Sweden's Draken entered service in 1960, but it looks futuristic even today. I've always liked its graceful double-delta wing, so I was thrilled when Hasegawa announced a 1/48 scale kit - and it was worth the wait.
Molded in Hasegawa's typical light-gray plastic, the parts have engraved panel lines that are distinct yet thin. The fuselage is divided into upper and lower halves extending to the wing break, with only the nose cone being separate. A very nice touch is the exhaust: It's four pieces and designed to be dropped in at the last moment, minimizing masking.
The cockpit features raised detail as well as decals for panels.
Only fuel tanks are included for stores, although the instructions show placement for AIM-4Ds and AIM-9Bs and indicate the Hasegawa weapons set in which they can be found (No. X48-3, by the way).
Decals for three Swedish air force aircraft are provided. Two are in a distinctive dark green/dark blue-over-neutral gray camouflage; the third is two-tone gray with international orange ID numbers.
Construction was straightforward. I used the decals for the cockpit; they settled well over the detail with help from Micro Sol. The four-part ejection seat is installed at the end of the build.
Major components went together well. However the leading-edge inserts (optional parts are provided for a cannon-armed version) were too narrow; I needed filler to blend them well. There was a small gap at the join between the tail and the spine, as well as where the tail cone meets the fuselage.
Watch as you go: You need to add nose ballast and open holes for weapon pylons.
With the airframe cleaned up and primed, I painted the neutral gray underside, masked, then sprayed the upper surfaces green. The instructions call for olive drab (1). After looking at photos on
www. airliners.net, I decided a darker color was more appropriate. I settled on Gunze Sangyo RAF dark green.
(In the photos I looked at, no two Drakens were the same, and it appears the the colors faded a lot. I recommend looking at references before painting.)
I used midnight blue for the second color, and airbrushed the soft-edged camo freehand. The natural-metal leading edges, belly, and fuel tanks were painted with Alclad II polished aluminum. I masked the canopy with a precut set from Eduard (No. EX249). The clear parts are thin and distortion-free, but the hinges are extremely fragile - I lost two of the three during construction.
The complex landing gear is fiddly but strong and well detailed.
The model captures the stance and look of the Draken perfectly. I spent about 20 hours on my Saab, much of it masking and painting.
Construction was a breeze, but the complex paint scheme may thwart inexperienced modelers. Now, Hasegawa, how 'bout a Viggen?