Best 1/72 Saab Draken?

[Bjorn]

18 minutes ago, Hook said:

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

True. But there are better ways for that: https://www.super-hobby.se/products/J35A-C-Draken-early-tail-cone.html

[RidgeRunner]

9 minutes ago, Bjorn said:

True. But there are better ways for that: https://www.super-hobby.se/products/J35A-C-Draken-early-tail-cone.html

Agreed, Bjorn. I have a pile of Maestro stuff now and just need the time to get going on it

[Scout712]

This thread got me hyped up with the Draken. The GDR Plasticart 1/100 J35F was one of the first models I ever built ages ago. Searching the net for Swedish Drakens, I noticed that the white numbers on the upper wings of the green/blueish camo'd jets were at a certain point in time not there, but huge white rectangles instead.

Here is one pic showing a line up of J35Fs on a snowy ramp, armed with RB27 and those white rectangles, another shows four of Drakens marked like that in flight ) Does anybody know at whixch timeframe th<t pic might have been taken? When did the white number came along?

 

Thank you

Michael

Edited May 10, 2022 by Scout712
found links for pics

[Antti_K]

Hello Michael,

 

Swedish Air Force used these high visibility exercise markings during the Cold War years. They were used in exercises to show whether a certain plane was friend or foe. Large rectangles, stripes or checkerboards were seen and always in bright colours. The markings were usually made out of tape material. Sometimes they were removed shortly after the exercise but occasionally they were left in place and later additional markings of different colours were added. Those large numbers denoting an individual plane came little later (maybe during the late 80s). The number on top of the wings should be the same as on the fin.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[Scout712]

Hello Antti,

thanks for the insight. One more thing. Usually, life A2A missiles in the Swedish Air Force were overall green. What would inert rounds look like? The reason I ask is that I found pics of Drakens with green or white RB27 missiles.

 

Cheers

Michael

[Antti_K]

1 hour ago, Scout712 said:

What would inert rounds look like? The reason I ask is that I found pics of Drakens with green or white RB27 missiles.

 

Hello Michael,

 

I'm not 100% sure, but here in Finland both green and white inert rounds were seen. They were always marked with black (on white) or white (on green) word "BLIND" or sometimes the Finnish word "SOKEA" (for blind) was used.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[Bjorn]

On 10/05/2022 at 22:26, Scout712 said:

This thread got me hyped up with the Draken. The GDR Plasticart 1/100 J35F was one of the first models I ever built ages ago. Searching the net for Swedish Drakens, I noticed that the white numbers on the upper wings of the green/blueish camo'd jets were at a certain point in time not there, but huge white rectangles instead.

Here is one pic showing a line up of J35Fs on a snowy ramp, armed with RB27 and those white rectangles, another shows four of Drakens marked like that in flight ) Does anybody know at whixch timeframe th<t pic might have been taken? When did the white number came along?

 

Thank you

Michael

The picture is taken during the first half of the 70s, since the Drakens have the early "Fara" (danger) sign at the air intakes, larger roundels on the nose and other differences regarding the stencils. The large white wing numbers were applied from 1982-83 and the years that followed.

[Parrahs]

22 hours ago, Scout712 said:

Usually, life A2A missiles in the Swedish Air Force were overall green. What would inert rounds look like? The reason I ask is that I found pics of Drakens with green or white RB27 missiles.

I'm pretty certain the lives one were usually white (shifting over to grey when that became fashionable at the end of the Cold War), and it's the green one's that are inert.

[Rob de Bie]

On 4/8/2022 at 1:11 AM, Antti_K said:

 

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.

 

Antti, thanks for this observation. I first understood it as a step in the rear fuselage, as sketched below (with some exaggeration):

 

 

But the more I study it, I think a 'kink' in the contour is meant, as sketched below. Is that correct?

 

 

 

I have another rear fuselage observation to add. The Hasegawa / Revell kit has an oval exhaust opening, much like an A-7 Corsair, as seen in the left side of the photo below.

