Italeri 1/72 F86 Sabre

I've bought 3 in one box!

The F-86 Sabre was one of the most sucessfull early jet airplanes. Portugal got them in 1957, in the "keep up" of the Lages deal... It was our best airplane ever! It was state of the art, gradually replacing the F-84. But, in 1961, they were shipped to Africa, for the colonies, as a "demoter", not meant to be used, but to try to keep the Colonial War out... But the international pressure, as they've claimed that we got these airplanes under the "NATO treaty", as the cold war was just starting, made us get them back to mainland... There were also external pressures to "release" the colonies, not because of humanitary or "freedom" motif, but because everyone wanted to trade with the colonies, they didn't wanted them to be free, but so that "they" could trade with them... And that is the sad part: the pressure was for political and economical interest, not for the people interest... Because of that, a military embargo was made on Portugal, this was the last airplane we would get from the States for years... It is sad that everyone interest was only oil, even from the Russian who later on supplied the Strela...

About the kit, it is nice! very nice! The cockpit is well detailled, good recessed lines...

It is almost like a tamiya kit! Except for the seams on the wing joint...

 But despite that, it looks very good. A detail about the airplane, is that this belongs for the "os galos" squad, which was short lived... That was the only squad with red tail, instead of the blue... Many will still say these never existed, that ALL have blue, never red... The fact is that it is now confirmed that these really existed!

 The build is actually peacefull, another weekend build. Its nice to do, everything fits in.

And this is the only defect, that should and can be corrected: the airbrakes are meant to drop more to the ground... A side for that, its a very good model. Cheap and good, a rare combination.