Maritime surveillance, Swedish style. AJSH-37 Viggen in 1/48

[Christer A]

The concept of maritime surveillance does have something in common with real estate business:

Location location location.

For Sweden's part, the Baltic sea was/is the thing to keep track of, since the age old enemy lurks on the eastern side.

It's no secret that even though we were neutral during the Cold War, EVERYTHING was aimed to meet the aggressor from the east.

During the 60:s and 70:s Sweden was prepared for the worst, with most of the entire society adapted for this task.

This off course culminated during the 80:s and was more or less dismantled by the millennium... but that's another story.

During the hey day in the 70:s and 80:s almost nothing could move undetected in the Baltic sea and the first to check out anything interesting was the Swedish Air Force, primarily the recon units.

Those guys worked alone, unarmed with only high speed and extremely low height for protection. Over the Baltic, things could happen...

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/in-1985-an-sh-37-viggen-in-reconnaissance-mission-performed-aerobatic-manoeuvres-at-low-altitude-to-shake-off-two-soviet-su-15s-one-of-the-flagons-crashed/

One has also heard the tales from recon Draken pilots that were regularly painted by targeting radars and more than once fired upon, but flew so low that the tracers passed above them.

 

But I guess every military branch all over the world has similar tales

But this is supposed to be about the AJSH Viggen.

 

Ok, the Viggen was concieved as a platform aircraft that could fulfill many roles. attack was the primary role, with recon a second and fighter as distant third. This was in the time of Multi-Role aircraft, but in the end is still meant that unique versions was built for each role, since it would've led to too many compromises otherwise.

The recon Viggen were split in to variants, the SF (spaning-foto) with it's funky looking camera nose with lots of cameras and the SH (spaning Hav) with its maritime-optimized radar and a podded forward looking camera. Previously all recon versions of Draken and Lansen had removed the radar entirely, but now it was felt that a powerful radar was needed.

In theory, a pair of SH & SF Viggen could locate and photograph everything interesting that bobbed about in the sea without support from other sources. In practice, this was not always the case.

At the end of the 80:s it was clear that the Viggen successor  (JAS39 Gripen) wouldn't come online for quite some time, but it would be a good idea upgrade the existing Viggen fleet to something that would be more modern. Numerous options was looked at, but in the end the budget friendly option was chosen.

This basically meant a slightly modified computer, new weapons and possibility to finally use the outer wing stations/pylons for Sidewinders.

Hence, AJ/SH/SF became AJS/AJSH/AJSF.

This allows for loadouts with 2 RBS15 anti ship missiles, 4 BK90 submunition dispensers, or the last resort options of 6 Rb74 Sidewinder...

Still no radar on AJSF37 !

 

But this is supposed to be about modelling, and not me trying to write a lot of things about Viggen which can be found elsewhere, so let's stick to that.

 

This build will be a bit special though, since I'll mostly work on it during IPMS Club meetings, get-togethers and so on, so this is an even slower project than normal for me.

I started it back in August last year, and there's been a few things worked on now and then.

But let's start with the model.

I got that one quite cheaply and gave away the "Röd Johan" decals right away, since I got this instead:

The idea is to do this one:

This is actually the first built SH , but in its last days as an AJSH flying at the premier Draken wing F10.

Why F10? 

Why not? Well, I did start the model at F10 (its a museum now) during the F10 Memorial competition while sitting directly underneath an AJSF...

 

So far I've only bought the most needed stuff:

 

 

 

And I think I will stop buying more things to it!

Besides, there is not much left to get...

 

So, what has happened to the actual plastic?

Well, I did join the fuselage together

Hollowed the vents on the fuselage

Swore a great lot about the poor fit of the intakes

And finally separated the forward canard flaps for it's resin blocks and neated them a lot.

Those flaps are always deployed on the ground, and cannot be set by the pilot. The flap setting is done by the turn-around crew and depends on the load-out.

Why deployed flaps wasn't included in the initial Tarangus/Special Hobby boxing is a mystery...but that should be amended in the new ones IIRC.

Also keep in mind that the JA canards look a little bit different compared to all the other Viggens.

 

Now, back to the Tempest

 

[Marlin]

Good one Christer.  

