¹⁄48

Saab JA-37 Viggen

history

The Saab JA 37 Viggen ("Thunderbolt") is a Swedish single-seat, single-engine, short-to-medium range combat aircraft, manufactured by Saab between 1970 and 1990. The Viggen was initially developed as a replacement for the Saab 32 Lansen in the attack role and later the Saab 35 Draken as a fighter. The first studies were carried out between 1952 and 1957.

The aim was to produce a robust multirole fighter aircraft with good short-runway performance that could be operated from numerous specially prepared roads and highways to reduce the vulnerability to attack in the event of war. Other requirements included supersonic ability at low level, Mach 2 performance at altitude, and the ability to make short landings at low angles of attack (to avoid damaging improvised runways). The aircraft was also designed from the beginning to be easy to repair and service, even for personnel without much training.

To meet these design goals, Saab selected a radical configuration, a conventional delta wing with a small, high-set canard fore-plane. The large delta wing provided good performance at high speeds, and the canard wing provided lift that ensured a good low speed landing. Additionally, the Viggen was equipped with a thrust reverser that enabled the aircraft to reverse on the ground.

The Viggen was powered by a single Volvo RM8 turbofan engine, and as mentioned, the airframe incorporated a thrust-reverser to use during landings and land maneuvers. This combined with the aircraft having flight capabilities approaching a limited STOL-like performance, enabled operations from 500meter (approximately 1600 feet) airstrips with minimal support. The thrust reverser could be pre-selected in the air to engage when the nose-wheel strut was compressed after touchdown. The Viggen was the first aircraft to feature both afterburners and thrust-reverser. Only the Viggen, Concorde and the Tornado featured both afterburners and thrust-reversers.

A weapons load of up to 7,000kg could be accommodated on nine hardpoints: one centerline pylon, two fuselage pylons, two inner and two outer wing pylons and two pylons behind the wing landing gear. A KCA 30mm internal cannon was carried as well along with 126 rounds, in a conformal pod under the fuselage. An external fuel tank could be mounted onto the gun pod.

The Kit

The Tarangus 1/48 scale JA 37 Viggen kit is made up of eight sprues, a ten page instruction guide, one decal sheet, and a colored paint/decal instruction guide. Tarangus delayed the release of this kit as they were determined to get it right—for the most part they did.

Construction

This was an out of the box build except for the PE seat belts I added to the ejection seat. The parts fit was only fair, so there was a fair amount of seam filling and sanding. However, you can build this kit without any major problems just by following the well illustrated instruction guide.

Construction began with the cockpit that goes together quickly and fits nicely into the upper half of the forward fuselage. Note that the ejection seat fit into the cockpit tub is really tight―so tight I didn't glue it in place. There are no decals for the instrument panels, its all raised detail. But, with careful painting you can make it look realistic,

I like to build my models with a closed canopy. But, the clear windshield and canopy for this kit did not fit well in the closed position. I did a fair amount of sanding on the ends of each piece to get a good fit. I also added some lead weight to the nose to prevent tail sitting. The wings, canards, and tail required some serious filling and sanding. The air scoops also needed filling and sanding so they were flush with the fuselage.

I am of the opinion that Soviet aircraft have the most complex landing gear systems of all aircraft―you know design by committee. However, the landing gear system for the Viggen is a close second. If you build this kit, pay close attention to the landing gear assembly drawings. I provided some extra photos of the landing gears that might help building the landing gears.

As previously mentioned, the Viggen is equipped with a thrust reverser. The kit provides reverse thrust petals that can be posed open, closed, or drooped. I chose to have the petals fully open. Note that parts 139 and 140 are mislabeled. Part 139 is the right door and 140 is the left door, instead of what is shown in steps 20 and 20b.

Painting

The kit paint/decal guide shows several paint schemes for the Viggen. After searching the web for Viggen images, I found that the Viggen was painted in a variety of different colors, including bare metal. I chose to paint my Viggen with the color that matched the Viggen on the box art. That color was MM RAF Dark Sea Gray. The wheel wells and the doors, along with the landing gears were painted with Floquil Bright Silver. The nose was painted with MM Dark Ghost Gray.

Decals

Once the paint dried and cured I hand brush two coats of Future on the model and let in dry for 3 days in preparation for decals. The decal sheet provides decals for two Viggens. I chose to use the decals for aircraft 37449 which is at the Air Force Museum at Linköping.

The decals have minimal carrier film and laid down nicely on the model, but, be careful as the adhesive liquefies quickly. I had a couple of stencils float off the backing paper into the water. I also found the decal location guide was a bit confusing, as a result I placed several decals in the wrong location. Additionally, the panel lines on the location guide don't always match the lines on the model. Once decaling was complete I cleaned up the model with a damp cloth, then applied a light coat of Future over the model. To finish off the model, I airbrushed it with a coat of MM Semi Gloss Lacquer Finish.

conclusion

Did Tarangus get it right? Yes they pretty much did. The parts fit was pretty good with no major hassels. The external detail is excellent and the decals performed well even though most of the stencils are not legible. Once again, I was not pleased with the decal placement guide—too confusing.

A Work Bench Review of this kit in the April issue of Fine Scale Modeler said it took 25 hours to build this kit. I don't keep track of the time it takes me to build a model, but I tell you it took me more than 25 hours to build this kit. This kit is not a weekend project as it has 156 parts. Much of my time was spent seam filling and decaling. I was pleased with the finished model―it looks like a Viggen.