Miniwing 1/144 Saab J-35A "Draken"
By Matt Bittner
The Kit
No time for an introduction, just striaght to "the goods." The Miniwing J-35A consists of 18 parts with all but the clear canopy in a tan resin. The canopy is vacuformed, and thankfully two are provided. I can see no airholes in the resin and all parts are very well cast. There are decals for only one scheme, that which appears on the boxtop. Decals appear to be ALPS-printed so care must be taken. In addition, there's a little bit of dithering going on with the decals but thankfully mainly on the national insignia, so there may be replacements out there somewhere.
The assembly couldn't be simpler. Put the seat-back in the cockpit then assemble the rest. That's about it. However, two items to keep in mind, and they both are for the cockpit. The decal sheet comes with not only an instrument panel decal, but also a decal for the ack of the seat, which also provides a rudimentary harness. Looks good enough for 1/144 with the
canopy closed, so it will really help. I mention this because these decals are not shown on the instructions and go a long way to help spruce up the cockpit. The only other thing to be aware of is you'll need to separate the nose gear door into a left and right half. Other than that, slap the pieces and shoot it with your favorite NMF paint, then add decals. Voila! A 1/144 scale Draken.
Conclusion
This is a very nice kit, one that should assemble in a matter of minutes and then be finished in a matter of hours. Nothing simpler, in my opinion. Plus, as far as I know, the only 1/144 Draken on the market.
My thanks to Miniwings for the review kit.