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J 34 - A Swedish Hawker Hunter from F 9, Säve/ Göta Wing!


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Picked up my Airfix Hawker Hunter F.4/F.5/J 34 today.. This group build was what finally made me submit and get one. I have had an old Academy with all the "necessary" aftermarket but I sold it as I suspected Airfix had one on the way. But I did not buy it on realese, to busy with my Viggens..☺️

 

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I often, but usually build subjects from Wings I have some connection with, even if it is vague. at best.. J 34s were flown by F 8 (Barkarby) and F 18 (Tullinge), just north and south of Stockholm respectively, originally. Barkarby is where the IKEA I usually visit is (you can even walk among some of the old buildings and the guard entrance is still around among other things). F 18 I do not have any connection with as far as i know..

Later the J 34s were moved to F 10 (Ängelholm) and fianlly F 9 Säve. I think because the more modern and higher performing Drakens were, as usual with fighter Wings, put on the east coast, giving the by this time, less modern, J 34s an easier time? F 9 and F 18 Wings got J 35bs and the J 34s were moved to those other Wings, that atypically, were not on the East coast. (Many Wings did switch back and forth between flying attackers or fighters - and sometimes even both, however. And F 13 for example, also had a squadron of photo recce and sea suirvaillance/maritime patrol 37s while the rest had JA 37s so..)

 

The J 34s were ordered, by the way, to bolster the Swedish Air Force - while waiting for the J 35 Drakens to be operational (or indeed built!). SAAB was really busy cranking out J 29s, A 32As and J 32Bs (soon!) so "we" needed to buy birds elsewhere to strenghten the defence of Stockholm in particular. Aircraft that could climb fast for those IL-28s etc. An order for 120 Hawker Hunters (and with an option for another 60) were laid. And they flew for some time with ballast instead of the ADEN (m/55 AKANs here) becuase of the trouble with the gas while firing, disturbing the engine, before that was fixed with both Sabrinas and blast deflectors. or so I understand.. Anyone else that knows the whole story about that is more than welcome to chime in!

Sadly the last 60s were never bought for economical reasons..

 

F 9 Säve is just north of Gothenburg and close to my hometown. It was just under an hour by train for me, as I grew up, to get there. And I often did, becuase that is where I could buy all the games Workshop goodies pre the internet.. ;)

And my dad often tells me about the J 34s from Säve, he saw as a kid when he was with the Swedish Auxiliary Naval Corps in the archipelage off Gothenburg. You can tell he has a soft spot for those low flying, beautiful Hunters when he does! So Säve it is..

It was the last Wing to fly them and the Wing was disused in 1969 - and thast was when the last J 34s flew operationally, sadly. But there is a really nice museum in the old, cave hangars there now - Aeroseum

 

I ordered decals for the Wings and digits from MMoose Republic Decals yesterday - that will do the trick I think. Airfix decals for the rest seems excellent as usual.

 

Oh! And there was a bargain -I picked up a Tarangus J 32B, too. There was no box for it (and second hand?) so almost half price. I could not say no to that! Maybe I even have time to build that one too for the group Build.

 

Picked up blast deflectors and the other "must haves" as well. I might do the aircraft as the one saved in the Flygvapenmuseum  (Air Force Museum - at the old F 3 wing) at Malmen, or Malmslätt,  It is an old F 9 bird and very nice looking, fresh paint and all.. Many of the aircraft in the 60s were quite beaten up, but I am not up for that right now, having not done too much modelling and painting the last two eyars.

I will probably use AIM-9Bs (RB 24 here) on it, just like the aircraft on the Flygvapenmuseum, it looks good I think. I will pick those up later. The aircraft at Flygvapenmuseum is an actual, old Swedish J 34, unlike the one still flying for The Swedish Airforce Historical Flight (an old, Swiss one, if I remember correctly (F. Mk. 58 anyways). But that bird has dogtooth leading edge extensions, unlike the "real" Swedish J 34s. But I am sure you guys know all about the Mks, unlike me..😊

 

Here is a picture of the Flygvapenmuseum one.:

 

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At Flygvapenmuseum´s site

 

With both "Sabrinas" and blast deflectors! I have yet to decide if I want that individual or if I can make any other, we will see.. And I gave my dad a book on Swedish Hawker Hunters a few years back, I´ will borrow it and have a look again.

 

Oh! And today my parents were in Kalmar, where the old F 12 wing once was - so i called them and asked them to go get me a picture of the J 35F1 gateguardian. :) Low res but still decent. And you can see one of the very typical control towers of Swedish Wings!

 

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And finally, a  nice old video of a pair of J 34s practicing interception 1959 (not from Säve but one of the wings by Stockholm). You can tell how HEAVILY the whole thing is inspired by British doctrine from the Battle of Britain.. The old, legendary Air Force Chief  Bengt Nordenskiöld (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengt_Nordenskiöld) was much behind that. and did alot for building up the Swedish Air Force post World War Two.

