FiAF PI-3 at Helsinki-Airport

Finnish Air Force Pilatus PC-12 PI-3 landing at Helsinki Airport runway 22R March 6th 2019

Finnish Air Force de Havilland Vampire F.B.52 VA-2 Xtrakit 1/72 XK72008

Had to have the single-seat Vampire fighter version and decided to try the new Xtrakit limited edition, produced by Hannants UK and manufactured by MPM in the Czech Republic. Nice details but parts fit could have been better, also I think there are some issues with fuselage and nose shapes when compared to the real thing, in this case the ex-Finnish Air Force VA-2 on display at Finnish Aviation Museum, Vantaa. The jet intakes were definitely wrong, tried to fix them with putty and hobby knife. Don't know about the real plane, but in plastic this Xtrakit Vampire has a serious tail-sitter tendency and there isn't much room for nose weights because of the cockpit parts and deep (but also accurate) wheelbay.

The old Heller/Revell kits might have been more accurate shape-wise, but this is a modern kit however and not really that much more expensive. In theory this Xtrakit is a Mk. 5 when Finnish jets were the export version of Mk. 6, but I doubt that there are really any external differences in 1/72 scale. Update: there are some air compressor bulges near jet intakes with Mk. 6, but the intakes were modified anyway.

Airbrushed with Vallejo Acrylic Metal Color 77.701 Aluminium, which turned out nice. Aftermarket Finnish roundels with various stash decals cut out and re-assembled. Update: the Finnish Vampires had original British stencils until later overhaul and repaints in Finland. So I changed to the "Keep off" decals as the Finnish "Älä astu" (=No step) version were applied late 1950's. Also the roundels were originally without the later black outline.

I tried to keep an "old-skool" reference vibe here using just the real plane and "Suomen ilmavoimien lentokoneet 1939-72" book by Kalevi Keskinen, published by Tietoteos in 1975. Still, couldn't resist checking final facts with "de Havilland Vampire in Finnish Air Force" by Kyösti Partonen (publisher Apali, 2013, ISBN 978-952-5877-25-0), especially the nice photos taken in 1952 and 1953. I can really recommend Partonen's book if you want to build an accurate Finnish Vampire, the photos and information are excellent for scale modeling purposes

Finnish Air Force de Havilland Vampire, delivery markings in 1952-53

Finnish Air Force historic jet fighters, top left: Saab J35 Draken, middle: de Havilland Vampire, right: Folland Gnat

VA-2 at Hatfield, UK, Dec 13th 1952 during familiarization flights

Finnish Air Force Fouga CM 170 Magister FM-71 1/72 Valom 72089

OOB build (except different reg. number) of a short run Czech injection kit with resin, vacuformed and photoetch parts. Not a bad kit for a cottage industry example, it's just that the 1/72 is too fiddly a scale for such a small plane as Fouga CM 170. The old Heller kit with aftermarket decals looks almost the same but is easier to build, too bad that both kits suffer canopy fit problems. The Valom decal sheet is okay, Finnish AF roundel blue is a tad too light in my opinion but nevermind. I'm not a fan of either resin or photoetch but used some of the available parts and saved leftovers for future projects.

Still I'm glad that I have another historic FiAF 1/72 jet ready in my collection, the original unrestored FM-71 is on display at Päijänne-Tavastia Aviation Museum, Vesivehmaa. Airbrushed Vallejo Metal Color 77.707 Chrome, smaller details with various Revell and Humbrol enamels. The book Fouga CM 170 Magister in Finnish Air Force by Jyrki Laukkanen (ISBN 978-952-5026-48-1, Apali 2005) was a good reference in addition to the real FM-71.

Finnish Air Force trainer FM-71: built by Valmet, first flight Dec 3rd 1964 (Captain M. Tiiro / S. Valkeiskangas), entered service Jan 27th 1965, major overhaul Jan 4th - Dec 5th 1972, last flight June 30th 1983. Total flight time 3806 hours. Moved to Mini-Suomi at Ähtäri March 24th 1987, on display at Päijänne-Tavastia Aviation museum from 1994 onwards.

Valom FiAF Fouga CM 170 FM-71 w. page 76 of Fouga CM 170 Magister in Finnish Air Force book by Jyrki Laukkanen (Apali, 2005)

FiAF Fouga CM 170 FM-71 from the 70's

FiAF natural metal jet traners: MiG-15 UTI MU-2 (top) and Fouga CM 170 Magister FM-71 (bottom). Both original planes can be seen at Vesivehmaa museum hangar

Finnish Air Force SAAB Draken J35S DK-203 1/72 Hasegawa #01968

Built OOB from a Limited Edition Hasegawa 1/72 2-pack kit, except stash FiAF roundel decals (I think the kit roundels are a bit too large and wrong blue colour) & fuselage numbers (different plane reg) and a steel wire pitot tube. The hardest thing about building a Finnish/Swedish camouflage Draken is determining the scale colours matching the original Standard Flygvapnet "KFF 328 mörkt olivgrön" (=Dark Olive Green), "KFF 438 mörkblå" (Dark Blue) and "KFF 058 blågrå" (Blue Gray). These colours used to fade rather quick and some most weathered examples are more like green, turquoise (topside) and light green gray (undersides).

