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OK. This is not a Swedish tank, but in a way it started it all. I bought the AH-IV-R Tankette from Attack to convert it in to a Swedish Strv m/37 but never got around to start on it. Instead I found a Strv m/37 resin kit from Planet Model. Both kits were built out of the box. The IBG came along with their Landsverk L-60 series. This is the Strv m/38 Strv m/39 Strv m/40L and finally the m/40K I had tried to convert the Pz38(t) in to a Swedish Strv m/41 without success a couple of times. But then UM released it as a kit. I bought two so I could backdate one in to the Strv m/41 SI The kit is for the Strv m/41 SII. It is longer and have a different turret. More of pictures of these models and a description of the m/41 conversion can be found on my home page. Now I need to build a Strv m/42 to get the WW2 tank collection complete.

Hi all, While I'm normally an aircraft & sci-fi fan, I've just finished this one for the Ragnar's Return - Nordic II GB here on the forum. I haven't built an armour kit since I was a kid but had great fun with this one and might build some more. Kit: Trumpeter 1/72 No. 07220 Strv 103c S tank Build: Out of Box Paints: Halfords plastic primer, Tamyia acrylics; Klear, Flory Wash; Pastels; Matt Varnish Decals: From kit Extras: None Trumpeter_S-Tank_172 (1) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Trumpeter_S-Tank_172 (2) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Trumpeter_S-Tank_172 (9) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Trumpeter_S-Tank_172 (3) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Trumpeter_S-Tank_172 (7) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Trumpeter_S-Tank_172 (6) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Thanks for looking, stay safe and happy modelling. All the best, Dermot

This kit was actually quite good, considering its age. I can't actually find out how old it is, but this version was made in the 90s. It went together well, though it is fairly simple. The decals are ok, but they are old and therefore I have lost two, simply due to them falling off. Although easy, I think this may be my favourite build. See finished kit here

J-8 Gladiator WWII Swedish Fighter (32044) 1:32 ICM The Gladiator was the last biplane fighter used by the RAF due to the introduction of more modern monoplanes. The Gladiator was designed in response to an Air Ministry requirements for an aircraft capable of 250mph armed with at least four machines guns. Gloster decided that rather than developing a brand new fighter they could capitalise on their Gauntlet design. This modified design would dispense with a pair of interplane struts to reduce drag and follow a wing design developed by Hawkers. The "new" aircraft would use the 700 hp Bristol Mercury engine. The prototype flew in 1934, with the first production aircraft being delivered in 1937. The Gladiator was probably the pinnacle of biplane design with its streamlining, closed cockpit and heavier armament, While the RAF ordered 180 aircraft the biplane design was really at the end of its life with more modern types being introduced. The type saw service in France in 1940, and on the home front in the Orkneys. Overseas they were used in Norway and most famously in the defence of Malta. Here these aircraft managed to defend the Island against superior Italian forces. Gladiators also saw service in North and East Africa as well as in Greece and the Middle East. Gladiators would also see combat service in Belgium, China and lastly Finland. Sweden received 37 Mk I which they designated (Jaktplan 8) J-8, and 18 Mk IIs designated J-8A.The 37 J-8s were built new from 1927-1938 and were fitted with NOHAB built Bristol Mercury VIS2 engines. The 12 J-8As were built new in 1938 and were fitted with NOHAB built Bristol Mercury VIIIS.3 engines. The Gladiators were in action from January 1940 against Russian attacks on Finland and some were like other Swedish Aircraft fitted with skis for landing on snow. The Kit This is a new tool from ICM who really do seem to be giving us kits we want at the moment. On initial inspection the kit looks very good, this is the original Mk.I kits with an additional sprure for the Ski landing gear and different guns. There is plenty of detail and the moulding is first class. The fabric effects are not over done and the sprue gates are quite fine. This is the Mark I aircraft however be assured a Mark II and Sea Gladiator are scheduled by ICM. Construction starts with the cockpit and interior. Framework sides are added into each fuselage half with appropriate control systems and additional parts being added. Into the each side the fuselage mounted guns are also added at this stage. The cockpit itself with the seat, rudder controls, and the pilots compass is constructed and added into the left fuselage, The coaming around the cockpit is then added along with the main instrument panel and its coaming. Behind the cockpit the rear decking and bulkhead are added in. After the addition of the tail wheel to the rear of the fuselage, the two halves are then ready to go together. Once this is done the gun sight can be put in place. We now move toe the rear tail surfaces with the rudder and tail planes being constructed and added on. All of the moveable surfaces are separate parts. Back onto the front of the fuselage the pilots entry doors at each side are added along with the prominent side mounted oil cooler. Its worth noting here that the surface moulding of this part seems to accurately match the real thing. The canopies can now be added. The instructions show the front and rear being added first with the main canopy going over these. Next the lower main wing is assembled and added. There is a one part lower section to this with left and right uppers. The lower main wing part form the bottom of the fuselage in that area. Separate ailerons are then added. To the aft lower fuselage a plug section is added, this would appear to be in the area the arrestor hook will be on the Sea Gladiator version. Next up the top wing is assembled. This is in upper and lower parts with the ailerons as separate parts. Once together this can be joined to the lower wing with the outer struts and the inner ones attaching to the fuselage. There are positive locating points for all the struts. Next up the main gear is added. These seem quite strong with an inner part for the axle being sandwiched between the parts for the gear legs. The gun pods also need to go under the wings at this point. We now move to the front of the aircraft and the engine. Given the scale the engine is as detailed as the plastic parts can make it and it looks to be a good representation of the real thing. To the front is added the exhausts and collector ring. A three part cowling then goes over the engine. The engine details and exhausts here vary depending on the variant being built (though ICM really dont offer any expiation of this in the instructions). The front machine guns are then added along with the lower exhaust parts. The prop can then be added to the engine and the whole assembly mounted to the front of the fuselage. To finish up rigging diagrams are provided for the modeller to correctly rig the aircraft. Markings There are markings for three aircraft in this boxing J-8A, No.284 Yellow F, Swedish Voluntary Wing F19, Finland 1940 J-8A, No.278 Yellow H, Swedish Voluntary Wing F19, Finland 1940 J-8A, No.278/48, Fighter Wing F8, Barkarby 1939. Decals are printed by ICM, with good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It is good to see a new kit of this important RAF type being released. Even in 1/32 this is not overly large. ICM have done a great job with this kit. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Here is my latest completed built, the Hasegawa kit #09837 of the Draken (Dragon) J-35J. The kit comes with lovely decals to build one of two special marking aircraft so I chose this one as it kept the underlying camo scheme. This is a great kit that goes together with a minimum of fuss.