And I was just looking at an AJSH Viggen from F10 wing loaded with 4 Sidewinders and a pair of Rb15F's and think that would be cool for my ongoing Multiple Mega Build.

Well I guess it's back to the original plan of an older SH37 with just the Ska24 camera, one Sidewinder and two Rb04's then.

Good luch with your build. 

 

/Bosse

[Christer A]

Well, it's your Viggen that spurred me to make this thread....

I'm aiming for a standard loadout of SKA24 and the centreline tank

Nice and simple, and most certainly the most common one!

[Christer A]

Some more work has been performed so lets look into that.

The main wing shall receive two mods to make it a bit more accurate.

For some reason the main wing pylon was cast directly into the wing. This wouldn't be a big problem if the leading edge of the pylon was straight but it tilts forwards. Moulding cannot cope with that so it means that the LE has the wrong angle, so that's the reason for the "corrected" pylon from Maestro Models

That resin piece might actually be worse cast than the plastic, and no amount of extra detailing has been added to it, a missed opportunity!

Perhaps one could scan/CAD and 3D print new ones...

But not this time!

Most SAAB aircraft features drooping control surfaces when at rest, and Viggen is no different.

This means that they need to be cut off and replaced.

I'll use the Maestro set for this, which is made to fit all version of Viggen.

This might be a trap for the unwary since JA and AJ versions have some differences here as well.

For JA, the ailerons and elevator were locked together with a plate and one extra maneuvering cylinder was added.

So, to adapt this of AJ/SF/SH/SK, the aileron and elevators needs to be separated, and the plate and extra cylinder sanded away.

The top side is less bothersome though!

I also fitted the main landing gear bays in place. They're still accessible from the outside if I feel the need to add some detailing here.

If I remember my conscription time properly, we refueled the Viggen through and access port on the lower right wing. There was some kind of selection box and fuel meter in the MLG though.

If that's worth doing might be another thing...

[exdraken]

Great start!!

😀

[HOUSTON]

OUTSTANDING  start to your Viggen.

Looking ahead to seeing more.

[coneheadff]

What a great project!!!

I will definitely follow 😊 

 

Alex 

[Christer A]

Thanks for the cheer guys!

As I said, this will be a slow project, but during the upcoming bank weekend (Ascension on Thursday) my IPMS club will host a Summer camp from Thursday to Sunday.

I'll bring this one along, and a few other projects as well, so there might be a lot of progress!

 

But I can squeeze in a normal update before that, which will be about the "mölla", or windmill in plain English, AKA the RAT.

This thing:

 

It's like the canard flap. When the gear goes down, the windmill goes out, which off course means that on the ground this is ALWAYS deployed like the picture above.

There is also a few things for the ground crew in this bay:

The red port on the left is for filling the engine with fire suppressant in case of emergency.

Two dials showing the oxygen levels and pressurized air for the waveguide in the radar. The Viggen did not feature any on board oxygen generator, so that had to be checked and filled if needed.

Lastly there was also a handle to pump up pressure to the brakes when handling the aircraft on the ground.

The slightly brass-colored things are the tanks needed for all these gases.

 

In the boxing that I have, none of this stuff was present, but Pilot Replicas RAT was used instead:

The bay is a lot bigger than the panel, so someone has not go their dimensions right.

In any case, PR supplies a scribing template to use:

After a bit of trial and error, and also looking up the destructions on PR:s website, I managed to wrestle it in place and scribing could commence.

It does actually fit onto the air intake and allows quite nice installation.

It was duly painted and given a wash, even though I managed to mix up the brake pump handle with the fire suppression pipe.

Well, that'll touch up nicely with a hairy stick, with some white in the dials too.

I wonder if I have a little placard to go under the gas filling connections?

Let's dig through the decal stash for something fitting...

 

Until next time!

[Dr. Quack]

Watching this with great interest - what a great start.

Thanks for including the background information about recce over the Baltic - it has been very informative and sets the background beautifully. 

Niall

[Marlin]

Good progress Christer.

I'll expect plenty of more pictures next week. 

Too bad I can't attend the Summer Camp this year, again. 

Better luck next year perhaps. 

