Aires

1/48 J-35 Draken Details Wheel Bays, Exhaust Nozzle, Vertical Fin, Control Surfaces, Open Gun Bay & Speed Brakes For the Hasegawa Draken J-35

Stock Numbers: 4376, 4378, 4434, 4432, 4408, 4391

Reviewed By  Dave Morrissette, IPMS# 33653

J-35 Draken Wheel Bays Part No. 4376 MSRP: $23.95 J-35 Draken Exhaust Nozzle Part No. 4378 MSRP: $17.95 J-35 Draken Vertical Fin Part No. 4434 MSRP: $14.95 J-35 Draken Control Surfaces Part No. 4432 MSRP: $17.95 J-35 Draken Open Gun Bay Part No. 4408 MSRP: $12.00 J-35 Draken Speed Brakes Part No. 4391 MSRP: $14.95 Website: www.aires.cz Last year Hasegawa issued their new 1/48th Scale Saab J-35 Draken kit and since then it has come out with some new decal options. The kit itself is great, and the fit is good, but if you are like me, there are always some extra touches that could be added; and Aires has come out with sets to fix almost every part of this kit. Let’s look at six of these and compare them to what the kit gives you. Aires wheel well set includes parts for both main bays as well as the nose gear bay. The detailing, especially in the nose gear bay, is much improved. All the piping and wiring in a real wheel bay is molded in and well executed. Installing the resin bays will require surgery in cutting out and removing the molded in bays. The exhaust nozzle is perfectly molded in two pieces. You trim off the back of the tube, add the kit engine face and add the exhaust ring, and add to the kit. As you can see in the picture, the kit tube is two parts, has a lot of ejector pin marks and will require seam filling. The exhaust detail is also much improved. This is a drop-in replacement which includes two pieces- the vertical fin and the rudder. You remove the excess resin and glue the fin to the kit with no kit modifications required. With the rudder being separate, you can pose it as needed without the surgery and cleanup work required to do so to the kit parts. The stand-alone control surfaces let you pose the ailerons and flaps in any position. The kit parts will need to be removed, and as with all resin sets, test fitting will be required. A small PE fret is included which will cover the fuselage gap once the flaps are dropped. The gun bay consists of three pieces- the gun insert, the barrel and the cover. These fit on the wing root and will require that the area be cut out, the gun insert glued into place ,and the barrel added. The cover can then be posed. The detail is excellent, especially inside the bay cover. The speed brakes consist of 8 resin and 4 photoetch parts. I had to look on the Internet to find their location but I have shown it in the pictures. The Draken has 4 speed brakes – two on the upper fuselage and two on the lower. To add this set, the kit doors will need to be removed and the fuselage thinned out, then the set can be added. Conclusion That’s a lot of resin- six different sets. Four of them will require some surgery while two are drop-ins - what could make a modelers life easier? The casting and instructions on all are very good. In all, these set will enhance everything on the Hasegawa kit from the flaps, ailerons, gun bay, landing gear bays etc and take it to a new level of detail. The vertical fin and the exhaust are recommended to modelers of all skill levels, while the rest are recommended to modelers with some experience adding resin set to a kit. The gun bay would be a great first resin detail for someone wanting to get into the use of aftermarket parts to enhance their kits. My thanks to David Lajer, Aires and IPMS/USA for the review samples.