Saab 35 Draken MikroMir-kit

Aligning parts is tricky. 

Left one is from Hasegawa, right one from MikroMir. 

I need to get the cockpit fit between the fuselage halves before painting anything. 

More dry-fitting 

 

More dry-fitting. 

I had to add one missing part from scratch. The white one. 

Cockpit painting ongoing. I'm also building Hasegawa's kit in the same time. 

Afterburner was really a challenge. I managed it by using Ammo's Ultra Glue an thin black CA-glue. 

 

 

 

 

Afterburner completed. 

Cockpit painted and ready. 

Comparing Hasegawa and MikroMir 

 

 

 

One of the most interesting and rare details: the air intake. 

Comparison of Hasegawa's and MikroMir's afterburners. 

Fuselage details need a lot of fitting. Here i one of the lower airbrakes. 

The air intake painted. 

This kit requires a lot of dry fitting and fixing. Just noticed that the front wheel bay and the cockpit couldn't be put in place the way suggested in the instructions. 

Placing of the parts is very complicated. 

 

Wing root was very challenging.
 

Opposing to instructions it was better to glue wing roots to the upper frame. 

Frame halfs help aligning wing roots.  

Air scoop comparison: from left Quickboost, Hasegawa and MikroMir. 

MikroMir's IRST was a disappointment. It has clear parts and one PE-part, but the body of the IRST is too bulky and lacks panel lines. 

 

 

500- and 1500-surfacers applied. Tape protects the small opening.
 

 

The insides should be ready for joining the fuselage halfes. 

 

 

 

Front landing gear bay glued to the nose part. 

Notice the alignment pin in the nose part joined to the air intake. 

Lot of pressing. 

The canopy still shows a good fit although there is a big gap between the nose and the fuselage. Dryfitting!! 

Nice progress. Next is filling gaps and smoothing joints. 

Gaps filled with styrene sheets. 

The air intake was damaged so it needed fixing. 

 

The inlet fix is okay-ish. 

Rudder in place! 

I'm making a late Finnish J35XS Draken so it needs chaff and flare dispensers. Maestro Models' resin parts needed some uppgrade . That's why I made this easy hole punching tool in about 15 minutes just to get 0,8mm diameter plastic circles. Just some leftover wood, a toothpick and 0,8mm drill bit. 

Left one is a Falcon missile from MikroMir kit. The right one is RB27 AIM-26B Falcon by Maestro Models. Just for comparison, because I'm not going to arm this kit with missiles. 

I used Sketchup for estimating the cutting lines for the flaps. 

Marks measured and tape limits the area that will be removed. 

Cutting was success and now the flaps can nicely droop. 

I made a lot of mistakes with the canopy parts but now they should be ready with additions. 

Canopy in place masked with the kit's own masks. 

 

Back antenna added. Now the model could be ready for painting.
 

White base with Mr.Surfacer white finishing primer 1500 with some pink preshading... 

H4 yellow added a few times. The yellow is awfully transparent so the preshading with pink was a bad idea 🙁 

Removed most of the paint for a redo. 

Now much better without preshading. 

Underside is Revell Aqua Acrylic paint 7 black gloss airbrushed.
 

I lost the wheel guard so I had to remade that part from white styrene.
 

All the details painted. 

To test how the decals work I put first the underside decals. 

The wisent decal is designed for Hasegawa kit so there are some fit issues. 

 

Milla's turbine wings were very difficult to add. 

Landing gears started. 

Flaps, ailerons, rudder and upper air brakes in place. 

Finishing varnish added and canopy masks removed. 

Tail wheel in place. I have an annoying dust problem... 

Main landing gear painted, washed, varnished and ready 

Out of curiosity I assembled fast one of the kit's Sidewinder missiles and one of the droptanks. The missile is not perfectly round and it is missing panel lines. 

Main landing gears in place 

 

Nose undercarriage and milla ready. 

Bay doors added. 

My original idea was to have the canopy be able to open and close, but the Micro Liquitape wasn't strong enough to keep the canopy up. The canopy is now fixed to open position. I also added one plastic rod between the canopy and the cockpit wall. 

All the Drakens in the cabinet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comparing to Hasegawa's kit