 

 

 

 

Any info on the pylons used for those AIM-9Bs (RB 24, or even Rb 24 back then) is more than welcome. I have not done any reasearch if that is the same as for British variants with stores out there. I do have the LAU-things though from F 9 Wing!

 

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Dunno how I fakked the text into links.. oops.. Whatever.

 

I´m not a master chef like Bosse - but if i had been around when the Hunters were bought, I would have suggested we also get a couple of million portions of Fish n Chips each year.. ;) Not "correctly" done here but close enough.. Out of ale so some (very) cheap lager..

 

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Honouring the J 34s´ heritage with one of my favourite dishes! ;)

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welcome along and with a Hunter as well. I'm sure we had a couple last time....though could be wrong.........ok known to be :D

 

And some AM/PE extras as well, very good to see! :thumbsup:

 

Good luck with the build, OI hope you enjoy the GB.

 

Mmmm fish-n-chips....... now you've made me hungry!! 

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On 9/8/2021 at 6:50 AM, Christer A said:

You made a thread for it!

Nice to see!

A good amount of etch too, that'll be interesting.

 

Half price J32 is quite a bargain!

 

Hell yes! It was overdue to get one.. :D

 

 

On 9/8/2021 at 7:09 AM, Marlin said:

Great, now we have a J34/Hunter in this GB as well. 

Enjoy the kit, I know I did. 

Fish n chips. :tasty: 

 

/Bosse

 

Thanks - and thanks for the heads up on the pylons for the RB 24s (which I now also bought!).

 

On 9/8/2021 at 7:18 AM, trickyrich said:

welcome along and with a Hunter as well. I'm sure we had a couple last time....though could be wrong.........ok known to be :D

 

And some AM/PE extras as well, very good to see! :thumbsup:

 

Good luck with the build, OI hope you enjoy the GB.

 

Mmmm fish-n-chips....... now you've made me hungry!! 

 

Thanks. :) I think I will enjoy it!

 

Was waiting for the decals to show up as well as to pick up the RB 24s. Thanks to Bosse I also found the pylons (I have the LAUs) - missed that since I did not see them mentioned in the instructions and missed them on the sprue the first time. The only thing I knew about those were that they were aircraft specific (jnlike the guns!) - but I was unsure what type etc.

I do not always wash the sprues but i did this time - and since it is soon october.. ;)

 

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Decals that lets me use correct digits (I think!) as well as Wing.. Heraldry? (Coat of arms?) Anyways - there was no F 9 one in there anyways. Still good to have the rest..

And those AIM-9Bs/RB 24s - two for a future J 29F or the J 32B as well?

I will maybe built the J 26 Mustang before the J 34 even.........

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Ooooo and a Mustang as well!!! :thumbsup:

 

 

Mmmmm October Fest!!!  :cheers:  Hopefully we'll be out of lock-down mid October, just intake for lots of beer drinking...... not that stops me the for the rest of the year! :thumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

nice to see you're off and running with this build.

 

I wish I could say I have a swear jar for all the times I've work with resin and had comments about said bits...... but truth be told it'd be more like a 44gal drum!!  :rant:  Know resiny bits like I do, I'd be inclined to carefully drill those ports rather than tempting fate with those rest bits, because you 'll know what will happen if you try to thin them.

 

But keep at it, you'll be fine, the cockpit is taking shape nicely.

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Yeah.. It says 1.6mm. It is just that the openings on the kit are shallow, tub shaped. Had there been a back-wall, it would have been easier.. Now it will just take careful patience. Something I have some days, yesterday? wiffle no.

The AM-bits could have been made more cleverly (shaped to the shallow gun ports) - but that would probably have make them put an effort in.. ;)

 

I´m a bit wee weed off at some of these stupid things. Sure it is modelling and creativeness on my part. They are probably useable - but IMHO pretty poor partsI would not use them again and I regret getting the doo-doo.. but I will use them (too late not too) this time. (The inner ports will be even harder....)

 

I´ll do the cockpit, should be easy enough, which might make me put some effort into those things then.. ;)

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  • 1 month later...
5 minutes ago, exdraken said:

Looks nice so far!

Any updates?

 

Thanks.. :)

Well, I should.. But I have not done anything, sorry.. Working this weekend - but I will pick it out again and have a look on Monday, because you asked.. ;) I want to build it, just.. Got wee weed off at those resin parts after I started to drill..😚 Probably more poo-poo behind the wheels than the parts? But I got a bit of a meltdown.. And then went back to my bigges love, WW2 US P-47s and P-51Ds... But I spent alot of money on this and it should be a decently easy build - when i get past the blast deflesctors so... I´ll have alook. :)

 

Thanks for asking buddy!

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Gotta love a Hunter. And I also love the way they started up under tow and dropped off the towing arms! Clever stuff.

I hope you can find time to do more.

BTW, Last night I had fish & chips, with curry sauce. A British must have nowadays!

Oh, and Becks beer.

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