Harry_the_Spider Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 I'm starting to fall down a Saab shaped rabbit hole and need a Draken. Who does the best? I see that Mistercraft have one, but after "experiencing" their awful Hunter a few years back I'm not going to trust them with my money. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 I would say go for the Hasegawa kit which is also available in Revell boxing. Cheers, Antti 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Humm Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 The Mistercraft is the old (c. 1960) Revell kit, according to Scalemates. Either go for Hasegawa or the Revell reboxings of the Hasegawa, kit number 04264 or 04352. 04264 has two Finnish colour schemes, and 04352 has an Austrian display scheme (as per the box art), an Austrian line scheme and a Swedish scheme. If you want a two-seater, you're stuck with trying to find the Heller kit, the tool for which was sold to an Argentinian company in the 1980s, and may be available over there. The old Airfix kit is OK, but has heavy raised surface detail, as you'd expect from a 1970 Airfix mould. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Yep, Hasegawa or it's Revell re-boxing all the way - it's a great little kit. That's 1/72 by the way 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelldoc Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Yes, the Airfix kit is okay, for me it is accepted. https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/15831873110/in/photolist-qpyaBr-q81okY-psNpZV-qpuMom-q81B55-q81uiu-qpuJvs-bab5L4-bab8UD-bab2Mx-97tWad modelldoc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Hello guys, the Airfix kit is pretty good despite its age. If one wishes to improve it, then one should: - correct the fuselage spine as it should rise more steeply just behind the canopy - move the fin antenna on top of the fuselage backwards - shorten the main landing gear legs. Otherwise the model won't sit correctly nose up - drill the bolts away from the main wheels - remove the raised panel lines and replace them with carved ones (as Draken is very "clean" aircraft) - create proper air intakes to avoid the the see through effect - create deeper jet pipe - add small details (cockpit, T-shaped temperature probe, spear-shaped antenna on top of the fuselage, landing lights, details for the gear legs etc. Cheers, Antti 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Go Hasegawa/Revell 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Hasegawa hands down for a single seater!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WARDOG Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 Hasegawa/Revell re-boxing are the way to go. Only problem I have encountered with the kit is the poor fit of the exhaust cone to the rear fuselage, it leaves a "step" that needs attention. WARDOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 There us also the very new two-seaters from SKale Wings if you can find it: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 If you want two seater you need to decide whether it would be Danish or from another of the operators as they were different. Also, the Skale Wings kit is poor. For a non-Danish two seater use the parts form a Heller kit - it has both one and two seat options - and use them on. Hasegawa Revell. Other than that you are in to resin conversion territory . by the way, don’t be tempted to build a two seater from the Heller kit. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 23 hours ago, WARDOG said: Only problem I have encountered with the kit is the poor fit of the exhaust cone to the rear fuselage, it leaves a "step" that needs attention. I nearly fell in to that trap myself and had to check that with real airplane. There shouldn't be a clear step. The tail cone is slightly wider than the rear fuselage on later models with bigger afterburner. Sand the front end of the tail cone carefully to make a smoothly curved joint. This is one of the very few photos that show how the tail cone gets wider: https://www.ilmailumuseot.fi/tuotteet.html?id=20172/264248 Note how the light reflects from the tail cone. Cheers, Antti 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drake122 Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 I can confirm, the Skale Wings effort is rather horrible. I would love to get the Hasegawa Draken, but it seems to be out of stock everywhere I look... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry_the_Spider Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 Yep. Found the old Airfix and the MisterCraft and that is about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orso Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 Interesting that they have gone again. It wasn't long ago that they were easy to find. Now I could only find a red Austrian from Revell at Kingkit and two different Hasegawa at rebell.