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A 1/48th Saab 105/Sk.60! More infos here: http://www.ipmsstock...=1172&hilit=105 announced by a new US model company, Pilot Replicas: http://www.pilot-replicas.com Source: http://www.cybermode..._replicas.shtml This is the third reported Mirage IIIE/5 family and derivatives project in 1/48th after those already in quick progress from High Planes/PJ Production and MustHave. And don't forget the new tool Kfir from a Chinese undetermined source announced on ARC forum: http://s362974870.on...howtopic=253907 To be followed. V.P.

Special Hobby working on SAAB VIGGEN scaled down to 1/72 metal mould made with 3D CAD-CAM CNC technology like Vampire, Gnat, Mirage etc.

Saab S32C Lansen, Heller, 1/72 Flygflottil 11, 1960 The Saab Lansen (lance/spear), started development in 1946 as an attack ‘plane project, and entered service 1955/6, being a two a seater, pilot/navigator. It was the Swedish airforce’ first supersonic capable aircraft. Considered a successful design and with a long service, unfortunately, according to online sources, a third of the 447 +/- built, were apparently lost to, often fatal, accidents. During it’s service it operated alongside subsequent more advanced Saab designs, and especially considering it soon overlapped the Saab 35 Draken, which entered frontline service in 1960. LOW PASS...! It’s the first Heller kit I’ve built, as far as I remember. In the event I found it very straightforward, with good fits, followed by light filing, but no significant filler used (though some more experienced modellers may raise an eyebrow). I made an early decision to build the recon. version of the two options the box offered. I decided to therefore add the camera housings upfront, which give the ‘plane quite a snouty, almost hamster-ish nose, followed by the thought that maybe it wasn’t a good decision, but later that it was, not least because it doesn’t often seem to be modelled that way (there were circa 54 x the recon. version built). This choice was also partly to engage with the green drab scheme, as opposed to silver, as given half the chance I’d paint all ‘planes silver, as that way they always seem to look the business: ‘Silver To the Skies’😃. To circumvent everything ending-up being silver I consciously take any other colour schemes when available. Actually, the Lansen does look perfectly at home in green drab. I constructed my Lansen kit as ‘in-flight’, based on my intuitive feeling regards any kit before I commence it (for example, my Draken is in-flight, but my Viggen on undercarriage). The two pilots I re-purposed from Airfix 1/76 WWII RAF or Luftwaffe ground crew – there might even be one of each! Somehow, they do now look avowedly Swedish. The one weak point of the Heller kit was the decals, and I‘ve heard Heller decals criticised before. They went on fine, on the first varnished surface and withy decal softer, but do lack a bit in ‘presence’, or ‘panache’, to use the technical terms. However, though I did not carry out much weathering detail to this build, I did still ‘knock back’ the decals with a very dilute, light wash, which made them look more at home. Paints used were: for the drab, a mix of approx. 2/3 Vallejo Matt Acrylic Model Colour Intermediate Green, with approx. 1/3 Vallejo Matt Model Colour Black, plus a magic wand drop of Revell Aquacolor 99 Aluminium. Metallic parts of the frame were the same Aluminium. The whole had two coats of Polyvine Wax Matt Varnish. Limited weathering with a miscellaneous brand acrylic Raw Umber. Top marks to the Heeler kit for the wing pitot seating, the last part to go on this actually slid with a highly engineered fit around 3/4mm into the integral – ‘tubular’ opening in the wing – almost didn’t need gluing – excellent, and different to situations with other kits, where you often find yourself gluing a pitot with fresh air into a barely perceptible notch. Comparing this 1/72 Lansen, with my Hasegawa 1/72 Draken puts my brain in a slight tangle as to whether they are both 1/72, as the Draken seems to mentally shrink by comparison, when seen side-by-side, though, given their radically different forms and proportions I remain indecisive on this. I enjoyed this build and it was stress free I found. Not least, as I hope to be able to see the Swedish Airforce 100th Anniversary airshow at their Malmen airbase August 2026, to see it fly along with the rest of their extremely interesting historic aircraft. Anyhow, thanks for taking a look and hope to see you again, cheers! More photos below:

