1/72 Airfix Saab 37 Viggen

[sunray]

Here is my next go at an old Airfix kit. I saw the Viggen last year at Waddington and I was very impressed.











I have had a closer look at the kit decals and I am thinking I might have to buy aftermarket ones. Onward and this being an old Airfix kit out come my re-scriber's.





That didn't take all that long to do. Then I came to my first problem which was the rear half of the canopy. It had snapped from the sprue and the fracture (for want of a better word) had gone almost right through. I tried sanding and polishing but it was still there. I was going to use the canopy off a Viggen I have got off a Heller kit but I thought better of it. No this was time to use my new vacuum forming machine which I used on my Airfix P-38 Lightning.

First I used white-tac to join the canopy halves together and give the canopy some support. Then I placed it on the vacuum former and made a new one piece canopy.





Now its just a case of cutting out the new canopy.





Here is the new canopy next to the two halves of the old lit one.



The cockpit needed just a touch of scratch building as it was just the seat and the pilot. I used lead wire flatten to show the airframe, thin solder for wiring looms, a bend pin for the control column and plasticard for everything else.









Then I did a bit of painting.

















I hope you find this helpful and there will be more to follow.

[Brandy]

Wow, those sprue and instruction pics brought back memories!

Great work on the interior, this is looking to be very special indeed.....

Ian

[Blitz23]

Excellent work on one of my favourite jets.

[HOUSTON]

Ian,

Oooh LOVELY..

Looks IMPRESSIVE already..

Viggen is such a BEAUTIFUL aircraft

[flarpen]

Very nice start.

I love the vacformed canopy. May I ask what you used to make that? Both in form of machine and clear plastic medium.

best regards

Johan

[sunray]

Thanks lads.

Very nice start.

I love the vacformed canopy. May I ask what you used to make that? Both in form of machine and clear plastic medium.

best regards

Johan

Johan I used a dental vacuformer I bought off ebay for around £60 and the plastic is PETG sheet also off ebay.

A better description of the machine and how I used it is on my thread for a Airfix P-38 I did a few weeks ago.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234981059-172-airfix-p-38f-lightning/page-2

I hope this helps.

[flarpen]

Thanks
will have to look in to that

[Christer A]

Hi!

Really nice work on that 'pit! Great save on the hood too!

Keep in mind that Airfix old kit is only "accurate" for the first Viggen prototype. A quite prominent area-ruling bulge was added to the spine later on (the so called Rimforsa-bulan), saw-tooth on the main wings and so on. But don't let that information stop you from making a very nice model!

[sunray]

Hi!

Really nice work on that 'pit! Great save on the hood too!

Keep in mind that Airfix old kit is only "accurate" for the first Viggen prototype. A quite prominent area-ruling bulge was added to the spine later on (the so called Rimforsa-bulan), saw-tooth on the main wings and so on. But don't let that information stop you from making a very nice model!

Thanks Christer A I was going to do a different scheme from the kit but I have managed to get hold of better kit decals so I will use them and do the prototype. Here is the latest update.

Next I glued the fuselage together and as expected there where gaps everywhere so I had a bit of filling and sanding. As I am making the Viggen an in-flight model using acrylic rod I decided to use the kit internal jet nozzle as a mount for the rod.

I cut down the nozzle leaving a disc and then using a drill I cut out a 13mm hole in the disc.

I sanded hole making just big enough to take the rod and I glued the disc in the fuselage adding strips of thick plasticard to add strength.

That done I attached the nose and did a bit more filling and sanding.

I dry fitted the intakes and canards and yet again there are more gaps so I added strips of plastic along the intakes where they joined the fuselage. This was to bring the intakes in line with the rest of the fuselage and cut down on the gaps.

I then attached the intakes and I made a HUD from two triangular pieces if plasticard and a small piece of clear plastic.

Now for the tail. I replaced the plastic pitot with a metal one made from a pin.

Then I added two pieces of copper wire at the bottom of the tail to add more strength and to help to keep the tail straight while the glue goes off when the tail is attached to the fuselage.

[Martian]

Excellent progress! I don't envy you having to sort those joins out though!

Martin

[sunray]

Thanks Martin. I have a attached the canards and along with the tail the gaps were duly filled and sanded down.

I have decided not to add weapons so I took off the tabs on the pylons and after looking at photo's of the pylons I drilled a few holes to show the connection slots for the stores. With them attached I did yet more filling and sanding to fill the gaps in these.













To finish off the cockpit I added a few bits of plasticard at the back of the seat headrest to make it look more interesting and to help make the canopy a better fit as there was (yes you have guessed it) a gap.





Now for the pilot. I have used a figure from the Revell 1/72 Pilot Pack which had to be modified a fair bit to get a realistic position for the cockpit. A few saw cuts in the abdomen and rear allowed me to bend the body so it sat well in the seat and allowed the right-hand to reach the control column. I removed and reattached the left hand to allow the to be turn it so the palm was facing down as if it was controlling the throttle. I also added the hose for the oxygen mask made from thin solder super glued into position and lastly I attached two bits of plasticard to make the thigh note pockets which stand out a bit on Swedish flight suits.





To paint I sprayed the pilot black and used Citdel paints to paint the uniform.

[mirageiv]

Lovely job so far! Look forward to more, detailing these older kits may be long winded but you get unique models that will never be manufactured in todays F-xyz....world.

