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September 2011 -- 1/72 Hasegawa J 35 Drakens
The green one has a Heller recce nose (which fit quite well) and Revell Germany decals. The gray one is stock Hasegawa, again with Revell Germany decals. The numbers were repainted in day-glo orange. Both sport Aires interiors.
Found them fussier little buggers to do than expected. Or maybe I'm losing my edge.
More images in Model Shots.
September 2011 -- Heller J 35 Draken
Out of the box, raised detail removed, decals from Revell Germany release of the ancient Revell J 35.
Not sure where the AIM-4s came from.
September 2011 -- 1/72 Heller A/J 32 Lansen
Out of the box, raised surface detail removed, decals from here and there.
Hardware store spray can silver -- no Alclad.
September 2011 -- 1/72 Heller J 29 Tunan
Out of the box, kit markings, national insignia from a Revell Germany Draken sheet.
All raised surface detail removed, wing fences from .010 sheet stock. No Alclad.
Happy with them so far. Landing gear, stores, canopy hoods, nav lights and they should be good to go.
Oh, and pitot tubes. Don't forget the pitot tubes.
I showed a glimpse of a second Revell F-102. I happened to get this one in a package deal on eBay some time ago.
I think it was one of seven or eight built models that looked like they were built carefully enough and were intact enough to make credible desk model rehab projects. With shipping, I got them delivered to my front door for about $3 each. Not a bad deal.
The Dagger was typical. Whoever did the work at least cared enough to put the decals in the right places, more or less. He (I assume the builder was male) left it in the medium gray the plastic arrived in. Pretty sure this represents the last issue of the kit, with the 327th commander's checkerboard marked machine being represented. (Except the checkers are supposed to be red, not insignia blue. Oops.) By the time this issue of the kit was available (late seventies?), the idiot markings in the plastic that showed you where to put decals had been removed from the molds. Yay.
Look at that...gear up...not landing gear broken off! My kind of model!
Classic 1950s surface detail. The external rudder actuator was a feature of the prototypes and was absent on the production short-tails. The speed boards above the engine nozzle are a bit short as well. One last little oddity is that whoever put this one together, put the exhaust cone in the wrong way...hollow part facing into the fuselage. Details, details.
They sure don't make 'em like this anymore. Revell got their money's worth out of this mold, I bet.
September 2011 -- 1/78 Revell F-102A
Plain vanilla. So what's wrong with vanilla?
Actually I attempted to hand-paint the Iron Man insignia the 327th sported on their machines for awhile, but I wasn't getting it. Besides there are enough photos showing these Daggers devoid of anything other than the basics.
It's OOB except for a bit of nose lengthening. Don't know why Revell chose to portray the poor thing so bobbed. Looks a little too lean as well. Ah, so what. Retro modeling isn't about 100% accuracy.
Started these guys some time ago, but since there seems to be this Saab theme in progress, why not finish them? (More to the point, do I want to get paid for them? Only one way that is going to happen...)
They are 1/72nd Hasegawa kits that are proving a little fussy to build. Not helping things at all are the fancy Aires resin interiors that were sent along to enhance them a little. God I hate this aftermarket stuff. Nothing but an impediment to a finished model airplane. Oh, and one of them has a resin copy I made of the recce nose from the Heller kit.
As you can see, they are only about a windscreen's fitting away from paint jobs. Stay tuned.
Remember those Saabs? The '102 is that almost 1/72nd Revell short-tail job. Don't think I posted anything about that one before. I think it came with a bunch of built-up stuff I bought on eBay years ago. There was enough of it to make a nice desk model.
Except for some pitot tubes and other minor tweaks, they're ready to go. Waiting for the buyer's reaction before going any further. Got a bunch of other stuff to work on in the meantime...