Hi guys, most of the time I´am into aircraft modelling but after more than ten years I gave another try to an tank. It´s the Trumpeter Strv 103C in 1/72 scale in typical swedish splinter camo. I was fascinated by the so called S-Tank since a long time because of his unusual design. The tank itself was built oob except the towing cable, the infantryman was converted from a modern Zvezda GI. The trees are my first attempt in building them from stranded wire, fleece and Noch-scatter-material. Edit 28.11. ...some more pics... I hope you like this little sidestep, some more will follow. Comments and criticism are appreciated.

Last summer I bought Academy's 1/72 P-51B during a visit to Canada, and subsequently painted it before realizing I didn't really know what markings I wanted to put on it. Since then, it sat back in it's box. Over the past few weeks, I've started to go back through unfinished kits so that I can finally get them done. Using some Swedish roundels that came from a Microscale Texan sheet, I decided to finish the P51B as J-26 #26001, the first Mustang in Swedish service. The aircraft came into Swedish hands after an American pilot landed it there in the spring of 1944. The '16' on either side of the fuselage has been added since the photo was taken, courtesy of a Foxbot P-40 Stencil Sheet. The shape isn't exact, but I don't care to spend anything to get it closer. I went light on the stencils this time as most of the ones in the kit weren't legible. Paint is Tamiya Khaki over Vallejo Neutral Gray. Brush painting with Tamiya isn't easy, but I think it gave this one a decent weathered look. Prop and landing gear are all mostly painted and awaiting a few decals and touch ups. Hopefully this will be done by the end of the week. Thanks, Tweener

I'm gonna regret this. I have the Renwal's Fabulous Flying Machine kits and got the "bright idea" of building the Bleriot as a Thulin model A as it was a modified Bleriot. I started with the stabiliser. The material used looks oversized. But I need some material to sand down in to the shape I want. I was curious on how the Aeroskin work so I started on the bottom of the wing. The instructions told me to lay the aeroskin on the wing and brush liquid glue on. It would seep through the skin and melt the plastic that would go into the pores of the skin bonding it. I thought that one of the benefits using this kit instead of the Frog kit is that I have to add the plywood covering on the fuselage and it is shorter on this plane than on the Frog. If I had used the Frog kit I would have to remove much material. That was wishful thinking. I had glued the fuselage together and was trying to figure out how to fix a Gnome Omega engine to it, but it did not work. The fuselage was to narrow. The Frog kit was out of the competition so I have to keep working with this one. One option is to scratch build the fuselage but I will use parts of the kit fuselage. On the positive side is that I'm using round rod to rebuild it so it will be more like the original.

