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SAAB JAS-39B Gripen ETPS ***FINISHED***


Whirly

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seats.JPG

I guess that the PJ seats at least will fit in the cockpit. I have problems with after market seats.

Here are the Italeri seat with a metal seat from Aeroclub and a resin seat from Pavla (I think). They need to be cut down much for the canopy to fit.  I'm not sure that any of these will look good.

I might try to find the PJ seats to see if they look better in the plane.

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On 07/05/2020 at 07:55, Whirly said:

But first I had to do something for the flaps. They are usually deflected when the aircraft is at rest, so some changes are needed.

If I remember my Gripen mechanic days properly there are a shut down procedure that usually leaves the flaps hanging, and the outer is in a roll, so the left one hangs down and the right one points up.

During the startup sequence the system runs a reference check and jogs all steering surfaces to the end positions before settling in for neutral.

The wonders of Fly-by-wire :)

 

Great fettling with all the parts by the way!

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I think half my completed models have the lower part of the ejector seat removed due to the cockpit tub being too shallow. The Airies correction set for the Accademy Hunter provides a resin copy of the the kit tub but with an extra 4mm depth in each side making it deeper so allowing it to accomodate a full seat.

 

Aeroclub seats were excellent in the '90s but have been left behind by the detail on the new resin ones. They are still useful though, especially if you need the nose weight.

 

Colin

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On 5/11/2020 at 10:33 AM, Dave Swindell said:

the only way to work out whether they're going to look anemic on the finished model is to do a test fit and see how it fits in the cockpit tub.

👍

On 5/11/2020 at 2:53 PM, Orso said:

seats.JPG

I guess that the PJ seats at least will fit in the cockpit. I have problems with after market seats.

Here are the Italeri seat with a metal seat from Aeroclub and a resin seat from Pavla (I think). They need to be cut down much for the canopy to fit.  I'm not sure that any of these will look good.

I might try to find the PJ seats to see if they look better in the plane.

Very valuable input, Bjorn. the Pavla seats seem even worse than the PJ one I have. I'll see how they fit in my model and report the outcome.

On 5/11/2020 at 3:32 PM, Christer A said:

During the startup sequence the system runs a reference check and jogs all steering surfaces to the end positions before settling in for neutral.

The wonders of Fly-by-wire :)

 

Great fettling with all the parts by the way!

Must be an amusing show this startup sequence! Thank you for the compliments.

On 5/11/2020 at 4:06 PM, trickyrich said:

mmm those metal seat do look like ejectors seats when compared to the other.

 

14 hours ago, Colin W said:

I think half my completed models have the lower part of the ejector seat removed due to the cockpit tub being too shallow. 

 

Aeroclub seats were excellent in the '90s but have been left behind by the detail on the new resin ones. They are still useful though, especially if you need the nose weight.

Yeah, maybe the yellow resin too which doesn't help, but the Aeroclub seats always had a very 'right' appearance. Even if not up to modern iperdetailed standard I miss them as a quick way to upgrade a cockpit.

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Back to the assembly, the wings went on. Big gaps at the root, I used this sprue to fill and reinforce the joint before applying filler.

Notice the sink marks in the wing slats...

 

P_20200421_212009 P_20200421_212018

 

More trenches on the underside.

 

P_20200421_212032

 

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Many coats and Tamiya Putty and Mr.Surfacer later.... I proceeded with reattaching the flaps (some repairs with thin plasticard were needed).

 

P_20200506_191730 P_20200506_191720

 

I did not want to pose the airbrakes open, it is a very unusual pose when parked, but the fit was terrible remedied (somewhat) with thin plasticard and Mr.Surfacer.

 

P_20200506_191710

 

The fin joint is again another very weak point. I had to flood it with superglue and putty over it.

@Dave Swindell thank you for noting the dent in the rudder, duly added!

 

P_20200506_191759

 

All pilons needed modifications to make them more realistic.

 

P_20200506_191746 P_20200507_220910

 

Talking of pilons, the wingtip rails were a real disaster, much work to carve an acceptable shape and then some refinements with stretched sprue

 

P_20200506_191739

 

 

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yeap, gaps and shrink makes are exactly the same as on the 1/48th version....guess to save money they just scaled up the issues! :D

 

Nice work on correcting them.

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13 hours ago, trickyrich said:

guess to save money they just scaled up the issues! :D

🤣🤣🤣 Typical of Italeri!

 

Some more progress today. The extreme nose is a blob of plastic so I removed the pitot and strakes then reshaped the tip and added again the lost details.

 

P_20200508_220253

 

I took also care of the windscreen base according to Bjorn's warning.

 

P_20200506_191826

 

We start to see some paint! The exhaust is a light cream, probably coming from the ceramic material. This will receive later a dark wash (if I can remember it).

 

P_20200508_215555

 

I added the small flying surfaces between canards and wings (how would they call them ???  ), another half scratch built pair of items, sometimes I feel like building a vacuform! 🤪

 

P_20200506_191813

 

Edited by Whirly
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1 hour ago, Whirly said:

The extreme nose is a blob of plastic so I removed the pitot and strakes then reshaped the tip and added again the lost details.

