A Worthy Rebox? Mistercraft CL-13/F-86F Sabre 1/72 Scale Plastic Model Kit - Unboxing Review

[@VFCproductions]

Mistercraft: our decals fall apart, what should we do? Better quality decal paper? Outsources them? ... No... just give more schemes! Good review and I remember making the Heller version as a teenager and it was a decent enough kit

[@ModelMinutes]

Thanks! Yeah, the decals are always the main point of failure for me with mistercraft

[@shawnpeterson3386]

@@VFCproductions It's a pity, given the number of schemes.

[@HIGGI6]

I`ve just recently built this kit. It was my first Mistercraft model. Not the best, but not the worst kit, either. I mean it`s just an old Heller tooling and therefore ok. But tbh the Decals were the worst I`ve ever had - no fun to apply at all. They were comming appart as soon as they came in contact with water - so I had to cheat a little in order to get the job done. I did the GAF-Version and the result came out quite good for what it is.

[@dpswets]

Looking forward to the build video, looks like an interesting one.

[@TheElDoctoro24]

I recently bought a mistercraft kit and the decals were missing, it saved me putting them in the bin

[@edwina.8426]

Mistercraft has also re-boxed the Heller Hurricane, Spitfire, F-84 Thunderjet, among other kits. I built a Mirage 50 Pantera using the Mistercraft Rebox of the Heller Mirage III

[@Aussie6490_gaming]

Great video once again Matt! Keep it up, you’re doing great. 👍🏻

[@kenhanson1819]

Great video review, Matt! When you showed it was actually a Heller kit I was reminded that I had the first release of this kit by Heller in my stash. I took a look at it and it appears relatively flash free, though I would have expected this from a first release of the tooling (going back to 1979). It's all raised panel lines, but they're not excessively large. If you wanted to see a truly horrendous 1:72 Sabre kit, I would have to say the PM Model kit # PM-208 (from Turkey) fits the bill very well. I bought the kit because of the attractive box art showing the Turkish Airforce "White Swans" aerobatic color scheme. What awaited me inside the box was truly shocking, and I only keep it as a reminder of how far the kit industry has progressed. The original manufacturer of the kit was PMS Plastic Model, and I can only imagine the folks making this kit were perhaps suffering from said affliction.

[@ModelMinutes]

Thanks for the info! I can't see myself building the PM version any time soon :P

[@ukaszbadura5670]

Your assessment is fair, matches mine. I saw it in a model shop around the corner and actually considered buying it, but my stash is already big enough and I have build recently F86 Sabre from Hobby Boss and preferred that you. The only reason why I considered buying this one from Mistercraft were the high amount of decals for different versions

[@ModelMinutes]

Lots of decals but sadly not the best quality

[@thekeithfulbarrums]

I certainly can't fault the variety of paint schemes! I did manage to guess that it was an old Heller mould. I've built a couple of old Heller kits (albeit in their own box) and they were alright, I'd be willing to give this one a try.

[@fishystales]

i dont know why but i adore mistercraft kits. i guess the horrible quality makes for an interesting challange as well as them offering more obscure paint schemes compared to the big brands. Recently built their Swiss Hunter F.58 and enjoyed the process and final product. though i always order them online and would never pay more than 6 euros for any kit of them lol

[@davidsirett5560]

i had the misfortune of making the mister craft 1/72 Mig 21 earlier this year. i had one whole sprue missing and a sprue from another Mig 21 kit so i ended up with 2 sets of wings and various other parts but none of the mounts for the weapons or fuel tanks. the decals were shockingly bad.

[@MakotoAtava]

The funny thing is, first Mistercraft used the molds from ZTS Plastyk and at 2016 changed to the Mig-21 molds from KP. The kit from ZTS Plastyk was not the best, butt better than Mistercrafts Mig 21 from today.

[@wadejustanamerican1201]

Sorry for the late comment, working overtime. Thanks for the unboxing!

[@ModelMinutes]

No worries!

[@swing.wing_singh]

Hmmm. If only they included as many kits as there are decals 😅. Heller kits are kinda okay. I built a few of their Mirage and Magister aircraft kits. Go together alright. But hey wait....I see a few Soviet red star decals as well. Is there a Soviet version as well of the F-86? Interesting to know.

[@ModelMinutes]

I think the Soviet version is a captured example

[@MakotoAtava]

Look at 6:23 an you can see "captured in Korea" over the soviet sabre. 😉

[@MrKevinbrindle]

I recently did the harrier jump jet - a beautifully detailed kit but the transfers where absolutely diabolical!!