 

 

I changed the kit parts by cutting 'petals' in the last section of the fuselage, and gluing them together again, leading to a perfectly round exhaust opening, again seen on the left in the picture below.

 

 

The part isn't finished, I still need to add a slightly flat spot on the top side. I hope my observation was correct, and that the work was not in vain!

 

Rob

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by Rob de Bie

[Antti_K]

Hello Rob,

 

yes the word "kink" is better. It is more visible in plan view than in profile. This photo gives you pretty good idea how pronounced the kink is:

 

 

 

Note also the curvature of the rear fuselage just above the air brake.

 

This photo shows that top side of the rear end isn't inline with the center fuselage (look just aft of the white registration marking):

 

The rear fuselage opening is nearly round but there is a narrow flat section on top of it; see this photo:

 

 

Cheers,

Antti

[Rob de Bie]

1 hour ago, Antti_K said:

yes the word "kink" is better. It is more visible in plan view than in profile. This photo gives you pretty good idea how pronounced the kink is:

 

Note also the curvature of the rear fuselage just above the air brake.

 

This photo shows that top side of the rear end isn't inline with the center fuselage (look just aft of the white registration marking):

 

The rear fuselage opening is nearly round but there is a narrow flat section on top of it; see this photo:

 

Thanks, very interesting! I love these subtle shape analyses. I'm thinking how to incorporate it in the 1/72 model. Maybe I'll glue an 0.2 - 0.3 mm steel wire around the forward part of the rear fuselage, say at 5 to 10% of the length, and fill in the rest. It's a lot of work..

 

Your photo of the Finnish example made me think of the F-104, with its 2.5 degrees tilted-up engine axis. I checked it on the model: if you put a 1 mm shim at the bottom of the joint of the main fuselage and the rear fuselage, you can duplicate the photo. I will very likely do that on my model. Although no-one will ever notice it 😃

 

Here's my rear fuselage with the nozzle installed (quick & dirty), and without the flattened part at the top. If I made it too round, please let me know!

 

 

Rob

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by Rob de Bie

[Antti_K]

It looks very nice Rob. If you are able to flatten the top, it will be perfect. Your plan of re-shaping the area sounds good. I've been using plastic strips and Milliput, but a thin wire may work just as well.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[Rob de Bie]

47 minutes ago, Antti_K said:

It looks very nice Rob. If you are able to flatten the top, it will be perfect. Your plan of re-shaping the area sounds good. I've been using plastic strips and Milliput, but a thin wire may work just as well.

 

Thanks Antti! I should explain the wire choice: I prefer hard spring steel to define the maximum thickess. Any filler around it is (relatively) easy to sand down, but the steel wire will retain its thickness during the sanding. Still, it will be a difficult operation.

 

An alternative route is to make sawcuts from the front side of the rear fuselage, and jam slightly oversized card in the sawcuts, to enlarge the diameter of the rear fuselage. Then sand down the front part to match the fuselage diameter. Poor parts, they already have so many cuts in them 😃

 

Rob

Edited May 13, 2022 by Rob de Bie

[drake122]

It has recently been revealed that Hobby 2000 is releasing multiple versions of Draken in 72nd scale (refer to Hobby 2000 webpage). Any idea whose kit this is? I hope it is the Hasegawa reboxed...😁

[Hook]

4 minutes ago, drake122 said:

It has recently been revealed that Hobby 2000 is releasing multiple versions of Draken in 72nd scale (refer to Hobby 2000 webpage). Any idea whose kit this is? I hope it is the Hasegawa reboxed...😁

Most likely. Hobby 2000 has to my knowledge only reboxed Japanese brands like Hasegawa and Fujimi.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[RidgeRunner]

5 hours ago, Hook said:

Most likely. Hobby 2000 has to my knowledge only reboxed Japanese brands like Hasegawa and Fujimi.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

They show as “in stock” on their site