1/72 - Saab J35 Draken by MikroMir - J35F released

[Dennis_C]

1 hour ago, Piotr Mikolajski said:

 

Yep, they tested this camo. I'm very tempted by this J35, but I don't have the space, so negotiations between heart and reason will be tough. The wallet has taken a neutral position.

Yeah. I do have space but it will disappear in 2-3 years with my pace of building. Still I will build at least one Draken but honestly never thought about particular scheme. Olive-blue scheme with some fancy decorations and large numbers is maybe a way to go. Seems Moose Republic is releasing a decal set for 35F soon which will have some interesting options.

[AaCee26]

3 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

 only one Draken painted in splinter

him

 

IIRC this one mever flow in this camo. Maybe our Swedish friends can confirm this?

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

[Piotr Mikolajski]

6 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

Still I will build at least one Draken but honestly never thought about particular scheme.

 

This is the most safety-oriented option. When you start thinking about different schemes and versions, then you end up buying five kits.

 

5 hours ago, AaCee26 said:

IIRC this one mever flow in this camo. Maybe our Swedish friends can confirm this?

 

Following info is posted on Swedish Air Force Museum website:

In 1972, this aircraft was painted in a new camouflage, called FOA camouflage. With the help of aerial photography of Sweden's nature, FOA had developed a camouflage pattern together with artists. The pattern colors were black, brown, dark green and light green in certain proportions. There were also templates and very accurate instructions for how to paint. Sometimes the camouflage is called Viggen camouflage because the AJ 37 Viggen was painted in this way during the 1970s.

 

I see two photos from Stockholm-Tullinge:

• 1975.07.23 -  https://www.airhistory.net/photo/366857/35220 - this one is probably from the visitation day at F18 Tullinge in 1975
• 1979.05.11 - https://www.airliners.net/photo/Sweden-Air-Force/Saab-J35B-Draken/1594296/L

If the photographers did not get the dates wrong, this means that the aircraft had this camouflage for at least seven years. Of course, J35 also has it in the museum, but that's less important.

 

On the old War Thunder Forum I see comment posted by someone from Sweden:

To those who wonder about splinter camouflaged J 35s...
During evaluations of what would become the standardized FOA pattern for aircraft (a similar pattern was already in use with the Navy in the 60s), two 35 airframes were painted during the summer of 1972. These were; the decommissioned J 35F prototype (35-7) and J 35B 35220, which was due to be decommissioned later that year. Only 35220 flew using that paint scheme. The aircraft was withdrawn from service by the end of 1972 but was used as an instructional airframe (mainly for practicing aircraft towing) at F 18 a few years, before being handed over to the SwAF Museum. Who, in turn, lent it to the collections at High Chaparral. Not sure about who took care to it after the HC collection became scattered a few years back. 35-7 was scrapped in 1972 and used for demolition practice.

 

Both photos from Tullinge show the aircraft next to the towing equipment, so this description agrees with the photos.

 

[Bjorn]

On 23/03/2024 at 20:22, AaCee26 said:

him

 

IIRC this one mever flow in this camo. Maybe our Swedish friends can confirm this?

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

As Piotr points out, it flew many times in this camo, it was retained until the aircraft was taken out of service. Here are a few pictures of it in service:




Here it is hanging from the roof in a shop in High Chaparral, a Swedish Wild West-city amusement park (!). I do not know if it is still on display, but it is owned by the Swedish Air Force museum, so it is surely preserved somewhere (if it is not till at High Chaparral).



However, another individual, a scrapped one, was painted in a similar way but with another pattern. And that one never flew. 

Edited March 25 by Bjorn

[Bjorn]

On 23/03/2024 at 15:26, Dennis_C said:

What is the history of Draken colour schemes? As I understand early scheme was natural metal, then two-tone olive green/blue topside camo (with parallel stripes and somewhat X-shaped, some with large white numbers on wings), and lastly grey scheme some with large red numbers. Splinter camo never used. Plus some export schemes. 

Yes, you nailed it there. The first ones were delivered in NMF, in fact the first ones of all versions, (except for the J 35J) were NMF.



In the early sixties, a blue-greem camouflage was tested on a number of J 35A. Two were green with blue stripes, one was all-green and the fourth blue with green stripes. This camouflage was portrayed on the first release of the old Revell kit (although the exact colours are not correct):



I built it once:



More pictures: 

This was developed into the classic "Draken" camouflage pattern used on all versions except for the two-seater SK 35C that remained NMF:

Finally, a number of the modified J 35J were painted two-tone grey in the 90s:



The splinter camouflage mentioned above that was tested on one Draken in service and one scrapped one, was just a test for a camouflage that was meant to be used on Viggen. As far as i know, it was never intended to be used on Drakens too.


 

 

[Dennis_C]

Thank you @Bjorn!

So seems classic scheme for 35F is olive green with somewhat X-shaped blue spot and of course large numbers on the wing (I understand not every Draken had this but that makes the look very unique). The new MikroMir kit works perfectly for such a scheme. We just need a set of nice decals with wide choice of airplanes

[Bjorn]

1 hour ago, Dennis_C said:

Thank you @Bjorn!

So seems classic scheme for 35F is olive green with somewhat X-shaped blue spot and of course large numbers on the wing (I understand not every Draken had this but that makes the look very unique). The new MikroMir kit works perfectly for such a scheme. We just need a set of nice decals with wide choice of airplanes

Exactly! Note that the olive green is more olive drab, almost brown. It is difficult to find the correct colours, since photos vary a lot. Besides that, when weathered, the blue turned almost turquoise and the olive drab sometimes turned a little more green.

Early, fresh-painted examples (the olive drab was not that brown, but almost):



Another photo of a fresh-painted example: As you can see, it is not easy to judge the exact colours from a photo:



A weathered J 35J: Note that the nose was re-painted, so here you can spot the difference between fresh and weathered olive drab:



Colours on a weathered example can be seen here: https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/saab-j-35f-draken/

Another well-weathered example can be found here: https://www.airliners.net/photo/Sweden-Air-Force/Saab-J35J-Draken/1177319

Edited March 25 by Bjorn

[Dennis_C]

27 minutes ago, Bjorn said:

Another well-weathered example can be found here: https://www.airliners.net/photo/Sweden-Air-Force/Saab-J35J-Draken/1177319

This one has almost like 4-colour camo scheme with olive and blue repainted on the nose, engine pipe and in spots across other parts. I think it will work if you use same olive drab mixed with different amounts of white to produce faded and unfaded olive colour.  

And I agree typical US Army olive drab looks very familiar here. It's definitely not the green used on Lansen (for which I used H309 FS34079).

Blue is interesting though especially as it faded. It looks like it actually changes its tone so just mixing with white will not give right effect. For the unfaded blue I think Hobby Colour H326 or H328 should work. For the faded.... I think here your artistic license should apply

Edited March 25 by Dennis_C

[RidgeRunner]

My Mikro Mir arrived :). Looking at it briefly, and accepting it is short run, it looks excellent to my eyes . Time will tell. One day, when I get to her she will be a Finn

 

Martin

 

 

 

[drake122]

Any idea when the new 1/72 Moose Republic decal sheet for J-35 F1 and F2 is expected? It is listed as future release on a few websites, but nothing else is known...