JA37 Viggen, Jetmads 1/32

[Aigore]

Hi all!

I'm new to LSP  but pehaps some of you have come across me on ARC or Britmodeller. Well I was told you might be interested in this little project so I spread my wings and land here.

I'm an easy going person who loves when ppl point out mistakes I'm about to make or help me out. I answer all questions so never be afraid to ask me no matter how trivial you feel it is and I do like pats on my back too, it's alright to just tell me I'm doing alright. I don't like bullies and I don't keep any secrets...and when a model is done it is done and I don't go back and change anything.

I'm currently 47 years old and live with my family, 2 daughters and my better half) in Gothenburg, Sweden.

 

Well enough about me.....I'm sure you all want to see what I'm up to

 

 

So let´s get to it then!

The boxart really captures the Viggen and it´s purpos in a coldwar Sweden.

 

 

 

Upon lifting the lid there is a colorful cover to keep parts from bouncing around in the box.

 

 

 

 

 

Off with the cover and we are greeted by the instructions and the decals.

 

 

 

 

The instructions are printed on glossy paper and is indeed in a very nice formate to have an evening read  Very detailed and ...classy!

 

 

 

 

There are 3 decal sheets, 2 A4 sized and a smaller with Air Wing emblems....and to tell the truth I´m not that impressed by them. colors are outside borders and the feel gritty....not a good start.

 

 

 

 

The two larger sheets are another deal...glossy and thin, looking great!

 

 

 

 

 

Aha, that explains it...printed by Cartograph  strange that they didn´t do the Air Wing emblems? room for improvment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmm, the instrument decals look so so... Quinta studios, I´m looking at you, do something nice for us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Odd to see a box without spruesheets   The parts are well packed and protected....sweeeeeeet!

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at the resin it is amazingly detailed, no air pockets or craters...smooth with fine panlelines and rivets! I really like the sublte riveting.

 

 

 

 

 

The inside is thoughtfully planned for airducts and the RAT. there is a panel covering the RAT if you want to build it in flight and it is easily removable if you want the innards to show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The midsection...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tail cone is 3D-printed and it looks amazing! wonderful details the layers show a bit but that´s a simple polish and primer issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little opsie on the opposite side...oh well I can deal with that, 3D prints are brittle.

 

 

 

 

The inside is nicely detailed...neat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The nosecone....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It fits rather snuggly in the forward fuselage section even without treatment it just popped into place...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Aigore]

The darn thing is huuuuge, I get a bit agoraphobic as a 1/48 scale builder  ...the feel is enormous but it´s just a few centimeters bigger than a Flanker in 1/48.

 

 

 

The canopy is cast in clear resin, it looks nice but will need a polish to be really nice..but still not bad at all!

 

 

 

 

 

So many parts! All cast resin and 3D-printed.I like how the 3D-printed stuff are packed in cast resin cakes that you just lift out from the packaging foam.

 

 

 

 

 

A quick look at the 3D stuff...they look really really nice! incredible details over all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rudders, nicely cast 

 

 

 

 

As are the missile bodies and weapon pylons and the launchers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wheel wells are equisite! as are the fanfront...too bad it´ll hardly show in the finished model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Great look at this wonderful kit.............cant wait to get my copy!

 

Welcome to the forums btw   

[LSP_Kevin]

Welcome aboard!

 

 

Great to see another one of these being built here. It really does look like an excellent kit, and bodes well for their just-announced Draken kit.

 

Kev

[Aigore]

Aww maaaan! The first big dodo! The right main wing wingtip has not cured, it had bonded to the packaging material. The outmost tip is missing and the rest of the tip is soft and sticky...unworkable!
Let´s see how the Jetmads customer service deal with this.!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The details and riveting on the canards are reall nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More closeups on the printed stuff and the missiles and pylons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I´m somewhat disapointed that the pitot tubes are printed...they WILL break, had much rather seen turned brass pitot tubes.....Master, I´m looking at you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmmm...the details on the instrument panel doesn´t come through as crisp in  the details as many other parts.Actually poor details and soft ones at that....Quinta Studios, I´m looking at you again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The struts looks amazing however! wonderful, crisp details.

 

 

 

 

 

The slimelights looks a wee bit overdone, may have to sand them down a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tail fin looks fine.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally...I have procured some paint masks from Maestro that will make my life simpler when it´s time to paint

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final conclusion is that this is a hell of a model!!! I can´t wait to sink my teeth into it...but I do have to wait sice I have a comission job
to finish first.
These little babies in 1/48. 

 

 

 

Cheers and keep an eye out for when the build starts!

[Aigore]

4 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said:

Great look at this wonderful kit.............cant wait to get my copy!

 

Welcome to the forums btw   

 

1 minute ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Welcome aboard!

