Pantera Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 Hi! If you want to build an JA37 as accurate as possible please note that the inner rudder has two cylinders. Strangely Heller have not added this on the new sprue but on the drawing for the colour scheme it is visible. Also if you intend to use the belly tank there should be four fins on the tank. Regards Göran 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, reini said: @PeterB Looking good! I've lost count how many Saab's you've already made - and how many are still to be done - but this one seems to be ready soon also About the weapons, green is for practice ones yes. And the inner rear wheel doors, I would say closed. I remember there might be a slight droop for non-powered aircraft but better check your references. Thanks Reini, In walkround pics the doors are fully down, but that does not perhaps indicate they were normally - I think some of the museum planes have their doors dropped so you can see inside. Actual pics in my Putnams SAAb book are not clear so I will keep looking. Pete PS Tunnan and Draken finished, Lansen should be finished today, and as you say the Viggen is coming along. That just leaves the Gripen. Later - looks like the doors were indeed closed - I have found the pics of the restored "Blå Petter" on IPMS Stockholm which give a much better view. Edited February 9, 2020 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 (edited) 56 minutes ago, Pantera said: Hi! If you want to build an JA37 as accurate as possible please note that the inner rudder has two cylinders. Strangely Heller have not added this on the new sprue but on the drawing for the colour scheme it is visible. Also if you intend to use the belly tank there should be four fins on the tank. Regards Göran Thanks Göran, I am using the gun pod but the kit does have the belly tank and long centreline pylon. However there is 1 fin moulded on and only 2 others to fit so it seems to be 1 fin short! In the above picture the tank looks as if it is actually mounted on the gun pod and I can see that Heller have moulded a stub on it where a different sort of pylon could go. Makes sense as not being able to fit a drop tank if you had the gun mounted would be a bit silly. As to what you describe as the "inner rudder", I note that Airfix did the same on their old kit. I will have a think about that but may leave it - none of my kits are ever perfect as I do not have the patience and my old hands are not that brilliant these days. Incidentally, on the pic I see that the lower airbrakes were painted red - would the upper ones be the same? Cheers Pete Edited February 9, 2020 by PeterB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 Great progress Pete and some pitfalls to avoid for those like me about to build it,mine was waiting when I got back today looks good a 2003 boxing still sealed for seven quid shame the splinter scheme not included but once the other two are done I'll make a start. # Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantera Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 Hi! In this picture you can see that the belly pylon is rather thin and with the tank fitted under the gunpod there´s not much ground clearence. The fuel tank is included in Maestro resin set 7275 but I think it would be an easy task to modify the kits tank to have four fins. Regarding the belly airbrakecolour I would say that it is copper-brass coloured rather than red. The upper airbrake is the same colour as the fuselage camouflage. Best luck with your build. Göran 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 Hi Göran, Thanks for that. Yes, I was thinking the clearance would be limited - bit like the Rb 04 on my Lansen! Must have had a fairly stiff undercarriage. Cheers Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 8 hours ago, PeterB said: Thanks Reini, In walkround pics the doors are fully down, but that does not perhaps indicate they were normally - I think some of the museum planes have their doors dropped so you can see inside. Actual pics in my Putnams SAAb book are not clear so I will keep looking. Pete PS Tunnan and Draken finished, Lansen should be finished today, and as you say the Viggen is coming along. That just leaves the Gripen. Later - looks like the doors were indeed closed - I have found the pics of the restored "Blå Petter" on IPMS Stockholm which give a much better view. The inner gear doors droops when the engine is shut of, but just an inch! Then it's stopped by a little hook in the bay. If you add a little little droop, it will look more interesting than laying flush with the fuselage. 8 hours ago, PeterB said: Incidentally, on the pic I see that the lower airbrakes were painted red - would the upper ones be the same? Cheers Pete Not painted red, just a very dark brown/burned metal! Also, the landing gear is very stiff. It's designed for a sinkrate of 16m/s. A Viggen doesn't flare when landing, it flies down, and then hits the thrust reverser. When you just have 800m of runway (or just a slightly larger piece of ordinary road) you need to think a bit like trapping the aircraft on a carrier.... 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 Thanks Christer, Perhaps you can answer the question I asked about the rails for the missiles mounted under the fuselage - I am thinking of fitting Skyflash instead of the Sidewinders provided in the kit - would the rails be the same sort of length? Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) As Göran @Pantera kindly pointed out, the JA37 had an extra fairing under each wing for what he calls "the inner rudder" - I suspect it is a fairing over the actuator for the inner flap or was it a flaperon? Anyway I carved a couple out of card - not quite the correct shape but they will do. I have also painted the lower airbrakes in a sort of burnt iron colour, repainted the wheel legs light grey instead of silver based on walkround pics, and fitted, filled and painted the inner main gear doors in the closed position - they were not the best of fits. I am still thinking about modifying the drop tank and fitting it - you can see the stub mounting for it on the forward part of the gun pod. Pictures also show a red collision warning light just in front of the gun pod so I will have to knock one up - Heller have moulded the upper one but not the lower! Now I need to do a bit of fiddly masking and try to spray the nose and forward undersides to get a soft edge. Once that is done I am ready to start thinking about decals. I am still debating whether or not to replace a pair of the Rb 24J Sidewinders from the kit with some Rb 71 Skyflash, and if so on which pylons - inner or outer. I know they were used on the outer but I am not sure about the inner fuselage ones. To be continued........ Pete Edited September 26, 2021 by PeterB 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 Phew! After some digging while neglecting work I found this little Resin set https://www.rebell.com/details/aircraft-details/ja37-viggen-vapenbalkar-x-6.html Those are the launchrails for Skyflash and Sidewinders, and the sidewinder ones are actually longer! It also seems that Skyflash was only carried in the outer position, not underneath the fuselage, but there is a loadout picture in that link Regarding the drop tank: 4 fins are what's used on the JA, because the 3 finned tank does not fit with the gun pack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) Thanks Christer, The change of the fin layout makes sense - I had not thought of that! See what you mean about the rails - the Rb 71 rail is definitely shorter. I will see what I have in my spares box, either that or make one. Pete Edited February 10, 2020 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 (edited) So much for spraying a soft edge. Never having tried the worm technique before I probably sprayed from the wrong angle! To make matters worse, although I deliberately used white tac which, unlike Blue Tac is supposedly non greasy, it seems to have reacted with the acrylic paint turning it a fair bit darker, so I have had to repaint it with a brush, which rather defeats the object. Might try blending it in with heavily thinned paint like I do when mottling Luftwaffe planes. We shall see. Incidentally, the first time I saw an RAF Tornado in the grey scheme I noticed that the vertical tail was filthy - I later read that was due to the exhaust staining when thrust reverse was used. Did the same thing happen to grey Viggens? Bit of touching up to do then on with the decals. After that just the underside warning light, outer main wheel doors, pylons, missiles and pitots to add and it will be done. It will look better with a flat coat on hopefully! Pete Edited September 26, 2021 by PeterB 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Coming along nicely Pete, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 (edited) I have just about finished the touching up for the moment, blurred the demarkation between the 2 greys on the nose a little, and have added the lower anti collision beacon. When I built my Frog Shackleton last year I drilled holes and used shaped pieces of clear sprue for the same purpose, but later in the build I used some very old (30 years +) Krystal Kleer to make knobs for the end of the throttle levers. It is very thick by now so I built up a blob on the Viggen fuselage, shaping it roughly with the end of a cocktail stick, and then trimmed it with a razor blade when dry – does not look too bad! As you can see I have put on the decs – a mixture of kit ones, ones from my decal stash and some spare ones Tim kindly “swopped” with me. To be honest I do not actually like this scheme – large day-glo numbers spoil the camo effect, but as was pointed out by one of our “Nordic” friends, they were intended to stop them bumping into each other during exercises, and no doubt would have been painted over if a war ever started. The RAF had a similar problem with its low flying Tornados but they fitted a very bright white strobe light instead which seems a better idea to my mind though perhaps it would not have worked at high altitudes! The unit badge of what Heller claim to be “1 Jakflggdivisionen at Ronnebg” in 1992 is not well detailed and I would be tempted to print my own if I could find a good colour pic/drawing of it. Some of the smaller stencils did not want to conform so I had to stick them down with diluted varnish, and the kit decs are out of register so I will have to add a yellow line to the top of the intake warning triangle. Oh well, they are on now so I had better finish painting the missiles and rails. Not much more to do now. Cheers Pete Edited September 26, 2021 by PeterB 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 On 2/10/2020 at 7:35 