🙂

Donald Dickson II
OK, this project has taken me a while. Didnt think I was going to get it done any time soon. But thanks to sitting at home recovering from surgery, I have! So here are the final results.

So, over all, the Academy does win out. But not by a lot.
First. The Academy kit IS more accurate in shape. Detail is almost the same, but the Monogram kit wins out there due to superior landing gear detail.

Fit. Well, the Academy kit had some surprising issues there. The old Monogram kit fit as you would expect an old 70s/80s kit to.Pluses and minuses pretty much equal out to this point. Here is where the Academy kit wins out. Decals.

Aside from being the thick decals you would expect from the older kit, Monograms colors are well off. The dragon is olive drab. The yellow is more of an orange. And I had to buy a generic after market sheet in order to have a full set of stencils and the ID bands. I really did NOT want to paint those.

In the end, the Academy kit wins out, but not in the landslide you might think.

I used SAC metal gears, Eduard cockpit PE for the Hasegawa kit on both to keep things equal. The after market decals were only purchased for the Monogram as mentioned. Any major flaws are likely my fault. Also, I manged to lose the sprue with the machine guns and tank braces for the Monogram kit. I used the second set of guns from the Academy kit, and managed to get them to work fairly well I think. Main paint was Alclad polished aluminum.

First set of pics of completed models are the Academy kit. Enjoy! And feedback appreciated

Clifford Keesler
Outstanding! Donald, I love them both. I also bought the Eduard PE set for my Monogram 86-F and will get the Eduard set for Revell's F-86D. Then I think I will start mine.

Donald Dickson II
Thank you Clifford! Please do put them up when you get to them. Love to see your take on them. 🙂

Donald Dickson II
And going back through the comments, I notice I never answered James C.s question. The Academy decals fit just fine. They actually were a bit long, which is much preferable IMO. The fuselage band took some serious fiddling around with to match to the belly portion. You do have overlap. I did not trust myself to trim them close enough without screwing them up. You can see the darker band where the two overlap, but I can live with that versus mangling them.

Donald Dickson II
Thank you James. 🙂

gorby
Interesting comparison build Donald, and an excellent result on both of them.

Donald Dickson II
Gorby , thank you sir. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the Monogram kit actually stands up to the new work tips.

Clifford Keesler
I started an old Monogram F-9F-2 Panther today, I am re-scribing the raised panel lines. I will see if Eduard has come out with any PE for the KTH or Trumpeter Panther and see if I can make it work in this one.

Donald Dickson II
Clifford, I have discovered that with a little modification, you can make most PE work in other kits. For the most part anyway.

Clifford Keesler
I use PE for Haseagawa kits in my Revell kits all the time. Spruebrothers had PE for the Trumpeter kits, so I ordered some. As soon as I get my BF-109G6, Spitfire MK IIA, and F-9F, plus my mystery build done, I am going to both the Revell F-86D and Monogram F-86 at the same time. I am going to try Alcad's for the first time or one of the New Acrylic metal paints.

Clifford Keesler
I won't get as many projects going at once again, It has been a real drag! If you know what I mean.

Donald Dickson II
LOL Yep. Down to two right now. But have them lined up. Finish my Jaguar build in the next couple days. Then an OV-10 quick build. With my Good Evening Da Nang Phantom getting started. Then a few others behind those. I usually have two going at once. That way I can do stuff on one while stuff on the other sets.

Rui Reis
Great work on those two.

Donald Dickson II
Thank you sir. 🙂