Bjorn

Harrier is released. I am tempted... https://uk.airfix.com/products/hawker-siddeley-harrier-gr1-a18001v

Next step was decals. And there is just one thing to say: They are absolutely brilliant! Perfect in shapes, colour, printing quality, and thin and very easy to work with. There are plenty of rivets on the surface, and they were no problem for the decals. The only tricky thing was to get the thin yellow lines on the wings straight, as mentioned, decals are very thin. There are four decal alternatives. Two early in NMF finish and two in the "Draken-camouflage" colours. One from the 70s from F 21 wing and one from F 5 wing from the 80s, with the typical dayglow markings that were almost a trademark for SwAF SK 60. I decided to go for the dayglow one, but since I have noticed that many Swedish builders are planning to do the same, I chose another individual, F 5-70 instead of F 5-72 that is the alternative in the box. Apart from new digits, this also required a new dayglow marking on the fin, since F 5-72 sported the F 10 "ghost" (it was based on F 10 wing, but kept the F 5 wing marking). Here I used left-over dayglow decals from Pilot Replicas Tunnan, that were almost exactly the same colour ant that were cut to size. The nose dayglow decals are a little wrong, the upper line is horizontal but shall follow the panel line and lean forward a little. This was easily solved just by switching the two decals. The solution was so good that I suspect that these decals have wrong numbers on the instruction sheet. Note that there were two different styles on the "5" digit. So if you are doing like me, buildning another alternative than the one on the decal sheet, check references. A good thing is that in spite of the fact that 72 had the "normal" 5, the odd one are also on the sheet, which was excellent for me since 70 sported this one.

Few updates on this one recently... But here it is in full colour and ready for decals.

This one is really fun to build, and the primer showed no problems that was caused by the model (just by the builder...). So I have already started painting. My plan is to wait with the clear parts until after painting, I have not test-fitted them yet, but regarding how good this kit has been so far, I can't imagine that any problems will occur. Especially since the canopy will be open. I will use black base for this one, and started with the pre-shade:

If it is a minor detail, if course depends on one's degree of being a rivet-counter. However, the A and C versions are quite different in a number of details. However, there are aftermarket decals that might help: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/HUN48209?result-token=Op3Eg. Note that the three-digit fin number on Swedish JAS 39A started with a "1", on JAS 39C it started with a "2".

Really nice to see! As Daniel points out, this is a challenging build, I have not dared to start mine yet... One thing to remember is that the Swedish decal option is wrong, these decals are for a JAS 39A, not a C ("39A" is actually written on the fin...). In fact it is the first JAS 39A ever built after the prototypes.

And here we go! I painted cockpit, there were a few ejection pin marks that I filled, however I think that they would be invisible anyway: The biggest challenge with this kit is probably to find space for the noseweight. There are almost no space at all for the 15 g that are recommended. Later in the build, I added more weight behind the cockpit - much weight was needed, since this is just in front of the main wheel wells. A tip is to glue all air intake and engine parts at the same time, before glueing the body halves together. Fit is good, but doing this at the same time gives the chance to adjust the parts before the glue hardens. Glueing the main parts together is almost trouble-free. Some minor trimming was needed on the wings and the wingtips, but generally fit is excellent. It took less than one hour to glue these parts together - including those on the picture above. The only issue was a small gap where the upper wing part meets the body. But this was solved with a small piece of plastic.

That is true, this is just the two-seated trainer version (and not the light attack or 4-seater versions). More releases will follow, probably with pylons at least.

I will. Immediately, actually! Did some dry-fitting yesterday. And I can already tell that this will be a walk in the park. Fit is absolutely brilliant!

Sprue shots and more information:

I am among the happy few to get one of the first small batch of this 10-year awaited little gem. And I can tell you, it was worth waiting for! The kit arrives in a very sturdy box - another box to protect it when sending it by mail is almost unneccesary. The boxart shows an early SK 60A from the mid-70s aerobatics team "Parisgruppen" with the SwAF Pilot School, "Krigsflygskolan", badge on the fin. The kit is molded in the same type of style as the other Pilot Replicas releases, a light grey, pretty hard plastic. The box contains six sprues including one clear. A few parts have a little flash, but nothing that bothers: The canopy is a little thick, but crystal-clear. The cockpit has nice molded sidewalls: Panel lines and rivets are crisp and very nice: The seats have nice details and molded seatbelts, which I guess will be loved by some, not by others. A photo-etch fret is also included. The decal sheet is - as always in PR releases - of excellent quality. It is designed by Moose Republic Decals and printed by Cartograf. It contains markings for four individuals, two NMF and two in the two-tone "Draken"-camouflage, one from the 70s and one from the 80s. The "broken" roundel is for an alternative with a bulge on the upper part of the wing. Just one is needed, but two examples are provided, so you can fail once. I have seen it on a model, and it looks great. However, I doubt that I dare to chose that alternative... The instruction sheet is very nice, with plenty of colour instructions. I will start building this ASAP, I hope to post dry-fitting pictures soon. As mentioned in the Rumourmonger section, this will be available at Pilot Replicas webpage www.pilot-replicas.com in about three weeks.

Haha! Nope! At least one went to Närke!

Being a MiG-21 fanatic, I have so far only built them in European and Chinese colours. So this is my first Middle-East attempt. It was far from easy to find references, but I hope that this is at least close to the real thing. It shows an Egyptian AF MF in the mid-70s. I used a Weekend edition boxing, so I had to add some scratch-built details, and therefore, I also kept the canopy closed. I painted it with Mr Paint colours and sprayed the camouflage freehand. I weathered it with dry pastels and AK Interactive pencils. Decals are from my decal spares box, most of them from RV Aircraft's MiG-21MF sheet. Another one will follow soon, Trumpy's MiG-21F-13. Stay tuned and thanks for watching!

Release date is in about three weeks. And this time it is true. I know, because I have one of them in my hands. And it looks great! Pilot Replicas has received a small batch, more are on their way. The first batch will be sold at their webpage www.pilot-replicas.com.

I just heard that release for this one is getting closer. As mentioned, first the SK 60/Saab 105 will be released, but this one is not far away after that. No release date is set, but my guess is that it will be released in 2023.