Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 We are mostly used to seeing the Saab Draken in its later models as a very capable multirole fighter. However it started life as a pure point-defence interceptor. This build will represent one of the early J35As, This one in fact. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License,_version_1.2 This aircraft has the early short intakes, fin and exhaust, together with a different spine and canopy. The olive drab in the cam appears darker and browner than usual, although that may just be an artefact of this photo. Nevertheless, I am going to try and represent it as the brown colour. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 7, 2020 Author Share Posted November 7, 2020 The kit is the Hasegawa 1/72 one. There are others available but they are all over half a century old, so the Hasegawa kit is the only real choice. For some while, sourcing one of these kits was like finding hens' teeth so I've spent some time aquiring them as and when I can. It turns out that I was a little more successful than I thought. This boxing has two kits in the one box. About ten years ago I built one of the kits. I dragged this one, with its one remaining kit, out of The Stash and placed it in readiness on The Ledge. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box to find two kits in there! That means that somewhere in The Satsh there is another Hasegawa kit that I hadn't counted on! As the kit represents a later model, some parts will need to be changed. Thankfully Maestro Models provides all the resin bits I need while Pavla provides an early canopy. The decals will be taken from general sheets. The stencils on the kit sheet are in German not Swedish, but I can get suitable stencils from the Mistercraft kits. These are the Revell kit from 1957 released with nice modern decals. I may even build the Revell/Mistercraft kit as a quick build in the Hasegawa decals. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 wow, great, an early Draken! be careful, most likely only a single centeline tank on early ones! (up to the C model if I remember correctly!) and I think also early Drakens had some gound attack capability, all the Drakens wings have mounting points for rocket packs! (very rarely seen though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 7, 2020 Author Share Posted November 7, 2020 41 minutes ago, exdraken said: be careful, most likely only a single centeline tank on early ones! Looks like a single centreline tank on the photo. I think this may be one of the earliest in-service Drakens. Any earlier and it would have been in natural metal with national insignia on the fin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 I'm with Werner on this one, an early Draken is a rare treat and should be easy to realise with all those extra goodies, but what about the other kit in that box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 7, 2020 Author Share Posted November 7, 2020 4 minutes ago, Col. said: but what about the other kit in that box? Oh my goodness! Hoist with my own petard! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 At least you're building one of them, more than can be said for some, eh @trickyrich? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 7, 2020 Author Share Posted November 7, 2020 From what I recall, the agreement which led to the sale of Drakens to Austria meant that they could not orginally carry missiles. That requirement was later relaxed but it has meant that Austrian Drakens have always been used in the air defence role. There could be a place for the second kit in this GB. I have suitable decals courtesy of Mistercraft. Should I document it here or in a seperate thread? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Enjoyed building the Austrian boxing of this kit myself in the Nordic GB even though it need some slight modification to properly represent one and was glad of @exdraken's assistance on the subject. If you're happy to work on both within the same thread I think it'd be a great way to show the differences between the two versions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Spoiler They should have guessed by now teasing doesn’t work with me!!!! I should just start a thread for it..........and then do nothing! HOLD ON!!!!!! When did this GB start!!!!!!!!! GDTF!!! I thought I still had another month before this one started!!!!!!!! I’m really going to have to pull my finger out with this one starting now! Nice choice Enzo, agree will be nice to see an early model 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 9 hours ago, Enzo Matrix said: From what I recall, the agreement which led to the sale of Drakens to Austria meant that they could not orginally carry missiles. That requirement was later relaxed but it has meant that Austrian Drakens have always been used in the air defence role. More or less... during Austria's release into self government and neutrality after WWII in 1955, missile armament of any kind was forbidden. After the collapse of the Warsow Pakt and the Yugoslavian aircraft intrusions it was felt necessary to urgently change that...no objections were observed... Sidewinders Aim-9P5 and later Mistral manpads were procured. Today some 25 Iris-Ts arm our 15 Eurofighters (sic), some Mistrals are upgraded to Mistral II config... 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 3 hours ago, trickyrich said: Reveal hidden contents HOLD ON!!!!!! When did this GB start!!!!!!!!! GDTF!!! I thought I still had another month before this one started!!!!!!!! I’m really going to have to pull my finger out with this one starting now! Easy there fella, you've still a week to go, we've not officially started yet. Plenty time to clear your workbench Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty84 Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Hi Enzo, I fully support a parallel build of an Austrian Draken of course Built together with an early Draken conversion job this WIP couldn't get any better so go for it. Cheers Markus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aardvark Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 (edited) On 11/8/2020 at 2:18 AM, Col. said: to realise with all those extra goodies, Not all! 