 

 

Great to see another one of these being built here. It really does look like an excellent kit, and bodes well for their just-announced Draken kit.

 

Kev

 

Thanks for the welcome guys

 

I have such sights to show you!

[Aigore]

 

I haven´t opened the box since I took the inbox pictures, was afraid I couldn´t resist the temptation
Now the lid is popped for good and I started on the ejection seat as per the instruction.

No sprues but resin boxes containing 3D printed parts...feels odd and with trepadation I lifted out the relevant boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, the parts look the part but how do I remove them without ruining anything?

 

 

 

 

I snipped the print supports very carefully with my cutter and I I felt like I was disarming a bomb!
When you cut off a support pretty often there is a ping as the support just shoots off...as did smaller parts when I cut them off the block.
There are tension in the supports and a cutter isn´t really ideal for cutting the parts off...think I´ll try my decals scissors the next time.

so this is what you are dealing with when you start...tension plus very fragile parts...that shoots off
Any way I managed to gather the parts for the bang seat.

 

 

 

 

 

Another issue is that there are layers on the parts and they have to be cleaned somehow...I started with sanding carefully.

 

 

 

 

 

I found that scarping is the way forwards, it´s quicker and you have more control over what is removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh this is nasty, not easy to scrape without loosing a nut or two

 

 

 

 

But with careful scraping with a knife or a scraper tool it is manageable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gosh, look at the details!

 

 

 

 

 

Did I loose a part? yeah, of course! one of these little buggers shot off into eternity...guess I´ll have to scratch a replacement.

 

 

 

 

 

I put the bang seat together as n ot to lose more parts Looks neat tho

 

 

 

 

 

The seat and seat parts ready for primer and paint.

 

 

 

 

 

Well that´s it for this time! The build has officially started!

Cheers!

[Aigore]

On with the seat...

 

 

 

I primed the parts in Alclad gray primer.

 

 

 

 

And the shot white aluminium over the seat frame

 

 

 

 

Love the harness, painted in light ghost gray and XF-11 JN Green

 

 

 

With that I put the seat together....I like what I see

 

I painted the parapack in the seat with dark green FS34079, the seat cover in XF-61 Dark green, the seat cushion headrest and anklepads are painted in XF-70 IJN Dark Green, the top headrest cushion is in RLM 25 Bright green (the cushions are a variation of the two depending on wear and when they were changed) and finally the seat parapack is in XF-62 Olive drab..

I washed it all in citadell Nulnoil and then drybrushed with flesh and light gray.

 

Now only decals are left...so I´ll seal it all in a gloss coat and put on decals and final touches before Iflat coat it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers!

[Aigore]

Time to put the seat to rest!

 

 

 

I added the decals... lovely things that conformed  perfectly and they are thin.

 

 

 

 

 

And then I carved the lost ejection handle, yes I know it doesn´t look perfect but nor does it have to....no point detailing something that noone will see, I choose my battles.

 

 

 

 

And the finished bang seat with it´s saftey handle in place as well .....now I just have to put it somewhere for saftey  where I won´t destroy it until installment in the cockpit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There.. on to new goals!

 

Cheers!

 

 

[Aigore]

Sorry if it seems like I'm bombing the place, just bringing you all up to speed on my published updates

[Aigore]

Today I started with doing some dishes.... em that is I  washed the resin parts in water and detergent as to remove and release agent from it.
But we will go on to the  yummie parts right away!
 

Let´s have a look at what kind of RAT Jetmads brings us. 
The parts are 3D printed and has exquisite details that made me feel a tiny bit panicky as I cut the printing supports. incredibly enough I didn´t destroy anything.

 

 

 

After cleaning the parts I went ahead and inpaled them on toothpicks and readied them for primer.

 

First I primed the parts in Alclad flat black primer and then I shoot Alclad gloss black on top.
The reason for shooting black first is that you need far less gloss and you get by with thinner coats that prevents details lost to paint buildup.
 

 

I then shot a thin coat of Alclad White Aluminium on top of all parts.
 

 

With all that the canvas is ready for details and washes and stuff. I can whole heartedly recommend this page for looking up refs, I doubt you´ll find better pictures of the RAT anywhere else. The page is run by a mate of mine so do tell him how good his page is
http://www.plasticwarfare.se/2014/11/viggen-details/

On to the painting!
I have no idea what these things are but they have a goldish-greenish tint to them and when the judges are squinting to see inside the RAT housing it´s fun for them to have somethinbg to look at So I used  Citadel Auric Amor Gold and then a heavily thinned coat of Balthasar gold and then a drybrush of Retribution Armor (yeah, all Citadel paints)
 
I then finished off with Citadel Nulnoil to get those details to pop.

