drake122

Thank you, that appears to be correct, sadly. http://www.airvectors.net/avvig.html "The datalink and Rb74 upgrades required addition of switches to the control stick that eliminated the airbrake control, with the airbrakes wired shut. There were few complaints, since like most other delta-winged aircraft, the Viggen lost speed rapidly under sharp maneuvers and the airbrakes had rarely been used in the first place." I will be installing the PE airbrakes from the Heller set it seems, in closed position

So, since today I had the advantage of some natural light, I took some photos of progress... First, I took care of those nasty gaps and seams near the intakes and the forward fuselage in general. It is not so bad, used superglue filler. Rescribed the panel lines where needed, intentionally overdone, because I brush paint and shallow panel lines disappear easily, haha. Also intentionally sanded away some detail here, to be replaced with PE... shown in the second picture. Added a hole and dry-fitted the Master AoA probe. After that I put together the forward and rear fuselage sub-assemblies, blended in the join line and added rivets as seen marginally in the picture below. Underside parts (Oerlikon autocannon sub-assembly and pylons), canards and the vertical stabilizer were added as well. Fit is acceptable there. Removed the secondary pitot from the vertical stabilizer, to be replaced with PE later. The PE parts shown here are from the Exterior set, meant for Heller. They required minor surgery - the part behind the canards was originally a one-piece for each side, however this is not accurate based on reference photos. The small parts were really fiddly to work with. Next, I took some time to detail the assembled fuselage, as well as add some lumps and bumps before priming. More to follow after the weekend, hopefully...

Sort of, but the modeller painted the wrong areas in metal. The panel with the red transparency /nav light?/ should most likely be of a metallic sheen, and not the panel right in front of it with the little red aerial. The black/dark area further down the spine is correct, and the panel in front of the vertical stabilizer should be normal camo color. Check reference photos of the real bird s/n 37410. However, most photos online are from the time before they painted the tail red. Currently, the jet is perserved in a museum, I believe /Österlens Flygmuseum/. By the way, not meaning to nitpick, but the number & swedish roundel on the nose are a bit too forward. The number should be well within the darker grey camo tone... In any case, I think it is well within the parameters of this GB to take a bit of artistic licence with things like these Keep up the good work!

Nicely done.

Oh, thank god, I thought for a minute you're calling me out on something!

Just a small update today, I assembled the complex involving the small air intake under the fuselage as well as the Oerlikon autocannon. Also, I've been looking at other "adjustments" that need to be done on the fusefale before it is buttoned up and ready for primer... - hollowed out some air scoops - drilled a hole for the Master AoA probe on the nose, and removed the pitot tube from the vertical stabilizer to be replaced by a Master metal part during final assembly later - added external PE and resin parts (the RWR antenna - cannibalizing the horrible Maestro models resin exhaust part) - will add vortex generators to the exhaust cutouts, from spare PE, based on reference photos Will post more pictures later.

So, I am trying to fix a few errors in the kit, based on information I found in other build threads, here is what I found: Some things are obvious, but the "jet fuel starter exhaust", "oval vent/drain on the bottom of the exhaust shroud" and the "small vortex generators on the exhaust", I can't find good pictures of. Anybody able to help out there?

Well, the original idea was to display it braking on a runway, with airbrakes open, thrust reverser closed, and nose gear leg compressed. I will need a pilot figure though. On second thoughts, the resin seat is so "pretty", it would be a sin to obscure it with a pilot, haha.

