Swedish Thunderbolt

[reini]

1 minute ago, Col. said:

Good progress Reini. I'm looking forward to seeing this one sat next to your other GB projects  

If all goes according to The Plan - this will be Nordic build no 5!

[Col.]

16 minutes ago, reini said:

If all goes according to The Plan - this will be Nordic build no 5!

Gnat, Super Sabre, Starfighter, Viggen, and MiG-21 isn't it?

[reini]

17 minutes ago, Col. said:

Gnat, Super Sabre, Starfighter, Viggen, and MiG-21 isn't it?

... and Saab Sk60. Sorry, that was 6

[trickyrich]

3 hours ago, reini said:

@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:

 

// 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.

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

are it all makes sense now thanks.....plus I got me ventral fan a bit muddle up, for some reason I was thinking about the upper main fin and not the lower one! 

 

I soooo need a decent book on the Viggen, that one that came with the model looks awesome!

[Col.]

30 minutes ago, reini said:

... and Saab Sk60. Sorry, that was 6

Think you're single-handedly responsible for at least one of Rich's nervous twitches  

19 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

are it all makes sense now thanks.....plus I got me ventral fan a bit muddle up, for some reason I was thinking about the upper main fin and not the lower one! 

I soooo need a decent book on the Viggen, that one that came with the model looks awesome!

You're just looking for an excuse reason to add that Viggen double boxing to your stash and languish beside the Hasegawa Draken

[reini]

2 hours ago, Col. said:

Think you're single-handedly responsible for at least one of Rich's nervous twitches  

To be fair, only half way there. But then again, I'm sure it's the WIP threads Rich needs to keep up with that eats up his sanity

[trickyrich]

[reini]

Right, so time to sort out the ordnance.

 

 

Right, so the weapons - Rb05 missiles and Aden gun pods. Rb05 was an old school missile, where the pilot would steer the missile onto target by controlling it inside the cockpit via small joystick. Only by looking at the missile flare. I bet that was easy thing to do at 400m altitude near supersonic speeds with AA threat around  

 

 

 

For the Adens, I used injection needles for gun pipes.

 

 

 

Holes drilled.

 

 

 

Testing the gun pipes. Looks the part! Where's the other one, you might ask? I give you one guess... yes, inside the gun pod

 

 

 

So it needed extracting via the rear end.

 

 

 

Rb05's got nozzles from Eduard MiG-21 rocket take off assist thingies.

 

 

 

I keep the barrels out until the pods are painted and pop them in later. Other than that, things are getting ready, just need to glue the launch rails. Not sure from which kit they are. Might be KP MiG-23...

 

 

 

Like so.

 

 

 

As a side project, I visited my dad today and we made a paint rack for me!

 

 

 

Painted and ready to go!

 

 

 

Everything is ready for base coat.

 

 

 

I used Tamiya XF-19 as with the Starfighter. Goes on like a charm  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JeroenS]

My father breaks out a cold sweat when he's within a 1 meter radius of power tools... or any kind of tools, really.... sheer panic. Thank the powers that be it skipped a generation. 

 

Looks like you had a good day 🙂 

[MarkSH]

Nice rack....oh! did I say that out loud!.......uh the XF-19 did go on well didn't it!

[trickyrich]

Ooo nice progress!! That XF-19 does give you a nice finish, I use it a lot for the same thing.

 

Lucky you could retrieve that barrel, I've lost bits like that inside things before......and occasionally having to resort to violence to retrieve them! 

 

Nice paint storage shelf!!!   I attempted to make a base for my M1 Shredder the other day.......didn't end well!  ....and I'm actually good at making things......I blame the tools! 

[Col.]

A Viggen armed to the teeth - excellent

The paint-rack looks good as well. You've had a productive day  

[reini]

On 13/04/2020 at 21:47, JeroenS said:

Looks like you had a good day 🙂 

Indeed! My dad just turned 70 - so he is officially labeled as part of the 'high risk group' that is advised to stay at home quarantined. He's been suprisingly good about it, said that it's been strange not needing to refuel the car all the time   And he has a knack for wood working - he's not the most patient of people, but when he gets around, he gets things done. So we whipped that paint rack up in couple of hours using the materials lying on the floors, extra leftover bits and so on.

 

And he does quite a bit of modelling too, here is his 'WIP' line up at the moment:

 

Anyways, I got some work done on the Viggen too.