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieGolf2009 Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 Of course, Hasegawa or Revell's reboxing. Hasegawa's RF-35 "Recon Draken", in particular, is an absolute gem. 😎 Twin-seater, I still go with Heller's, despite not being the later version. I bought Skale Wings' TF-35, but after a close look I found it to be somewhat beneath my expectations, and ended up selling it on eBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 On 4/9/2022 at 4:58 AM, Orso said: Interesting that they have gone again. It wasn't long ago that they were easy to find. Now I could only find a red Austrian from Revell at Kingkit and two different Hasegawa at rebell.com The Austrian Revell boxing of the Hasegawa kit also has decals for a Swedish Draken... just in case.! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAGATIGER Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 On 4/6/2022 at 6:43 AM, Richard Humm said: The Mistercraft is the old (c. 1960) Revell kit, according to Scalemates. But you can get one only for the Finish AF decals in the elusive 1/72 scale Regards Armando 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplasticsurgeon Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 On 4/6/2022 at 12:34 PM, Harry_the_Spider said: I see that Mistercraft have one, but after "experiencing" their awful Hunter a few years back I'm not going to trust them with my money. MisterCraft is the 1957 Revell offering, so strike it off your list. I've just been asked to build it for a colleague. He liked the red/white scheme. It's surprisingly clean and flash-free, but raised detail. It omits the cannon apertures, and hasn't even got a seat or any other interior. Four options and superb decals. For some reason it has Finnish insignias on the sheet, but I can't understand why. On the Draken 1/72 scale, this one ranks below Airfix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 39 minutes ago, theplasticsurgeon said: For some reason it has Finnish insignias on the sheet, but I can't understand why. Finnish Air Force operated Drakens for over three decades. Good enough excuse, wouldn't you say😉 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 One of my Hasegawas is lined up to be white-serialled Finn ;). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 11 hours ago, exdraken said: The Austrian Revell boxing of the Hasegawa kit also has decals for a Swedish Draken... just in case.! As well as an operational Austrian example in the F-16 scheme. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplasticsurgeon Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 9 hours ago, Antti_K said: Finnish Air Force operated Drakens for over three decades. Good enough excuse, wouldn't you say😉 Yes - a great excuse, which I hadn't realised. Insignia decals are there, but not amongst the options for the MisterCraft kit - which are: 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 On 11/04/2022 at 10:55, theplasticsurgeon said: Yes - a great excuse, which I hadn't realised. Insignia decals are there, but not amongst the options for the MisterCraft kit - which are: The Danish scheme is just a joke. Black radome, IR probe, non-painted wing/fin edges, Swedish "Danger" decal at the air intakes, Swedish-style antenna on the spine, etc, etc... Besides that, the "AR" marking on the fin indicates a recce version, which this is not. Actually, I can't see why MisterCraft is bothering releasing this old kit, pretending it can be used to build this decal schemes. The only version that can be built from that kit is early Swedish J 35A. Although there are several errors on that too. Even worse, is that they are promoting these releases with photos of a 1/48 Hasegawa Draken. https://mistercraft.eu/en/strona-glowna/282-d-88-f-35j-draken-swedish-af-172.html And to answer the initial question: Hasegawa is the ONLY choice. Airfix has several errors, already mentioned in this thread, plus a mis-shaped nose. MisterCraft/Aeroplast are based on the more than 60 years old Revell kit and could not be recommended in any way at all. Skale Wings TF-35 has plenty of errors too, bad fit and bad research. The only thing to do with these kits is to forget them. The only alternative that one could consider is the old Heller kit. Shapes are OK and it contains parts for many versions. But raised panel lines, poor interior, over-sized nose wheel and more makes the 70s origin too obvious. Besides that, it is almost impossible to find. But if so, it can be built into a reasonable model, this is my build from the Heller GB last year. Almost OOB, although the recce nose is modified a little (the kit contains a Danish recce nose), and aftermarket decals: 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 55 minutes ago, Bjorn said: The only version that can be built from that kit is early Swedish J 35A. Just about the best use of the Mistercraft is as a source for an early aft end to graft on the Heller twoseater for a non-Danish one. Cheers, Andre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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