For a long time the only SAAB models for the model railroad was the "bullnose" SAAB 96 from EKO and later a SAAB 900 from Wiking but now Brekina has come to aid releasing several types. For some reason I had several of the EKO models lying around and then I got an idea. Could I add the front of the EKO SAAB 96 to a Brekina SAAB 92 to get me a SAAB 93? here was only one way to find out, bring out the saw, It is interesting to see how the mould have aged for the EKO model (the green one). Initially it even had a separate grill in the front but it has disappeared on later issues. I cut the cars apart and adjusted the front to fit. The model from Brekina look very nice but have some faults. The front of the roof should really be a little more pointy and the rear window is to large, I added a piece of paper to it to see if I should try to fix that. The new nose is in place and filler has been added. The rear window irritated me enough to try a on a fix. I cut the shape of the smaller window from masking tape that I put on the glass. Then I added filler around it, sanded and removed the tape, The grey on the windows is residue after the sanding and came of easy. Brekina SAAB 92, converted SAAB 93 and the EKO SAAB 96. But I am irritated of the large rear window on the SAAB 92. I might have to fix that some day.

Completed Draken in austrian "Ostarrichi 996" livery the writing is based on the first time austria was mentioned in an official document Small issues with this plane kept appearing when i thought I'd got past them first the red paint came out rough and weird then the maskol liquid mask stained the white paint (put it on too early) then the decals silvered due to the rough paint surface then when trying to remove the tamiya panel liner with white spirit i stripped the paint off one of the drop tanks Then my second attempt at panel lining with watered down tamiya weathering master again stained the white paint. so in the end I decided to leave the plane as unweathed as I could (I couldn't get the marks off the wing) Now some more pictures Some decals tore around the angles, probably due to the insane amount of micro sol I put on this thing I find the easiest way to get references on this is to search "draken 08" and then find it on jetphotos Joined my others on the ceiling even with the issues it looks good hung up with the others Paint used: tamiya flat white, revell aqua colour Italian racing red or ferrari red, tamiya gun metal I don't think the red is fully accurate especially when compared to the roundels but it's good enough although it still came out weird (maybe an issue with revell aqua colour)

As a modeller I'm excellent at starting kits/builds. Finishing them is a different story. Although I'm also renovating my house in the mean time and two kids and a dog makes it sometimes challenging getting some proper bench time. But nevertheless I enjoyed building this Saab SK60 a.k.a. Saab 105. Build it with reviewing a lot of reference material from the web. I had some issues with the windshield. The fit was not so good (too wide) and had to glue it with pressure, unfortunately the glue interacted with the transparent part and fogged. I message Pilot Replicas if a replacement windshield was an option. And for only a small fee I got myself a new one. This all happened after I had finished my model because I only saw this when I removed the masking from the glass. So I had to do this very carefully in order not to damage the paint too much but more not to damage the decals. Despite being in the hobby for a while this once again learned me that I really need to speed up after painting to unmask in order to prevent this in the future. Well enough said about the process time for some photos! Thanks for watching. Cheers, Evert

I managed to finish a for me unusual object. Not that a Viggen is unusual to me but finish something in 48 scale is. I was awarded an Tarangus JA 37 Viggen at a model show back in 2015 and I finally finished it. I built it as one of the AJ 37 prototypes used in the Fighter Viggen development. I managed to bring it to a model show but it didn't come it home with me. Some pics from the build

I managed to finish a 1/48 scale Tarangus JA 37 Viggen. I decided to backdate it to a AJ 37 prototype used in the JA 37 development. I had to remove part of the air intakes and replace it with parts from the Esci/Airfix Viggen. Canards was modified. More Airfix parts to the rescue. A mix of AJ and JA Viggen. Later in it's career it was used in test for the Gripen radar so a nose from the Italeri Gripen was added. The finished plane:

While building the Revell JAS 39C Gripen in the GB, I was inspired to restart on some shelf queens as well. First a conversion of the Italeri JAS 39A kit in to the second protoype. The second prototype had an analogue instrument setup for the tests so I had made a new instrument panel for it. When I left the build years ago I was planning for the parachute installation (at least what I think it is). I have glued a piece of sprue and some plastic pieces to stabilize it while building. This is the the configuration for the spin tests. I wanted to build the equipment as it will alter the look of the plane.

Special Hobby reissue expected in May 2023 - ref. SH72480 - Saab J/A-21R Source: https://www.specialhobby.net/2023/03/sh72480-saab-ja-21r-first-swedish-made.html Box art V.P.

