Tarangus 1/48th SAAB JA-37 Viggen....New updates.

[general melchett]

Hi everyone, just thought I'd post one of my latest builds to let you know I'm still alive and kicking. This is one of several that I've been doing recently for Airfix Model World magazine, (April's issue), where as a few of you know I now work as a full time contributor. It's been a labour of love for me as the mighty Viggen is a particular favourite of mine, especially the interceptor variant and is a subject that desperately needs to be produced properly in both 1/48th and 1/72nd scale. Being a firm 1/48th fan boy I was quite excited to learn that Tarangus were planning on bringing the model out in co operation with Czech company MPM in JA/AJ/AJS and SK-37 flavours and duly received an early production kit just after SMW last year. It all looked good in the box and to be honest is one of the best fitting kits I've ever built....however !, there are some strange errors which just cannot be overlooked if you're looking to produce an accurate Viggen especially at the price point at which this model is aimed at. I've been asked by a few folks to outline the details of the errors I found and how to go about correcting them, (again all pointed out in the magazine article)..

Cockpit...very basic, especially the seat. I opted to modify the Neo Mega resin set and seat to fit and whilst it's a bit of a faff it's a huge improvement, the kits glazing is beautifully clear but the very prominent frame line around the top needs to be thinned back down..

Fuselage...The fuselage extension plug needed to make the JA is included which is nice but it's the only piece of the kit that needs care when making up as a very nasty step can result if you don't line everything up properly.

Another major omission was the RAT which is almost always deployed when the Viggen is sat at rest. I opted to scratch-build my own using resin, wire and card and after a trip to my local museum, (Newark) to photograph the AJ-37 there I came back armed with all the information I needed. Just a matter of cutting out the area, producing a box from card then shaping the resin to fit. There are reasonable aftermarket ones available but I enjoy making my own from first hand data a lot more.

Strangely the small bridge strengtheners between the intake and the fuselage are supplied for the top only...there should be another two underneath...easy to fix.

Canard forewings...the 'elevons' are of incorrect shape so these were replaced with card. Tarangus also have them at 90 degrees to the fuselage whereas they should be angled back at 40 degrees or so, also for the JA version there should be two triangular activator vanes on the upper surface not one.

Fin..the chord of the upper section is incorrect from the pitot to the tip and the tip itself should be more angular. The upper and lower sections should run parallel to each other but due to the incorrect width of the fin cap they run at different angles, looking a bit strange so I decided to make a completely new fin and rudder out of scrap resin which also allowed me to sort out the leading edge pitot which is mounted in the wrong place. (The kit has it half way up the fin whereas it should be 2/3rds).

Wings...Most Viggens when powered down have the flaps and canard surfaces drooped as the system bleeds off and I just couldn't leave as was so set about cutting all the activators back and re-positioning the parts to match photos...this took a lot longer than I thought it would ! The rear of the surfaces also need a fair bit of thinning.

The anti collision lights are incorrectly placed for a JA too !...Tarangus have them just inside the wing bullet fairings which is fine for the AJ version but the JA had a re designed and strengthened wing and the lights were fitted to small fairings right out on the wingtips themselves, (coloured clear plastic was used here).

The long Skyflash weapons pylons are way too thin, so I carefully cut them off and replaced with my own made from resin.....

Talking of weapons, well there aren't any !!..weird considering it's role. I was always going to arm it with the lurid green practice rounds and these were provided from the spares box, basically two RB-71 (Skyflash) on the main inboard pylons and two RB-74 (AIM-9's) under the fuselage, I decided not to bother with the two outer ones as they weren't always carried.

Finding the correct green was fun..but when I scanned through the not inconsiderable paint stash I came across Model Masters Ogre Green...a perfect match, knew I'd need it some day... !

Undercarriage...nose gear is very basic, lacking any of the complex steering and brake details seen on the real thing and so I built my own from brass rod, lead wire and ali tubing. The main gear is very nice but unfortunately its been moulded in the extended position, (as are many kits) and made the thing sit incorrectly on tippy toes. I cut everything up and reset it to the correct ride height using a lot of high quality photos provided by my chums over at IPMS Stockholm. The wheels are a joke, looking like they came off a 1970's Honda moped but I liked the hub detail, (better than Maestros efforts). The easiest way around this was to just add inserts of suitable plastic card to each wheel half and sand to shape. For the nose wheels I used Maestros as these were nearer the real thing than any other available.

Rear fuselage...For some odd reason Tarangus decided to mould a totally fictious panel/lip thingy at the top of the thrust reverser can right in the most obvious place possible so this was filled with resin and sanded over. The reheat detail has to be seen to be believed...it's a work of art and looks superb once weathered up using Tamiya pastels.

