Wings unlevel Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 (edited) Just like there are no kangaroos in Austria, there were no Drakens in Australia unfortunately. But I've always found the aircraft fascinating, so I'm excited for this GB, and thanks @exdraken for the nudge in the chat thread about getting my build thread up! My victim is a very familiar kit here: So just posting these shots just to show it is not yet started. I do like the Hobby 2000 concept of providing masks and Cartograf decals, and I will build the kit with the box art Austrian scheme (it looks like no one else is doing that scheme yet?), and I'm quite fond of Austria after a visit there some years ago. My only bit of aftermarket will be Eduard's PE set. On that, the Eduard instrument panel pieces suggest the cockpit colour is light grey, and not green as the kit instructions would have you paint it? Somehow I have three GB builds on the go at the moment, so I won't start this one until at least one of those is finished, but two are very close to being done so I can make a start on my Draken soon. I'm looking forward to seeing this fantastic looking form take shape! Gerard (in not so mountainous Australia) Edited April 15, 2023 by Wings unlevel 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpoud117 Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Hi Gerard, The Austrian Drakens were refubished D-variant vs the F-variant depicted by Hasegawa. The cockpit color is different, both guns are present, the auxiliary intakes on the spine are different. And if you plan on doing a post 1992 MK.2 bird, you should also modify the tail tip and tail cone for chaff/flare dispenser. I'm sure someone will have a link to a good build, detailing all that needs to be done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Welcome on my behalf too! The funny thing about the Hobby2000 Austrian Drakens is the name on the boxtop, if I'm correct . The correct name for the Austrian/Österreichische export version is J 35Ö. As some people don't know how to use umlauts as they should, the Ö is then written as OE, which should sound pretty much the same when pronounced. But our Polish friends decided to call it ÖE... That takes nothing away from the quality of their product, but is kind of funny if I have understood it correctly 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 10 hours ago, cpoud117 said: Hi Gerard, The Austrian Drakens were refubished D-variant vs the F-variant depicted by Hasegawa. The cockpit color is different, both guns are present, the auxiliary intakes on the spine are different. And if you plan on doing a post 1992 MK.2 bird, you should also modify the tail tip and tail cone for chaff/flare dispenser. I'm sure someone will have a link to a good build, detailing all that needs to be done indeed, they are Ds with F features, like the late canopy as there are no large dayglow numbers included, those are definitely rel. early and pre mod., like 1988/1991 as stated 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 26, 2023 Author Share Posted March 26, 2023 Hi @cpoud117 and @exdraken, thanks for the info on the Austrian jets. I do like the largo dayglo numbers on the wings, so it’s a shame the H2K boxing is for pre-upgrade aircraft. Nonetheless I’ll try to do the build justice and built as good a representation of an Austrian Draken as my skills and time let me! 10 hours ago, vppelt68 said: our Polish friends decided to call it ÖE... That takes nothing away from the quality of their product, but is kind of funny if I have understood it correctly Covering all options?! 😊 As an ignorant English native speaker I missed that discrepancy. And that’s one of the aspects of GBs I love, I’m always learning. And I’m certainly keen to learn more about the Draken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 10, 2023 Author Share Posted April 10, 2023 Some progress to report after making a proper start this weekend: Hot end and front end ready to go, lots of parts removed from sprues and cleaned up, etc. Cockpit and ejection seat dressed in PE, a little crudely perhaps, but will look pretty good when closed up. (I’m not going to use the radar scope hood included in the PE set, too fiddly to fit and I think it’s a bit too big looking at photos - the kit piece looks even worse.) Thanks to Werner for the walk around links, they were very helpful for getting the colours reasonably accurate! Glad to have started! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 13, 2023 Author Share Posted April 13, 2023 Some more progress today (I have a few days off work). I tried to replicate the faded/peeling fibreglass material in the intakes, with a green base coat and misting on silver on top. Sort of worked. But now the airframe is buttoned up, you can’t see much at a.when you look down the intakes (which is my excuse for not following AW’s and Adrian’s lead in fashioning some intake trunking. Looks like a Draken! Well, it looks like a Draken with some gaps to fill and spills to clean up. Nothing drastic, but I wasn’t on my game today. I had a COVID booster shot yesterday and just felt a little meh today. At least that’s my excuse for knocking over my bottle of lacquer thinner, spilling some onto the rhs wing tip (which hadn’t been attached at that point) so it did some surface damage to the plastic, but nothing a little it of sanding back won’t fix. A little more consequential, I didn’t align the top and bottom fuselage halves when glueing them together, so there were small overhangs/lips both at the nose, which was easy enough to sand away, and at the rear end, where the exhaust attached, which wasn’t really easily findable. So I have a bit of a gap to clean up. Nothing that’s not manageable, but hopefully other Has/H2K builders can learn from my mistake! That aside, I’m very happy to see this take shape. Sixty years after it was designed, it still has a beautiful, futuristic shape! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 15, 2023 Author Share Posted April 15, 2023 Cleaned up, masked up and ready to … prime. Really happy with how it’s cleaned up. Not too much more work required before painting. