Rudolf_Filip

It's beginning to look like a Viggen! :-) The nose gear well is not very detailed but I'm going to leave it like this. I don't have the energy to do something better.

Here is a photo of the first prototype. If you look closely at the underside of the exhaust you can see the detail that I erased on my kit...

I'm an idiot. Airfix have moulded a strange rectangular shape below the exhaust on this kit. So I cursed a little and removed it. Guess what? Airfix was right! I was wrong... After checking pictures I noticed that the prototypes actually had this detail! So I guess that I have add this with plasticard later.

Filling and sanding, filling and sanding...

The fuselage is glued together and so is the upper and lower wing parts. I've decided to rescribe the whole thing. I think it would look odd otherwise. The early Viggens were unpainted and the fit is horribe so all "surface detail" will disappear and it will show. I'm building this thing at the hospital so I have limited supply of tools and paint. This kit is a perfect way to spend some time. I'm using the tip of my modelling knife to scribe in the detail. I'm following the raised lines then I sand them down. My trusty riveter will also be used to add something nice to look at.

So far so good!? I'm not going to detail the cockpit since the canopy is rubbish. I might use some leftover bits from a Heller Viggen. I've painted the interior dark green which I'm told is correct for a prototype. I've been trying to do something decent of the really awful air intakes but...

Here is my contribution to this group build. So many wonderful and yet awful kits to choose from... I've decided to join in with the ancient Viggen from Airfix. Like most Viggen kits it's based on the early prototypes. This and the Frog/Hasegawa kit is obsolete due to the not so horrible Heller kit and in some way even the Matchbox one! I wanted to build me a model of the first prototype since I'm holding a "Viggen Special Interest Group" at the local Model show in Malmö, Sweden October 26. So I must have a prototype in my collection... Here we go...

I'm actually building the Airfix Draken right now and I'm really enjoying that kit. The Viggen is a far worse kit. I hope that we don't have to wait long for a state of the art new tool Viggen in 1:72. Andreas

Well... Since everybody keep telling me that the Airfix Viggen is unbuildable I must build it then! I'm going to start a tread first thing tomorrow morning. :-)

I have the old Airfix SAAB Viggen in 1:72. Can I join? I want to build it as the first prototype. Andreas

My rekommendation for a J 26 would be that you get any other Mustang and combine with the excellent decals from RBD. www.rbdstudio.se Andreas

I'd love to see this one. I'm thinking about joining with this kit as well. It's not a very detailed kit and the fit is horrible. But it was my first model I built back in the 80s. Andreas

Here is another pic to show what I started from... Andreas

I'm not involved with Gul Rudolf since she was moved to another place when the F 10 wing closed down. This is my plane. She is known as "Röd Bertil". She is a J29 F (29575) that I converted back to the fighter version after serving as a target tug. She is a static restaration only since she was in a bad shape after standing outside the air force museum for over 30 years as a gate guard.

Here is my J 29 after only 15 minutes of building. This is going to be a fast build... Andreas

I have a lot of references of the J29 since I've actually have restored one in full scale... I work as a volunteer in my spare time at the museum at former F 10 air base in Ängelholm, Sweden. The J29 is my baby. The Heller kits is very easy to get hold of over here. The owner of my local hobby shop here in Helsingborg is a friend of the Heller management. He made them do a limited series of the Swedish related subjects just for him. To save costs they are all packaged in bags instead of boxes. He sells them to other shops and museums in Sweden as well. Andreas

Very nice J22! It's a very attractive little plane isn't it? What did you think of the kit? American pilots often mistook the J22 for a Fw190. They may look somewhat similar in the air from some distance but on the ground there is one thing that really sets them apart. The landing gear is MUCH wider on the German plane... I'm told the J22 wasn't easy to land on grass fields. Andreas

Puh! This is hard work! The Esci kit is definatly something for the "collector" and not for the "builder". Unfortunatly this kit is the only Viggen in 1:48 so far. I have high expectations on the new Tarangus kit... Here is an example of the "detail" on this kit. The mainwheel on the real thing. Maestro resin. The Esci version... Need I say more? Enough with the whining! Back to the workbench! Andreas

