SAAB J 29F Tunnan (Pilot Replicas) More pictures and 'tips'

[Ali62]

Hi Guys

 

Here is my latest completed model, I thought it would be a 'quickish' build and paint, but it took a little longer, I will add some more detail and a few pictures to look out for a few trips and snags, not all kit related there were some of my own. The kit is good but I found a few little niggles that I could have done without, or the manufacturer could have taken a little more care.

Would I build another....YES but would certainly do a few things differently.

Straight out the box, and painted mainly with Vallejo Acrylic 'Metal Color'

 

cheers Ali

 

 

 

The tail plane is not shown very leerily on the instructions as to what is top side and what is bottom side, I eventually with totally smooth elevator on the TOP side, I think it is correct.

I think that there should be a few extra lumps and bumps (control horns) but I did not add these. When decals are applied for this scheme, there are two separate decals that fit

the side that has the additional detail (on the bottom of my kit) but the one for the top is supplied in full length, when that is applied to the kit it is fractionally too short, so I had to make a quick 

slit through the decal while it was applied so I could get it to fit correctly.

 

 

 

Additional pictures and some guide lines and things to look out for when building the kit.

 

 

If doing this scheme the black strips for under the wing do not quite fit. The decal gives a cut out for the pylon be placed within, if that is done then the decal will not fit between, the flap 

and the aileron area, so I positioned the cut out correctly for the pylon, but then had to add small additional black strips just inboard of the aileron, look carefully at the picture, 

and you will see a faint joint line in the decals.

 

 

The undercarriage doors on the front wheel bay are not shown clearly on the instructions, in one picture (15) they are shown with the cut out areas at the back, this is correct

next stage 16 shown at front, it is just confusing. Also I would try and think of making a small modification to allow for a more positive attachment of the doors, when all painted up

it is quite tricky to get the wheel assembly and the doors securely in place.

 

 

Great care needs to be taken on getting all the decals correct on the fuselage, the black decals and the 'roundels'

 

 

I found that it quite tricky to get the cockpit to fit correctly and the instrument panel is very week in the narrow areas, and I broke mine a few times. Some of the fit may have been down 

to me, but I would advise that you take care and possibly have a trial run before it is all painted. I painted most of the parts individually and then tried to assemble and fit,

next time I would do more of a dry run fit first.

Note the sliding canopy does not have any 'metal frame work' on the front edge

 

 

 

 

 

Note these are the parts for the intake, well as can be seen above and below the 'turbine face' is JUST too large to  go at the end as they would have you assemble

so I shortened the pipe as shown. As can be seen there are even small slots there in the tube for the turbine face to clip into, makes you wonder???

 

 

 

I am not 100% sure what this clear lens is to be honest BUT I could not get it to look right by just painting the inside face, so i coloured the small dot in the middle as shown

and then added a piece of plastic card with some chrome foil on behind the lens, see picture a few above, I think it worked quite well.

 

 

The area for the landing lights does not have any backing, so I added a small piece of card to block that in.

 

 

The exhaust is not great, so I replaced the kit parts with a one piece tube.

 

A few general notes and things to be aware of or to look out for.

There are some areas where the rivets, have gone altogether, especially top and bottom of mid to rear fuselage, also some have been stretched,

I did some repairs to these but if you really want a much improved model you will need to spend time on these to make these a lot better.

The main undercarriage doors should also have some rivet detail added, they are very bare compared to the rest of the kit, and it show's, I will add them

next time round.

I found the 'coloured' decals quite thick and they needed warm water to remove them from decal paper but once on the model they were quite difficult to move and certainly needed 

a strong deca solution to bed down onto the detailed rivet surface, I use the DACO strong decal solution.

I was tempted to spray the black areas, but then went with the decals, I thought these maybe tricky to apply BUT they are more pliable that the colour decals, but they need to handled 

with care, and as mentioned earlier the alignment of six black decals and the roundels on the fuselage is tricky.

 

I found a very good sight with amazing pictures that are really good, and inspirational, you can see all the rivet and marking details and panel colour variations.

 

here is the link http://www.jn-photo.se/Browse-my-images/By-Type/SAAB/SAAB-J29F-Tunnan/i-jw8Kt24/X3

 

Hope all this helps, cheers Ali

 

 

Edited March 19, 2017 by Ali62
new pictures and text

[Darby]

Looks good to me. Always liked the Tunnan ever since I got a Matchbox one way back when. What are those Vallejo metals like to use? I've had a steel colour unused for a while now.