Decals..hmm, well I only used a couple of the kit ones much preferring the old Flying Colours Aerodecals set, (which actually have the correct slightly greenish stencils), and the lovely old Airfix kits day-glo orange '47' ID markings which really liven up the drab grey scheme quite a bit. There were two styles, one day-glo orange and one red, (as provided for in the kit).

Airbrushed with Gunze and Life Color acrylics, weathered with various custom oils washes, pastel powders and graphite powder. (Thanks to Jan Forsgen as ever for sending me swatches of paint from the real thing).

The pitots were replaced with the excellent Master metal ones, (as are all my models)....

OK, sorry about the lengthy text but quite a few people have asked me recently to post the model here as they're interested in what to expect from the kit.

In a nut shell it's a good basis for building a JA-37 Jaktviggen,and a big improvement over the Airfix/ESCI offering, particularly if you factor in the expense of forking out for the correction sets... but I was disappointed to come across so many errors with all the available data around and it smacks of weak research..........at least I know what's in store for me with the AJ-37 !

Enough waffle, here's the model. I've recently added the new Maestro boarding ladder which whilst being a tad fiddly to make up adds a lot to the model, I'll probably finish up a full diorama for it before it goes to Telford, (where it'll feature on the Swedish IPMS group table)

Cheers all and thanks for looking ,

Melchie...

There are some really great decal sets out for the model by Two Bobs...well worth getting,

http://www.twobobs.net/contents/en-us/d5.html

Maestro and Pilot Replicas are providing upgrade sets to address some of the issues...

http://www.ipmsstockholm.se/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6439&p=51659#p51656

Edited May 9, 2015 by general melchett

[batcode]

superb work looks great, very nice job on the paint and finish.... and great pics

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

BE-YOU-TEE-FULL!!!!!!!!

General - you need to become a Field Marshall

Jonners

[HartDeco]

Very, very nice.

I really like the subtle and realistic weathring. Just the way I like it!!

This is exactly the version I'd like to build some day.

René

[rom1]

Wooow!!

impressive modelling and photgraphy skills

great job

[Meatbox8]

Wow. Great paint finish and photography. She looks ready to fire up. The Viggen always impressed me when I saw it at Farnborough back in the 70s.

[Fritag]

Aint she beautiful?

I mean both the real thing - which to my eyes looks just like a muscle jet is s'posed to look....and the model which is just - well -beautiful

I feel like I should compose a few well chosen lines of approbation for a melchie build and then just cut and paste em with minor variation each time. Save me a bunch of effort it would

[crobinsonh]

A fabulous build and spot on finish. I do love a good Viggen!

[woody37]

I can see why you were proud of that grey paint job Andy, it's stunning. Great balance on the weathering. Still love the Viggen after the old Saab car adverts in the 80's and you've brought that memory back

[general melchett]

Thanks fellas, appreciated, Jonners I shall up myself to FM as of immediate effect then demote myself for when the memsahib comes home and finds the laundry still in the basket !....oh well it was nice while it lasted !

I'm glad you like it.

Steve, thanks old fella, have to agree it's a monster. I have vivid memories of the first time I saw one of these at the Farnborough air show back in 1974, a splinter camouflaged AJ...apart from a Lightning I'd never seen another aircraft display such agility whilst being thrown around with such power...the whole display seemed to be in full reheat, then fast forwarding to Mildenhall and Waddington in the eighties/ninties when Stellan Andersson was the display pilot, causing temporary deafness, shaking fillings loose and setting off car alarms left, right and centre !...wonderful displays of brute power and elegance.

There are several videos on the web but this is rather nice,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPrnc8GNPU

Edited April 23, 2015 by general melchett

[Billydick]

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful. Thrice Beautiful !!!!

BillyD

[general melchett]

Thanks Colin and Neil, glad you like her, (just need one running at Bruntingthorpe now Colin !).....having said that my good friend Jan Forsgen, who lives near to Satenas tells me that the Sk should soon be ready for flight so that will be another Viggen back in the air.....I have a visit to the base booked with him in September so hopefully it'll be able to give a display then, (look forward to looking over the Lansens too as I've never seen one either up close or in the air)..

Neil, it took a bit of time to get right but hopefully it's been worth the effort, I think I ended up using about 8 shades of the basic greys plus another 5 lightened variations of each thinned at different ratios. I went for a satin finish too to give the colour a bit more depth rather than a washed out matt look.

Thing I forgot to mention is that whilst down at AMW HQ down at Stamford for a photo shoot I perched the plastic box on the boot of my car in the dark, in icy conditions and it gracefully slipped off and down onto the tarmac road !!... all I could do was watch in horror, (at least it had been photographed for the article). I scooped all the bits up and shoved them back in the box, (Chris Clifford the editor was with me at the time and looked sick). I said I'd have it all back together and better than new by the next day ! Luckily when I got it home and summoned the courage to open the box it turned out that all that had come away were the weapons, drop tank, canopy and nose pitot...all I lost was one mirror and miraculously no scratches !.....so here it is back together again......the Swedes sure know how to build tough aircraft !!