LvKv 90 Anti-Air Vehicle (84507) 1:35 HobbyBoss via Creative Models Ltd. Based upon the original Combat Vehicle 90 (CV90), this anti-aircraft light tank uses the same chassis with a 40mm Bofors autocannon in a new turret, which is guided by a Thales radar unit perched on top of the turret in a cylindrical housing. LvKv stands for Luftvärnskanonvagn, which translates to self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon, with the 90 representing the decade of its birth. It can fire programmable proximity-fused fragmentation or armour piercing rounds, which coupled with the complex computer algorithms used in targeting, calculating velocity and direction of the target, speed of rounds, ballistic drop make for a highly accurate weapon that will put the fear of immediate perforation in any passing enemy that lingers in range (up to 14km) for more than a couple of seconds. It can also track up to six targets at once, far beyond that of any mere human and a useful force multiplier. Although it isn’t strictly speaking a frontline vehicle, it is well-enough armoured to withstand armour piercing rounds from most APCs to its frontal armour, and small arms fire from the back and sides. It is also a connected fighting vehicle, benefitting from and contributing to a better overall situational awareness of their forces that is an incredibly useful tool in battle that all modern forces aspire to have. It gets around the battlefield thanks to a Scania 550hp diesel engine that drives the tracks and also act as propulsion in water with the fitment of a flotation kit that gives it greater all-terrain capability. The Kit Based upon their initial 2012 release of the CV90-40C, but without all the appliqué armour of the IFV, and with a new turret gun and radar “pot”. In its splinter camouflage it is an attractive design, and from the box it is well-detailed throughout with individual link tracks and separate track-pads. From the standard Hobby Boss box come fourteen sprues and three hull and turret parts in sand-coloured styrene, four sprues of track-pads in black, thirty trees of track-links in a metallic grey, a small clear sprue, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, a sheet of decals, and the instruction booklet with separate painting guide. In an unusual turn of events, construction begins with the vehicle’s rear hatches, which are festooned with styrene and PE parts before completion. Then the more predictable make-up of the four-part drive sprockets (x2), four-part road wheel pairs (x14), and two-part idler wheels, which are set aside until after the lower hull and its swing-arm suspension is finished off. The rear hatch made earlier is added to the stepped underside, clear lights are slotted inside the sloped front of the upper hull, and a number of PE parts are added around them next to the front fenders. Now you can add all those wheels, then make up the tracks. Each side uses 82 links comprising two parts, with two sprue gates on the pads, and three on the metallic-coloured links, all of which is sensibly placed and easy to clean up. It took a few minutes to make up the example section of 6 links for the review, and you can even leave off the pads until after painting the tracks if you are modelling it clean, scuffing the pads with a sanding stick before you glue them in for a bit of realism. With the hull joined, a number of pioneer tools are attached to the rear along with pre-moulded towing cables that are supplied with PE tie-downs, with styrene grab-handles on the glacis and a nicely detailed driver’s hatch added. At the rear is an access hatch for the engine, and on the sides a pair of skirts are fixed to blocks on the hull sides. More PE and clear parts are fitted on the rear bulkhead, with a number of PE grilles added to the deck and a trio of aerials at the very rear. The Bofors cannon is a simple affair, made up from a four-part mount and a barrel with concertina recoil bag at its base, split horizontally with a single piece flared muzzle fitted last. The barrel is slipped through the turret from the inside and is trapped in place by the cut-outs as the lower turret is glued in place. It should remain mobile if you don’t drown the joint in glue. With that the turret is detailed with a stowage bustle, more stowage on the sides, smoke grenade launchers, hatches, grab-handles and lots of little PE camo-tie-down parts that are shown in detail in a larger scrap diagram on the same page. The turret is finished off with a sighting box in front of the gunner’s position, the big radar pot, spare track-links and a shrouded barrel of the coax machine gun. The turret twists into position and is held in place by the bayonet lugs on the side of the turret ring. Markings As is often the case with HB kits, there’s only one decal option supplied with precious little background information, and that’s for a splinter camouflaged vehicle with yellow number 143030. The decals included in the kit are minimal, as befits an armour kit, and they have good enough registration, colour density and sharpness for the task in hand. Conclusion I like anything with the Swedish splinter, and this futuristic-looking vehicle looks great in the box, and once complete it will have provided plenty of modelling enjoyment, as well as breaking up the standard green of our shelves. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi All, I have just posted the final pictures of my 1/48 Special Hobby (Tarangus) Saab Viggen in the Nordic Group build so I thought I'd share them here as well for the non-group builders. This is the original boxing with no resin additions, only the sidwinders are extra. The RB04 anti ship missiles are converted Hunter drop tanks using plastic card and sprue. Decals are aftermarket items. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. More views on the WIP thread. here Colins Saab Viggen WIP The modelling has been helped a lot by our Nordic members contributing their detailed knowledge to this and many other builds. Cheers Colin W