[@ModelMinutes]

I've heard that the Harrier from Mistercraft is a pretty bad model - Gary's Stuff did a build of it if I remember correctly

[@MrKevinbrindle]

@@ModelMinutes maybe mine was a newer moulding or possibly a kit produced by someone else which mistercraft bought, I honestly don't know - mind you, yes, the parts where very nicely detailed but it didn't exactly go together great!!!

[@anjkovo2138]

I think it's good. Lots of variations on paint schemes.

[@gwheregwhizz]

Bit naughty this. I bet some people buy them from Hobbycraft expecting paint inside, especially as it's priced similar to Revel and Airfix starters.

[@ModelMinutes]

i could see where the confusion would be

[@RobertGoodman-xk1wj]

I've built this, and it is one of the better Mistercraft offerings (the Fulmar is also decent) but as always, best with aftermarket decals. Realistic review of the kit.

[@ModelMinutes]

I found the Fulmar to be the best so far from Mistercraft

[@blackhatt9926]

Can you review any Arma Hobby kits? I've got a few of them and I think they're fantastic, but I want to hear what you think

[@ModelMinutes]

Thanks for the suggestion, I do want to look at some Arma kits in the future

[@borgao]

Not good for the Portuguese Market🤔....because they were equipped with the F-40 wings when entered service with the PoAF.😃😃

[@ModelMinutes]

That’s interesting!

[@Alan_Saund_Models]

I bought the Mistercraft mk1 battle of Britain hurricane but when i open the box it was a mk2c decales were total useless but kit ok...it seems to be hit and miss with mistrrcraft kits😮

[@ModelMinutes]

yes, that does seem to be the problem - i have a D520 which has decals referenced on the paint scheme that are not included

[@Titaniclover95]

Could you please do a Review on the Revell Hindenburg?

[@ModelMinutes]

thanks for the suggestion!

[@Titaniclover95]

​@@ModelMinutes anytime!

[@Skyiflyf24]

Check out mIstercrafts rebox of the old zvezda MiG-29 kit. it's brutally bad, which for the time it was tooled kind of makes sense, there wasn't a huge amount of info out there of the plane. But it has aged so, so badly.

[@ModelMinutes]

sounds pretty bad

[@Zero_Reaper13]

If i can grab a cheap set I'd grab one to try my hand at doing a foil covering

[@MCT954]

Not so sure that they are actual Heller moulds, there are a lot of moulds that are copies. Heller are reissuing quite a lot of their older stuff now that they have taken over.

[@ModelMinutes]

I think that they are genuine heller toolings - if it were a copy they would probably remove the heller branding

[@pawelpw1161]

@@ModelMinutes fun fact is that this exact F86 by Heller is roughly 20% cheaper from Heller than it is after re-pac by MC ;-) both currently on the market

[@SelfRaisingWheat]

Some of those decal schemes are probably inaccurate, since only the early Sabre wing with the slats is included...

[@rodneypayne4827]

F86f international versions had slats for better low speed handling. Keep in mind that the Nato Sabres were predominantly Canadian version with better engine and longer wing.

[@NickAndrewsFaulkner]

Not convincing me to buy a Mistercraft kit....🙂 Thanks for the warning.

[@ModelMinutes]

No worries!

[@brunocalico]

Heller kit, but the Spanish and Italian roundels seem to be off centred. It even has soviet stars.

[@MIMIC953.]

Mr craft decals are a nightmare I built an f-117 by them I’d say a good 35% of the decals disintegrated. I ordered an aftermarket set of decals and finished the kit with them. Mr craft paints, thinner, and cements are for the most part pretty good I would still recommend tamiya, Vallejo, etc over them tho. Mr craft should be called out for things like blatantly using heller molds and their bad decals more often!

[@ModelMinutes]

the decals being so bad is the main issue I have with their kits

[@MakotoAtava]

It is a nice oldschool kit.

[@APlaneGuylol]

Probably a older Airfix kit Airfix has a newer Canadair saber

[@ModelMinutes]

Airfix did rebox this at one point I’m pretty sure, but as mentioned in the video it is a heller tooling

[@Krieger22FS]

Heller tooling, and Airfix did rebox it. Mine was from the nadir years of Airfix-Humbrol and had the yellow wing strip decals be a very fluorescent orange...

[@jaws848]

I have this very kit in the stash

[@yavimayawurm9769]

I honestly despite mistercraft. They often rebox kits and sell for a higher price luring you with interesting decals that yeah are interesting but they Fall apart. Additionally i believe there has to be some sort of a competittion in mistercraft of how many mistakes on the boxes and manuals they can fit in and you can try to find them like easter eggs...

