Advanced Modelling has so far been known for its various masks, but has now branched of into doing reference CDs. Their first CD is on the Saab J35 Draken, an aircraft that has not had much written about it over the years. To date, the best paper reference has been the long out of production Aerofax book.

This CD has filled the gap for many and with the numerous Hasegawa kits of this aircraft being produced and on the market, will come in very handy for those that want more information.

The CD is very well done and produced in both Russian and English. I was able to open this in both my Windows Explorer and in Firefox without any problems. The opening menu provides several options including a Forward, History and Development, Construction and Systems, Specifications, and Color and Markings. Each of the sections has a large scroll window on the right side that includes photos as the section continues. Each of these photos can be selected and will then enlarge to nearly full screen for better viewing.

The Main Menu option contains the majority of the photos. This is, after all, a photo reference. On the main Menu screen one is able to select from six specific aircraft in five different variants of the Draken. This is the walk-around section and all are museum aircraft. Aside from the J35A, all are Finnish variants. The photos are like the earlier ones where one clicks on the image to bring it to near full screen size

This CD covers only the Swedish and Finnish aircraft with a later CD to be dedicated to the Danish and the Austrian aircraft. It really is well done and is an excellent photo reference to have. Access to the over 300 images is easy and I had no problems with the CD at all. Were I to add anything, it would be perhaps some color three views with paint references in the Color and Markings area and perhaps the ability to just select a 'next' when going through the walk-around images instead of deselecting the image before going on to the next. However, the CD as it is now is excellent and well worth seeking out.

Advanced Modelling has no web site and at the time, this is only available via www.modelmex.com , though AM is trying to get a North American distributor.

My thanks To Advanced Modelling for the review CD.

March, 2009

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