 

 

Some preshading using Tamiya Rubber Black.

 

 

 

Chose Vallejo 70.905 Blue Gray Pale as the underside color for the Viggen. I think it looks pretty good, it has the slight blue tint to it - but not too much.

 

 

 

I would need your help on the paint choices. I'm pretty settled on the underside color, black and the lightest of greens, but could use your opinion on the dark green & tan.

 

 

 

Option A ) MIG.

 

 

 

Option B ) Vallejo

 

So both tan & dark green are colors meant for USAF SEA camo scheme, but as can be seen they have different tones. MiG tan is lighter, and the Vallejo green has much more olive drab tone to it. In general, the MiG colors are bit lighter. Given that the weathering will darken things out, I'm leaning towards the option A.

 

But what do you think? Which option would you choose? Or some variant of these options? Or different colors alltogether?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trickyrich]

me thinks option B for some reason, the Tan in option A looks a wee bit too light to me.

 

Gee your dad turns out nice models as well!! 

[Col.]

My eye is drawn to Option B as somehow looking more correct than A when cross-referencing to a few Viggen photos.

[Christer A]

I agree. Option B is probably the best thing.

 

Dang good work on the kabloeyey stuff too.

[reini]

Thanks guys, I think that's what I will do - option B it is.

 

 

Masking done, it's time for the splinter camo. I've waited/dreaded for this moment for a while now, we will see how it goes...

 

 

 

I've read that 'reverse' order makes the most sense when doing Viggen splinter - so instead of going light to dark, I start with black. I chose Tamiya XF-65 as the black instead of Vallejo. Just because. I will use the Vallejo Nato Black on the leading edges and radome, just to get that slightly different worn out black. I'll let this dry properly and start masking....

 

[Col.]

Delighted to see this one at the painting stage and good luck with the masking process  

[reini]

10 hours ago, Col. said:

Delighted to see this one at the painting stage and good luck with the masking process  

Thanks! It seems that no luck is involved - only time  I mean this will take long to mask & paint all colors... luckily I have three days off from work. Determined to have it done in that time.

 

 

This was probably hour and a half worth of masking...

 

 

 

... and here he is with the paint on. It's killing me that I can't rip the tape off to see where I am going, have to go thru all the colors to see whether it all came together or not. Exciting times!

 

 

[trickyrich]

nah I think this is the best/only way to do this sort of scheme.

 

Mmmm I feel the pain with the masking....it took me over a hour yesterday just to do a plain curvy mask on my Spitfire!!! Got #2 to start in a minute or 2.

 

Waiting to pull the masks off is the worse part! 

 

How does the AV Air go with masking? I've tried it but didn't really like the paint, I found it to be quite fragile.

[reini]

On 16/04/2020 at 13:16, Christer A said:

Dang good work on the kabloeyey stuff too.

The what now?

 

6 hours ago, trickyrich said:

How does the AV Air go with masking? I've tried it but didn't really like the paint, I found it to be quite fragile.

Good primer, thin coats, enough drying time - and I've got no problems. Except the Metal Colors, they really don't like masking. But they looks so nice otherwise I'm willing to do some extra work.

 

But the thing Im having trouble with Vallejos is precision work. I either seem to get really spotty rough texture or spidering when trying to do precision work (camo spots etc.) no matter how hard I try different thinning & air pressure. That's why I prefer camos that I can mask.

[CliffB]

It's interesting to see you cutting some of the masks as a single piece, reini.    Did you cut those 'by eye', or did you have a template?

 

Cheers

[reini]

7 minutes ago, CliffB said:

It's interesting to see you cutting some of the masks as a single piece, reini.    Did you cut those 'by eye', or did you have a template?

 

Cheers

I'm going by the eye. So it's not 100%  - but I think it's close enough to create a reasonable representation of the paintjob - atleast if not compared side by side with the real thing.

[reini]

I'm having trouble finding the Viggen, getting lost in the splinter camo of my cutting mat...

 

 

Dark green has been safely masked, ready for brown.

 

 

 

Brown done. There is relatively little of the brown so it will be slightly less tedious masking ahead. Then it's only the light green and we can rip those masks off. Might get this done tonight!

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by reini

[Col.]

Good progress Reini. The efforts you're putting in now will save you a lot of remedial work later