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1/48 Jas-39D Gripen


Zhaith

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Well this will be my 1st entry to a group build the will I hope be completed, tbh looking at the instructions I might have bitten of more thanI can chew so it will be interesting to see how it all pans out, this kit lots of stuff I haven't done before with all the resin and PE parts so bit of a steep learning curve for me :)

Anyway onto the piccies.

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That kit looks pretty sweet! I did what I seem to recall being an Italeri Gripen for a Swedish AF group build on FSM some years ago, but was pretty clunky (nice fit though). I think I'd have much rather done this one :)

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I think I'd have much rather done this one :)

You actually have! It's a rebox of the Italeri plastic but coupled with almost an entire extra aircraft in resin (ok, slight exaggeration). The word on the street is that it's well detailed but slightly tricky to build.

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A quite daunting kit I must say! Good luck!

Yeah the more I look at it the more scared I become, hopefully it'll push my skill level up a bit we shall see.

Managed to get back home a little earlier than expected so i've been able to make a start :)

Area's to be cut marked up so I've less chance to go wrong.

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Few shots of it taped together, fitment doesn't look too bad so far....

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1st part cut out to make way for the resin wheel wells, the new wells are gong to need some attention, first impression is they will distort the leading edge of the rear section of fuselage but it doesn't look too difficult....i hope :)

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One area of concern I do have with this build is that the recessed panel lines are a little deep to say the least but the biggest issue i have with them is that they do not appear to be uniform, especially around the mold line on the main fuselage just behind the cockpit, they also don't quite line up on either side of the mold line. Looks like some re-scribing will be necessary.

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A few more progress piccies for you.

Cutouts for rear wheel wells complete.

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Tail section modified and cutout for air brakes.

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My first piece of resin added

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Side details removed.

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Front of cockpit fuselage removed and cockpit test fit, some sanding still required.

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Same with the wheel well.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Had a couple of weeks off life has been a bit hectic of late but i've had a chance to make a bit more progress.



Main fuselage all together.

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The wheel wells went in nicely not too stressful at all and are quite nicely detailed.

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So far the only big-ish gap to fill

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Air brakes details installed and tail detail added

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I've test fitted the canopy as I was a little worried that the gap above the pit was wrong and I had a feeling that the canopy wouldn't fit very well and may have needed some work but it fits perfectly, this model it's certainly pushing my skills and up until the fuselage going together everything seems to have take an age to complete, it's quite a bit different from the 1/144 stuff i have been messing with.

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  • 3 weeks later...

A bit more progress has been made, air intakes, nose and wings finished plus some more photo etch and the rear cockpit resin in place and she's ready for 1st coat of primer to see if my filling and re-scribing is up to par.

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I'm not sure of the best way of attaching some of the more delicate PE such as fins etc wether to add them after the primer or add them at the end before it gets a few coats of future prior to decals.

Any ideas?

Edited by Zhaith
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I'm thoroughly enjoying this build, it's going at a bit of a slow pace as almost everything is a bit of a challenge due to my lack of experience, but i'm learning loads and i think due to that i'm trying to my very best to make a reasonable job of it.

I've switched to Alclad grey primer for this and have to say apart from the smell it's so much nicer to use than Vallejo's primer, and it's sand-able almost immediately

Anyway some more progress made this weekend.

Tip of the nose added, all primed up and canards temporarily fitted.

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Started on the wheel wells, but on hold until the underside is painted.

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Pre-shading complete, at this point i've decided I really hate Vallejo model air for doing them, I suffered from constant tip dry even with retarder and thinners no matter what PSI i used, switched to Gunze and problem vanished.

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Finally something is complete, 1st time using the gunze buffable metallics and i have to say i'm sold on them.

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Hoping to get at least the base coat completed by the weekend and i've finally decided that she will be painted in South African colours.

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Nice progress Zhaith.

I Haven't had the courage to start on this kit knowing how much work that is needed to get it up to a decent standard.

A little heads up though, those "fingers" on the forward part of the exhaust actually belongs to the fuselage and thus should be painted in the fuselage colors, not exhaust metal color.

best regards

Johan

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Ah thanks for the pointer, thats one criticism i have with this kit the instructions are a little vague in places, will double check my reference photos just in case i'm assuming the rest of the instructions are correct :)

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Finally getting to the interesting bit, sadly i've had some real issues with a couple of my vallejo model air colours namely light grey (050) and matt black, for some reason they both keep clogging my airbrush even though other model air colours are working fine, i've tried straining them, varying paint:thiner ratio but nothing seemed to help maybe I have a couple of iffy bottles.

I don't know but maybe it's time to consider an alternative brand I have tried some of the gunze aqueous colours but i'm not that happy with the semi gloss finish but that is probably me at fault.

Anyway at last some colour :)

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Had a bit of a paint disaster, the light grey clogs up my brush every time I use it and it decided to unblock itself at a really bad time, so paint has now been stripped and redone with gunze this time around and I have to say the gunze paint is so much nicer to use than vallejo :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well here she is newly repainted with a couple of coats of Klear ready for decalling.

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Well done some more of the Gripen, she's all decal'd up, the decals went on really nicely, and are not to thick....... Unlike me, had a bit of a boo boo and managed to put my finger right over one of the decals after I had put Microsol on it and ended up with a lovely fingerprint, smudge and damaged part of the decal as well, not much i can do about it now sadly. I did try to lightly sand around it but it didn't really work.

I will chalk it up to experience but it's good lesson learnt none the less. Here's some piccies sorry about the lighting.

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The boo boo doesn't look to bad from a distance.

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Not so great close up.

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And how it should look.

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Made some more progress on the Gripen today, made my first attempt at using phil's washes it's not perfect by any means but it'll never be finished if I attempt that, whilst on a lot of levels I have enjoyed this build on others I really think I bit off a little more than I could chew with so much of the build being things i'd never attempted before. Then sealed with a couple of coats of Alclad matt clear coat.



Test fit of seats (still need to tidy them up a bit yet) and had a go at repairing the decal I almost destroyed.

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The undercarriage is almost complete, canards loose fitted

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Hopefully will get the weapon pylons and air brakes on tomorrow and hopefully the cockpit finished then it's pretty much weapons drop tank, and the remaining photoetch thats left to do

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