I was set on building a SAAB plane for this GB but was not sure if I should do a Tunnan or perhaps a Lansen. When I found that the camera pod was included in the Revell kit I went for that instead. But it seems that Revell mirrored the bottom part of the wings. Fill, remove and rebuild. Well it's a start.

Hi fellow modellers Here I present italeri’s 1:48 JAS 39 Gripen (2638) in Czech Air Force Tiger Markings Well I started this kit sometime back in 2019/2020 and very nearly had it finished but had a disaster when I noticed the paint had cracked mainly on both upper wings (1st picture) so it has sat on my shelf of doom ever since. I decided that I wanted to get it rectified and finished so back on the bench it went at the start of the new year and after sanding both upper wings back to plastic then re-spraying and painting up the rest of the parts that wasn’t finished when I started this kit. I certainly can’t say I enjoyed this build but I do like to challenge myself which doesn’t always pay off but hay-ho that’s modelling I suppose. not my best build by a long way the tiger markings on the fuel tanks came from a couple of model alliance decals arctic tigers sheets intended for use on F-18’s so these are not technically correct. aftermarket used . CMK resin Cockpit including FOD guards (4148) Maestro Models conversions resin fuel tanks (K4806) Maestro models photo etched Ladder (MMP4806) Model-CZ decals (MCZA4807) Paints used MR hobby aqueous and Tamiya Acrylics thanks for looking happy modelling

So... Saturday I went to my local dealer in order to spend some money returned by the taxman earlier this year. High on the wish list and already out of the box and on the bench in my fantasies was (IS) the Tarangus 1/48 Lansen. Boy was I surprised when I got home with the (not so recent any more) Fly 1/32 Tunnan instead! Here is daddy's new toy: And here is Lucky with his new toy: Now let me tell you - I had been warned! Not about this kit in particular but I am still struggling with the 1/32 Hurricanes 32012 & 32017. I knew that since the release in February there has been very little traffic on the subject. @Homebee ZIP Nada Nulli Which is never a good sign. So what's the deal? Sheer size of the fuselage is impressive: But mold quality is so so: That is the afterburner ring behind all flash and those two V shaped things are parts for the front wheel assembly. This is in 1/32, surely we could have been offered resin part and some PE parts for better presentation? The intake is a two part assembly split along the length: That is going to be very difficult to clean and smoothen to acceptable standard. Exhaust is the same. Resin parts: Some are very nice, here the seat: And the cockpit tub: Not really sure how to approach that part, I am considering cutting it in two parts along the middle to allow painting of those very nicely detailed sidewalls. But hey, some of the hawk eyed among you may have already noticed a problem: All of the bigger parts are in the same bag as the VERY tiny bits on the runners above and are off course nocked off, here the debris: The little white pill is for my blood pressure, will probably need to increase the dose slightly. So - I guess this is to some extent to be expected but there are some serious flaws that are just unnecessary. Anyone out there who can share some experience and/or some handy tips and tricks? They would sure come in handy. Lucky - now deeply concerned: Anyway - it is going to be a challenge. Stay sane and Happy Modelling Zack

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.

Hi folk's , Couldn't resist the special scheme on the box top.so another proposed build.

I read a magazine and got inspired to bring out a Lansen from the stash. This mean that the most of the other builds are on hold for a while. I will add details from the Maestro set to it. One evenings work gave this.

I am trying to finish some dead projects and restarted on a pair from the Nordic GB back in 2020. I was going for an out of the box build of a J 29E but then I started to scribe the raised panel lines. It was a rather quick job getting something that look like an aircraft. In a box I found an etch set from Maestro that I decided to use. I needed to find the remaining parts for the old build an to my surprise I found a complete kit in the box so I thought that I could just as well build it too. It will be the photo recce S 29C. I had a second set of etch and put it to use. I was thinking of make this as an early machine without the "saw tooth" wings so I needed to convert the wings. I started by cutting the wings before assembling them. After gluing them together and mounted on the fuselage we got this. Then I needed to the get the sight for the camera that goes to the left side of the front . I I built it and drilled the small holes before everything died in November 2020. Now it is October 2022 and I was looking at pictures of the early reccetunnan without the saw-tooth wing to see if I had decals for it. To my surprise I found that it didn't have the camera sight or the small windows. Aaaargh. The holes has been filled and the damage from removing the camera sight has been repaired.

