Hasegawa's 1/48 scale
F-86F-30 Sabres

by Rafi Ben-Shahar

Hasegawa's 1/48 scale Sabre is available online from Squadron

The application of bare metal finish to plastic model is a popular theme as it yields very realistic results. However, it is not a straight forward process and requires delicate work and considerable efforts to achieve a seamless and blemish free plastic surface before the application of paint. One way to by pass the delicate finish is to apply aluminium foil on the plastic.

Recently, I tried the latter approach and I present two of Hasegawa's F-86F Sabres. One has a paint finish and the other had aluminium foil applied. You would probably pick up the difference between the two models according to the metal tone. There is a catch though - the one that has the true metal finish is also adorned with paint finish. In the (tedious) process of applying the foil to the plastic and rescribing the panel lines, I experimented with metal paint. There was no visible difference between the paint and the metal.

Would I do another aluminium foil exercise? Probably not. I found that being able to handle the model freely without the fear of leaving glove stains or finger prints all over, does not justify the trouble of using a medium that does not quite mix with plastic curvatures. Nonetheless, for large surface areas, such as wings and elevators of 1/32 scale, aluminium foil is the ideal matter to represent a bare metal finish.

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2009 by Rafi Ben-Shahar
Page Created 17 September, 2009
Last Updated 17 September, 2009

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