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Swedish Thunderbolt


reini

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Okay, I've got a build for you that has not seen in this GB yet - it's a SAAB and it's called a VIGGEN!

 

... what?

 

... somebody else is building a Viggen too?

 

Hard to believe, but no matter! Let's build it anyways, as it's not really possible to have too many  Viggens. :P

 

 

Been holding on to this kit for almost a year now - I got it as it was new. Very cool boxing by Special Hobby with two kits and a book.

 

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It's a big box for sure, but also quite full of stuff.

 

 

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So it's AJ attack viggen and SK two seater in this boxing. No parts for JA, I did check :P  Also missing a tail so can't build two AJ's (SK had a high tail). I'm not particularly fond of the two seat Viggen - not the prettiest thing in the world but I'm sure it will get built eventually too. Good quality full color manuals for both planes, very tidy decals and a good reference book.

 

 

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High quality photos in the book.

 

 

Good amount of plastic in the kit:

 

 

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Kit decals on the left, Moose republic ones on the right. Not sure of the specific plane yet, but it will be a splinter one.

 

 

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Apart from the possible decals - this is my only aftermarket part. Viggen has quite a few resin options - but they are quite pricey.

 

 

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As we all know, Special Hobby/Tarangus Vigge's are lacking in the weapon department, which is a big shame. So I'll be stealing some weapons from other kits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As can be seen from that special Airfix boxing of Viggen with two right fuselages - it's quite useless. But still useful as a donor kit. So I will be stealing RB05's from the Airfix kit and Aden gun pods from the Marivox Saab 105. Viggen was a single weapon platform - weapon load was programmed on the ground - but RB05 & gun pods was one of the only dual weapon options the Viggen had. In addition to having Sidewinders for self defence that is.

 

So about the build - it will be a Special Hobby AJ37 Viggen in splinter camo during the cold war. It will be flying and will have a simple display stand. If possible might even be 'in action' -  firing a missile. But that is still undecided. This will be part three of my nordic series - danish Super Sabre, norwegian Starfighter being the first two. So this will be about a striker aircraft as the previous two are about a trainer and an interceptor.

 

I've heard some of the complications with this kit so we will see how much work will be included. But I guess 1/48 kit is worse, some of the problems fixed with this one? We will find out :) Splinter camo will be a challenge too!

 

 

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Rb05 and gunpods?

That's always a good bet!

 

IIRC the gun pods could be fitted with 12,7mm training barrel instead of the 30mm. However, this installation was deemed as insecure and once loaded it was not recommended to be in front of it, even though the aircraft was powered off awaiting pilot.

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6 hours ago, Christer A said:

IIRC the gun pods could be fitted with 12,7mm training barrel instead of the 30mm. However, this installation was deemed as insecure and once loaded it was not recommended to be in front of it, even though the aircraft was powered off awaiting pilot.

That doesn't sound very good :D

 

- - - - - 

 

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First victim for the carpet monster - the radar stick. Luckily cockpit insides are shared with the dual seater, so you get two of most of the stuff. Nice try, carpet monster! :devil:

 

 

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I imagine this is a JA thing, upper fuselage was to be shortened a bit. As AJ fuselage is just a tad shorter than JA.

 

 

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Panels to the side of the cockpit.

 

 

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I painted the cockpit parts with Vallejo 70.907 Pale Grey Blue. Seemed like a nice shade for the job. Bit on the blue shade, but the weathering will take care of it.

 

 

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Mig Deep Grey Panel Line Wash was applied to all the grey bits. Some of the excess was wiped off but I left most of it to create a dirty and toned down look.

 

 

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Some chipping and details added, I call this cockpit done. Apart from the bang seat and pilot, that is.

 

 

 

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.....all right haven't you lot had enough already!!!

 

Ok for one brief second I got very excited when I saw the title for this build! A Swedish Thunderbolt!!! :yikes: Gosh I thought, I didn't know they had P-47's!!!!

 

...........and no they didn't  :weep:  .......just another Viggen! :doh:

 

...ok the weapons load out is a bit interesting...though I reckon all Viggen's must have Robots fitted and be in Splinter camouflage!!!

 

As punishment for getting my hopes up...and for being one of that multi-build lot I reckon you need to build the SF-37 Recon version with the sharks nose.

 

...oh yeah...good luck and all the stuff.........

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Great project Reini. :yahoo: 

As for the two seater, you could turn it in to an SK37E Electronic Warfare variant. 

But then you'll have to source some jamming pods. 

Good luck with your builds.

/Bosse - I salute you with some ice cold Lapinkultas. :cheers: 

 

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Wow Reini you're really pushing them out aren't you. Looks an interesting kit, what with the book and all. So, that little airfix kit, does that mean that there's someone out there with two left fuselages? 🙂 

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3 hours ago, Marlin said:

Great project Reini. :yahoo: 

As for the two seater, you could turn it in to an SK37E Electronic Warfare variant. 