Here is another group build that died. It started in the Nordic GB back in 2020. A S 29C and a J 29E is what is possible to build out of the box but I wanted the J 29F that had an afterburner. The part that needs to be changed in the fuselage I take from the Matchbox kit. I messed up cutting the parts so there are a big gap to fill. I might use the cockpit floor from a Matchbox as well as it is more correct than the Heller tub. I have filled the mess I made with plastic card and putty. The new cockpit has also been started. I found an etch set in the box that might come to use. This has to be my last afterburner conversion. It's my third 29F so it is starting to get boring. On to the wingtip lamps. I drilled a small hole in clear sprue, filled the holes with clear green and clear red to simulate the light bulbs. Then I glued them to the wings to sand them to the right shape. It is starting to look like plane. I adapted some Airfix Draken pylons to fit.

I managed to finish the fighter version of the SAAB 21 as well. It is the early version of the propeller variant the J 21A-1. I finished it as a plane from the second (blue) division of the F9 wing from Gothenburg. 1/72 scale kit from Heller with decals from Moose Republic.

I finally managed to finish it. Heller kit, rocket rails from Special hobby and a 500 kg mine bomb from Maestro Models. This is the attack version. Red K from the F6 wing in Karlsborg. Decals from Moose Republic

Hello britmodellers, Here is - finally - my interpretation of Saab's J 29F Tunnan based Pilot Replica's 1/48 kit. OOB and airbrushed (PE seatbelts were part of the boxing) except I didn't add the PE cockpit mirrors (nice but I kept marring the clear parts with gloss clear to fix them) and replaced the rear wingtip lights (nothing wrong with these) with a blob of clear paint and gloss to try that method for self-made lights. I didn't use the decals for the dayglo and yellow, they were painted. The build starded as part of the Nordic II 2021 GB. I'd like to thank Rich @trickyrich for the abovesaid GB, as well as Enzo @Enzo Matrix and Mike @Mike for repeatedly moving the build thread over the very long time it took me to finish it. Also, my thanks to @pilot-replicas for the relacement parts (guess who is clumsy enough to overturn the CA bottle on a subassembly when placing nose weights....). This was a pleasurable build of a very good kit. The NMF and weathering were a different experience. Not disappointed, even rather pleased with the result, considering it was my first sludge wash to do panel lines and weathering. I learned some lessons for next time. Here is the build thread: Many sincere thanks to all those who gave support during the build, for the build itself and some dire life circumstances that interfered. I wanted something not too shiny and finally it came out with maybe a quite too scruffy look. Well, pics better tell the truth: Thanks for watching. I hope you'll like it. Have fun yourselves and a nice day (modelling or doing whatever else you enjoy). Cheers. Pat.

Original Heller catalogue number: 261 (80261). This is a placeholder for my first build in this GB. Heller had a thing for Saab aircraft. This is the same Heller-Humbrol boxing what I built back in the day, I picked it up on the cheap last year, second-hand: No decals, but I still have the "alternative" markings from the first time I built the kit (it has markings for two aircraft). That just leaves roundels, for which I'll scrounge something from the spares.