[Gerrardandrews]

Barrel of fun just looking at this very nice kit.

I also made the matchbox kit, when the real aircraft was a bit of a mystery to me.

I've read, that it was the best out of the 2nd generation of jets, and maybe Kurt Tank had lot to do with development.

[tomthounaojam]

Very Impressive Build, like it, always been a fan of the barrel, however never got a chance to make a one till now, maybe this year... really liked it

[F-32]

Very nice work, looks like a great build

[Caerbannog]

Nice.

René

[Ali62]

Thanks for the comments so far guys, all appreciated.

As said will try and upload a few more pictures (as soon as photobucket plays the game!!!) and comments soon, that may help anybody else building the kit.

 

20 hours ago, Darby said:

Looks good to me. Always liked the Tunnan ever since I got a Matchbox one way back when. What are those Vallejo metals like to use? I've had a steel colour unused for a while now.

The Vallejo 'metal colors' are great, especially spraying them, brush touch ups possible but I am not sure they would be too great for major areas, brush painting.

I also used their BLACK primer, it may have been me, but I did not really like that, it seemed to 'plasticise' and pulled off in some places, but I will try it again, and see if I spray thinner or maybe over a standard grey coat it may adhere better.

What I liked about the 'metal colors' is that with the 4 or so colours I have I can change them subtly by mixing and or adding in a little black / grey (obviously acrylic paint, and I used vallejo, and xtracrylic, so I think most acrylics will work) or whatever to tint to another colour / shade.

 

Ali

[spruecutter]

Nice build, I do like the shape of the Tunnan. Re Photobucket problems, you have my sympathies! I have just signed up to Flickr and it is so much better.

 

 

[Tbolt]

Lovely work, nice one. I also build the Matchbox kit which was my first ever model at the age of 7 and I still have it.

[exdraken]

you did a great job!

 

wonder about your problems, or tips and tricks...eager to learn, for mine!

[Spitfire31]

On 3/16/2017 at 10:33 PM, Gerrardandrews said:

I've read, that it was the best out of the 2nd generation of jets, and maybe Kurt Tank had lot to do with development.

No, Kurt Tank had nothing to do with the development of the SAAB 29 project. That myth may have its origin in a superficial general arrangement similarity between the Ta 183 project and the SAAB 29. Neither was there any direct link between the Messerschmitt P. 1101 fighter prototype and the 29.

In fact, though, the SAAB engineering team did get access to an Allied treasure trove of German wind tunnel data regarding wing sweep. The original project proposal for the 29 had a straight wing, but supported by the German data the chief designer, Lars Brising, changed the wing to one with a (fairly conservative, to play it safe) sweep angle.

 

It's also an exaggeration to claim that the J 29 was "the best" of the second jet fighter generation. However, it was considered more or less equal to the MiG-15 and the F-86, though, proving that SAAB was rapidly developing from the mediocre B 17 and J 21 products. The J 29B (a version still without an afterburner) gained a reputation for extreme ruggedness and servicing friendliness in field conditions in U.N. service during the Congo civil war in the early 1960s.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Spitfire31]

Very convincing build of the Neomega J 29F! Having the kit in my stack (in duplicates…) I'd also be very interested in a breakdown of the difficulties and solutions that you devised during the build. ;-)

 

Excellent modelling!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[exdraken]

13 minutes ago, Spitfire31 said:

Very convincing build of the Neomega J 29F! Having the kit in my stack (in duplicates…) I'd also be very interested in a breakdown of the difficulties and solutions that you devised during the build. ;-)

 

Excellent modelling!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

This is the Pilot Replicas injection plastic kit in case you do not know! Worth a look!

[Spitfire31]

5 minutes ago, exdraken said:

This is the Pilot Replicas injection plastic kit in case you do not know! Worth a look!

Oops! Must have made a Freudian slip, because of my two expensive Neomega kits in the stash… ;-) My other comments stand!

 

As for Pilot Replicas, I'm eagerly awaiting their promised S 29C photo recce version.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Gerrardandrews]

If it was toe to toe with Mig 15, hot ship.

its looks play it down, bit like the Mig,

F86, looked better than it was, and got better as time went on.