But then you'll have to source some jamming pods. 

Good luck with your builds.

/Bosse - I salute you with some ice cold Lapinkultas. :cheers: 

 

Yeah, Bosse speaks the truth!

 

 

12 hours ago, trickyrich said:

...ok the weapons load out is a bit interesting...though I reckon all Viggen's must have Robots fitted and be in Splinter camouflage!!!

Whenever I'll build a AJ37 you can be certain that there won't be any anti-ship missiles on it. 

It's either full rocket load (4 pods of 6x13,5 cm rockets) och full bomb load (16x120kg)

 

It's a great looking cockpit you have there Reini.

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1 hour ago, Christer A said:

Whenever I'll build a AJ37 you can be certain that there won't be any anti-ship missiles on it. 

It's either full rocket load (4 pods of 6x13,5 cm rockets) och full bomb load (16x120kg).

Oh yes - full rocket load is my favourite. But ~20€ seems too much for it :( Bomb load would be interesting too, but is it available after market? Would need the bomb rack/pylon too..

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9 hours ago, Marlin said:

Great project Reini. :yahoo: 

As for the two seater, you could turn it in to an SK37E Electronic Warfare variant. 

But then you'll have to source some jamming pods. 

Good luck with your builds.

/Bosse - I salute you with some ice cold Lapinkultas. :cheers: 

 

 

Now there is an idea, have to look into that :) Thanks!

 

I don't have Lapin Kulta - but 'Kippis' anyway! :drink:

 

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3 hours ago, Christer A said:

CMK seams to roll out a slightly cheaper set of rocket pods, but 18€ instead of 20€ is not a big difference.

Yeah - seems to be 9,30€ for pair at CMK shop. 9.60€ at Hannants. They are 1/72 so I would expect to get atleast a set of four at that price. I'm sure I'll cave in someday and order them - but not today :P 

 

 

18 hours ago, trickyrich said:

Ok for one brief second I got very excited when I saw the title for this build! A Swedish Thunderbolt!!! :yikes: Gosh I thought, I didn't know they had P-47's!!!!

 

...........and no they didn't  :weep:  .......just another Viggen! :doh:

 

As punishment for getting my hopes up...and for being one of that multi-build lot I reckon you need to build the SF-37 Recon version with the sharks nose.

Hey - it is literally 'Thunderbolt'! it's not my fault you don't know swedish language :P 

 

Oh I like that punishment! Do you also provide the items required to fullfill the punisment? :giggle:

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Wow!!

You are putting on pressure here ;)

Ok, only 1/72 :D

 

joking apart fantastic and already a good start :)

have this book on order any a 2 Seater as well, but 48th....

And regarding version, I am sure you could get the required sprue from SH to do a second single seater.. just ask them! Though a EW two-seater is intetesting and tempting me.... just my 2c

;)

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

@exdraken Thanks, yeah it seems single sprues could be available too. I'll finish this and see what I want to do with the other kit :) 

 

 

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With the seat & pilot the cockpit is done.

 

 

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It's a nice fit, just with little bit limited legroom...

 

 

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Underside was drilled full of holes for all kinds of scoops & pylons. Also glued on the landing gear bay doors, could be better but I will sort it out later.

 

 

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It's rather complicated how the fuselage comes together,  you really want to take your time to check that everything is aligned as they should be before committing with glue. Forward section of the fuselage coming together.

 

 

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Thrust reverser is a great detail of the Viggen - but sadly we can't show them as the plane will be displayed airborne. And no, thrust reverser CAN'T be activated while on the air! :P Or, to be more precise, it can be activated - but it doesn't kick in until there is weight on the nose wheel.

 

 

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Painted some metallics for the hard to reach areas. Simple wash will be added and I can start putting together the rest of the fuselage. All in all, it's quite many overlapping parts where many things can go wrong. If it comes together - it's pretty clever. But if it doesn't, it's gonna be quite complicated to make it all look nice. We will see :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nice progress Reini and good luck with the airframe assembly. I'm particularly impressed with your pilot paintwork - is he also from the Airfix kit?

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1 hour ago, Col. said:

Nice progress Reini and good luck with the airframe assembly. I'm particularly impressed with your pilot paintwork - is he also from the Airfix kit?

Yeah he is the other Buccaneer pilot.

 

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I put small plasticard pieces to support the landing bay doors. The inner doors fitted very snuggly without any adjustment.

 

 

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Some cleaning to do. And glue marks, of course. But I've learnt to resist the urge to wipe away the Tamiya glue if I make a mess - it's just better leave it and let it dry, it will neaten itself out. If you try to wipe it, you just damage the plastic.

