Saab Draken colours

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

I fancy sticking my Hasegawa 1/72 Draken together but I have a question about what colours to paint it. I've been looking at the Eduard 1/48 instructions (better painting guide) and they say to use the following (Gunze) colours - 304 and 305 on top and 31 underneath. I've checked on a well known paint conversion chart to see what it says the Vallejo Model air equivalents are. Dark Sea Green (more of a Dark Grey), Olive Drab (more of a Brown Olive Drab) and Dark Sea Grey underneath. I'm not entirely convinced that the Olive Drab should be a Browner shade, I would have thought it would be more of a Green and isn't Dark Sea Grey a bit too dark for the underside? Any ideas folks?

 

thanks

Mike 

[Jens]

This is what I used for my first Swedish Draken (Draken build thread):

Humbrol 77 lightened with Humbrol 96 for the blueish colour, Xtracolor FS14086 lightened with Faded Olive Drab for the green colour, and Xtracolor FS16173 for the lower surfaces.

 

HTH,

 

Jens

 

[rod mcq]

I have dug out some notes on Swedish colours I was given by the Swedish AF SIG years ago.

 

The colours for the Draken are given as  - uppersurfaces - 328 Dark Olive green and 438 Dark Blue Grey with undersides in 058 Light Blue Grey.

 

suggested FS Matches for the 3 colours were 34086 for the Dark Olive Green,  34052 for the Dark Blue Grey and 35237 for the Light Blue Grey.

 

The Scale Aircraft Modelling Aircraft in Detail article on the Draken (Vol 7/9 June 1985) gave the same FS matches for the upper surface colour but FS 36152 for the undersides

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by rod mcq
correcting spelling

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Thanks chaps, that's confirmed some of what I was thinking. I'm now trying to see what my best matches are with the paints I already have. Most of my paints are for WW2 stuff - RAF/FAA, USAAF/USN, Luftwaffe, IJA/IJF, so I'm not too fussed about 100% accuracy as long as they are near enough. My first thoughts are something like RAF Extra Dark Sea Grey/RLM71 Olive Green over Med Sea Grey. If anyone can suggest any better matches, I'm willing to listen

 

thanks

Mike

[e8n2]

8 hours ago, rod mcq said:

I have dug out some notes on Swedish colours I was given by the Swedish AF SIG years ago.

 

The colours for the Draken are given as  - uppersurfaces - 328 Dark Olive green and 438 Dark Blue Grey with undersides in 058 Light Blue Grey.

 

suggested FS Matches for the 3 colours were 34086 for the Dark Olive Green,  34052 for the Dark Blue Grey and 35237 for the Light Blue Grey.

 

The Scale Aircraft Modelling Aircraft in Detail article on the Draken (Vol 7/9 June 1985) gave the same FS matches for the upper surface colour but FS 36152 for the undersides

 

Quoting from the new book "Swedish Jet Fighter Colours" by Mikael Forslund and Thierry Vallet in the Mushroom White series, 328 is 34064, 438 is 35042, and 358 is 35237.  Myself personally I will go with something more like 36231 for the undersides.  35237 looks way too blue.  The upper colors sound about right.  To each their own.

Later,

Dave

[Bjorn]

Far too late, but if anyone else is interested... But since this is my favourite topic, I just have to answer. 

 

Swedish Drakens got extremely weathered, especially the blue colour, so the perfect colour match depends on if you want to build an early or late one. 

 

- The green is browner than you might think. A mix of 2/3 Gunze H52 Olive Drab and 1/3 Gunze H309 Olive Green is a good match.

- For the underside, Gunze H307 with a little Gunze H335 is close enough. Both are different shades of grey with a little blue.

- Blue for early examples, a 50/50 mix of Gunze H55 Midnight Blue and Tamiya XF-17 Sea Blue is fairly good.

- Blue for late examples: Start with Tamiya Sea Blue and check references. Some examples even turned almost turquise. 

 

 

 

[Antti_K]

3 minutes ago, Bjorn said:

- Blue for late examples: Start with Tamiya Sea Blue and check references. Some examples even turned almost turquise.

Hello Bjorn!

 

Indeed they did turn into turquoise. I remember at least two of our "Bertils" here in Finland Which had patches of vivid turquoise on their tails in the 1990s.

 

For my eye 34086 is far too green for Draken. The paint looked very brownish even when newly applied.

 

Here is my Lansen. I used Humbrol Enamels and a paintbrush.

- 328 Dark Olive Green = Hu 108 with a touch of Hu 100

- 438 Dark Blue = Hu 15 + Hu 9 and some Hu 32 to tone the paint down

- 058 Light Blue Gray = Hu 145

 

 

 

My model represents a rather new airframe from the early 1970s.

 

Kind Regards,

Antti

[Bjorn]

(Edited with more examples)

 

Great build! And I totally agree, 34086 is far too green. As I suggestiv, Olive Drab is a far better match.

 

I almost built the same individual as you - but as it looked like at the end of its service. And here, the blue really is closer to turquise. I used the colours I suggested, mixed with light grey to get the faded effect :

 

 

Here is a faded Draken, where I used the same colours, but mixed them differently (more blue in the blue):

 

 

And here is my Saab Safir, same camouflage, but painted as if it was new. As Antti points out, the "green" is rather close to brown, at least when it was new. It turned a bit more green as the colours faded.

 

 

(If someone wonders: This is on topic - these Lansens and some Safirs were painted with the same colours as the Drakens.) 

Edited March 30, 2018 by Bjorn
More examples added.

[Antti_K]

Beautiful models Bjorn! Excellent job. The paintwork looks stunning.

 

Did you use the A32 or J32 kit for your Lansen? Mine is an A32 and it required a lot of work to convert into a J32E. Where did you get the Petrus pod? I scratch built mine but got a resin and PE Remsfallare.

 

You got me off the ground; I must start something Swedish at once

 

Kind Regards,

Antti

[Bjorn]

Thanks! I am happy to hear that I can inspire you to build Swedish. And I have to start my Finnish 35S Draken soon!

 

The Lansen is actually Hobbyboss. Far better than its reputation, some minor adjustments are necessary, decals are crap and those know all about Lansen will still see some faults impossible to fix. But for 99 % of the people it looks like a Lansen, and it is far more easy to build, fit is excellent. And the pods are included in the kit that, strangely enough, is best suited to build a J 32E. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by Bjorn

[Antti_K]

I'm a big fan of the Flygvapnet (especially the Cold War era). My latest project was Tp52 Canberra and it really was a Project using the Airfix 1/48 scale kit. On the bench are J26 and S31. A Really Cool Subject would be S102 (Hugin eller Munin). I also have a Learjet 24 project in Svedair yellow-blue livery. Unfortunately I haven't located a single photo showing the aircraft interior so it is on hold at the moment. A yellow Meteor NF.11 target tug in civil markings is also very tempting... So please keep on inspiring me

 

Now I know that I must try my hands on the Hobby Boss Lansen; the result looks really good. This time a very, very weathered example.

 

Kind Regards,

Antti