Re: Hip, Hip, Hoooraaayyyy!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have to do no steenkin' vac

Just when I was almost (well......not quite) ready to do my first vac
> conversion, RareBits F-86H, the newsletter from GM lists a new > injected 1/72 from Special Hobby SHY72120. > Never having a Special Hobby kit before, does anyone, who has built > one of their offerings, have any input as to Special Hobby's work? > The $22.90 price isn't that bad. Hasegawa's F-86D is in that range, > so would I be way ahead getting the H kit? Or should I suffer through > the vac route ? :-)

Go with the Special Hobby kit.

I have one of these in my stash. I haven't built it yet. Special Hobby kits are produced by MPM. I have recently built the new MPM Gloster Meteor. The F-86H is very similar. It has engraved panel lines and a cockpit built up front PE components. There are three colourful schemes included on the decal sheet:

F-86H-5, 52-2109/FU-109, 34 FDS, 413 FDW George AFB 1955. Box top option. NMF with green and white checks on the fin and horizontal stabiliser.

F-86H-5, 52-5743/FU-743, 429 FBS, Clovis AFB. NMF with yellow trim. Yellow and black chevrons on fin.
F-86H-10, 53-1444/FU-444. Aircraft belnged to Col Ascani, CO of the 50 FBW. Toule-Rosieres AFB, France 1956. NMF with red, yellow and blue stripes on the fin. The stripes are repeated on the nose, but the blue stripe is shown as black.

I'm looking forward to building this kit. One omission is that there is no facility for displaying the airbrakes open. However, I think that one of the CMK detail kits for the F-86E provided open airbrakes. I'll probably use that on my model. As I mentioned, I have just finished the MPM Meteor kit, which was a wholly positive experience. If the F-86H is anything like that it should be an enjoyable build.