I have three warbirds and the Alfa Model's F-86 is my favorite. Not only does it have very nice scale looks but it is a joy to fly. Usually, when I build a plane and perform the break in first flight I have to do some major adjustments, but not on this plane. Hand launches are easy and landings are a breeze once you get the plane to slow down. Good slow speed characteristics.

The Alfa F86 is my personal favorite EDF by Alfa. I flew the daylights out of it and was VERY disappointed when it finally crashed. My one complaint on this kit is what caused its demise, the canopy retention method does not work well for higher speed setups. When I went to 4S on this plane the canopy had a habit of coming off when flying and on the last flight it struck the tail and broke the vertical and horizontal tail surfaces off the model. I will say I never had this issue on 3S and speeds up to ~95 mph. Only once you start going over 450 watts and 100 mph please be careful on how well your canopy is attached. You will definitely want to use the 5 blade Alfa rotor to make it fly like it should. Also adding an exit nozzle that is 1.8" diameter will optimize your setup.

I own several Alfas and this is one of my favorites. It's a beautiful little semi-scale plane with really no bad flying characteristics.

The build is fairly straight forward for even a fairly new builder like me. But, it is harder than prop-driven planes as you need to set-up/install the ducted fan and the spaces in which you must work are very tight. As with all Alfas it's well-designed and visually stunning, but is prone to "hangar rash."

This plane is not for beginners. Depending on your set-up, it can be pretty fast and the biggest challenge in flying it is that it will get very small, very fast. If you have experience with low wing aileron planes this is a nice addition to your warbird collection.

Great flying little jet. I've had both the F86 and the Mig and they both have terrific performance on the jet screamer motor or the blue inrunner that was previously spec'ed. Either plane will slide off ground easily, if you have a short grass strip...not recommended on pavement. Some say that they are too fragile, but my take on that is they are built to fly, not to crash, and I'd rather fly a light, nimble airplane than a "tank" any day. Thanks Alpha and Hobby Lobby!

Alpha F86 is a highly detailed ARF kit. Here is a rundown of what I liked and didn't:
1. Packaging- needs some additional protection for the main aileron wing tips, both had some impact dings on the very tip. Same was true for the elevator. Every thing else in the box was adequately protected
2. Instructions- might as well not have the type written only instructions. They were rambling and had no order to the assembly steps. There were no pictures or assembly steps to help. The full page pictorial of the F86 did more to the assembly of the model than the instructions. It would have helped to have photographs of the some of the details.
3. The model is very ding prone and care must be taken to not hanger rash this little beauty to death. A foam jig would be of tremendous help to hold the fuselage still and protect the surfaces.
4. The tail fin must be stiffened with a few drops of Gorilla Glue, done in two sessions.
5. The main wing assembly dihedral brace must be trial fitted before gluing one half in place. Using a pencil on the edges of the foam mark the location for the assembly position. Glue the brace to one wing half and let dry. Assemble the wing and tape the joint if you use the foaming urethane glue. Servo hole must be opened up to install the servo.
6. The aileron servo is a little bit of a trick to install. Installed the pushrod connector on to two aileron pushrod wires then on to the aileron servo arm. Use the inner most hole on the arm as not much travel is needed. Glue the servo directly to the wing skin in the servo hole location.
7. Setting up the exhaust duct requires an extension to be added to the provided foam tube. Extension can be made of any thin light weight paper or mylar film. Don't glue it on until the fan and motor are setup as the slit in the foam tube for the motor wires needs to be aligned first. Get the extension shaped and just sung fit on to the foam tube.
8. Set up the motor and fan assembly. The preferred motor is the Jetsceamer and the 5 balded fan. The motor wires are really stiff and not easy to manipulate. Cut and exit hole at the front edge of the fan motor housing to run the motor wires back to the plastic tail cone. The tail cone was notched to provide the motor wires a path into the cone and into one of the vanes. The vane hole opening had to be enlarged with a dremel and a drill bit. Also made 3 cooling holes around the plastic motor housing. The tail cone was CAed to the fan housing. None of this type info is provided. Had to invent and read blogs of what others had done.
Either Alpha or the Jetscreamer vendor should make up a possible build sequence for this. This is the most difficult part of this kit.
9. Be sure to line up the motor exit wires and vane to one of the fan housing vanes. and take note that the plastic ring on the carbon fiber fan housing fits into the bulkhead with one of the mounting lugs in the up position. This orients the motor wire vane and the tube extension in the tail.
10.The ply battery tray that was intended to fit under the canopy in the top of the fuse severely limits the battery size. Opted to cut the rear 1/4 off and mount the elevator servo. The front 1/4 made the forward fuse support at the front edge of the canopy. The canopy plastic inner lip has to be trimmed to make it fit on the fuse properly. Used velcro to holed the battery to the intake duct.
Did not like the canopy attachment method. The popsicle stick does not hold the forward edge of the canopy flush. Also every sudden stop in grass pops the canopy open as it tends to slide forward.
11. The decals are flimsy and not very durable. Protective coatings are required to make any kind of hand launch possible with out destroying the decal.
Liked the performance of the model with the Jetscreamer and the 5 blade fan and a 2100 lipo. Gets 6-7 minutes 1/2 throttle to WOT flight. Very stable, does not want to tip stall or spin.
Cost of the foam is high but the quality of the model is very good. The decals are fragile and need some work.
If you want to fly an F86, this one gets you there in a hurry and it is a blast to fly.

This plane is an excellent flyer. Turns and tracking are solid with no bad tendencies. This jet flies with authority. A must for any Saber fan.

About 3 months after I bought the Mig 15, I had to try out the F-86. In many ways these planes fly the same but with the F-86 I had to hand launch the plane. Later I added the drop tanks so I could take the plane off from the grass. Adding the drop tanks did have an impact on the planes performance, notably slower roll and the top speed decreased some however not to the point it made it any less fun to fly. Like the Mig 15 this plane is a breeze to land with good slow speed flight. It is a fantastic looking plane in the air and a joy to fly.

This plane is for intermediate flyers. It’s nice and small so it’s easy to transport but you have to be careful as it’s made of foam.

This is a great flying model. Go with the 5 blade fan option, you won't be dissapointed! Tracks very well, easy to put together. Being made of foam, the airplane will begin to show some hangar rash after a while, but don't they all?