Hi there. Just finished another swedish jet a few days ago. It´s a conversion from Hasegawas J35F to a S35E using a lot of Maestro Models nice stuff. I used etched parts for the cockpit, a new nose and extra fuel tanks, a KB pod, the RWR pods under the wings and the complete tailcone. From Pavla came a new vacu formed canopy, from Pilot Replicas the pilot and from Hasegawa the ground crew member. The ladder is also an etches part from Maestro. Daniel

Hi guys. I want to show you my latest finished build. It´s the Special Hobby Do 27 in 1:72 scale, a realy nice and well made kit. My modell shows the swedish version, Fpl 53, a Do 27A-4. Sweden got five Fpl 53 delivered in 1962. Three of them were lost in accidents, the remaining two were retired in 1991. The fitting of the kit is nearly perfect and the details are very nice. I only added the seatbelts and some foil for the cabin lagging. The steps from the kit, the exhaust pipes and some antennas were also replaced. The modell is painted with Gunze H309, decals came from different aftermarket sheets. I hope you like the little Swede. Daniel

Hi guys. I want to sho you some pics of my recent project, the EE Canberra T.Mk.11 from AMP. The kit is based on the S&M Models Canberra, AMP added some etched parts and two different noses for this version. I will build one of the two possible swedish aircrafts. Like most aircraft builds it starts with the cockpit. It´s niceley detailed and the seat from the box are okay too. The clear part fitts not very well, I think it´s my fault, dry fitting was not so bad. First nose test, I think i will build 8-02 with the round one and the dayglow markings at its fin. Cheers Daniel

I got a Heller SAAB J 21A out from the stash. I decide to try another approach attaching wings to the fuselage. The wings are three parts, one large bottom and two parts for the top so I started by building them together as I always done before. But when I got to the fuselage I only glued the part in front of the cockpit and let it set. Then I glued the fuselage to the wing assembly leaving the rear of the fuselage unglued. This way I could press the fuselage out to the wings leaving no gap to be filled. When the glue had set I glued the top of the rear fuselage together. Now I had to add a small wedge of plastic card under the rear fuselage but I find this easier to sand after I add filler to it than to fill and sand a fuselage-wing joint. I have made holes in the front of the booms for landing lights. With the booms still off I can build landing light inserts an mount them from behind. I have also made a hole on the left wing for a new pitot tube. I am building a late version and the tube was moved from the right wing to the left. I managed to break of the gun in the nose an while looking at pictures I noticed that the gun isn't mounted exactly in the centre so I'll fix that when I build a new gun. I sanded away the structure on the aileron's as I'm building one with ailerons made of metal. A bomb pylon is built using a F-18 pylon as a base and wing tip tanks leftover from the Broplan J 21R conversion set. The air intake on the fuselage side has been drilled out a bit .Guns are replaced with brass tubing. I had to add some filler to the boom/wing joint but the big problem with this kit is to build the canopy trying to fit the parts together. I have added some rocket mounts that was leftover from a Special Hobby J 21R. I found an easy way to fill the landing light holes to get something to glue the lights to. My first thought was to add some plastic card but to get it in the right shape and size would be tricky and then to get it in place. Instead I inserted a ball of Magic Sculp (two component clay) from behind. Then I sanded a piece of sprue to a square shape that fits the hole and pressed the clay back so I get some space and a flat surface for the light. I also found some left over seat belts from a Lansen build that I used. Not correct but hardly visible.