[@ModelMinutes]

lol, I just think they try to turn around a model kit in the short space of time they can rent the toolings for

[@joesanchez979]

Great kit

[@Dwarvious]

Whenever I see a Mistercraft kit in Hobbycraft I find myself rolling my eyes - no good respecting modeller is gunna buy that at that ludicrous price thinking “Yeah, I’m gunna enjoy building this one!” (Unless you’re a content creator and thought it’d be a funny unboxing 😉)

[@rodneypayne4827]

The PZL Karas from them is a Heller kit and is brilliant. I've built 2 and easier to build than the recent offerings by IGB for example.

[@ModelMinutes]

lol :P

[@danestewart2539]

The modelling society and industry should boycott and refuse mr craft from continuing as a company.. disgraceful… especially when you have companies such as Hobby 2000 doing the same thing, but with Hobby 2000 you get paint masks, cartograf decals, decent plastic from a reputable company.

[@markfranks1329]

In this case, I disagree. This is a Heller product and that means there's nothing wrong with this kit. Like Esci, Heller's 1/72 offerings are top notch. Like Esci, they only let themselves down with their 1/48 subjects. As for Hobby 2000, they're excellent if the subject uses a Hasegawa kit. How can that be bad?

[@ModelMinutes]

sometimes Mistercraft is a cheap option to get interesting subjects . . . sadly the quality is the only problem

[@markfranks1329]

@ModelMinutes There's nothing wrong with the plastic in this kit. As for decals? (oops, sorry, transfers🤭)I can't say. Judging by the negative comments, that's where they need to up their game, then. I built this kit on its release back in 1979 and it makes up into a more than acceptable 1/72nd F-86. Airfix themselves boxed this kit in the early 00s; 25 odd years after initial release, should say something of the quality. What was a disappointment was Airfix's recent 1/48th dual offerings of their F-86F-30/40. It's obvious the beancounters were given a say on this one. Not good.

[@MattsModellingMemories]

The trend of models being packaged in bigger and bigger boxes is rather irritating. This one particularly shows how unnecessary it is, when we see the tiny bag of sprues taking up far less space than available or needed.

[@ModelMinutes]

this is very true - i know companies are probably just using a standard box size most of the time, but it results in all that empty space

[@richardjordan5036]

It looks like revell is sell older heller molds or have bought mistercraft. I would not buy one......

[@ModelMinutes]

mistercraft is well known for reboxing other companies toolings

[@choppergunner8650]

The fact that Mistercraft takes old-ass kits (just like Heller) and simply re-makes them with shitty decals is honestly a travesty in 2024. We have so much better kits nowadays, who in their right mind would buy these? They're a total scam. My personal problem with Heller is that they still sell kits with raised panel lines in 2024.

[@ModelMinutes]

I think if they did something similar to other companies and put older kits in a clear "vintage" or older style range, it would be a good idea

[@plasticalchemist]

Mistercraft at is best. so much offer and no quality :)

[@Aardvark-dk]

Oh no....MisterCrap (sorry my pun...) They should be banned. I recently saw that they issued a Panther (tank). It was more expensive than fx. Tamiya ones...what a joke.

[@ModelMinutes]

oh wow!

[@pawelpw1161]

recently they got some panzer 1:35 kits from Ukrainian ICM, and Panther is one of them. They only prepare their own version of manual, decals and outer box. So I believe price range is similar to ICM kits

[@GeneKoro]

Your deep bias against Mr Craft is evidently well based, but to start a review lamenting how bad their kits are forecasts what you are going to say ... and that is painfully obvious as you proceed with the unboxing. For example, if you are going to harshly criticize the decals in the box, at least follow up with how they actually performed, vice how you think they'll do based on past poor experience. Not a fair review!

[@ModelMinutes]

Watch the video again. If you recall, I bought the kit because someone else told me it was the worst kit from them and I wanted to see if that was true. If you paid attention you’ll notice that I don’t actually think it’s the worst one they’ve made because I have experienced worse from them. Their decals are useless though, I suggest you watch any of my Mistercraft build videos to see why. I don’t think I need to “prove” they are bad by using them here when I have built a number of their kits and suffered the same problems with every single one. When Mistercraft starts improving, maybe they will get a more positive review… or maybe I shouldn’t be honest and let people buy bad products without fair warning?

[@GeneKoro]

@@ModelMinutes I rest my point.

[@sweetcorn1968]

Mistercraft are barely suitable for the Pond Squadron.