Rudolf_Filip

You're correct regarding the JA 37 vs the AJ 37. However during the final years of service the Viggens where upgraded and modified to be more "multirole". This was a great way to prepare for the JAS 39 Gripen. The attack version, AJ 37 got basic reconnaisance capability and became AJS 37. The two reconnaisance versions SF 37 and SH 37 where wired to be able to carry some armament. They became the AJSF 37 and AJSH 37. Externally there are no difference beside the extra pods or weapons. Andreas

I've been building quite a lot lately but not much to show here I'm afraid. I love this kit. Today I bought me a second one! :-) It's not perfect but what kit is? I've decided what aircraft my model will depict. I'm going to build my Viggen as an AJS 37 from F 10 Ängelholm. It's an easy conversion from the Tarangus JA 37 since they have been kind enough to put all the AJ 37 specific bits in the box. Here is how it will look (hopefully) when finished. Andreas / Rudolf_Filip

Wow! You work very fast! I have a lot of pictures in my computer. I can upload a few later tonight when I get home. Andreas

Small progress on my Viggen. I haven't been able to spend as much time as I wanted on this build. I'm in the middle of moving to a bigger place and with a very sick son (CHD) it's a bit tougher than usual. I have mixed feelings about this kit. I'm am extremely pleased to finally have a decent kit of one of my favourite aircrafts. Unfortunatly there are a few annoying mistakes, nothing serious but neverless mistakes. Here are some more pictures that show a little more details of the plastic. Viggen have a very complex rear end which I feel that Tarangus have made a good effort with. The fit is not perfect but it's not that bad either. It could have been much worse. I'm just holding the parts together. The nosewheels are a big disappointment. They lack detail. In fact, they haven't got any detail at all... I'm going to use the resin Maestro wheels seen here to the right. They are not very accurate either but still better. This kit have nice intakes and complete intake channels. Nice! There is something definatly wrong with the canards! The flaps are way off! :-( I'm going to fill in the engraved detail and cut out the flaps since they are always dropped when on the ground. Here I've testfitted the wing and the fuselage together. These parts are only taped together and I haven't even sanded anything. Excellent!!! Yesterday these lovely parts arrived from Rebell Hobby. The Aden gun packs only fits the AJ 37 version and not the JA 37 fighter. But I have a cunning plan! :-) I almost forgot. I've started building the cockpits. Yes I say "cockpits" since there are two of them. One is for the AJ 37 and the other for the JA 37. The detail may look a little basic in this pic but there is more on the insides of the fuselage. I have now decided to build my Viggen as an AJS 37 from the F 10 wing where I served and now work at the museum. Andreas / Rudolf_Filip

Wow! Impressive collection of aftermarket sets. I can't wait to see what will before of this one. Let me know If there is anything you need pictures of. I have full access to at least three Drakens. :-) Why are you not using the wing rudders? They are always hanging on Drakens on the ground. Have you decided what aircraft you're going to build? Andreas

The level of detail is actually not that bad that it may seem on my lousy pictures. Here are a few more pics. This instrument panel is for the AJ 37 since I forgot to take a photo of the right panel... It shows that the detail in the cockpit is similar to the Hasegawa Draken. There is a nice quality "feeling" to the plastic. The fit have been very good so far. I'm very impressed with the whole kit so far. The Viggen have a lot of curves and strange shapes. I think that Tarangus/MPM have made a good effort and it shows that they have spent a lot of thought in this model kit. Andreas / Rudolf_Filip

So far the two most disturbing omissions are the complete lack of detail on the nosewheels and the lack of RAT-turbine (the "mill"). This mill is always deployed when the aircraft is on the ground. The aftermarket company Maestro have both the mill and resin wheels in their range. These are for the Esci kit but I don't think it's impossible to use on the new kit. The "mill". RAT-turbine. Bad pic of the resin mill from Maestro for the Esci kit. I will try to make it fit on the Tarangus kit. The nosewheel. The Maestro resin wheels. I'm going to use the nose wheels. They are not very good but a lot better than the Tarangus version. Andreas / Rudolf_Filip

I have to share this pic of two Viggens taking off at dawn from a small airfield in 1997. Unfortunatly I only had a small compact camera in my uniform pocket. Andreas / Rudolf_Filip

