Canadair Conversion: 1/48th Hasegawa F-86F-30 Sabre

The 1/48th Hasegawa F-86F-30 Sabre kit has been around since 1996. It’s still a respectable, decently accurate Sabre with great surface detail. It remains a top contender for a Sabre build, especially given the reasonable price it can typically be found at.

Notable Kit Features:

• Decent cockpit and ejection seat

• Finely engraved surface detail

• Well done underside vents

• Intake and exhaust cover plates provided

• Two different types of fuel tanks included

• Sidewinder missile armament with pylons provided

Build Inspiration:

One Sabre missing from my collection was a natural metal finish (NMF) RCAF Canadair Sabre. For a NMF you really want a kit with finely scribed panel lines, great surface detail and tight fit as every error shows through on an aluminium finish. The aircraft I decided upon is a Canadair CL-13 Sabre Mk. 5 (Serial No. 23147), of No. 1 (F) Operational Training Unit (OTU), based out of RCAF Station Chatham, New Brunswick. The red panels on the aluminum finish give the aircraft some added flash appeal.

Heads-Up Report:

• The ejection seat is showing its age on this old Sabre, so you may want to consider a replacement

• Pay attention to the nose fit as it is easy to get parts mis-aligned here and have to counter by some sanding and filling (with the resulting loss of surface detail)

• The underside vents are very nicely done so it was a shame they needed to be covered over by the "sugar scoop" modification of the Canadair Sabre on this build

• Hasegawa plastic parts are typically brittle and can be broken easily (landing gear for instance as I managed to break mine off)

Kit Additions / Modifications:

• Added scratch built "sugar scoops" to the underside vents to represent a later Mk.5

• Removed the intake on the rear lower right fuselage

• All Orenda engine Sabres had the aft-facing vents in both sides of the fuselage above the wings, so these were added

• Some panels around the mid - rear fuselage area were filled or created

• The surface should be smooth where the vertical tail meets the fuselage (aside from the vent)

• Repaired my broken main gear axle with a metal pin

Finishing:

The paint scheme for this aircraft is a clean NMF with some red panel areas to highlight the bright finish. This look was achieved utilizing the water-based Vallejo Model Air metals. I went completely off-script here and used a white undercoat (as opposed to the slated typical black-gloss, and found the results rather good IMO. I didn't see much difference between the Aluminium and the Chrome finishes so I toned some of the panels by adding a drop of black or dark gray to add some variation on specific panels (gun doors, vertical tail and rear exhaust).

The After-Build Report:

The 1/48th Hasegawa F-86F-30 Sabre is still a good kit despite its age. The surface detail and finely engraved panel lines, combined with good parts fit, provide the model maker with a relatively stress-free build. The Academy kit with similarly good panel lines has the added advantage of a separate engine, however Hasegawa would get the edge in its lower air scoop detail. For me, either kit works well for a later Sabre build and choosing between may come down to current availability. Now to find me a new Clear Prop Sabre, so I can continue my Hangar expansion with an early Sabre... or two.

Completed build #282 - October 2025 using the 1/48th scale Hasegawa #07213 kit.

Feel free to comment or ask any questions - Keep on building, gain experience, challenge yourself if you like, but try not to stress yourself out over the build - it is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby after all - Cheers