Saab AJ-37 Viggen "Strike Fighter" (SH48216) 1:48 Special Hobby The Viggen was Sweden's later Cold War fighter that took over from the equally unusual Saab Draken, as part of their long-standing preference for ploughing their own way through modernising their Flygvapnet, the Swedish Air Force. It began service in the early 1970s with the AJ variant, which was primarily a ground attack aircraft that could also perform the fighter role if necessary. It was slightly shorter than the later JA, with a slightly different cockpit arrangement and a less powerful engine. Over a hundred were built, with roughly half of them converted to AJS standard at the end of the 90s with improved avionics and software. The last of these upgraded AJs were taken out of service in 2005, with the similarly home-grown Gripen taking over its roles. The Kit This is Special Hobby's boxing of the kit in co-operation with Tarangus. The kit arrives in a large box adorned with a painting of an early NMF Viggen. Inside there are eight sprues in grey styrene, one in clear, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) nickel-plated brass, decal sheet and aninstruction booklet in the box, with the colour profiles and decal guides printed in colour on the inner back pages. This boxing includes the extra sprue which was tooled for later boxings of the kit. Construction begins with the front fuselage, and the cockpit in particular. The ejection seat, which is a Raketstol 37, is made from two parts for the outer shell, and has the head-cushion moulded in, so you will need to deal with the seam there before you install the single piece cushion in the lower half and the head-box top above it. The ejection gun and lateral supports are inserted in the hollow back of the chair, a full set of PE belts and harnesses are provided. The cockpit tub is one piece with integrated side consoled that have raised detail moulded in, to which you add the rudder pedals, control column and the main instrument panel. The panel has what looks like an MFD in the middle, but it was in fact an old-fashioned CRT screen, which was quite advanced at the time in an aircraft. PE is provided for the instrument panel and side consoles. Another two small levers are added to the right side console to finish off the cockpit nicely. The front fuselage is split horizontally, and has moulded-in recesses into which the sidewall detail parts are placed before the cockpit tub is added from below. Before the front fuselage can be closed up however, the intake trunking must be built up. The two trunks are moulded together and split top and bottom to ensure correct line-up, being held apart with bracing struts and outer flanges that hold them neatly within the fuselage. A bulkhead with twin oval openings covers the rear end. The nose gear bay is added, a front bulkhead to close off the nose behind the radome is installed over the front of that. The upper fuselage with the spine moulded in is then sat on top and glued in place, at which point you will need to ensure a good fit between the two halves, an important part at this point is to drill out the holes in the lower section for the bely pylons if needed. The rear fuselage splits vertically to allow a realistic rendition of the area-rule curving fuselage that surrounds the Volvo motor. In order to join the halves, you need to build the engine's rear, which is made from just two parts, but has superb detail incorporated. The main part is a wide tube with the rear engine face and afterburner ring moulded-in with stunning sharpness, plus ribbing along the length of the exhaust, and fluted edges that are commendably thin. The reverser section is added next, which is again a single part that mates with the lip in three points, leaving three large gaps for the reversed engine gases to exit. The thrust-reversing petals are each separate, and can be posed either fully open for normal running, closed for "reversing", or with the bottom two open and the top one drooping down due to the bleed-off of hydraulic pressure following engine shut-down. The latter will be the most normally seen on a parked aircraft, but you at least have options now! The tail cone fits over the petals, and the completed (and painted) assembly is trapped between the aft fuselage halves, and then mated with the forward half. Most of the upper join will be hidden by the spine of the front fuselage, which is always a boon to the modeller. Work then moves to the large cranked "double-delta" wings, starting with adding the well detailed shallow main gear bays to the single piece lower wing. A few holes are drilled for additional flap-actuator fairings (IIRC, this additional actuator wasn't present on early variants), and fuselage then the two upper wing halves are added, butting up against each other. Plenty of test fitting should ensure the best joint, but don't forget that wing-fairings are often not the best fitting, so check your references, and if