Saab Draken Reference

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Post your reference information here. Please note if posting artwork or photos you must either be the copyright holder or have the copyright holder's permission to post.

 

If you do not hold the copyright or have permission, then a link to the original website is permissible.

[vppelt68]

Let's take a look at the Finnish AF - Ilmavoimat - Drakens then 🙂.

 

They weren't that different from the Swedish ones, mostly because they were mostly ex-Flygvapnet Drakens leased and later bought, or just bought, by Finland. Since we are a bilingual country where Swedish is the other official language, it was decided to retain the cockpits and stencilling unaltered to save time, effort and money. Later in major overhauls at least parts of the warning diagrams were repainted in Finnish, and my otherwise excellent reference book doesn't specify the cockpit language of the planes that were assembled as new in Finland. The camouflage painting remained the same, standard Swedish camouflage through their careers, though many received fresh new paint in later life.

 

The letter "S" in all types refers to "Suomi" - that's Finland in Finnish.

 

It all started with the lease of six second hand 35BS- models in 1972, which were bought in 1975, and a seventh that was bought as replacement for a damaged airplane. These lacked radar and were mainly used as single seat trainers. Fuselage numbers (even) DK-202...212.

 

Next came the twelve 35S- models, that were assembled in Finland 1974-1975. They were practically identical to Swedish F2-models. They are easy to identify by their undernose IR-seeker bulges. Fuselage numbers (odd) DK-201...223.

 

In two batches, 1976 and 1984, we bought five second hand 35CS-model unarmed, twin seat trainers. They retained the natural metal finish. Fuselage numbers were (even) DK-262...270.

 

The most numerous variant was the 35FS, 24 Swedish F1-models bought second hand. There were six planes bought in 1976-78 and 18 more of them in 1984-86. Their fuselage numbers were (odd) DK-225...271.

 

Id:ing a Finnish Draken was easy as long as the national insignia were of 72cm diameter and the fuselage numbering black or white, 41 or 48cm tall in the rear fuselage. November 1988 brought new orders. Roundels were shrunk to 20cm in diameter and the fuselage code were moved to the nose and repainted in black, with only 10cm tall lettering. That's less than 1,5mm in 1:72 scale!

 

Tbc, maybe... V-P

 

P.S. Huge thanks to Lt.Col(Eng) Ret. Jyrki Laukkanen for writing the book "Saab 35 Draken in Finnish Air Force". I never knew how little I knew about these airplanes before I read this book!

[Marlin]

Hi guys, 

I'll re-post links to my own pictures from a visits at Skavsta F11 and Swedish Airforce Museum.

F11 was the dedicated Recce Wing of the Swedish Airforce, so they only display the S35E version of the SAAB Draken.

 

F11 Skavsta

 

Swedish Airforce Museum

 

Hopefully some pictures will be of use to someone. 

/Bosse - who might attend the GB with a J35J

 

 

[vppelt68]

For all facebook users in here, take a look at these pics! https://www.facebook.com/jugg.se

[vppelt68]

I dug up the pics I have taken of the Drakens in various Finnish Aviation Museums. They were all so bad I decided not to share them. Instead, I did find this decent pic of Draken armament. The plane in the background is DK-223 "Kreivi von Rosen" - the last J 35XS or by its Finnish designation just 35S that was assembled in Finland. There's an AIM-4D Falcon 🇺🇸 a.k.a Rb 28 🇸🇪 a.k.a 8S 🇫🇮 hanging from the pylon, an AIM-26B Falcon 🇺🇸 a.k.a Rb 27S 🇸🇪 a.k.a 7S 🇫🇮 training missile with a functional seeker head only. The green one is an inert 8S ground handling practice piece, with word "SOKEA" = blind, meaning it doesn't have a seeker head.

 

 

[vppelt68]

Well, wow, this build is just superb! https://scalespot.com/onthebench/j35draken/build.php

[vppelt68]

Cool clip! Arkistojen kätköistä - From the archives: Ilmavoimat 1980-luvulla - Finnish Air Force 1980´s

 

[Bjorn]

Maybe not exactly a reference, but maybe useful is this: I have built several 1/48 Hasegawa Drakens, and are well aware of its (few) challenges. On my sleeping blog, I once posted some tips that makes building this excellent kit even easier. It is in Swedish, but I hope that you can pick up most of it through the pictures and/or using Google Translate:

http://bjornsmodeller.blogspot.com/2018/07/hasegawa-draken-i-148-snabbkurs.html?m=0

[Bjorn]

Here are a few tips that may be useful, three very common errors on Draken builds:

1. The unpainted parts on the wings and the fin

There is a panel line here, and a common fault is to let the unpainted part follow the panel line. In fact, this area is far much smaller. Compare the blueprint to the photo below:

 

2. The air intakes

Many instructions, also Hasegawa's, state that the air intakes should be painted in different shades of aluminium. This is wrong, these parts were made of glass-fibre, the material was in a green-yellow colour. This was painted light grey, a paint that often peeled. The result varied a lot from aircraft to aircraft, so here you have to check references. But painting it in different shades of aluminium is definitely wrong.