[general melchett]

Thanks Billydick, thrice is nice...

[mikesmodels]

Superb.

[exdraken]

thanks a lot for explaining all the issues and how to correct them!

good ad for getting the mag as well

cool observation about the dayglow "47" I came to the same conclusion many many years ago on my Airfix Viggen with the then Towbobs decals.. airfix just nailed the color!

just for comparison of the colors, not the model of course;

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234954144-draken-viggen-gripen-saab-fighter-family/?hl=viggen

no commenting your build: absolutely great model and detail correction!

would not have known about the thin pylons...

so but now sorry for the following, a (too?) bit much nitpicking, maybe the photos are unclear, or my eyes but what make of RB-74/ Aim-9s did you use please? Is that Trumpeter ones ??? the front canards look totally out of scale to me!

for someone who is that shape eagle-eyed as you seem to be with the rest of the model....please replace them!!!! Eduard resin ones e.g.? !!

sorry, but they distract from the otherwise over-perfect model! now self for my part

thanks again for your detailed analysis, and great model!

Regards, Werner

Edited April 23, 2015 by exdraken

[eng]

A build like this is just the sort of thing that leaves people running for the model shop to buy one!

Absolutely gorgeous build sir, very very nice indeed

Eng

[JosephLalor]

Thanks fellas, appreciated, Jonners I shall up myself to FM as of immediate effect then demote myself for when the memsahib comes home and finds the laundry still in the basket !....oh well it was nice while it lasted !

I'm glad you like it.

Steve, thanks old fella, have to agree it's a monster. I have vivid memories of the first time I saw one of these at the Farnborough air show back in 1974, a splinter camouflaged AJ...apart from a Lightning I'd never seen another aircraft display such agility whilst being thrown around with such power...the whole display seemed to be in full reheat, then fast forwarding to Mildenhall and Waddington in the eighties/ninties when Stellan Andersson was the display pilot, causing temporary deafness, shaking fillings loose and setting off car alarms left, right and centre !...wonderful displays of brute power and elegance.

There are several videos on the web but this is rather nice,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPrnc8GNPU

Lovely job, Andy, glad your model survived its fall in reasonable order. Re the Youtube clip, I did a double take when I saw the Viggen coming round the bend, but then I remembered that the Flygvapnet's been flying its combat aircraft off roads for decades.

Joseph

[hawker stu]

blimey that's amazing you sure its not a real saab fantastic mate

Edited April 23, 2015 by hawker stu

[general melchett]

Thanks guys, all comments appreciated,

Werner, you may well be right !..the AIM-9's were a bit last minute and I had to adapt whatever I had in the spares box as the magazine deadline approached. The missiles canards may well be slightly too large and the front ends of the weapons too long, I think they were PL-9's adapted quickly from a Trumpeter J-10, . I'll be at a show on Sunday so will see what I can find to replace them, (luckily I always hold the weapons on my models with Gators grip PVA, which makes removal quite painless...(as evidenced by it's unfortunate accident). Thanks for pointing it out. might even add a couple more to the outer hard points...

(Just noticed Eduard Brassin do nice AIM-9L's so these have now be ordered and I'll post photos when they are fitted)..

Eng, thanks, I hope people do have a go at it, even after pointing out the issues it's still a very nice model to build........I'm certainly going to have a go at MPM's AJ when it arrives.

Joseph, Yes, quite a sight seeing one of these barreling along the road toward you. You really have to admire the Swedish approach to things..build a high quality, multi-role hot-rod of an aircraft around a huge engine and a super strong airframe, build it in modular form to aid servicing, make it easy to work on so that just about any conscript can deal with it, give it the latest avionics suite and make it extremely pilot friendly, a high impact landing gear, chuck in a thrust reverser........then use the local infrastructure to move it about to minimize detection...that's what you call forward thinking !

Thanks Stu, appreciated...

Melchie..

.

Edited April 23, 2015 by general melchett

[doozer1974]

That's an absolute beauty, brilliantly done!

[Mark Strasser]

Outstanding !! Whow

[russ c]

Superb, looks fantastic

[guillaume320]

This particular Viggen was on static display at the Koksijde Airshow in 1994

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Sweden---Air/Saab-JA37C-Viggen/1487758/L/&sid=533a9d8f926f5b17afbcde61644d8aaf

The decals are also included on the TwoBobs sheet...

[general melchett]

Thanks everyone, guillaume..looks like she's not long out of the paint shop. Oddly I think the Viggen, (and Draken) actually look better heavily weathered, gives them a more menacing appearance. Weathering the splinter scheme properly will be a bit more challenging but it just has to be done

[Radleigh]

A little bit high, but this shot reminds me of the old photo bus at RIAT many moons ago! Great modelling Andy and great photos too.