 

 

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Some washes to the engine parts.

 

 

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Final bit to plug in - then fuselage assembly can continue.

 

 

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Top of the wings went on nicely.

 

 

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Attaching the wings to the rear fuselage. Minor gaps.

 

 

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Forward fuselage joints are not the prettiest.

 

 

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Spine went on nicely over the rear fuselage - was just a tad too short. Piece of it was cut out earlier, would have been better to wait and test fit it before cutting it - but no matter, that's easy to fill with thin plasticard strip.

 

 

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There were parts that fit very well - but some parts less so. But overall, I think it's only those intake side seams that annoy me the most - as they don't follow panel lines and there are quite a bit of details there

 

 

 

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nice progress Reini.

 

I really don't know what happened with the Tarangus and SH models of the Viggen (in both scales), some areas the fit is/was great and others.......  It's a bit of a shame as they're probably the last decent model of the Viggen we'll ever see in these scales!

 

The pilot does look good...is he the Ikea version that can swap out his legs (for longer ones) when he see's a tall blond?? :D

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Okay, several hours spent at the bench, got some major progress with the build!

 

This is where I started:

 

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... and this is where I ended up after all that work:

 

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Can you spot the difference? No? Me neither :D Well, a little bit with a closer inspection, I've been filling & sanding seams for hours. Over and over again. I still gotta do it once (then I'm done) and do some rescribing. This is the part of the hobby I'm struggling a bit - but I try to push it thru...

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haha...this beastie and it's bigger cousin eats up hours of work with little to show afterwards!

 

1/72nd or 1/48th the filling and sanding is all the same! Don't worry you'll get there in the end........or go mad! :D

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Welcome to the filler and sanding club of the Special Hobby Viggen. You have done well to keep this to a minimum, but as other have found (including myself) you cannot escape it. You have made good progress and I like the way that you dealt with the closing of the main U/C doors. Keep it up.

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Lots of extra bits and bobs get glued all around.

 

 

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Couple of small intakes and pylons - underside is done.

 

 

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Canards get glued. Unlike more modern designs (Gripen etc,), canards did not contribute to the movement of the aircraft - they were used as flaps. Flap use in the Viggen was tied onto the landing gear - so when landing gear goes down, flaps go down. And vice versa. So it's a good design of the kit that the flaps are separate - so when displayed on the ground, flaps can also be deployed down.

 

 

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All the stuff is pretty much glued on. Final check up and cleaning - and we're ready for primer.

 

 

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It is well known that Dornier Do 17 nickname was 'Flying Pencil'. It is little less known fact that Viggen's nickname was 'Flying Marker' :giggle: And not just any marker, but High Performance Marker!

 

Next I will sort out the payload - then we can continue with the primer! 

 

 

 

 

Edited by reini
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I could put down your sense of humour to going mad after all that filling and sanding!! :D

 

I just noticed those underside intakes, they're different?

 

Was having a look at the SH instructions of there 1/48th version, and if you are to believe those (they tell you to fit those extra fairings on the wings!!), that some of the AJ's had those intakes plus some also had the kinked tail of the JA's?

 

They have 2 releases of the 1/48th version, the original and the "Updated Version" which have the new sprue for the those intakes, tail fin (kinked), underside strake, plus corrected canards. Interestingly the colour scheme choices are exactly the same???

 

Maybe one of the Viggen experts can explain what's going on here?

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@trickyrich I have not seen an AJ37 with the taller/kinked tail, that seems bit strange. Kit comes with it but it's for the JA and SK double seater. But there are two different options for the bottom intakes and ventral fin for the AJ37.

 

So these are the older intakes:

 

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// Photo from 'Saab 27 Viggen' by Duke Hawkins (book that came with the SH double boxing of the Viggen)

 

So as it reads, they are the older style intakes which the double seater had, but also some of the older AJ37's.

 

 

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// Photo from "Saab 37 Viggen Walk Around" by Squadron Signal.

 

Here is the later style intake, it is attached to the centerline pylon.

 

 

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Let's see the manual. Step 22 is for camo A, which is the later style intake and Step 23 for the earlier intake with the camo options b & C. Also note two different ventral fins.

 

 

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I know plastic model instructions are not the most trusted source, but the intakes and ventral fin are are both mentioned in all the camo options, so I would assume they have done their research? Note that serial 37051 has the older intake and serial 37062 has the new one. 37022 which is very early production has still the old ventral fin with the old intakes.

 

 

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As I will be using Moose Rebublic decals, I settled for 37035 (note that the decal instructions state incorrectly 37034). 37035 is older airframe than 37051 (which still had the older intake), so I made an assumption that this airframe has the older intake too, Not sure when the ventral fin change happened or if they were retrofitted, but the new style felt like safer choice.

 

 

 

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