Bjorn Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 (edited) Did anyone say "two more weeks for this GB"? Well, almost finished with my ten builds, that must mean that I have to start another one? 🤪 While looking in my Heller stash, this one called for my attention: To be honest, this is the only way for me to ever get this one built. So my plan is to build it straight out of the box, to compare with my other Heller Draken which was everything but OOB. My first plan was to build the individual on Paul Lengellés brilliant original boxart, F 11-51, but which strangely enough not is among neither the decal alternatives in the box, nor the versions possible to build. This is a S 35E recce version, and although there are parts for a recce version in the box, those are for the Danish RF-35, that was slightly different. But since many of those are on a detail level not relevant for this build, making a S 35E is pretty easy. However, some research gave the result that Lengellé was completely right in painting the old style flat canopy on this individual. And no such canopy are to find in the box. Anyway, the research also gave information that made med less keen on building it. This one had a sad story, the pilot should show the plane to his parents and take photographs of his family's home. But just above the house, the plane stalled and crashed, killing the pilot in front of his father. Instead, I will chose the closest match, F 21-51, which had the canopy supplied in the box. This one also crashed in the 60s, but the pilot ejected happily. However, there are a few OOB problems. Worst are the outer wings that had terrible sink marks: Of course you can sant it down, or use putty. But I had another Heller Draken in my stash, a kit where many parts are missing, but that can supply parts to other builds. This one was an older mould in grey plastic (like my other Draken in this GB), where moulding was far better: Keep it simple, just OOB! Keep it simple, just OOB!!! KEEP IT SIMPLE, JUST OOB!!! With a little violence, the body halves were united: Fit is surprisingly good. And Matchbox never did a Draken. But if they had, it would surely had looked like this. With mighty recessed panels, of course! But this will be my last one in this GB. I promise! Lots of other models in my stash are screaming to be built! I am afraid I can´t ignore them much longer... Edited February 3, 2021 by Bjorn 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 That's the way to go! But oh, those sink marks... Good that you had spare parts. The 35 is such a lovely machine. I haven't built one since I was a kid, I should really build one again soon, but as a racer... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Wow! Another build. You truly are a modelling dynamo! Never seen sink marks like that on a wing before. Incredible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Excellent! You're showing true Heller GB fighting spirit! Keep going until the end! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 2 minutes ago, JeroenS said: Excellent! You're showing true Heller GB fighting spirit! Keep going until the end! Shame it's only another couple weeks. I know I could just keep building these Heller kits....well, I'm going to anyway, but this GB is a lot of fun. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 Thanks! "Modelling dynamo"... Sounds great! But I wish I was! Normally I build 10-20 kits in one year, so building 10 in just a little more than three months was far beyond my normal standards. But this was truly inspiring! Getting back to these old kits, finallty letting them leave my stash after too many years there has been so much fun! So this last one will be the ultimate quickie, but after that I will return to my 1/48 Cold War jets. At least for a while. I would gladly return to these old Heller kits, I still have a number of them in my stash, another Tunnan, Lansen, Viggen, Safir, the Mirage IIIB that I promised to build but never did, a Trident and a Dragon Rapide. And thus Christmas my wife gave me the marvellous 1/16 Citroën DS 19! And maybe I will buy more. If I only could find that Super Connie... And what about the Eiffel Tower...? ...oh, yes! When will the Heller Classic GB part II take place? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 1 hour ago, Bjorn said: ...oh, yes! When will the Heller Classic GB part II take place? With the fact that this is probably the biggest GB ever, I reckon we'll see a part II in the future. Agree with all your other points too. I love classic kits anyway, especially Heller, but having a good excuse to build them has been a real pleasure. I haven't enjoyed my modelling this much for ages, and I've built more in four months than I had in the previous four years. I think it's just been relaxing and stress free building these old kits OOB just as I did back in the 80s without worrying about each one being an uber build. I think I may carry this habit on for a while longer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 On 22/01/2021 at 14:11, Bjorn said: And thus Christmas my wife gave me the marvellous 1/16 Citroën DS 19! And maybe I will buy more. If I only could find that Super Connie... And what about the Eiffel Tower...? You have a wife with the most excellent taste! Their 1/16 DS will turn into a very nice model, given some treatment of closing the doors. Looking forward to see it getting built. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Best of luck Bjorn, I've never seen a kit that comes with flak damage before ! Look forward to seeing you bring this one to life. Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 (edited) On 23/01/2021 at 20:33, Bengalensis said: You have a wife with the most excellent taste! Their 1/16 DS will turn into a very nice model, given some treatment of closing the doors. Looking forward to see it getting built. She surely has! Especially since I am allowed to refuse all other 1/1 cars except for Citroëns. Today we have three of them, a C5, a C3 and a C2 (these days mostly driven by our daughter). And with her permission I am still dreaming of a 2CV. Regarding the DS however, the 1/16 one will probably be the largest I will ever own... And I have read your fantastic WIP thread about this one, making it look almost buildable, avd giving me courage to actually start with it pretty soon. Edited January 25, 2021 by Bjorn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 I’ve done a bad thing, Bjorn! I’ve been watching YouTube videos of Drakens and I now want to build one! I fancy a Swedish trainer or a Finnish single-seat! I may come to you for advice one day Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted January 26, 2021 Author Share Posted January 26, 2021 8 hours ago, RidgeRunner said: I’ve done a bad thing, Bjorn! I’ve been watching YouTube videos of Drakens and I now want to build one! I fancy a Swedish trainer or a Finnish single-seat! I may come to you for advice one day Martin Oh, no! I should have warned you... That can be addictive! But well... Welcome to our Draken addict club! Of course I will help you! And what about a my favourite: A late Danish two-seater TF-35. A Draken with everything you could ask for: Two seats, modified nose, double guns, six pylons, electronic warfare system... All covered in shiny glossy green. You're gonna love it! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 Thank you, Bjorn @Bjorn. My thoughts are currently inspired by this: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted January 26, 2021 Author Share Posted January 26, 2021 The cobra! Wonderful! I know the feeling being inspired of these! I have been planning to build this in 1/48 for years now. Soon it's about time, I hope. And I would gladly help you! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted January 27, 2021 Author Share Posted January 27, 2021 (edited) The major problem with this kit is the upper part of the nose that is far too straight, But this being an extreme OOB build, I have to live with that. I tried to compensate it a little by glueing the nose not straight to the body, but in a slight upward direction. A little better, but not perfect. Some putty was needed on the final steps of the build, but surprisingly little. Build is finished and a first layer of primer has been painted. The seat has got symbolic seatbelts: After priming, I noted that even if the grey edition of the model had smaller sink marks than the green one, they were too big to ignore. So I had to sand them down - no problem since the wing is thick enough. Fit of the canopy was not perfect, but will do for this build: A layer of pre-shade. As always, mostly as a warm-up for the painting process, not much will be seen. And swoooosh, painting was finished! Not so much weathering this time, this individual was in service for just two years. The air intake part is a little too large. I have to do some additional painting here - luckily this part was often in a slightly darker shade than the rest of the olive drab fields. Next step is to find suitable decals. I'm afraid that I have almost run out of Swedish Air Force roundels... Edited January 27, 2021 by Bjorn 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Fantastic Bjorn. Looks like another show stopper to me. Great work as always. Like @RidgeRunner, your builds have inspired me too, so I've started hoovering up the Heller SAABs to build later. Really nice to see the Safir available from Heller once again. Remember those Danish Drakens well as they were regular visitors to the Mildenhall air fete. Must have some photos somewhere. I miss that airshow! Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted January 28, 2021 Author Share Posted January 28, 2021 18 hours ago, fightersweep said: Fantastic Bjorn. Looks like another show stopper to me. Great work as always. Like @RidgeRunner, your builds have inspired me too, so I've started hoovering up the Heller SAABs to build later. Really nice to see the Safir available from Heller once again. Remember those Danish Drakens well as they were regular visitors to the Mildenhall air fete. Must have some photos somewhere. I miss that airshow! Steve Great! I hope to see lots of Heller Saabs here in the near future! Build goes on. I have re-painted the area behind the air intakes, making the grey area shorter. Wing and fin edges are painted (and the NMF part of the underside). And though I promised myself letting this be a strict OOB build, I couldn't stand the far-too-long pitot tube, so I removed it and will replace it with a thinner and shorter one. Decals are also added. Since I will take the easiest ways during this build, I used decals for the camera openings. Some additional detail painting and weathering remains, then this one is finished too. And I have still not given up my mad plans to build another Heller in this GB... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Another lovely paint job, looking very good! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) Doing washes on raised panel lines are not the easiest. This photo looks almost exactly the same as the last one... But there is a good effect - raised panel lines is not always that bad, sometimes they can be more realistic than deep panel lines making black lines all over the aircraft which are hardly visible on the real thing. Edited February 1, 2021 by Bjorn 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 As always, nice work Bjorn Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 (edited) Landing gears, completely OOB, mounted, as well as a double set of fuel tanks that was common on the Swedish recce Drakens. And so my number eleven in this GB is finished! It is nice to see this one OOB, compared to the other one that I built, with Hasegawa parts and re-scribed panel lines. Of course that one is better- and a Hasegawa OOB even better - but in my opinion, this 45-year-old kit still gives a good representation of the most good-looking aircraft ever built. It has its issues, like the wrongly shaped upper part of the nose, and the windshield frames that doesn't exist on the real thing (they are black ribs on the inside, I painted the frames black from the inside, that helped a little). But compared to many other re-issues from Heller, this one is definitely worth to hit the shelves again. However, I think I have read somewhere that the moulds are either destroyed or sold (the kit has been re-issued by Argentinian company Modelex, but the last Heller release was in the early 80s). Edited February 3, 2021 by Bjorn 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Wow! Superb Draken Bjorn. I love it! I don't know how you manage to knock these out so quickly to such a high standard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, fightersweep said: Wow! Superb Draken Bjorn. I love it! I don't know how you manage to knock these out so quickly to such a high standard. Thanks! Well, having built almost 20 Drakens in the last 12 years, you could say that I am pretty familiar with the subject... So almost no research is necessary and I know most pitfalls with this subject. And the nearly-lockdown situation in Sweden gives lots of spare time, especially since I save lots of time working from home. But apart from that, I guess that I have developed a way of building kits pretty fast, I have heard before that I am a fast builder. Actually I can't explain why, but having built surely more than 500 kits since I was a kid and about 20 per year in the last 12 years, I have lots of routine. Maybe the best explanation is what someone once told me during an exhibition: "You hide your mistakes very well"... Edited February 3, 2021 by Bjorn 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinxman Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Another great build - well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimJ Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Great looking Draken. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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