it looks right, leave the lid on the putty. The flying surfaces are moulded integrally, so other than adding the aforementioned flap fairings and a pair of small wingtip lights on each wing, that's them done. At the front end of the fuselage, your Viggen will be looking a little blunt until you add the two part nose cone, which is split vertically, and the engine intakes, which have been cleverly designed to take up only one part each. These are slim and delicate, but if you want to achieve better scale accuracy, you might consider slimming the lips down a little more, such are the limits of styrene injection moulding. The small aerodynamic bracing struts that fit between the inner edge of the intake and the fuselage are separate parts, and are shown in both the installed position and as part of the exploded construction diagram to assist with correct placement. A scrap diagram from the front would have helped further, but instead check your references, as there are plenty of head-on pics out there. The two canards are installed later on a pair of attachment lugs, and each one is a single piece, with moulded-in flaps and a single vortex generator on the top of the winglet. I would have preferred the flaps separate, as the aircraft looks good with them down, and they often taxi in with them down after using them to improve lift on landings, as well as on take-off. The big vertical fin is separate, and has an insert on the port spine to cater for other earlier variants down the line. Various auxiliary intakes and exhausts are added down the fuselage and spine into recesses, and the small T-shaped air-brakes are added forward of the reverser outlets on each side, with another two under the fuselage. The gear bays have been nicely detailed from the box, and with the addition of the landing gear should suffice for most modellers' needs. The nose gear leg fits into a recess in the rear of the bay, and has a separate strut and oleo-scissor link. The bay doors each have hinge-points and a separate retractor link, and there are two clear landing light parts added inside the bay, angled slightly down. The main gear bays are each single parts, but have been detailed sufficiently with moulded-in shapes to give a good impression. The inner main doors are usually closed on the ground anyway, so most of it will be hidden. The Viggen was unusual in having a pair of inline wheels on a horizontal leg, which rotated around the end of the main leg, offering better rough-field performance. This has been replicated faithfully using eleven parts for each leg and its retraction mechanism, plus another two for the stub-axles that hold the two-part wheels in place. The wheels are nice, but they're not the strongest part of the kit, and could bear replacing with some aftermarket if they come around. The same could be said of the twin nose-wheels, which are each single parts, but all would be improved by the addition of a flat-spot to simulate the aircraft's weight, so if you're keeping them, get your sanding sticks out. The outer bay doors are captive to the gear leg, and have hinge points to give them a good chance of remaining in place during handling or travel to shows. Under the fuselage there are different options for the centreline pylon and other parts depending on your chosen decal option so consult the instructions carefully on this. A large centre line tank is provided because all fighters are always short of fuel. The tank is made of two halves split vertically, and has four separate stabilising fins that fit into slots in the body. Sadly for anyone wishing to load up their Viggen from the box contents, there are no weapons available in the kit. A forward bay and Ram Air Turbine are included if you want to model this open. The last act involves the canopy, which can be posed open or closed using the same two parts. The windscreen will need fairing in for a little extra realism, and the canopy can be fitted open or closed by inserting the hinge tabs in at the appropriate angle. A clear HUD glass is also provided for the coaming, which is incidentally moulded into the fuselage halves, so will need the seam hiding before you paint. PE Canopy mirrors are provided for the main frame. Markings There are three decal options in this boxing, two in NMF finish and the last in the famous splinter scheme. From the box you can build one of the following: 37023/7-23 / 418 - Wing F7, Satena, Seen at the Paris Air Show in 1973. Aircraft was Zapped by RNLAF personnel of 323 Sqn at Leeuwarden on the way back to Sweden (NMF). 37029/7-29, Wing F7, Satena July 1975 Still showing markings applied for an airshow in Germany in 1973 (NMF) 37035/6-35, Wing F6, Karlsborg, 1984 (Splinter camo). Conclusion It's good to see Special Hobby continuing to work on their kits after initial release, and the end result is well worth the effort. The best Viggen in 1:48 available by miles. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

