1:72 North American F-86D-35-NA Sabre Dog Hellenic Air Force 51-6179/FU-179 343rd Interceptor Squadron, Elefsina Air Base, Greece 1963

1:72 F-86D of the Hellenic Air Force, the year 1963

A finished collector model in 1:72 scale. It is not a kit: it is supplied assembled, painted and with the markings applied, so nothing needs doing with it and it goes straight into the display case. The model carries the markings of a machine of a Greek interceptor squadron from 1963, in the condition in which the aircraft served at that time.

The real subject

The F-86D was an all-weather interceptor fighter derived from the day fighter of the same family, but in reality it was a very different machine. It had a single-seat cockpit, a radar in a bulky nose above the air intake and, instead of cannon, a retractable tray of unguided rockets that were fired in a salvo. Power came from a single turbojet with an afterburner. The machine's task was to intercept bombers at night and in any weather, which in those days placed great demands on the pilot, who flew, searched for the target and fired all on his own.

How a collector model differs from a kit

A kit gives the modeler freedom: the colors, the markings and the degree of wear are his own choice and the result is one of a kind. A finished model, by contrast, offers the certainty of an exactly specified version, a uniform look across the whole collection and the immediate option of standing it in a display case. Collections of finished models therefore grow in series, where one machine complements the next.

How to keep the model

• Display it out of direct sunlight, which fades the colors over time
• Remove dust with a soft brush, not with a cloth, which abrades the markings
• Hold the model by the fuselage, not by the wings and the tail surfaces
• Leave it room in the display case so that neighboring pieces do not touch