SAAB Draken with display base

[Siwi]

Hi all,
Over the 'long weekend' as we say, I watched Military Aviation History's latest 'inside the cockpit' video from his visit to the Swedish Air Force museum. The subject was the SAAB Draken and I recalled that I'd downloaded three examples in 1/72 from TSMC when they were available. The plane has an iconic wing shape and I immediately wanted to build one, so I chose the 'Acro Deltas' version, which is an early B model used by the acrobatics team in classic metal with a blue and gold tail. This would have the added bonus of not needing to build fiddly missiles and fuel tanks!


It's not neccesary to show the whole build process since this is shown in the instructions on the TSMC webpage. As I found with his MiG-21, there are some clever design features that all but guarentee things will fit and hold the right angle.
I decided to display the model in flight against a blue sky background to get good colour contrast. Therefore I cut out the windows, made a simple cockpit and also a pilot figure for the first time. He's a bit crude but proportions look right. The base itself is part of the strong card box toner cartridges came in. I just cut an L section, made some right-angled supports with a curved side and then stuck thick paper curving across the fold. On this a background was painted - should have moved to a cooler room as using acrylics was difficult in the conservatory in the afternoon. A piece of wire is inserted to the base and a gap in the plane's belly which wouldn't quite fit. The plane is poseable to an extent.

[Don Boose]

An excellent model and an innovative display base.

Don