Big Finish

So we are finally to the point of paint, decals and final assembly. I started out with applying the paint masks for the canopies. The paint masks seem to fit very well and are applied easily. I started the painting by covering the entire fuselage with Model Master Metallics non buffing Aluminum. I do this for two reasons, 1) to find any defects in the fuselage and take care of them before final paint, and 2) because I like to have an aluminum base to all my aircraft that once painted when I do weathering I can chip away the final color to reveal the aluminum underneath and it looks more realistic.

Background

Denmark was Saab’s first export customer for the Draken, designated 35XD by Saab. The Danes used a slightly different nomenclature with F-35 representing the attack version, RF-35 the reconnaissance version, and TF-35 the training version. Denmark initially ordered 20 F-35, 20 RF-35, and 6 TF-35 Drakens, with another five additional TF-35 Drakens pieced together after the Draken production line had shut down and switched to Viggen production. The Danish Draken had a 40% increase in internal fuel capacity and had its fuselage and wings beefed up to allow a maximum of 10,000 pounds of ordinance to be carried on nine beefed-up pylons. Externally, the Danish Drakens can be spotted by the larger ordinance pylons and an arrester hook. The Draken had always been designed to have an arrester hook installed, but it was never installed on any Draken but the 35XD. The Danish Drakens also carried two 30mm cannons.

If you have always liked the Northrup YF-23 design or are just interested in advanced aircraft this book may be of interest to you. It was written by Paul Metz who happened to have been Northrup's Chief Test Pilot for the YF-23 ATF DEM/VAL phase. (Demonstration and Validation) With his knowledge of the aircraft and it's performance he has been able to pull together a great collection of material to give you the reader unique insight into this program. This work comes in the standard size (8.5” x 11.5” x 5/16”) and consist of 153 pages on glossy paper, also 290 color photos as I count them, 20 pieces of aircraft artwork showing various preliminary configurations, 25 charts and 38 technical drawings.