Many builds that I’ve started lately seems to belong to group builds on different forums, and this one is no exception! The group build is called “Be a kid again” meaning build those kits that you once built when you where young or when you started the hobby.
As I recall, my first kit was the Lindberg Draken with spring loaded robot, that I built together with my dad. Or at least he and I started, and I finished it. That kit is a bit hard to come by now adays, so I opted to build Airfix old Draken kit, which I had lying in their “History of Swedish Air Force” boxing.
I decided to build it out of the box and I think the rules state that too. The greatest difference between now and then is my knowledge and that I’m gonna use an airbrush.
I could have re-scribed it, but opted out as it feels more old school that way.
After checking with a friend, I painted the pilot in a beige/khaki kind of colour, and then the seat and cockpit surroundings was painted in green and aluminium. Not much of a cockpit so the pilot is needed to fill the empty space! 🙂
After the pilot was done, I could start with assembly of the plane. It was pretty straight forward and went together pretty well for an old kit from the 70’s.
In the last minute I realized that I’ve forgotten to add weight to the nose, which caused a bit of a problem as I accidently pushed the pilot a bit. It took a while to set him straight again and still get the weights to stay.
After that I glued the nose in place and also the wings.
Only a small amount of filler was needed to take care of the seams. I used a wet q-tip to remove the excess putty.
Pylons and some of the open position covers was added to the underside.
After checking with a friend, I could mask the canopy in the correct way for a F version,which have the rear portion covered.
I’ve also painted the wheels and landing gears.
Just recently I’ve painted pre-shade lines and after painting the robots white, I painted some white on different panels. Not sure if that’ll show, but it’s fun to try different things.
I checked my colours that I’ve bought for my 1/48 Hasegawa Draken, and the blue-gray that was goey back then, was even worse now. I’ll consider it useless. I don’t think I’m gonna buy that brand again. So next time I’ll order MRP (Mr Paint) instead. I’ve heard that they’re good.
I hope I can find matching colour in Humbrol or some other brand that I already have at home. If not, I have to order,which will cause a delay in the build.