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Skale Wings SAAB Draken TF-35


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Hello all

When I saw that a two seater Draken kit was going to be released I had to get one as its one of my favourite aircraft.

So, what to say about the kit. Firstly it’s not an easy build. The mouldings are short run style in very soft plastic with large gates and loads of flash, the detail is in there you just have to work to release it! The fit is poor, especially at the wing joint, and many of the parts are oversize requiring the pairing away of plastic until they look right and fit. (The entire cockpit tub and the scoops on the spine behind the canopy fell into this category). Also, be warned, the big tank pylons are angled and shaped for left and right but the kit supplies two for the same side. Rather than make two new ones (the shape is quite complex) I turned one round and reshaped it slightly. This handing problem is repeated on the main U/C legs in that the lugs for the doors are on the wrong sides for one of the legs. The periscope was discarded for a scratch item as it was immense, all the aerials, pitot, and underwing stores are scratch. Finally, the rear canopy is much narrower and taller than the front. It lends itself more to being displayed in the open position and going to town on detailing the cockpit interior.

The Decals are excellent.

The finished model turned out much better than I thought it was going to considering the quality of the mould, which I should point out I am not complaining about, I’m merely pointing out the issues that I encountered during the build.

 

It’s finished as an aircraft from ESK 725 RDAF which was displayed at Mildenhall air show in 1985. Like lots of you I probably have a photograph of it somewhere.

The colour is Xtracolour Nato green with minimal weathering (its at an air show after all!) panel lines highlighted with Flory wash.

 

Hope you like it, here are some pics.

 

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Thanks for looking

Pete

 

 

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6 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

That's a great looking TF-35, and especially considering the travails you had to go through becasue of the kit's short-run limitations

Thanks Joachim, my whittling skills are much improved :laugh:

 

5 hours ago, Wulfman said:

Sounds like a modelling Odyssey

 

Thanks Wulfman, it was definitely that!

 

4 minutes ago, SAT69 said:

Wow, you've done truly awesome work on that one and it's beautiful!

Thank you very much.

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Nice job!  I wonder if it might be easier to use this kit as a conversion for another Draken kit?  I have to say that the two-seater isn't the most aesthetically pleasing one I've seen, but that's not your fault.

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2 hours ago, gingerbob said:

Nice job!  I wonder if it might be easier to use this kit as a conversion for another Draken kit?  I have to say that the two-seater isn't the most aesthetically pleasing one I've seen, but that's not your fault.

Thank you. Yes, my thoughts precisely. I nearly said as much in the preamble and at one point considered getting a single seater off e bay to do exactly that. 

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A really lovely model. The Xtracolor looks 'just right', really setting off the shape. Many two seaters look bloated when compared with their single seat counterparts (eg the Typhoon) but the Draken looks sleek even with the long canopy.

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2 hours ago, Natter said:

A really lovely model. The Xtracolor looks 'just right', really setting off the shape. Many two seaters look bloated when compared with their single seat counterparts (eg the Typhoon) but the Draken looks sleek even with the long canopy

Thanks very much. Yes I agree about the look of two seater Draken, I think I like it even more than the single seater. But then I am a bit of a  two seater geek.

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  • 1 year later...
10 hours ago, cardiff guy said:

Great work on this kit, I have one which I only hope will look as good as this when finished

Thanks very much. I dont know if it would be possible, but it may be better to use the parts from a single seater kit when making this kit. It really is quite a fight to get the Skale Wings parts together. Good luck.

Pete

 

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