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted April 15, 2023 Share Posted April 15, 2023 Looking good (and quick too)! Good call on omitting the trunking - mine is completely invisible. Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted April 15, 2023 Share Posted April 15, 2023 FWIW I found attaching the rear end a bit of a trial too, so it might not be you... Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 15, 2023 Author Share Posted April 15, 2023 14 minutes ago, AdrianMF said: WIW I found attaching the rear end a bit of a trial too, so it might not be you... I think I had a role in it! But maybe the locating pins for the two fuselage halves don’t align them perfectly either? 🤔 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 23, 2023 Author Share Posted April 23, 2023 Got the primary base coat colours on. I’m very happy with the colours, but a little less so with the amount of touch ups I can see that will need doing. It’ll take just a little longer, but I can see a good looking Draken emerging! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 great colors! may I ask....? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 26, 2023 Author Share Posted April 26, 2023 17 hours ago, exdraken said: great colors! may I ask....? Thanks Werner, do they look okay to you? I posted in the reference thread about to colours I used/reference I found, as I wasn’t sure about the kit instructions’ recommendations: Do you also know if the little air intakes on the spine (behind the canopy) are correct for an Austrian Draken? The instructions said to fit them but they don’t appear in any photos I’ve seen of Austrian Drakens. 🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 30, 2023 Author Share Posted April 30, 2023 Thought I’d be done by now. I did most of the detail painting during the week when I noticed a ghost seam on the right hand side forward fuselage under the cockpit. 😪 Some Mr Surfacer, sanding and re-priming later I have this sorry looking bird. Oh well, I had fair few bits to touch up anyway, and I took advantage of the opportunity to clean up a few blemishes, so the final result will be worth the little extra pain! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpoud117 Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 On 4/26/2023 at 3:52 PM, Wings unlevel said: Do you also know if the little air intakes on the spine (behind the canopy) are correct for an Austrian Draken? The instructions said to fit them but they don’t appear in any photos I’ve seen of Austrian Drakens. Hello WU. Nope, it's not. Right side has no scoop but vents. Left side has a short scoop. Source: https://www.bundesheer.at/archiv/a2002/amadeus/galerie.php?id=1435 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 5 hours ago, cpoud117 said: Right side has no scoop but vents. Left side at a short scoop. Perfect, thank you. I thought I was going mad looking at photos where some showed a vent and some an intake! It had not occurred to me that it would be different either side. Now I have to think how to replicate that… But thank you for posting the pic and the explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted June 12, 2023 Author Share Posted June 12, 2023 Right, some progress to report, finally. I’ve modified the air scoops (removed the right and cut back the left), cleaned up the scar where the right scoop was, and touched up the paint. A few little touch ups to go (despite detacking my masking tape it removed a few chips) and I can apply a gloss coat and get on to decaling. Hopeful of finishing this by the deadline. 🤞 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 This is looking good. Even though I bought this kit to do the Finnish option, I can see me needing another Draken kit to do this Austrian one as well, you're making it look very good. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted June 13, 2023 Author Share Posted June 13, 2023 1 hour ago, stevehnz said: This is looking good. Even though I bought this kit to do the Finnish option, I can see me needing another Draken kit to do this Austrian one as well, you're making it look very good. Steve. Thanks Steve, just some bloody annoying paint chips that came off the nose to fix up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reini Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 Draken makes even grey look cool! Lovely paintjob 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted June 15, 2023 Author Share Posted June 15, 2023 Decals are on. The kit decals are printed by Cartograf. They were very easy to apply and behaved beautifully. I thought they may have been just a little thicker than other Cartograf decals I’ve used though? Will see how they settle down overnight after a few applications of Micro Set. But they look terrific and have really brought the model to life I think. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted June 17, 2023 Author Share Posted June 17, 2023 Got the undercarriage on today - thanks to @Bjorn’s tip in the reference thread, we have green painted oleos. And then a wash with Mr Weathering Color multi-grey. I figure my Draken as modelled was fairly recently delivered in 1988 so wouldn’t be too weathered. The multi grey should give it just a little grimy texture. I cleaned it up after this photo and will let it dry overnight. Then finishing touches and a matt coat tomorrow night and we can land in the gallery. 🤞 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted June 17, 2023 Share Posted June 17, 2023 That looks good good, roll on the gallery shots. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted June 18, 2023 Author Share Posted June 18, 2023 Stumbled at the last hurdle and won’t make the gallery unfortunately. I’d nearly finished matt coating when somehow I’ve knocked my airbrush and spilt great big drops of Mr Color GX113 over the nose of the model. 😩 (Yes someone was airbrushing without the lid on the airbrush cup…) Repairable, and I’ve already begun to sand it back, but not in time before the GB ends, unfortunately. Will post some pics here when it’s finished. Frustrating as I was pretty happy with how this was turning out. But thems the breaks! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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