Looking good @Whirly, I've left these off mine to be added right at the end, whilst I was fairly confident attaching the undercarriage, I just know these wouldnl't last!

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On 5/15/2020 at 1:44 AM, trickyrich said:

some nice work there and you're getting there, fingers crossed you'll make it on time

 

Thank you for the appreciation, though I fear I won't do it,you'll see why at the end of the post...

 

The canards are on, I didn't want to risk fitting them with paint in the middle since the fit is again very wobbly.

U/C installed too: that front door is a real nightmare of struts and leverages for which the kit supplied parts are nearly useless. No way I could assemble it after painting!

 

P_20200511_230952

 

The PJ resin seats are painted and installed: I'm not entirely happy with shape and details but at least they just fit inside the canopy, so in the end @Orso was right!

 

P_20200513_220629

 

Note also how I robbed a brilliant idea from @Dave Swindell's build: the HUD was treated with a green permanent marker and the final effect is quite nice.

 

 

P_20200513_220615

 

And now we come at the bad news: after a quick masking session and installing the cockpit canopy I proceeded to the painting stage. The exact shades to be used are quite elusive, in the end I settled for 36375 underside since I had no 36373 in my assortment, but the result really didn't suit my taste: too cold and bluish.

After sorting through all the other greys I have I gave another coat of Barley Grey which seems much better to my eyes.

 

P_20200516_153646

 

With this setback I already wasted a full day, then the final blow came with the blue fin: I used Oxford Blue from Xtracolor, it sprayed very nicely but, despite thinning with Mr Levelling thinner, I fear it will need a week to dry completely...

 

P_20200516_153638

 

Well, I knew I started too late but I saw a small hope with the last minute extension.

Ok, It was fun anyway and a real pleasure to receive ancouragement from other BMers. I will post here any update and then it will go straight in RFI.

I must say also I was amazed at the number of builds enlisted (and completed) in this GB: it is a really popular theme and I hope there will be a sequel in the not too distant future.

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it's a real shame that the paints going to take time to dry properly, she was looking really nice.

 

Those sorts of issues are why I ended up switching form enamels to acrylics, had been using enamels for 30 odd years.....and probably why I'm now moving to proper lacquers.

 

As I mentioned to Dave the build threads stay open so please up date them when you can.

 

I'm glad you joined the GB and hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget Pt2 is now signing up.

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You've make very good progress through this one, pity about the slow-drying paint, hopefully we'll get to see the finished article soon enough though.

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18 hours ago, trickyrich said:

Those sorts of issues are why I ended up switching form enamels to acrylics, had been using enamels for 30 odd years.....and probably why I'm now moving to proper lacquers.

 

As I mentioned to Dave the build threads stay open so please up date them when you can.

 

I'm glad you joined the GB and hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget Pt2 is now signing up.

You are right, but I grew up on enamels and despite many attempt I never really mastered the "new"acrylics: I have some bottles in my drawer but I always approach them with some trepidation when I have to use them in the airbrush. Sometimes I win while more often I end with curses and struggles. I think it all comes down to the nature of these paints: once they start to dry there is really nothing which can dissolve them, and I mean dissolve, not detach from a surface.

I thought that Pt2 was still at 'desirable' status, while I checked now and found that you are already collecting votes, I added mine!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Time for an update!

After the setback with the underside gray I made some tests with darker grays I had to determine the most correct shade both in terms of hue and contrast with the lighter gray.

In the end I did a mix because I had nothing suitable straight from the tin, here you see it soon after spraying on the model. It doesn't seem very good due to flash illumination...

 

P_20200524_181314

 

Then a quick masking session followed before painting the u/c and wells off-white.

 

P_20200519_213404

 

Here you can see the finished items with wheels installed. The resin u/c is not perfectly level and I had to do some differential sanding to achieve a level stance.

Visible at the extreme upper right is one of the low-viz roundels: let me say that the Italeri decals are quite impervious to the usual softening liquids, I had to apply the strongest DACO  to reduce the silvering effect notably.

 

P_20200531_145552

 

What you can't see here is how, by pure coincidence, I managed to mix a topside gray mix which is virtually identical to the kit decals so they nicely disappear totally once applied 🤬

Only cure I can think of is printing another set of decals with my laser printer, not the best resolution but at least they are visible.

 

P_20200531_145520

 

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At last finished!

Photos are crap, will try to take better ones when I have time for a post in RFI.

Thank you @trickyrich @Col. @Dave Swindell for the encouragement and positive comments, despite not making to the gallery, finishing a model in two months is still a record for me!

Dave, I'm following your Wildcat build with interest: I have the AZ and MPM (!) previous kits but I wouldn't mind adding another to the collection. Hope to see your Gripen too in due course!

 

P_20200603_213846 P_20200603_213914 P_20200603_214002

 

 

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  • Whirly changed the title to SAAB JAS-39B Gripen ETPS ***FINISHED***

well done on finishing her, she looks awesome!!! :thumbsup:

 

I and so glad you finally completed her and posted the final results, you may have not made it into the gallery but you do make it into the group that did manage to finish this GB, so well done.

 

The finish on her is really nice and I reckon she'll be a great addition to any collection.

 

Again thank you for joining and finishing her and i do hope you enjoyed the build.

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