 

 

3. The colour of the landing gear legs.

Most kit instructions tell you to paint them aluminium. Parts of them are aluminium, but most of them are green or light grey, almost white.
Green: All Swedish Air Force and Austrian Air Force Drakens and Swedish-built Finnish 35B, C and FS.
White: All Danish Air Force Drakens and Finnish-built 35S.

See pictures below. Note that those with grey legs have different wheels.

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Bjorn

[Andwil]

Very helpful, thanks Bjorn.  I will have to repaint my undercarriage, does the dark green apply also to the nose gear?

 

AW

 

Edit:  I have just seen a couple of photos that suggest the nose gear was also green.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Andwil
Update

[Bjorn]

On 19/03/2023 at 08:17, Andwil said:

Very helpful, thanks Bjorn.  I will have to repaint my undercarriage, does the dark green apply also to the nose gear?

 

AW

 

Edit:  I have just seen a couple of photos that suggest the nose gear was also green.

Yes, that is true. Most of it was green, so here is a picture for reference:

[Bjorn]

Another tip: If you plan to do a NMF Draken, remember that all unpainted Saab aircraft had a very matt finish - not only when they were weathered. You can see it very clearly on this picture of a fresh delivered NMF S 35E:



Detail - it is almost grey:



The same goes for weathered aircraft:

[exdraken]

for the Austrian Draken builders:

http://www.gotech.at/saab_j35_draken.htm

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saab_J-35OE_Mk.II_Draken,_Austria_-_Air_Force_JP6735028.jpg

 

http://www.doppeladler.com/oebh/draken.htm

 

walkaround plus real cut away

http://kitchecker.de/walkaround-saab-j-35-oe-draken/

[Bjorn]

The Draken tailcone is wider, or "fatter" than the rest of the aircraft. On the Hasegawa 1/48 kit, this is quite obvious, but on the 1/72 kit (and on other 1/72 kits), this is not so evident. I have seen builders working hard to sand it down to be just as wide as the rest of the body - which is wrong. It can be seen on pictures of gloss-coated aircraft like these:

 

This is for all versions except early J 35A and SK 35C, which had a shorter tailcone that has the same diameter as the body.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Bjorn

[exdraken]

On 3/28/2023 at 2:54 PM, Bjorn said:

This is for all versions except early J 35A and SK 35C, which had a shorter tailcone that has the same diameter as the body.

Wasn't the reason behind this a stronger, more powerful, and therfore bugger and longer Volvo Flugmotor from the D upwards?

[Orso]

The longer tail came with the late A-version because of a new afterburner so all Draken except the early A and the C has the long tail. The longer air intakes came with the D-version.

[Wings unlevel]

Found this post useful in outlining the FS colours for Austrian Drakens, FWIW.

 

I wasn’t sure a bout the call-outs in the H2K instructions, the two lighter greys looked fine but the dark grey didn’t look right to me. According to this post the dark grey should be FS36118, better known as gunship grey, which looks to be on the money.
 

The H2K instructions would have you use FS37173, which very few manufacturers make, and their recommendation for AK Real, which I mostly use, was for RC319 which is almost a greenish grey and didn’t look right. Strangely though their Mr Color recommendation is 305, which is Mr Color’s gunship grey. So gunship grey it is.

 

 

[exdraken]

more walk around p..n:

http://modeltalking.hobbyart.sk/?p=5064

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason4/j35_mkii_draken/index.php?Page=1

 

[vppelt68]

For those of us who do fb, another magnificent jugg.se photograph of the last two Drakens flying side by side... and a brilliant reference to the difference between the short tail and a long tail DK.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1151741959063229&set=a.573571673546930

[reini]

Some Draken cockpit photos (note, this particular aircraft is a simulator):

 

 

 

 

 

Photos were taken from Military Museum's Manege in Suomenlinnna, Finland (https://www.suomenlinna.fi/en/visitor/museums/manege/)