Troffa Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 Almost a decade ago I posted several threads on this forum in which I built a few models whilst travelling in Algeria with my job- well it's time for some more modelling "on the road" as I find myself in Portugal for the next few months. It's like that Sequel to 'Coming to America' - years go by with no word of a return, and all of a sudden it's back. 🙂 (I hope my efforts are a little better!) I broke out my trusty Sparmax DAC25 portable compressor and my Badger 200 airbrush and threw sprues from 3 kits out of the stash into an oversized Airfix 1/48 Hawker Fury Biplane box. As luck would have it, the town of Montijo, my base for the moment, has a model shop 'Greenmodels.net' and the owner kindly supplied enough materials to plug the gaps in what I could legally bring in my Hold Baggage from Heathrow. He dropped off my order at the hotel where I am almost through my 14 day Quarantine period and I look forward to visiting his store in the coming weeks to repay his kindness with my continued custom. I'm very happy to be able to continue my hobby whilst far from home. So, with that preamble out of the way, on with the build- It's the Hasegawa 1/72 SAAB J-35O Draken. It's a really nice little kit, with excellent surface detail, and great decals- I hope I can do it some justice. I got the cockpit together and attempted some console control units with a bit of black paint. It's not perfect by any stretch, but It meets my needs. And then I could get the main fuselage parts together- the engraved panel lines on this kit are superb, I will have to try very hard not to mess this one up. 🙂 I cut out the Navigation lights and with some clear sprue glued and shaped to fit hope to have done them justice. Thanks for looking! Troffa 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem01 Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 Good to see you getting some modelling time in despite work trying to get in the way. But the way my mind works, I was wondering how you'll get them home safely?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted April 15, 2021 Author Share Posted April 15, 2021 32 minutes ago, mackem01 said: Good to see you getting some modelling time in despite work trying to get in the way. But the way my mind works, I was wondering how you'll get them home safely?? I suspect that these Aircraft have made their last flights! If I turn out something I'm particularly pleased with I might try and get one back, but this effort is merely for the enjoyment of the hobby, not filling my cabinet. I just love modelling 🙂 Cheers, Troffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted April 17, 2021 Author Share Posted April 17, 2021 Some progress on the Draken, With the main fuselage assembly completed. Fit is superb, and a close-up plan view of the Draken outline reveals the distinct arrow-head shape of this classic cold war fighter. Once the canopy has had it's undercoat of black, a coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer applied from a rattle can gives an excellent base for the final colour scheme, and give a chance to find any areas of the model that need attention, in terms of re-scribing or sanding. I'm pretty pleased with the results so far, and the panel line precision from Tamiya Hasegawa really stands out for me. A bit of work on the intakes and the Tail fairings, but I'm happy with my Hotel Room efforts so far. Thanks for popping by! Troffa 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Nice work, who doesn't love the Draken! Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted April 17, 2021 Author Share Posted April 17, 2021 As a modeller of advancing years, obviously I can't just build the blinking things "Out of the box" and so it has come to pass with this Draken. The Austrian Air Force were apparently not allowed Air-to Air Missiles on their J-35O until fairly late on in their service, but when they did get them they didn't appear to use the standard SAAB/ Swedish weapons pylons. To whit: So in order to better represent the pylons as seen in various in service Photo's I decided to do some modding of the kit parts. I took my Olfa P cutter and sliced the Launcher Rail from the pylon, I then modified the part number 5 on the sprue, a part not used on this build, and glued it to the launch rail. I'm quite happy with the result, and it will look good on the wings of the finished kit- I just need a pair of AIM-9's now 🙂 The finished article: Onwards and upwards! Troffa 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 Nice work! Austria's Saabs were equipped with AIM-9P's, AFAIK. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 Looking good Troffa 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted June 14, 2021 Author Share Posted June 14, 2021 Public Services Announcement: This build thread has been abandoned due to my unexpected return to the UK. I might get my hands on this kit again, but then again, I might not. Stay tuned for some Home Front Lancaster action. Thank you for your understanding. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 Hello Troffa, hopefully we will see the next steps with the Draken. She looks too good to be abandoned at this point. Looking forward with that Lancaster Action as well😉 Cheers, Antti 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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