Have fun.

/Bosse 

[exdraken]

Nice work!

[Christer A]

Thanks for the cheers guys!

Three days of building frenzy is now over, so expect a few updates in a little while

[Christer A]

Let's start with the cockpit.

I had no intentions of making an open cockpit this time, so this will be out of the box, except for the bang seat which I haven't touched yet.

What I have touched is the included etch..

First of all, this is pre-painted and most surely made by Eduard, and we do know that they sometimes have issues with suitable color matching.

In this case the interior grey of the Viggen cockpit! It's a light grey in real life but for some reason it's a very pale light blue grey here?

Since I'll not bother to correct that, I decided to try to find a suitable match.

These two are not right at all (Gunze H306 & H308) but this one felt better:

Gunze H417 I believe, which is actually labeled RLM76...
Even though I thought that the color matching looked good, once in place it's a worse match.

It might be due to the black primer in the test case or just that I suck at choosing colors.

Well, it's installed now, and I do not intend to change it.

Some people (that would be @Aigore ) swear by the Read Fox 3D decals instead, and just looking at pictures of the, it appears to be a much better choice!
Well, If I ever build another one, that will be a first choice!

 

With the cockpit installed, there is another area that needs to be tackled before the main wing can be joined to the fuselage: the engine!

The mighty RM8A (or B in the Fighter Viggen) which is a development from the JT8D-1. That engine is purely used by civilian users but for some reason (probably a mix of economy and political considerations ) it was deemed a good idea to use it.  

P&W classified JT8D a lot, so that was one of the reasons that Viggen failed all export contracts.

But what the RM8 has as its unique selling point is off course the thrust reverser. 

The Viggen manages to use around 60% of the engine power for reversing, compared to the 35-40% that a JT8D Boing 727 gets.

This gives a a ridiculous short landing run (an airshow favorite to this day), and some pilots thought that they could put it down in a US carrier if they could use the entire deck!

It has been tested and accomplished in DCS but that's about as far as it gets...

 

Ok, so what do one get in the box?

A modest amount of parts, but quite simple.

One thing that is completely missing is the variable exhaust diameter nozzle. It's located at the end of the engine but before the trust reverser part.

The thrust reverser petals are extra bits from CMK, since the plastic ones are "smooth" on the inside. Smooth as in missing any details, but has plenty of ejection pin marks and mould blemishes.
Those petals are mostly undeployed and lays flush unless using them (and a Viggen can go in reverse as well, except it missing a rear ward facing camera and all other gadgetry of a modern car, so the pilot really relies on the ground crew when doing so).

But since it's a SAAB aircraft, whenever it's in the shut-off cycle things start to be depowered especially the hydraulics system. This is why the main wing control surfaces droop, landing gear doors droops and the top reverser bucket as well.

 

If one whish to pay out of a lot of issues with the engine, ResKit has a rather lovely set.

 

I don't intend to get that, so I'll work with what I have.

Well, let's start with the rear bit, for the reversers.

The round area has a few details on it that are more or less made up, and is missing a few panels and so on.

Also, it seems to be very crude. 

After a push from @Aigore I decided to do something about it.

With some filler this might work? Let's see.

 

In the thrust reversers nozzle there are 3 guide vanes, that are totally missing. Since they're visible from the outside I decided to scratch build them
The first attempt was not that good.

The second was better, and it helped a lot to actually look at more walkaround pictures than just one...

Well, after that I just glued the reverser in the undeployed position and let the top one hang loose.

Some painting with different shades of burned metal later and I arrived here.

Viggen exhaust is mostly brown/red and not especially black or sooty.

Then the whole package was glued together for easier installation.

This can no be inserted into the fuselage!

Whew!

 

Rumor has it that @Aigore is making some kind of resin replacement for the rear piece. Let's see how that goes!

 

[Aigore]

Ah yes... we shall see how it goes. Old fashion way of making a master by hand unless someone would like to CAD it

[Aigore]

Done yet?

[Christer A]

Done you say ?

You're a funny guy!

Off course not. 

But it will follow me to F10 Memorial during the weekend where I'll do some work on it. Promise!

 

[Aigore]

🤣🤣🤣🤣