A couple of days ago I got this kit at my local hobby shop. We have all been waiting a long time for this one to finally arrive. I hope that this kit will be worth the wait. I know one thing though... It wont be any worse than the other 1:48 Viggen on the market. The Esci kit is and have always been a very lousy kit... Since I'm from Sweden I've grown up with this mighty aircraft and have seen them (and heard them!) around at my local Swedish Air Force base and on more airshows than I can count. A couple of years ago it was retired and replaced by the beautiful JAS 39. I do like the nimble Gripen, but she lacks the brutality of the SAAB 37 Viggen. Fortunatly the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight have managed to get one of the old AJ 37s back in the air again. "Gustav 52" is a very welcome sight on airshows. I served as a firefighter in the air force back in the 90s. Being an aircraft enthusiast this was heaven... One can never get enough of Drakens and Viggens! Nowadays I'm on an museum at former air force base F 10 at Ängelholm. I get to "play" with our beautiful Draken, Viggen and Gripen as much as I want. :-) Let's get on with the kit... Nice full box packed with plastic. Stunning boxart made by artist Tor Karlsson. Very nice looking decals. Four options. Two grey, one camoflaged and one in bare metal. Stencils. The plastic parts. Some of the JA 37 specific parts. Here is the gun pack and the fuselage extension. The engine exhaust is a wonderful piece of plastic. The nosewheels not so much... :-) Two seats included! MPM is going to release the SK 37-version of this kit later on. Main gear bay details. Unfortunatly most of this will be hidden since the inner doors are closed on the ground. Finally correct intakes! This is the first time we see this in a Viggen kit. This is also a first in a Viggen kit. Intake channels. The layout of parts is a bit odd but the Viggen is an odd shape... :-) Note that there is an AJ 37 fin included. As a matter of fact all the parts needed for an AJ 37 is on the sprues. Hmmm... The landing gear looks complicated. There is a error in the instructions. The periscopes for the two seater is shown here. They should definatly not be used on a fighter version! Don't worry. One can't place them there anyway since they are not even included on the sprues... I have already started building and so far I'm very happy with the kit. I'm going to post more pics later when I have something to show. Andreas / Rudolf_Filip

Well... I'm still working on my Lanc even though I must admit that I've been a little distracted lately. I have this bad(?) idea that I want to replicate the feel and finish of the aircrafts skin. The panellines are filled and I've added a few rivets and dents. Here is how it looks right now. I really need to speed this build up a little otherwise I won't finish it in time... Andreas

Today I recieved my Viggen kit from the local hobby shop here in Sweden. Here are a few pics of the contents in the box. Andreas

Lovely! My favourite bomber! Looking forward to see this one.

Thanks you all for your comments. I'm not going to scribe any new panel lines. I've been studying pictures of the Lancaster and I really don't think that there are any visable lines. However there are lots and lots of rivets! I've decided to try and replicate the look of the real thing with rivets and stressed metal. I've been experimenting on the tail section and I'll upload some pictures of my results tomorrow. Andreas

I'm surprised there is so little interest in this groupbuild. There is very little actual building going on. Why? I'm not that active myself, but I'm trying... By the way...where are all the Hampdens? Andreas

I've finally managed to borrow a computer so that I can start posting pictures of my pityful progress. Small modification to the rudders. Just cut away the corner. Airfix missed this. Fixed one to the left. I didn't bother to detail very much in the cockpit. I think I might change my mind later on... The original plan was to build this one strictly OOB and maybe add some crew figures from the Revell RAF set. And with some paint... I wasn't happy with the panellines (trenches) so I tried to cover them up a little with some Mr Dissolved Putty. As you can see I opened the entrance door. I will add a little detail (maybe the Elsan?) and some crew figures there. I have also went to the local cemetary here in Helsingborg (Sweden). There is a special site there for war graves from WW2. This is the Commonwealth one. All of these were airmen that were killed in and around Sweden. And here is the reason for my visit... He was the mid upper gunner on PB880 and was the only one who was killed in this devastating crash. I'm going to dedicate this build and exhibition at the museum to him and all the other young men who perished in Bomber Command service. Hopefully I'm not going to mess the kit up too much... I'm very sorry for my lousy English. I hope that you all still can understand what I'm trying to write! Andreas

I'm sorry. I've been working a lot on this kit lately. I've taken a few pictures of the progress as well. Unfortunatly my computer gave up. I need to borrow another one until I can buy me a new one. The kit is great. I haven't had so much fun with a model kit in years! :-) I don't like the deep scribed detail though. I'm trying to remove or at least hide the worst trenches. Andreas