SAAB AJ-37 Viggen "Strike Fighter" (SH72378) 1:72 Special Hobby The Viggen is a rugged fighter/interceptor that was designed to fulfil a need during the deep Cold War to defend Swedish airspace in the event of an incursion by the Soviet Bloc, and to continue the fight from hidden bases near roadways, which the aircraft could use as makeshift landing strips. It was to replace both the Lansen and Draken, and did so extremely well, endearing itself to aviation enthusiasts as it did so due to its unusual double-delta/canard configuration. It was fitted with a single Volvo license built P&W JT8D with an afterburner to give it the performance needed to propel this large aircraft fast enough to accomplish short take-offs. Short landings were made possible by the inclusion of a set of large thrust reversing petals that dropped into the exhaust trunking and expelled the gases forward from slots in the side of the fuselage. The initial AJ37 variant was declared operational in 1972, and required the addition of a trainer variant, dubbed the SK37, which had an additional cockpit placed high above the original, displacing some fuel tankage in the process. The final JA37 variant was brought into service in 1980 with new computer systems, improved radar and engine, as well as other systems and the strength of the airframe, which already utilised titanium to reduce weight. The FS version (Spaning Foto) replaced the radar with cameras in the nose. Additional provision was made for recce pods. They were introduced in 1973 with 28 aircraft being built. They were later upgraded to AJSF-37 before being decommissioned in 1998. This means the Swedish Air Force lost a dedicated Photo Recon Asset at this time. The last of the operational Viggens (Thunderbolt) were retired in 2005, replaced by the impressive JAS39 Gripen (Griffon). A number of Viggens are on display in museums – notably Newark in the UK, but the Swedes have retained one in flying condition that can sometimes be seen at British airshows along with a Draken, Lansen and even the Tunnan. If only every country was conscientious in preservation of its aviation history. The Kit The main tooling that this kit originated from is the collaborative effort between Special Hobby and Tarangus in 2018, which has been re-issued a few times over the past few years. In the box you get six sprues of grey styrene, one of clear parts, a sheet of decals and a glossy colour printed instruction booklet with integrated colour and markings guide at the rear. The tooling is one of the best I have seen in 1/72 there is plenty of detail with well defined but not overly deep panel lines. The only negative part on the tooling are sink marks on the top of the flaps due to the moulded on flap actuators on the underside of the mouldiing. These will be easily filled though, or can be shaded in for weathering back from the flap hinges. Construction starts shockingly enough in the cockpit. The four part ejection seat is built up followed by the cockpit tub. Instrument panel, rudder pedals, control column, and throttles are all added, the tub can then be placed inside the upper front fuselage; the ejection seat is then added in from the top. We then move to the lower front fuselage, the housing for the APU is built in. The front gear well as well can be glued in at this point. The upper and lower front fuselages can then be joined together around the full length intake trunking. The engine face is then put on the back of the intake trunking thus finishing this part of the build. Next up is the rear fuselage. and wings. First off the upper and lower wings are joined together. Above this the engine exhaust and the Viggen's unique thrust reverser are assembled and placed inside the two part (left & right) upper rear fuselage parts. These in effect only form the top two thirds of the read fuselage as they then join to the top of the main wing assembly. Its worth noting the thrust reverser can be modelled open or closed. The front and rear fuselage sections can then be joined. At the front the nose is made up and added. Once the nose is on the rather nice one part engine intakes are added. Towards the rear the vertical tail is put on. Various antenna, intakes and fairings are then added to both the upper and lower surfaces of the Viggen. On the underside the undercarriage is then built up and installed with the aircraft's unique twin tandem main wheels going into wells which are on the indie of the main wing parts. The main gear doors are added. Flipping back to the top the front control canards go on. We then flip back to the underside for the air brakes, To finish of the centre line fuel tank is added followed by the clear parts. Markings The glossy decal sheet looks to be printed in house, looks sharp and is in register. There are three decal options available from the decal sheet, which are split between NMF & splinter camouflage. From the box you can build the following; 37023/7-23 / 418 - Wing F7, Satena, Seen at the Paris Air Show in 1973. Aircraft was Zapped by RNLAF personnel of 323 Sqn at Leeuwarden on the way back to Sweden (NMF). 37029/7-29, Wing F7, Satenas July 1975 Still showing markings applied for an airshow in Germany in 1973 (NMF) 37035/6-35, Wing F6, Karlsborg, 1984 (Splinter camo). Conclusion The Viggen is a huge, impressive-looking Cold War warrior that has the unique Swedish look to it Detail is good, with excellent decals into the bargain makes this a must-have as far as I'm concerned. If you like Viggens then make sure you get one. Very highly recommended. 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Hi All, One new jet added into my collection! And this is the one I wanted to add for quite a long time because it's Swedish, it's from early jet age, it has centrifugal engine, and it's a twin-boomer. So win-win-win for me J21R was not super successful or super numerous aircraft. Neither it had a super long career. However this stands among those first generation jets that opened jet age for pilots and engineers in their native countries. I have a soft point to that era of aviation so very glad I now added this jet to the collection. I had a thread in WIP section on this project so there are some insights on construction. In general I did not find construction process too challenging. Even alignment of booms was not complex. Decent Czech short run with only reasonable dry-fitting required, nice perks in the box such as resin wheels, rich PE fret. In fact this can be called an OOB build as only contents from SH box were used except for manually added pitot tube (the kit's one was super-thick) and also an antenna on the starboard wing made with fishing line. Paints used for the scheme are Hobby Color H309 for green and H53 for grey. The scheme I used is for F7 Såtenas wing circa 1953-54. As far as I understand this was a fighter-bomber wing and J21Rs of that wing would normally be armed with gun pods or rockets which was making them A21R really. J21R is definitely not the most ordinarily looking aircraft. And honestly I was not perceiving this as 'beatuful'... But after putting this on wheels and placing it on the shelf - WOW! It is actually a very appealing bird! Look at these a little more 'artistic' photoes: And finally there are some group shots. With another Swede in my collection: ...with it's British stablemate ...and full collection of twin-boomers from my cabinet Hope you liked it! Kind regards, Dennis