Danish Recce Draken (Finished-ish)

[helios16v]

Couldn't resist fiddling around w/ the cockpit a bit.

 

[modelling minion]

Well the cockpit looks like it fits very nicely Chris, good work mate.

[reini]

@helios16v Looks like a good fit. Did it require lot of work?

[helios16v]

9 hours ago, reini said:

@helios16v Looks like a good fit. Did it require lot of work?

As I'm not doing the wheel wells the pit fit w/ minimal hassle.  I just trimmed out the rear cockpit bulkhead and the IP shroud.  A bit of test fitting and sanding on the IP to adjust the height relative to the fuselage.  You always expect a bit of fiddling w/ resin AM, but this definitely took a lot less work than the 1/72 F-8 I did a while back.  Which is good news, as I have a pit for the other Draken as well.  

[helios16v]

Got bags?  

 

The smaller tanks aren't to correct ones for wing tanks, but I'm going to paint them up and see how they look as I don't have anything handy that's closer.  Worst case I'll leave them off and just run the large belly tanks.

 

[reini]

Paint on the cockpit too as it seems  

[Jens]

12 hours ago, helios16v said:

Got bags?  

 

The smaller tanks aren't to correct ones for wing tanks, but I'm going to paint them up and see how they look as I don't have anything handy that's closer.  Worst case I'll leave them off and just run the large belly tanks.

 

 

Danish Drakens did not use wing tanks, only the larger belly tanks.

 

Jens

[exdraken]

30 minutes ago, Jens said:

 

Danish Drakens did not use wing tanks, only the larger belly tanks.

 

 

and Swedish ones did only use the smaller ones as far as I know. The Recce planes up to 4 of them!

[Jens]

14 hours ago, exdraken said:

and Swedish ones did only use the smaller ones as far as I know. The Recce planes up to 4 of them!

Yes, the larger tanks were unique to the Danish Drakens.

 

Jens

[helios16v]

Yeah, I was hoping a had a couple shorter, blunter tanks around for what I assume to be travel pods.  But I don't at the moment.

[exdraken]

7 hours ago, helios16v said:

Yeah, I was hoping a had a couple shorter, blunter tanks around for what I assume to be travel pods.  But I don't at the moment.

You mean those?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Saab_F35_Draken%2C_A-011%2C_Royal_Danish_Air_Force.jpg

Those could also be rocket pods....

But they are well worn.. probably you are right with travel pods!

 

[Jens]

They are travel pods, known as TIC tanks. I believe they were made from AN/ALE-38 chaff dispenser pods. They have been used on our F-16s too.

 

Jens

[exdraken]

33 minutes ago, Jens said:

They are travel pods, known as TIC tanks. I believe they were made from AN/ALE-38 chaff dispenser pods. They have been used on our F-16s too.

 

Jens

Makes sense!

As -41 they even exist in 1/48!

 

E.g. those....

https://www.scalemates.com/de/kits/eduard-648601-an-ale-41-chaff-dispenser--1314975

[helios16v]

Thanks for the ID info guys.  @Jens @exdraken  

 

I’ve got a set on order now (along w/ some UB-16/32 pods for the MiG-21).

[helios16v]

I've not been posting every step of the way, but I have been making some headway with it.  She now stands on her own legs.  

 

Gun fairings are going to need a touch more work I think, we'll see after some primer.  Definitely going to need a little filler to smooth the transition on the bottom of the intakes.  The top and sides line up pretty nice, so I'll take that.

[Jens]

It looks like your cockpit has broken loose. Look at the rear wall behind the pilot's head. I don't know if there is any way you can save it by raising it.

 

Jens

[helios16v]

1 minute ago, Jens said:

It looks like your cockpit has broken loose. Look at the rear wall behind the pilot's head. I don't know if there is any way you can save it by raising it.

That was more a case of me trimming a tad too much away, rather than breaking loose.  I'm going to fit up the canopy (will be closed) in the next couple days and get a feel how visible it's going to be.  If it can be seen readily then I'll deal w/ filling the gap.  If it's not visible then I'm not going to sweat it too much.  I'll probably end up having to deal with it though, as it's probably going to be fairly visible from the front angles.

[Jens]

Looking at the sidewalls it appears as if it all sits too low. Anyway, if it's fixed to the fuselage there is probably nothing to do but to fill the gap.

Jens

[helios16v]

11 hours ago, Jens said:

Looking at the sidewalls it appears as if it all sits too low. Anyway, if it's fixed to the fuselage there is probably nothing to do but to fill the gap.

Yeah.  I'll probably try fitting it to the upper fuselage next time. 

[trickyrich]

looking good Chris! 

 

I remember well making a quite brash statement about how amazingly the Aires cockpit fitted perfectly for a change........that did come back to bite me! Looking back on my beast, you pretty well have to remove all of that bulkhead at the rear of the cockpit, attach sidewalls to cockpit tub, sand back sides..... then if you have the wheel well set, sand top of that and front of cockpit tub to almost paper thin then shove it all together with clamps and hope for the best. 

 

Another words you typical Aires cockpit fitting procedure! 

[helios16v]

I buggered up...overlooked a bit in the instructions and trimmed the wrong piece.  Fortunately I can get new parts to fix my blunder from Maestro Models...so I'm likely ordering the bits to fix that tonight (which also includes a different tail section and the addition of a tail hook)...and will probably add a couple other things like the outboard ECM/chaff pods and additional Danish pylons.  Not the end of the world...just a bit of a hiccup.  

 

Whether or not this one makes it before the end of the GB...only time will tell.  

[modelling minion]

I hope that the replacement parts turn up in time Chris as I have enjoyed your Draken build so far, and it wouldn't be right for you not to finish and for Rich to actually complete the mythical Draken.😁

[helios16v]

On the upside, starting Friday I'll be on holidays until the new year...so at least work won't be interfering.

 

Also ended up adding Maestro's aileron set for the drooped control surfaces.  We'll see what they look like when they arrive.  If they are undersized like the Aires ones I've seen I won't use them.  So no cutting before I have parts in hand.

[trickyrich]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:40 PM, modelling minion said:

I hope that the replacement parts turn up in time Chris as I have enjoyed your Draken build so far, and it wouldn't be right for you not to finish and for Rich to actually complete the mythical Draken.😁

 

is that a whip I can hear cracking???  

[helios16v]

My "fix" parts and other additions have arrived.