Sweden got a lot information from the Bad guys, Mr Tank was their best, FW, ran rings around the good guys, So some the Data would have come from him in directly.

Saab , 86 and 15, were all on the same page, Britain bit. Upset still with how 190 nearly changed history, Tank offered his services, got the big no.

Sweden got its idea's from somewhere, and they were very helpful to the bad guys.

End the day, 29, is a very interesting aircraft , no one likes the underdog having the best, poor British had to put up with the meteor.

[exdraken]

2 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

Oops! Must have made a Freudian slip, because of my two expensive Neomega kits in the stash… ;-) My other comments stand!

 

As for Pilot Replicas, I'm eagerly awaiting their promised S 29C photo recce version.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

all above seconded, but I only have 1 Neomega kit.... looks good next to the Pilot Replica one fortunately.

 

 

Pilot Replicas also announced an Austrian recce version.... of course very different to the Swedish one...

 

[exdraken]

57 minutes ago, Gerrardandrews said:

If it was toe to toe with Mig 15, hot ship.

its looks play it down, bit like the Mig,

F86, looked better than it was, and got better as time went on.

Sweden got a lot information from the Bad guys, Mr Tank was their best, FW, ran rings around the good guys, So some the Data would have come from him in directly.

Saab , 86 and 15, were all on the same page, Britain bit. Upset still with how 190 nearly changed history, Tank offered his services, got the big no.

Sweden got its idea's from somewhere, and they were very helpful to the bad guys.

End the day, 29, is a very interesting aircraft , no one likes the underdog having the best, poor British had to put up with the meteor.

history....

 

quite a lot of the above also came from Britain selling it brand new Nene engine to everybody.....afaik!

[Gerrardandrews]

Not the best thing to do, Mig 15, came from that very stupid move.

More I read about the 15, more I realised what a brilliant design it was, and 29 Saab not to dissimilar.

Good kits, and I'm talking Tamiya needed for both designs, in fact, 1/24, for 86, and 15 would be nice.

[Ali62]

Just a heads up I have updated this thread, more pictures and tips and a link to a great website of pictures of a real Tunnan most in amazing colour and detail.

 

Ali

[CockneyCol]

Lovely looking build of a seriously undermodelled aircraft, I like the look of the "Bush Wars" camo on the UN service aircraft, perhaps one day.....

Top job as always

 

Col'

[Spitfire31]

@Ali62 Thank you very much for those valuable hints and observations about the Pilot Replicas' (not Neomega's… ) J 29F!

 

Jörgen Nilsson, whose photo page you linked to, is a well known Swedish aviation photographer – one of a small handful that you see in yellow vests at every airshow. The Tunnan in the photos, Yellow R[udolf], is the only flying example of the type, being part of the Swedish Air Force Historical Flight. The pilot visible in the pictures is Col. Olle Norén, a seasoned display pilot with a past as a Sw AF JAS 39 Gripen pilot of the F 7 Wing at Såtenäs.

 

Thanks again and Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Spitfire31]

7 minutes ago, CockneyCol said:

I like the look of the "Bush Wars" camo on the UN service aircraft, perhaps one day.....

Col'

You'll have to wait for the Pilot Replicas' J 29B, which is said to be in the pipeline. It's an early version with LE slats instead of the dogtooth wing of the E/F versions and without the afterburner of the 'F', so with a slimmer engine cowling.

 

The UN service aircraft were the fighter J 29B (J = Jakt, Swedish for pursuit or hunt) and the photo recce version S 29C (S= Spaning, reconnaissance) with a similar non-afterburning engine but with the E/F type wing. It's being promised by Pilot Replicas as well, but maybe you'd better not hold your breath…

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Ali62]

17 minutes ago, CockneyCol said:

Lovely looking build of a seriously undermodelled aircraft, I like the look of the "Bush Wars" camo on the UN service aircraft, perhaps one day.....

Top job as always

 

Col'

 

Hey Col, I think that there are quite a few of us would like to do the UN service Tunnan, BUT we need the 'B' version, was and am hoping, one would come along, but maybe it will be quicker to modify a Pilot Replica 'F', however that will be a fair amount of work, with fuselage and wings to be modified.

 

Ali

[tonyot]

Wow that is a little stunner Ali,...... top notch as usual!

Cheers

             Tony