So, lots of progress after a week, just been lazy to update this. Cockpit As far as the cockpit goes, in my opinion the resin seat by CMK is excellent, just as the tub and IP are. I used additional PE parts from the Maestro set - the pedals and the canopy contact railings on the upper forward fuselage part. Fit is excellent all around, including resin. The larger "side panel" that goes into the upper fuselage part is provided in PE, and seemed a bit oversized to me in comparison to the kit part but I went with it anyway. I scratch-built some detailing for the anti-glare shield from spare PE, nothing much though. Painted and weathered all based on reference pictures. AKAN light-grey, 73036 is a perfect match for the provided PE as well as the cockpit color based on pictures anyway. Left the seat to be fitted later. Intakes For the intake section, I first sanded away ejector pins from the inside parts and glued them together, as well as attached the bulkhead that is also used as a fuselage extender for the JA version (this part needs surgery to fit the resin RAT - see picture in previous post). I used superglue filler and sanded the intakes seamless from the inside. I attached the visible forward parts of the intakes then, despite what the instructions suggested, in order to achieve better fit. Well, that didn't work out as far as the outside appearence goes, but the insides were perfect, so I was happy. Minor scratch-building on these parts were the small "braces" shown on one of the pictures above. Primed, painted and weathered the insides. After that, I glued them into the lower forward fuselage part (but only after the RAT was in place, it doesn't fit otherwise!). Engine Nothing much to say here, fit is good overall. I didn't pay much attention to painting and weathering the insides, because barely anything is visible through a closed thrust reverser. The petals provided in resin are awesome detail-wise, they also fit firmly, I am very happy with those. Some details for the rear end will be added later in PE... Airbrakes So, before the cockpit and engine sub assemblies were complete, I performed small surgery to add the resin airbrakes. They have fine detail, but careful cutting and sanding of the fuselage parts is needed in order to fit them nicely. Also, the plastic where they are supposed to sit is quite thick , so posing the airbrakes open, I will probably need to scratch-build longer hydraulic arms. I might just pose them "half-open" though, and avoid all that. One thing to note here, the original kit airbrakes fit absolutely terrible, there is huge gaps everywhere if you want to pose them closed. Well, if you are considering buying the resin replacement for better fit, know that they fit equally bad. Haha. I used grey primer just to check if the airbrake housings are blended in well. Wings So the join between the lower and upper wing section is great, minimal filler needed, mostly because of me being clumsy. The main gear bays are parts of the upper wing section, which is fine. The 4th elevon actuator is specific to the JA version, and as such separate holes need to be drilled to fit them. Also there is some navigation lights provided in clear parts for the wings... these are not present for JA versions, so I blended them in seamless and they will be painted in normal color later. The inner elevons have visible sink marks in the them, I filled these with superglue. Fuselage I attached the IP first, then the tub to upper forward fuselage. The lower parts with the intake complex and RAT was already complete. Added some weight between the intakes. Carefully gluing the forward fuselage parts in sections allows for the best fit. The section forward of the intakes requires very little filler, the intakes themselves have huge gaps seen in pictures above. I imagine you can get a better fit here, but at the cost of a step that has to be taken care of on the inside. The rest of the fuselage in this area fits with minimal filler. I will also intentionally sand away some detail below the canards, because it will be replaced with PE later. The rear fuselage fits very well without noticeable gaps. First, I glued the engine parts in the assembled lower wing section, then added one sidewall, added the exhaust, and finished with the other sidewall. Anyway, happy modeling, and stay away from corona!

Just out of curiosity, which is the best available 72nd Draken kit at the moment?

Thank you all for the comments. Here is some progress: Admittedly, overdone the cutting a bit, but the part still sits stable in place, so... Also glued the nosecone and fuel tank...

So, I've decided to give this a go... I will build "red-tail" from the box art, with lots of resin and PE upgrades from CMK (airbrakes, thrust reverser, RAT, cockpit set, mask set). And even more aftermarket, originally meant for the Heller kit - exterior and interior PE (will only use a few exterior pieces- I have the wrong set, for AJ37 interior), Master pitots and a tail+drop tank upgrade. The Maestro set on the left is very low quality resin, the drop tanks, particularly the fins, are atrocious. Kits parts are much better. In fact, the only usable "pieces" from this set will probably be the chaff & flare dispensers and the rear RWR "bump" on the exhaust part that I plan to cannibalize. Speaking of chaff and flare dispensers... could anyone point me to some pictures of a JA37 with these on? Google failed me... The CMK sets are very nice, but due to poor packaging, many smaller pieces were flailing around in the bags, I am happy nothing is seriously damaged. I think I will display the thrust reverser fully closed and airbrakes open for this model. Altough I guess I would need a pilot figure then, as it is hard to imagine the brakes are on and reverser closed when the jet is powered down. More to follow...

Is it still open to enter this GB? Altough I have a Viggen, there is plenty of those underway already...

Thank you everyone for the kind comments.

Hello, This is Eduard's Mig-21MF Profipack edition kit, built with some additional aftermarket goods (resin exhaust, external PE set), in Romanian AF markings. Very beginner friendly kit, goes together like a dream. Brush painted with various colors from AKAN, Ammo Mig and MRP aqua based paints. Apologies for my "potato camera" picture quality. Thanks for looking.