I tried to approximate my colours according to a photo of the original DK-203 in 1990, also somewhat weathered already but still in a nice condition. I've seen a few unrestored Finnish Drakens in various museums, but still had to use my imagination with the colour photos of the original planes. Paints mixed were all Vallejo Model Air airbrushed with Iwata HP-C, except Revell Enamel 99 Aluminum for the leading edges and Vallejo Metal Color 77.707 Chrome for unpainted metal fuselage part below.

 KFF 328

• 71.057 Black
• 71.022 Light Green RLM82 
• 71.105 Brown

KFF 438, KFF 058

• 71.057 Black
• 71.004 Blue
• 71.001 White

Unpainted metal

• Vallejo Metal Color 77.707 Chrome

The Hasegawa 1/72 Draken was easy to build and looks nice when ready, some details are rather simplified but at least they are roughly in right places. I used only those stencil decals that were supposed to be especially visible in the real plane too, there are numerous details in a real Draken (like all the small panel screw safety paintings in yellow) that really don't look appropriate in 1/72nd scale in my opinion.

The Limited Edition kit is a must if you want to have the DK-215 Special Edition final flight paint scheme, otherwise the cheaper Revell boxing might be a better buy. Also the Saab 35 Draken in Finnish Air Force book by Jyrki Laukkanen (ISBN 952-5026-55-8) is an invaluable reference, especially if you don't have access to the real Finnish or Swedish planes. I like my Draken model, it looks the part and is a nice addition to my historical Finnish Air Force jets scale model collection.

Saab 35S DK-203, c/n 351302 history

The 2nd Finnish Valmet-assembled Draken, first flight Apr. 9th 1974, entered in service June 10th 1974, Overhauls at Valmet Feb. 2nd - Oct 20th 1976 (E), Aug 10th 78 - July 6th 79 (F), Sept 10th 79 - March 3th 80 (VOR/ILS/DME installation), Feb 18th - Nov 4th 82 (G), May 7th - Sept 27th 82 (E), May 8th 86 - March 4th 87 (F), May 17th 88 - June 27th 89 (E), Jan 8th - June 25th 91 (H + modifications + small roundels), Aug 6th - Nov 23rd 93 (E + modifications), March 27th - July 4th 95 (F), Sept 27th - Dec 3rd 96 (E), March 27th - July 9th 98 (G), Jan 14th - Feb 14th 2000 (D). Last flight July 25th 2000 at Rovaniemi, pilot Teuvo Soppela. Total flight time 2376 h 34 min. On display as a memorial at Kittilä Airport, Finland.

Hasegawa FiAF J35S Draken w. page 180 of  Saab 35 Draken in Finnish Air Force book by Jyrki Laukkanen (Apali, 2006)

DK-203 in 1990 still w. large roundels

Finnish Air Force J35S Draken (top), w. Folland Gnat (bottom)

MiG-15 UTI MU-1 Jet Trainer Finnish Air Force photos

Photos of the Finnish Air Force MiG-15 UTI Jet Trainer MU-1 on display at Hallinportti Aviation Museum, Finland. The plane is all original and unrestored

Saab Draken 35S DK-201 Finnish Air Force photos

Check out my new photos of Finnish Air Force Saab 35S Draken DK-201, on display at Kuorevesi Halli, Finland!

Finnish Air Force MiG-21UM MK-106 Condor 1/72

Clockwise from top left: MiG-21UM, de Havilland Vampire Mk. 55, MiG-15UTI, Folland Gnat F.1

Condor MICOJAN MIG-21UM MONGOL 1/72

Well, here's a scale model that isn't too easy to have even nowadays: a Finnish Air Force MiG-21UM 'Mongol' 2-seat trainer in 1/72 scale. Bought my kit from ModelsUA online and fortunately it was very cheap.

The Condor kit is simple and crude, but in 1/72 scale there aren't many, if any options for an OOB builder. In some ways it looks like the original 'Mongols' I've seen in Finnish aviation museums and it's not totally off, but there are definitely issues with some dimensions and shapes overall. Maybe kitbashing a Zvezda MiG-21 BIS kit with some scratchbuilding would produce best results, but this Condor will have to do at least for awhile.

Painted with an airbrush, camouflage brown and green colours mixed from Vallejo Model Air 71.002, 71.022, 71.105, 71.057 and 71.034 water acrylic paints, bottom light blue Revell Enamel 52 mixed with 04. Final clearcoat Revell Matt Enamel. Aftermarket decals from Harraste Shop (Tampere, Finland).

This model represents the MK-106 in its original 1982 Soviet Union delivery scheme before any later Finnish modifications or repaints. The real MiG-21UM MK-106 is stored at the Karelia Aviation Museum, Lappeenranta Finland.