Looking forward to see how this one turns out! I've built a little more on my Lancaster and I really love the new Airfix kit. I only wish that someone could do a nice Rose turret for it. I want to do an ABC Lanc! I like the whole idea with the frame and all. Very ambitious! :-)

A couple of months ago a gentleman donated this part of a Lancaster to our museum at former Swedish Air Force base at Angelholm, Sweden. He have had this in his summer house since the late 40s. It was extremely dirty and full of mud. I cleaned it up with a little water and a toothbrush and I was amazed by the excellent condition of this relic. I'm more used to work with Tunnan and Draken jets so this is new to me. I've found out that it's a thermostatic valve from a Merlin engine. I was a little curious so I decided to find out a little more about the plane it came from... This is what I found out. In January 1945 a Lancaster Mk.1 (PB880, LE-B from 630 Sqn was on it's way to Politz when one of the Merlins caught fire over Denmark due to mechanical reasons. The aircraft managed to make it to the Swedish coast where the crew bailed out. Unfortunatly the mid upper gunner waited to long and was seriously injured. He died the next day at the hospital in Helsingborg, Sweden. The rest of the crew was unhurt. The bomber crashed in a field and was destroyed in a huge explosion since it was still carrying its bombload. It was nothing short of a miracle that nobody was hurt on the ground. I went out to find the crash site and see if there was anybody who could tell me more. I found a family who owns the field where the Lancaster crashed. They could point out the exact spot. The farmer told me that his parents owned the farm back in 1945. In some conditions you can see where the crater used to be. He also told me that the hole and the remaining wreckage was just covered with dirt. Another gentleman who lived in the farm "nextdoor" could tell me more. He was in his 80s and told me that he saw the bomber crash. His house was badly damaged so it had to be rebuilt. He pointed to a bush in his garden... Can you see it? :-) How about now? He also said that if I wanted some souvenirs I should just take a look around in his garden and in the ditch nearby. This is what I found lying open on the ground. No digging necessary! I'm planning to back there with my metal detector someday. I think it's a piece of the landing gear... Some sort of cap. Engine mounting with a piece of RR Merlin still attached. Piece of the main wing spar. I also found out that we already have a machine gun from this plane in the collection at the museum. So I decided that we must have a model of this plane to show where all this parts came from.

Some progress this morning! I think I'm buildning this one more or less straight from the box. It was an expensive kit and I really don't think that it need much aftermarket stuff anyway. I'm going to fill the windows since it was a late war Lanc without them.

I've decided to join with a Lancaster build. I know it's hardly original in this group but still... Since I have to build a Lanc for my local museum anyway so why not post the progress here? Here is the kit! My model will be marked as a machine from 630 sqn, PB880 that crashed here in Sweden in January 1945. I've got some parts and pieces of this aircraft and I'm going to display this model with them at the museum.

I'm surprised and delighted to see this Swedish option for a Sk 16. Where did Italeri find the information for this bird? I'm impressed. I work at the museum of F 10 wing where this plane was stationed in this scheme around 1970. I have seen a few pictures of her in the photo archive. A Swedish Air Force plane with nose art is somewhat rare. Although I already have the kit in my stash I will get myself one of these, just for the decals. I love Snoopy on the cowling! Andreas

I have never seen that method of masking before. I love it. You make it look so easy... :-) I think this be a stunning Jaktviggen! Well done! Andreas

I'm building the Azur version of the MPM kit and I'm a little disappointed with it. The old Heller kit has always been a favourite of mine and I was anxious to see if this modern kit could replace it. Unfortunately there are a few nasty mistakes. The worst so far are the shape of the air intakes. They are much to small and their shape is very wrong. I'm going to try and use some leftover bits from a Heller Vampire to fix this. I'm not to fond of the wheels either... I'll try to post some pictures later. Andreas

Does it come with figures? Dan and Chevy? :-)

I'm using a fantastic putty from a company called Hagmans, I believe it's a Swedish brand. It sands very easy and it's cheap. Yes, I'm using this kit as a way to pass some time here at the hospital. In January my son was born. He was born with some faults. Congenital heart defect was one of the worst problems. So me and my wife have been staying at the hospital with him for 8 months now. I'm sorry for my lousy English but I'm very tired and my brain don't seem to work anymore...