I find it totally unacceptable that nobody is going to build my favourite airplane, the J 29. I guess that I have to do it myself then! This is by far the prettiest aircraft..........................well maybe not. :-) But it certainly have personality! I'm going to do a quick build of the Heller kit. It's old and basic but it's quite good. I should know, I've built ten of these kits over the years... I'm only going to add a few corrections and detail from the Pavla resin set. If you only going to fix one thing the main wheels would be a must since the Heller ones are horrible. There are new ones available from Quickboost as well but they are no better than the Heller ones! So get the Pavla set instead. I think I have some leftovers from an etched set from Maestro somewhere. I might use some of that if I can find it... Here is the kit. Like many of my Swedish Heller kits this came in a bag instead of box. They were reissued in a small series specially for the Swedish market. Unfortunatly the Heller cockpit is wrong. The Pavla set is much better except for the overscale seat. On this build I'm not going to fix anything in the cockpit to save time. I will use the plastic from the kit but detail the seat a little. The panels on both sides of the seat should actually be level with the floor. As you can see there is not so much detail here either... Not even decals. The main wheels. They are about twice the width that they should be. Plus all the detail is wrong. I love the fact that you can build either a J29 fighter with guns or a S29 with cameras. Heller was really nice to give you several options in the box. The small square hole behind the nose gear bay is not present on the real thing and have to be removed. Here is the content of the Pavla set. The detail is very good but it will take some work to get the cockpit in. Mine was warped as well. I don't think I will use anything other than the wheels and maybe the canopy on this one. Time to get the glue out!!! Andreas

I have spent most of my spare time cleaning parts and some minor assembling. This is how my SK37 looks like right now. Hopefully I will be able to do some painting later this evening. Andreas

Looks like a nice kit! I'm tempted to get me one of those. Which one are you going to build? Visby? I have lots of pics of HMS Helsingborg and since I'm from Helsingborg that would be my choice... :-) Andreas

I'm feeling very inspired and in a "Viggen mood" right now so I thought why not start yet another Viggen build!? Here is the kit. It's the latest reissue of the good old Heller plastic. Even though it says JA37 Jaktviggen on the box (in this case, bag) one can build any version of the SAAB 37 since all the parts are there. I'm going to build mine as a SK37 twoseater trainer version. As I want something different mine will be built as the 37800 which is the prototype for the SK37. It never served operationally in the air force but was used as a test bed. After this it went to the Swedish Air Force museum where is stood outside for many years together with 37-1 and the JA37 prototype. Not anymore. Lately she was dismantled and transported to the Stenbäck collection in the very south of Sweden were she will be taken care of by the owner, a friend of mine. So I felt very inspired to build a kit of this plane. The build will be a quick one as I'm going to focus on my 1:48 Viggen prototype. Because of this I'm going to build the trainer in flying mode. No landing gear, no extra detail or aftermarket. Just out of the box (bag...). The only extra addition will be a pilot in the front seat. Maybe I'll use one of the PJ Production Gripen pilots as seen in the picture above. Andreas

Nice start! Be careful when you fit the engine and cowling. The fit is not the greatest and you will end up with a "nose up" attitude otherwise. The J22 is one of my favourite aircrafts. We have one of the three preserved planes at our museum. This is "Röd Kalle". It's engine is working but it's not permitted to fly. The front end of the cowling is not correct for a J22. It's actually borrowed from a Seversky P-35A (J9 in Swedish Air Force)! Andreas

I have been working on this kit lately. I spent many late hours building this weekend after a modelling contest here in Sweden. Unfortunatly I forgot to bring my camera so I had to use my mobile phone. I'm sorry for the lousy quality of the pictures but I hope that you still can see what I've done. Here is the RAM turbine (Maestro). I had to remove some plastic to make it fit in the fuselage. I've added some missing wires. Sorry for the bad pic! I tried to remove as much as possible from the weird looking "belly" from the Esci kit. That bulge is not present on the real aircraft... The intakes were opened up. I'm going to add some basic trunking and a fan from the spares box. While doing this I managed to slice a deep cut into my finger! Ouch! One good thing when building the prototype is that the intakes don't need any modification as Esci (and all other Viggen kits!) represent the earliest prototype version... :-) The wings are now modified by cutting of the "dog tooth" leeding edge and the radarwarning devices. The rudders are also removed since I wanted mine to droop. I've begun fixing the fin. The upper rudder hinge line is not correct. I have more pictures but Photobucket and I don't get along at all at the moment... I'll try again later! Andreas