In 2012 I started on these: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234931616-a-pair-of-dc-9/ and finally I have finished them. SAS DC-9-20 I used LN-decals for it. They were hard and a bit brittle, I don't know if they are old. I have had them for some time now. Finnair DC-9-50. TwoSix decals was used on this one. They were soft and flexible but a little bit on the thick side.

I have managed to finish some old kits this summer. Boeing 727-200 A rather quick build. Less than two month. Decals from 26 decals. Well not a Swedish plane but Denmark is close enough. I have wanted a Sterling 727 since the 1970's and finally I have one. The Caravelle's wasn't as fast to build. I thing that I started on them around 2006. Decals from F-DCAL But I should have bought new engines for it but I didn't want to dig in to references so I built it out of the box. Not a Swedish plane but it says SAS on the side. Good enough for me. I think these decals came from F-DCAL as well. Thai Airways International was founded in 1960 as a joint venture between Thailand's domestic carrier, Thai Airways Company (TAC) and Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) In 1977 the Thai Government bought out SAS and THAI became fully owned by the Thai government. I had built this Air France plane back in 2006 and after I had finished it I found decals for SAS and Thai so I had to buy more kits. Built straight out of the box with the decals supplied in the kit.

I had a Minitunnan going: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235024842-scrambled-eggs/ It has been finished. I decided to cut the front of the Tunnan canopy and combine it with the Lancaster radom. Decals are from a Revell issue of the Matchbox kit. I had to replace the roundels as they now was to big for this plane. I gave up on the thought of adding landing gears and put it on a Matchbox stand as I thought it looked better "flying".

It's been a long time since I actually wrote something here on Britmodeller, but here I am... :-) I'm going to build the new resin kit of the Swedish Air Force fighter J 22 in 1:48 scale from Planet Models. The FFVS J 22 is probably not very well known outside of Sweden. I'm not going to tell the entire story behind this little neat looking aircraft. For those who wants to know more I can recommend this site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120213150808/http://www.hobbybokhandeln.se/j22/index.htm Back in 2008 I visited the "Spielwarenmesse" in Nuremberg. I went there with a plan to convince some of the manufacturers to produce some kits of my favourite Swedish aircraft. I had a large pile of books filled with references about the SAAB J 21, the FFVS J22 and Swedish stuff in general. I ended up with the nice people at MPM/Special Hobby who showed great interest. I donated all my books to them... I'd like to think that I'm some way involved in at least this kit I now am going to build here. :-) I'm going to start by saying that I'm sorry if my language is lacking (I'm from Sweden) and for my photos are somewhat of poor quality. I mainly use my mobile phone which has a very bad camera. I forgot to take pictures of the kit before I started to build... Here are some of the main resin components after cleanup. Although it is not apperant in this lousy photo the quality of the resin parts is excellent. The first impression is that the fit also is very good. The canopy is vacu and is very clear and you got an extra spare if you fail with the first one. The undercarriage is in white metal and you get a small etched sheet with some nice details. I mentioned a book about the J 22 earlier and it's excellent. It's "FFVS J22 - Flyghistorisk Revy" and is from around 1990. The book contains some very nice, detailed drawings. I tried to match the main parts to the drawings and the actually match perfectly! I suspect that Planet Models used this book when they designed the kit... :-) Note the matching detail on the rudders and flaps! My only complaint so far is that the detail on the rudders and flaps are a bit overstated. A few swipes with the sanding stick fixed that without any troubles. I also have the Kora FFVS J 22 which was the only J 22 in 1:48 prior to this release. The Planet Model kit is a much better kit. However I'm going to use a few pieces from Kora, for example some of the etch is better. I'm also replacing the engine with a C-47/DC-3 one from Quickboost. Not that there is much wrong with the Planet Model one but the detail is a little sharper and I got a few of those Quickboost engines very cheap at a local swap meet. Here is the Quickboost C-47/DC-3 engine with some detail from the Kora etched sheet. I know it's a bit pointless since the J 22 had a rather big spinner in front hiding most of the engine. Well, I already had the engine lying around on my bench so... Here is it after applying some paint. It will do... There were a few airbubbles in the resin at the very front of the cowling so they had to be filled. I splashed on a litte Tamiya silver spray paint to see if I suceeded in removing them. To be continued... Andreas