AM, Christer A said: The inner gear doors droops when the engine is shut of, but just an inch! Then it's stopped by a little hook in the bay. If you add a little little droop, it will look more interesting than laying flush with the fuselage. Also, the landing gear is very stiff. It's designed for a sinkrate of 16m/s. A Viggen doesn't flare when landing, it flies down, and then hits the thrust reverser. When you just have 800m of runway (or just a slightly larger piece of ordinary road) you need to think a bit like trapping the aircraft on a carrier.... I didn't know either of that, very interesting. I've seen video of those short landings....impressive is an understatement!! gee you have made nice progress, nearly there, she certainly looks impressive, well done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) I decided I wanted a full load of green training missiles like in this pic. This is what I ended up with. I am not going to bother with the belly tank, though it ought to be easy enough to do - perhaps later! So just the probes to add and a final touch up and it will be ready for a couple of coats of matt varnish. Pete Edited September 26, 2021 by PeterB 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Fun fact! That picture is of one of the two white Viggens that was part of the initial testing when investigating how to best go grey camo. But please add the belly tank! The guzzling RM8A really needs those extra 800 liters of Jet A1 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) Thanks Christer, That raises the question of the spacing of the fins. Currently there are 3 at about 120 degrees - would the 4 finned version have them at 90 degrees or can I still use the lower fins as in the kit - I don't have any pics which show the answer? Heller provide the "long" pylon used instead of the gun pod - I can cut off the deeper front part, but do I need to take some of the depth off as well to avoid the tank dragging on the ground? Guess I will have to do a bit of trial and error testing. A modellers work is never done! Pete Edited February 14, 2020 by PeterB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Picture stolen from Wikipedia. That's not 90º spacing between the fins, and it more or less butts up against the gun pack belly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) Thanks, Looks like they kept the lower fins and did the same arrangement on top. Heller mould a sort of stub pylon on the bottom of the gun pack so I think I will use that without a "proper" pylon as it would hang too low. Just realised Göran sent me the same pic but much smaller so could not see the details. So just a couple of fins to scratch build then - could be a lot worse. Cheers Pete Edited February 14, 2020 by PeterB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) Well, everything is on and painted so all it needs now is a flat coat. I have used Master brass pitots before and they have been thinner and stronger than the plastic ones in the kit. However, their ones for the Draken and Viggen, and I suspect the Gripen also are very thin - so much so that I did not use the one for the Draken as it bent as soon as you looked at it! The Viggen ones are a bit better but I will have to be very careful when handling it. And yes, by popular request it has the fuel tank fitted. It was simple enough to cut off the moulded top fin and add a couple made from card - I have straightened it up after seeing this pic! So now I have a fully loaded JA37 - 800 Litre drop tank, cannon pack, 4x Rb 24J Sidewinders and 2x Rb 71 Skyflash. All loaded for (simulated) Bear as the missile are green training rounds. The finish is not as good as I would have liked but as my various airbrushes were either acting up or away for repair it is the best I could do with a hairy stick. More once I have sprayed it with flat varnish if the old airbrush can manage that. Cheers Pete Edited September 26, 2021 by PeterB 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) This is perhaps a more interesting view. The colours are better too for some reason. Pete Edited September 26, 2021 by PeterB 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Peter, you are a model making machine, a smashing job, very nice indeed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 Hi Mate, Not normally but I am retired which helps a lot, and this time of year my other half can't find too much for me to do in the house and garden, so I try and get as many kits as possible out of my stash. I will no doubt have to slacken off before too long, once the weather improves - if it ever does with another storm inbound this weekend I see. Having said that, 4 in as many weeks, and possibly the Gripen by the end of next week is rather unusual even for me, and no doubt a tribute to this GB which I am enjoying enormously! I suspect my projected build(s) in the "In the Navy" GB will be rather slower as the kits are more complicated. Cheers Pete 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reini Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 (edited) @PeterB What a great job once again! You have made pretty impressive line up of Saab fighters i really like the look of those green training missiles on the light grey aircraft. Edited February 14, 2020 by reini 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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