THen it was time to detail paint the RAT housing. nothing fancy really, some blue on connectors and sandt yellow for labels and some black and white for the gauges at the  bottom right.
 And a Nulnoil wash on top of it all.
 

Next it´s some cutting into the hull!
Well not as dramatic as it sounds since Jetmads had the foresight to give you the option of either opening up or let it be closed. No worries if you ruin the piece cut out since there is a 3D printed door with sweet details. Well the blow out door has to be cut either way but it´s like only covered by a thin layer of flash.
 

 

So on with the cutting, a few pulls with a hobby knife and I was done.
Only issue I have is that the upper edge is quite thick, I don´t think I´ll do anything about it since the whole RAT housing is made to fit as it is.... choosing my battles, I am
 

Ok I call the RAT done! I´m pretty pleased with it
 

 

A dry fit into the airframe shows how much will show.
 

And some pics of the RAT

With that I´m done with todays update!

Cheers!
 

 

P.S.

Follow me on Patreon and get those juicy updates before everybody else and see what other sights I have to show 

check the link in my signature, all are welcome 

 

[Aigore]

Next little mini model that is a part of the whole is the front wheel well.
It took some searching to get good refs but I think I have it pegged down now 

First a look at the 3D printed wheel well....look at those details! Though every silver lining has a dark cloud, the stripes from the printing process ar really hard to get rid of among all those details. Even so hard that I won´t even antempt to.
 

 

 

 

Another thing is that the clear printed resin isn´t so clear...they need work.
The one to the left has been polished with Tamiya Fine compound and the one on the right is as they are on the ...emm sprue(?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well a few goes with this stuff at the end of a cotton bud and you get ....

 

 

 

 

 

...Something like this

 

 

 

 

 

 

And to mask the clear face of the light I rolled a small ball of tac-it any spill is easily removed with a toothpick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On to the well it self.
I primed it in black and then I painted it in XF-73 Dark Green (JGSDF) with some post shade in XF-51 Khaki Drab.
 

 

 

 

 

Then I got on with detail painting as well as I could see from the refs 
Tubes in silver, gray and black, connectors in blue and labels in sand yellow and those redish brownish side panels in the well are painted in Raw Sienna.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Next some decals, this panel is for the rear of the well and is painted in light gray.

 

 

 

And a couple of decals in the well too.

 

 

 

 
Here´s how the landing light turned out with a bit of paint. The back is white and the fron is painted gray and the armature is aluminium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I sloshed Citadel Nuln oil all around....love the stuff for washes and filters.
 

 

 

 

With that I dry brushed with matt flesh (works really well on greens and browns) put things into place and finished off with a flat coat.....
 

 

 

And with some finishing touches with AK pigments the nose wheel well was done
 

 
 
 

Cheers!

[Aigore]

Oh yes, time to look at the forward fuselage and beginning on the cockpit.  This model is so big that I have to bite off small bits at a time and the cockpit alone will take a few sessions.
Today I´m beginning on the rear wall in the cockpit and started with checking the piece over.
What jumped at me emidiately when I held the forward fuselage was that something felt odd. It`s this weird line in the cast, it feels like a bad seam between two parts. Very odd but it will have to be dealt with at some point.

 

 

 

 

The cockpit well looks really nice, it is very apparent that they 3D printed the fuselage and then made a mold of it since I find the very same layers as in the printed stuff.
 

 

 

There are room for improvements however. There runs some cabled behind the seat and along the back wall, some quite prominent. I marked some spots where I would improve something.

 

 

 

 

I then put in the seat to see what would be easily seen.

 

 

Added the few kit parts.
 

 

 

I then dug out my Punch & Die set to make some connectors......tiny things
 
 

 

 

Glued the connectors in place and then I added the cables.

 

 
 

 

 

I put the seat back again to see how things fit....broke off the ejection seat saftey 
 

 

 

 

Then I dry fitted the side consoles....looks nice, incredible details!
 
 

 

 

Then it was off to priming!
 

 

 

 

MRP´s light blue grey for flankers is a pretty good match for the cockpit color
 

 

 

 

With the side consoles painted they are put aside for another day and another update. I´m focusing on the back wall today 

 

 

 

 

 

The floor was painted in the cockpit color but the rear wall will be in aluminium.
 

 

 

 

Masked off the floor.
 

 

 

 

I painted it in Alclad white aluminium

 

 

 

 

Then some detail painting  on the cables.
 

 

 

After this I put down a Nulnoil wash, dry brushed with aluminium and then flat coated it all to realy take the shine off. With that the rear wall was finished.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

Let´s put the seat in for funsies 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

That was all for today, at least on the Viggen 

 

Cheers!

[Aigore]

The Air that I breath...

Howdy,

Moving away from the immediate cockpit area I got on with the intakes!