For the 50 year anniversary of the first flight of the Viggen I built two Lansen's used in the test program. First out is a A 32A Lansen "Gamma" used for tests of the Radar and some electronics. It is a Heller 1/72 kit with "Gamma" parts from Maestro Models and decals from Moose Republic (ex. RBD decals) Next is a J 32B used for ejection seat tests. Also a Heller kit that was converted to the Fighter variant J 32B using the conversion set from Maestro Models. I had to scratch build a new canopy and the fairing behind the cockpit and also the camera pods on the wing tips. The decals are the J 32 prototype decals from Moose Republic and some of my own,

I have been building Viggen prototypes The first one is the full scale wooden mock up that SAAB built before the actual prototypes. 37-0 Airfix 1/72 conversion. Next is the first prototype 37-1 Also an Airfix kit. Built with the canards pointing upward like they were initially. Second prototype 37-2 Also an Airfix kit. Canards in the normal position. The first two Viggens had green cockpits and since the Airfix kit was bare I made some paper cockpits for them. Frontal view of 37-1 and 37-2 Next is the fifth prototype, 37-5 A converted Hasegawa kit. It got the modified wings with a "sawtooth" and moved radar warning so I had to convert the wings. The first prototype after modifications. As it looked with modified wings and the raised spine in front of the fin. During spin tests it got a bit more colourful. Built from a Matchbox kit. 37800 the two seat prototype. Matchbox kit with the low fin from a Heller kit. The twin seater got an higher fin but Matchbox didn't do this correct so I decided to build the prototype in it's initial form with the lower fin.

Yesterday it was 50 years since the first flight of the Viggen so I built myself another viggen to commemorate this. Heller 1/72 SAAB AJ 37 in early configuration. It means using the small twin intakes in front of the external fuel tank and the larger fin under the tail. Same as the two seater. Armament are two Rb 05 missiles and two 30mm gun pods.

Ending 2016 with another Draken Since it was an US boxing from MPC I decided to build it American. I rescribed the panel lines drilled out some air intakes and tried to make the kit look a little more modern without adding any extra money into it. I have been tinkering with paper cockpits for my Viggens and decided to draw one for the Draken as well.

Swedish submarines I had earlier built the HMS Gotland in 1/350 from OKB Grigorov and started a search for the other Swedish submarine that have been made as a model. That was the HMS Västergötland from Sea Wolf. The searchtook a couple of year but finally I got one. It isn't a very large kit in 1/350 scale. The finished kit. Two of the submarines in this class got modified with Stirling engines and I wanted to build one. I was lucky to find a second kit so I could start one. This conversion fought me. After all work with putty and sanding was done I managed to break it apart so I had to glue it together again and start all over. To finish it I had to make a similar propeller as on the HMS Gotland. (Plastic card and the tip of an aircraft missile) Here they are together. Gotland, Södermanland an Västergötland. Named after provinces in Sweden. (The Gotland build: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234930841-hms-gotland-finished

The Hasegawa Draken is one of those kits that is just a joy to build: accurate form, good fit, great surface detailing. This one is augmented with Eduard J-35 Draken details (mainly cockpit and wheel wells) and masks. The downside with Hasegawa kits of this era are the decals: thick, with the white rendered in ivory and the Draken is no exception. I had been planning to build this as an Austrian J-35O (with an IPMS Austria decal sheet) until I picked up the Flying Colors Aerodecals J-35F/J decals. This sheet is a big improvement on the kit decals and enabled me to build this as a J-35F2 in the original Swedish camouflage colours, which look good to me. The Rb28 (Hughes AIM-4D) missiles are from a Hasegawa weapons set. I know the trailing edge control surfaces should be angled slightly down but I can live with it and I’m happy with the overall result. Chris PS The khaki green looks a lot browner in these photos than it does in real life, even though they were taken in natural light!

Heller 1/72 with Maestro's fighter conversion and etch. Sadly there is no towing equipment available for the B-version. There is one for the D.version but that is a completely different winch. I started to build the Del Mar winch using Phoenix missiles cut in two different lengths. That will give me a stronger bond so that I don't brake it while sanding. The start of my Del Mar winch is at the bottom right. The rest are a MBV-2S winch with two counterweight bombs that I will use on a J 32D version sometime. With a winch one need something to tow also. The larger one is a Del Mar DF4 and the smaller a Del Mar DF14 made from various things from the spare part box and some plastic.