Saab J-35J Draken "Swedish"

[mack]

Hello,

I’m a new member of this community and I’ve decided to start my first “in progress” topic. Honestly this decision was boosted by the very nice feedback I’ve received after posting one of my models here.

The subject is “a Swedish Draken”. I have to admit that I’m not an expert neither on this flying machine nor on Swedish aviation but the memories of my early beginnings in plastic kits are strongly connected to the 1/100 scale Plastikart Draken. That was a different era, today the hobby looks more like OEM work but I do not regret it (I’m old, with job wife and kid and free time should be used efficiently, isn’t it?

Too much talk, what do we have?

The Revell/ Hasegawa kit (as you can see in the picture) and few “supporting” products: photoetched set and canopy masks from Eduard and turned brass Pitot tubes from Maestromodels. I do not want to spend a fortune on this subject so apart from the listed above, paints and stuff only my limited abilities will improve the model.

What do I want to do? … the perfect Draken, of course. Honestly, a lot less. Just a Swedish version in “grey colours and bright orange numbers”

As I said I’m not an expert so your support is highly appreciated. If you know something please say it here. I’ll try to transfer all that info into my model.

Let’s start with my (first) questions:

1. Any know issues regarding the geometry of the kit?

2. My experience with Revell decals is mixed – are the decals in this boxing of any use? Do they respond to the “setting stuff” or I have to consider aftermarket decals? The big number on the upper wings is not an issue as I’ve already decided to replace it with masks and paints.

3. I’m considering Vallejo Model Air paints for this; any known recipes for the two grey shades out of Vallejo Model Air range?

Venceremos,

mack

NB: for the moderators; considering the documentation component of this build thank you for moving the topic to a different category if you consider necessary.

[somnas]

Nice to see some Swedish engineering here, will follow!

[Spölle]

Hey mack!

I build this kit last year in the colorful Austrian Version. I found no big flaws, it goes together well, i needed no filler. The only disadvantage for me were the very empty air intakes and the rather basic cockpit (but you have Eduard on your side ), aside from this nice details.

The decals were no problem to me, with hot water and some Mr Mark Softer everything went smoothly! Even the big "Austarichi" Decal went good on the upper surface and was some time movable. So it should be no problem for you to use the big swedish numbers!

Hope this helps you a little bit! Enjoy the build!

[flarpen]

Nice to see some more Swedish subjects here, we are slowly taking over....

If you are using the kit provided Swedish decals, be sure to check references regarding the big wing numbers.

The fin tailcode is "50" but the big wing numbers is "05", this could be correct but i highly doubt it. It's more likely that the wing numbers also shall read "50".

Edit: I see you already mentioned the wing numbers in your post, but make sure you get the location of the 5 and 0 on the correct wing

/Johan

[mack]

Thank you all for the reactions.

Checking my references will be a very easy task as I do not have any…

Just supposed from pictures of other Drakens that it should read 50, but haven’t seen actual pictures of this airplane. With your hint I’ll add an additional vote on the supposition, thanks for pointing it out.

As for the empty intakes, I have to add something in there; some sort of a cone shaped piece of paper/ cardboard (inserted after fuselage closing) that will hopefully do the trick. I’ll come with additional explanations in a couple of days.

I will not be near my workbench in the next days but I’ll use this time for “planning” (I hate the word).

Venceremeos,

mack

[Jessica]

Like many of Revell's kits from the past decade or so, the decals were produced by Cartograph, so they'll react well to setting solutions and apply without very much trouble. They should also have good colour density and registration. Use them with confidence

[Bjorn]

Nice to see another build of my favourite subject! The geometry of the kit is basicly good, there are only a few minor errors. The body is a bit too shallow, but this is hard to see and almost impossible to correct. The large air intakes at the middle part of the upper half of the body are of wrong shape, but this will be noticed only by Draken rivet-counters (like me... ) A third mistake is the main wheel wells which have nothing to do with the ones at the real aircraft.

The decals came in two editions, on the original edition, the black outline on the yellow crowns are missing. The typeface for the numbers is not 100% correct, and the "10" is a bit over-sized. The blue (both editions) is also a bit too dark. There are aftermarket decals at www.rebell.com, but most builders will be satisfied with the decals in the box.

The seam between the outer wings are a bit difficult to get rid of, and to hide one of the cannons demands a little amount of putty. Byt apart from that, this is an easy and enjoyable build.

Edited November 28, 2013 by Bjorn

[Val]

Hiya, welcome to the forums, looking forward to seeing this aircraft come together

Cheers,

Val

[TobHol]

Nice to see a Draken build here.

About the decal sheet and the numbers for the grey jet. The sheet is correct!! At some point there was 2 aircraft with the same number at F10. To avoid misstakes the number was changed to 5,0 on one aircraft; therefore is it 05 on the wings and 5,0 on the fin.

Enjoy your build it is a really nice model.

/Tobias

[flarpen]

Nice to see a Draken build here.

About the decal sheet and the numbers for the grey jet. The sheet is correct!! At some point there was 2 aircraft with the same number at F10. To avoid misstakes the number was changed to 5,0 on one aircraft; therefore is it 05 on the wings and 5,0 on the fin.

Enjoy your build it is a really nice model.

/Tobias

Thanks for that interesting info Tobias

You learn something new every day.

[mack]

Hello,

I have completely failed with the WIP but at least I managed to finish the model; it qualifies as a half fail, don’t you think?

For those interested, the RFI is available here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235014474-172-saab-j35j-draken-revell-hasegawa/#comment-2588935

Building the 72^nd scale model bought me enough fun to think about a 48^th version, and here comes my question; or questions, as I have a couple…

I’ve narrowed my options to:

1. Finish single seater (camouflaged); any recommendations regarding the “additions” (resin, photoetched sets, decals, etc) next to Hasegawa kit? Is the new Eduard release a better starting point for a Finish Draken?

or

2. An 35C using Maestro models conversion set http://www.maestromodels.com/sk35c-draken-2-seater-conversion.html  ; any experience with the set? Any “colored” schemes apart omnipresent NMF?

Thank you for your input.

Regards,

Iulian

 

 

[Bjorn]

On 2017-01-09 at 19:27, mack said:

 

1. Finish single seater (camouflaged); any recommendations regarding the “additions” (resin, photoetched sets, decals, etc) next to Hasegawa kit? Is the new Eduard release a better starting point for a Finish Draken?

or

2. An 35C using Maestro models conversion set http://www.maestromodels.com/sk35c-draken-2-seater-conversion.html  ; any experience with the set? Any “colored” schemes apart omnipresent NMF?

Thank you for your input.

Regards,

Iulian

 

 

 

1. The easiest way to build a Finnish single-seater is to build one of the 35FS that were bought from Sweden. There are also license-built 35S, but these have another nosewheel (that are available in the S 35E/RF-35 release and Eduard's release). Late-style 35S also had chaff dispensers different from the Danish ones:

 

 

Aires have a resin cockpit for Finnish Drakens (although the differences from the Swedish ones are minimal). And there is of course tons of resin and photo-etch to other versions that can be used also here. Aires have a great set with wheel wells and a new exhaust as well as a gun and Eduard have a number of photo-etch sets both interior and exterior. Separate flaps can be bought from Aires and Maestro - however I know from my own experience that the Aires set i a bit too small. So I would recommend Maestro models here. 

Resin wheels and fin are also available, but to me these items are pretty unnecessary. The resin fin has the small air intake, which is good, But this one is easy to fix and the resin part has a bad fit.

 

There also are two Hasegawa releases with Finnish decals:

 

 

 

Note that the yellow one is a late-style 35S, and the chaff dispensers are not included in the kit.

 

2. The Maestro SK 35C set is pretty basic, some more interior details would have been welcome. The part behind the cockpit is made as a part of the canopy part, which on one hand makes fit easier if you build it woth close canopy, but on the other hand, you have to scratch-build some details, for instance the back "wall" behind the aft cockpit. The canopy fit is good, the exhaust cone demands a little work but is no big deal.

 

SK 35C were always NMF, no examples were camouflaged neither in Sweden nor in Finland. Swedish examples from the 90s carried red numbers and red fin tip and wingtips and are at least a little colourful:

 

 

And in the 80s they carried black numbers but red dayglow markings:

 

 

An alternative is the Danish TF-35 two-seater. This had the same nose, exhaust cone and wingtips as the recce and fighter versions and differs a lot from the Swedish examples. I built it a few years ago using the Hasegawa RF-35 kit and the second canopy included in the Maestro SK 35 conversion set;

 

 

 

But if you want to know more, just post me. A am happy to help any Draken builder!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mack]

5 hours ago, Bjorn said:

 

1. The easiest way to build a Finnish single-seater is to build one of the 35FS that were bought from Sweden. There are also license-built 35S, but these have another nosewheel (that are available in the S 35E/RF-35 release and Eduard's release). Late-style 35S also had chaff dispensers different from the Danish ones:

...

But if you want to know more, just post me. A am happy to help any Draken builder!

 

Hello Bjorn,

 

Thank you very much for the details. You just convinced me to stick to the 35FS; I'll leave the two seater for some other time or for 1/72 if only I'm able to locate an 1/72 kit...

As for my future 48th scale 35FS I'll rely on you to review my acquisition list (kit and accessories).

 

Regards,

Iulian