Edited July 3, 2015 by mirageiv

[Martian]

Nice figure painting!

Martin

[sunray]

Thanks guys. With the pilot finished I glued him into the cockpit and when I was happy he was in the right position I glued the canopy down with Microscale Krystal Klear. While the glue was curring I held it into position with some Tamiya tape. While I was waiting I attached the forward pitot tube which was also made from a pin.

Them done I had a final look around the model for any more gaps that require filling and sanding.







Next job was to mask the canopy and this is how I do it. Using 6mm Tamiya tape, an old CD case, a set square and a knife. I stick a piece of tape on the case and I use the set square and knife to cut thin strips of tape. I have got thinner tape but I prefer to cut my own cut tape for masking canopy's and safe the bought tape for find masking on the fuselage, etc. I use the thin strips on the canopy because I find it is easier to follow the contours of the canopy than using the full 6mm tape. Now its just a case of following the edges of the canopy.





I find it easier to use a length of tape longer than required and once stuck down I use a sharp razor blade to cut to size using the tape at right angles as a guide.











Then I used masking fluid to cover the rest of the canopy.







Now for the paint. As I am going to use Alclads I gave it a few coats of Alclad 2 Gloss Black Base. This goes on well and dries fast.





I had a final check for any gaps and I started to spray Alclad 2 Duraluminium. After a few light coats I gave it about 30 minutes to dry and I sealed it with Hobby Master Sealer.

[Christer A]

I can almost hear the deafening rumble from the RM8A! (And I did experience that this saturday! Ahhhhh)

Nice shiny alclad finish too!

Edit:

Added a link with some pictures from the Airshow (not my pictures, and the text is in swedish...but pictures are worth a thousand words they say)

http://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/solen-sken-i-satenas/

Edited July 6, 2015 by Christer A

[sunray]

I can almost hear the deafening rumble from the RM8A! (And I did experience that this saturday! Ahhhhh)

Nice shiny alclad finish too!

Edit:

Added a link with some pictures from the Airshow (not my pictures, and the text is in swedish...but pictures are worth a thousand words they say)

http://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/solen-sken-i-satenas/

Excellent photo's and it looked a fantastic day. I know what you mean about the Viggen Christer I was lucky to see one last year with the Draken when they came over to the UK for the air show at RAF Waddington. Both are amazing a aircraft that's why I decided to build the Viggen.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ecirpnai/sets/72157645593135253

I have got an old Airfix 1/72 Draken and the Revell Gripen which are also on my list to do.

Also thanks again Christer for keeping me on the right track about my Viggen. You might have already guessed but this is going to be one of the prototypes. I managed to get a newer set of decals off ebay.

[James G]

Wow, nice work!

[Roberto]

I'm stunned by the canopy and cockpit work! Bravo.

[sunray]

Thanks lads. I gave it a few coats of Simoniz Acrylic Lacquer which was slightly thinned with Mr Color Thinner. Once that had dried I applied the kit decals. I must admit they were not the best I have seen. They were a bit too thick and I used Micro Sol and Set, and Mr Hobby Setter and Softener and it did affect them at all. So I thought I will have to live with them as they were.

It don't show it on the photo's but the decals are quite thick. My next thought was I will give it a few coats of lacquer to see if it would lower them a bit and it did. So I thought this is going to work so I thought I would keep going adding light coats. Then this happened. For so unknown reason I decided to thin the lacquer a bit more and when I sprayed it on it looked fine until after a few minutes I noticed the decals had started to crinkle up under the lacquer. Oh no disaster strikes! The penny suddenly dropped with a loud bang, the thinner must be attacking the decals. "What do I do now" was going through my head. Looking a bit closer I noticed the thinner from the last coat had softener the earlier coats which surprised me as this lacquer sets like stone. I tried flattening the decal with a cocktail stick that worked in parts but not in others.

So as I was sitting there and the feeling of panic was changing to "oh well chalk this one down to experience" then I noticed that the lacquer had not dried yet. Normally after 15 minutes from being applied the lacquer is dry enough to sand down, but no 30 minutes had passed and it had't dried. That must because the thinner hasn't gassed off yet but looking at the decals and I noticed the were starting to flatten. So I decided to leave it over night to see what happens.

So at work yesterday I was thinking could I be that lucky the when I go home and check that the decals are going to be completely flat and smooth, I had won the lottery, England have won the world cup and best of all that my youngest son has tidied his room? Yes you have guessed it I was wrong on all counts. So as I have said before this lacquer sets really hard and it had. The crinkles on the decals had been reduced but not a lot which could be the the lacquer dried to fast for the decals to flatten. Thinking about what to do I decided to try rubbing the decals down first 3200 grit, then 4000 grit and so on to 12000 grit to polish and it worked. What worked for me was that the decals were thick. Where the crinkles had been faint lines were left but I can live with that.

So with all that done I applied an oil wash the panel lines and applied some post shading to try and cover the lines on the decals. After that I sprayed it with a matt varnish to tone down the gloss of the lacquer and I removed the mask from the canopy.

[sunray]

Here are a few images I have just taken to decide how its going to be displayed.

[sean]

I'ts amazing what some people can do with older kits, fantastic piece of modelling

and a very informative wip,

Sean

[sunray]

Thanks Sean. I am off for next few days so hopefully I will get the stand made and it will be finished.