The insides of the ports for the intakes are pretty rough so I need to.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

... TO DREMEL THEM!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!

 

 

 

 

 

Of course I destroyed the dramatic effect by using the wrong tool....oh well.

 

 

 

 

 

Any-hooooo, the dremeling was successful and the inner part of the intakes fit nicely into the port.

 

 

 

Yeah, you are going to see lots in there with the intake on 

 

 

 

 

 

A decent fit but the edges are rough and needs sanding. 

 

 

 

 

 

I go at it with 90 grit sanding paper, just making circular motions with the piece on the sanding paper and you get an even job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Much better, and I went at it at the rear of the front fuselage too since I had the sanding paper there.

 

 

 

 

 

I cleaned up this little inlet that goes into the hull...

 

 

 

 

 

Heh, it literally snapped into place 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the fan front, I think it must be the most impressive part to have been 3D printed, it´s gorgeous!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fan front and all intake parts are primed in glossblack. 

 

 

 

 

 

The fan front was painted in Alclad Polished Aluminium...a bit shinier that the White aluminium I painted the trunks in.

 

 

 

Look how nice the fan front looks....too bad it won´t be seen without an endoscope 

I gloss coated the trunks and then I shot pale burnt metal on top, changes the shine and gives a slight yellowish tint like the anticorrosive coating inside the trunks.

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to start glueing things. The inner trunks in place.

 

 

 

 

Had to trim a bit to make the fan front trunking fit the intakes.

 

 

 

 

 

and the fanfront in place. Interesting how much smaller the fan front is proportionately compared with the Tarangus one. Not to bash Tarangus in any way but there are differences.

 

 

 

 

 

Already the fan front is hard to see in there unless you shine a light.

 

 

 

 

 

Before putting the forward intakes in place there is a little detail to fix on them.

Through the notch in in the lower intake lip there is a  small rod. I made it out of piano wire, drilled a small hole and put it through....

 

 

 

Cut the piece off with a piano wire cutter and filed down the ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I glued in  the forward intakes, the fit is alright but the forward intakes are slightly too small so there is a step between the airframe and the intakes.....it will be dealt with harshly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to put in the RAT housing.

 

 

 

 

Another smart move by Jetmads, they made 3D printed guide blocks that will help align the fuselage halves when they are joined, brilliant!

 

 

 

 

I had to dry fit....and this is a really nice fit, not Tamiya but better than quite a few injection molded models! I´m impressed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My brutal way of removing the step around the intake seams are simply to use my scraping tool and scrape the fuselage to fit! Yep it leaves marks but it´s really the only way and still remain sane. I can restore stuff later.

 

 

 

 

 

And then a bunch of putty, it´ll have to cure until tomorrow when I finish up the sanding and restoring of details.

 

 

 

The results of todays session 

 

 

 

And there ya go 

 

Cheers!

[Aigore]

Whoopsie....

Ok today it was time to get started on that sanding...

I started with 180 grit sandingpaper to get the worst of it...

 

 

 

After the rough treatment I used sandingpads from 180 to 2000 grit. lovely things. When sanding it is important to led the sanding medium do the work...do not press! Smooth circular motions and go with finer and finer.

 

 

 

When I´m happy it looks like this... and feels smooth.

 

 

 

Time to redo the lost panellines....

I use mostly this tool ta draw new lines together with dymo tape as support for those straight lines.

 

 

 

 

 

When the lines are pulled I restore the holes for the lost rivets and fasteners with an awl.

 

 

 

 

I check all the seams by painting primer and when I spot nasties like this....

 

 

 

 

I use Tamiya putty to repair them..... Now I have to set aside the fuselage until tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

I´ll spend the rest of todays sesssion with the side consols.

 

 

 

 

I begun with painting some panels in lighter grays, all panels don´t match if you look closely at your refs.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I started detail painting trying to follow the refs as close as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

Then a gloss coat before decals.

 

 

 

 

I have these cockpit gauges and placards and they are really useful to get that cockpit feeling, specially in this scale to make the pit pop.

 

 

 

I used the  gauges from the kit sheet but added small square plackards everywhere.

 

 

 

 

With that I then closed the decals with another gloss coat, did a thin gray wash and flat coated them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm....why not put them into the cockpit while I´m at it?

 

 

 

 

 

Now we come to the whoopsie-part....

"What if I dry fit the seat in there as well ?" I thought to myself....

I brought the seat....."hmm kind of tight, isn´t it?"....of course I press harder

Crack! a headrest cushion shoots off.....as well as the saftey handle...

Crunch! the top part of the belts snap!

Snap! The seat pops into place and no force on earth can move it again!

 Oh well, that dry fit became a wee bit permanent

No worries I found all the pieces and even glued in the saftey handle even if I know I will break it off again Now it looks like this in the pit.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers!