F-86 as Air to Surface/Ship missile

[Leading Observer]

I have the PM F-86E Sabre kit, which, quite frankly is pretty awful, with horrible raised panel lines, no cockpit detail etc - still for about £3.00 what should I expect  So my thoughts were to blank off the cockpit area and make it into something akin to the Soviet As-1 Kennel. Any thoughts on this, e.g. colour schemes would be welcome. Keep in mind that I am just getting back to kit building after a 25 year lay off, so my skills are a bit rusty

[lenny100]

overall silver with a few red markings showing engine warnings etc would be the part in the early 1950s

[sideshowbob9]

Or perhaps in the same colour scheme as the GAM-63 Rascal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bell_XGAM-63_Rascal_USAF.jpg

[Leading Observer]

The Rascal schemme looks a good one

[andyreb3]

try the navaho  scheme and a variant of either the rascal or navaho with a zel setup.

[ChernayaAkula]

<...> So my thoughts were to blank off the cockpit area and make it into something akin to the Soviet As-1 Kennel. <...>

Great idea! 

[deathjester]

How about fitting it with the warhead from a Genie AAM?   Simply apply some Radiation warning symbols, and hey presto - Nuclear Sabre!

[rallymodeller]

How about fitting it with the warhead from a Genie AAM?   Simply apply some Radiation warning symbols, and hey presto - Nuclear Sabre!

Too small. You could fit a Mk. 28 in the cockpit area and have space left over.

[Joe C-P]

Now you'll need a B-36, -47, or -52 to carry and launch a pair of them, along with their remote-control pilots.
This could be an over-ocean anti-Soviet bomber force defense system, or to fly low-level over the North Pole to attack Murmansk, Petrograd, and other northern cities from a distance rather than having to fly right over a city to drop a bomb.

[Leading Observer]

I hadn't given a lot of consideration to the carrier aircraft - I guess the B-36 would probably fit the bill, as they were becoming avaliable at about the same time as the proposed conversion.

[ChrisF]

Im looking forward to the result anyway ...

[jcf]

In a similar vein was the Lockheed project L-159 from 1946 for the conversion of the P-80 to a ground or air-launched cruise missile.



"L-159 Initiated during 1946 as an attempt to explore the P-80's potential as a long-range, high-speed,
guided missile carrying a powerful high-explosive warhead It was to have been used against both strategic and
tactical targets. ... Range with the 2,000-pound warhead was projected to be approximately 3,000 miles
at a cruising speed of 520 mph. ... Launching was to be via a statically positioned surface-based 300-ft long launch
rail and associated carriage unit or from a modified transport aircraft (among the latter, it was projected to use the
Lockheed R60-1 Constitution with a  single L-159 suspended from wing pylons attached to each outer wing panel).
Remote control would be from a ground  station, a ship, or the carrier aircraft. "
--- from Skunk Works by Jay Miller.

Note the mention of the R6O-1 as mothership, so for your F-86 based missile a B-36 would be the logical choice,
as the B-47 would be too small, and the B-52 too new (in the minds of SAC folk, at least  ).

[Leading Observer]

So B-36 launcher it is then

[scooter]

Give it a couple RATO bottles and a 5t Truck with a ZELL rail, and you'd have one hell of an Honest John replacement.

[raafif]

I always liked the Sabre-Drone's scheme white / silver with dayglo outer wing panels, fin etc.