Pavla Models has been putting out a lot of very nice cockpit sets for older kits that really don’t have more than an oversized seat and a shape for a control panel. One example is the older Matchbox kits that came out in the 70s and 80s. This set was designed to fit into the Matchbox kit and talk about an upgrade; it gives you the control panels for 2 configurations. I’m one of those people that are hooked on the model kits of my childhood because of the fond memories that they bring back. My dad was a postman and he would always seem to bring me some model kit from the Saturday garage sales on his route.

I like these old kits but it is a blessing to be able to add some detail to them.

Background

Originally designated as the F-95, the North American F-86D “Sabre Dog” was the initial all-weather and night capable extension of the superb F-86 day fighter. Only 25% common to the day-version F-86’s the “Dog” sported a larger fuselage, engine, and tail surfaces, with a distinctive radome to house an advanced air intercept radar. The D-model also traded its guns for 2.75-inch folding fin aerial rockets, which were mounted in a retractable launcher in the nose of the aircraft. First prototyped in 1949, over 2500 F-86D’s were produced, serving in the air arms of no fewer than 17 nations.

Thanks to Piotr at Master-models for providing these metal gun barrels to improve our Hellcats, and thanks to our IPMS leaders for sending these my way!

The Eduard Hellcats have been around for a while now, and are great kits in their own right. Master details provide late-model covered .50 caliber Browning barrels to replace the kit items; these directly replace the kit plastic parts…

In side-by-side comparison, Master Model’s gun barrels provide improvement on the kit items by providing depth and three-dimensional appearance over the kit parts, and improve the appearance by having finer detail than can be provided with injection molding processes. These are exactly the same as the version with the cooling jackets having holes drilled in them, without a separate barrel assembly for the guns. They are just machined tubes, with fine detail… See the middle gun barrel on this wing for an example.