😉😛😁 Something missed: https://xmold-modeling.com/products-information/ B.R. Serge Edited November 8, 2020 by Aardvark 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 Waaay past time that I updated this thread! There are some nice cockpit sets from Aires that will replace the extremely basic Hasegawa cockpits. For the J 35A I have used this one for the J 35F/J. There is also a specific set for the J 35Ö. To be perfectly honest, I can't see any difference between them. 🤫 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 I do like building the earliest versions of well known aircraft as they tend to have features which were replaced in later versions. One feature for the J 35A was the facility for a single underfuselage pylon. I had to cut that out. And then proceeded with the build. The very basic Hasegawa cockpits will be used in at least one Mistercraft kit, which has no cockpit at all! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 Cockpits installed and the main fuselages are assembled. I have had bad experiences with Aires cockpits before. I've related my experience with the Aires 1/48 Seafire 47 cockpit before on BM. However, these cockpits worked perfectly and in fact help to ensure that the fuselage halves locate correctly. The fuselage spine components need to be trimmed to allow the cockpit bulkheads to fit. The J 35Ö spine is from the kit while the J 35A spine is a resin replacement fro Maestro Models. The Squadron putty used to fair the spines in has yet to be sanded down. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 Rear fuselage bits ready for assembly. Again the J 35Ö components are from the kit with the J 35 short tail from Maestro Models. Here they are fitted. Fins, intakes and outer wings fitted. The J 35A has shorter intakes and a different fin tip which are provided by Maestro models. The J 35Ö has a pod on the fin tip which is not provided in the kit (despite being clearly shown on the box art). However the undernose pod can be adapted. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Nice work Enzo. Are you going to bother with the different vent arrangement on the Ö spine? 13 hours ago, Enzo Matrix said: ...some nice cockpit sets from Aires that will replace the extremely basic Hasegawa cockpits. There is also a specific set for the J 35Ö. To be perfectly honest, I can't see any difference between them. 🤫 There should be minor differences on the instrument panels if my memory is serving me correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 I need to catch up on my work. Both models were sprayed with grey car primer from a rattle can. And then the first coat of paint. Lifecolor UA-540 for the Swedish aircraft and Lifecolor UA-036 for the Austrian undersurfaces and forward uppersurfaces. On review, the Austrian colour was far too light so I resprayed with Vallejo 71.114. At this point the two models go their seperate ways. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 The J35A disruptive camouflage was masked using my usual technique of Blutak worms and masking tape patches, sealed with Copydex. The camoflage pattern was sprayed with Lifecolor UA-044 Sea Blue. The undersides were sprayed with Vallejo 71.114. Some detail painting with various shades of aluminium and Tamiya XF-69 for the nose cone followed. Then I applied a few thin coats of clear lacquer. On to the decals. The exercise markings were cut from white decal sheet. The national insignia was by Flying Colors. Then I hit a snag. I have a sheet of general numbers for Swedish aircraft by Euro Decals. The numbers are presented in red/orange and yellow. The red/orange ones are very nice. The yellow ones are so translucent that they are unusable! My usual procedure would be to double (or even triple) them up but sadly the sheet doesn't have enough numbers to do that. Buying another sheet or two wasn't an option as the sheet is now out of production and unavailable. It would have been exorbitantly expensive in any case. It turned out that If I chose another aircraft from the line in the picture then I could use some decals from a Taranagus Lansen. The minimal stencils on this aircraft were adapted from the Hasegawa kit sheet. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 Moving to the J-35O. The darker grey was sprayed with Lifecolor UA-532. Detail painting carried out using various shades of aluminium and Tamiya XF-69. The decals were then applied. The decals were taken from a Mistercraft kit. Mistercraft tend to rebox kits from other manufacturers with their own decals. The Mistercraft Draken in the old Revell kit dating from the late 1950s. It's makes a nice paint dummy or a major project to bring it up to modern standards. However, it was worth is for the nice decals which mean I have some Austrian, Finnish and Danish options for future projects. A Finnish Draken is looking good for Ragnar's Revenge. One word of warning, however. The Mistercraft decals take a lot of soaking to get them off the backing sheet. So much so that by the time they are applied, most of the adhesive has dissolved away. Not too much of a problem. Having discovered the issue on my Heller Mirage IIIE build, I rectified it on this model by applying the decal over a thin film of diluted PVA adhesive followed up with the usual MicroSol. The stencils were taken from the Hasegawa kit sheet. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 look great those 2 Dragons! did not know about the Mistercraft decals! they look rather nice! which boxing is this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted February 16, 2021 Author Share Posted February 16, 2021 5 minutes ago, exdraken said: did not know about the Mistercraft decals! they look rather nice! which boxing is this? The kit is the Hasegawa one. The decals are from the Mistercraft "Alpean Draken" boxing: the one with the red and white retirement markings. Other decal schemes in that boxing include a Swedish scheme with a dayglo fin and white ghost marking and a Danish scheme, so it's well worth the investment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 https://www.super-hobby.at/products/J-35O-Draken-Austrian-A.F..html thanks! indeed they look rather great! although the Finish markings look rather offset... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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