Hi folks!
Usually I build aircrafts from the WW 2 era click! but sometimes a flying computer lands on my workbench. As it doesn't fit in that forum I open up a new thread here. Ready since 2 weeks I want to show you my new Eurofighter Typhoon Twinseater from Revell in 1/48



The Eurofighter is one of the best multi role combat aircrafts in the world today. It is powered by 2 Eurojet EJ 200 engines with a thrust of 90 kN with and 60 kN without afterburner. The only internal weapon is a 27 mm Mauser canon with 150 rounds but the Eurofighter can carry up to 7,5 tons of weapons on 13 hardpoints. Maximum speed is 2,3 Mach.



At the moment the Eurofighter is flown in 6 countries; Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and Saudi Arabia. Some countries are also interested in the aircraft (Denmark, South Korea, Croatia, Bulgaria ....), some others have tested it but have decided for a different fighter (Switzerland, India, Japan ....). The German Air Force will get 143 Eurofighters for 3 Fighter Wings (JG 71,73,74) and one Fighter Bomber Wing (JaboG 31). It is also planned to garrison some at the German Air Force Training Center at the Holloman Air Force Base in the USA.



Let's now come to the kit. Revell offers 2 decal versions for the Twinseater. The first (which is also the box art) is No. 17 Sqn RAF Coningsby, 2009. I went for the German Bundesluftwaffe 30+20 from JG 73, based in Rostock-Laage in 2009 with this nice "tail art". On the right side it says "5 years Eurofighter" and on the left side it says "50 years JG 73 S". JG 73 wears the traditional name "Steinhoff". We all know Johannes Steinhoff as one of the famous WW 2 aces with 176 kills, who also flew the Me 262. Some of you may not know, that in 1966 he became inspector of the German Air Force. Later he was also one of the highest officers in the NATO.



Though the kit is very new (from 2010) it has some annoying issues. The fuselage halfs don't fit well together at the front. I even had to fill some gaps .... Not easy to install is the canopy. I wanted to show it open, though the cockpit is nothing special - just out of box. The canopy is glued just to 3 small points in the back of the cockpit. It was necessary to put a small stick under the canopy over night. As you can see, I wasn't successfull of glueing it in the 100% right angle. Well, I can live with that. Let's blame the stick and the night for that .... But all other parts fit quite well. The whole kit consists of 240 parts, so it's not a weekend's job. It took me 7 weeks to build the "Eufi", as we call it here in Germany sometimes.
I guess the 30+20 never flies with all these weapons I packed under the wings. But a jet fighter without bombs and rockets looks a bit naked, doesn't it? So here I decided for two IRIS-T ASRAAM, two TAURUS cruise missiles and four AIM-120 AMRAAM plus an external 1000 liters centerline tank. Looks pretty packed.



The whole kit is painted with Revell Aqua Color. As I don't know the name of this special colour (or a FS-No.), I had to mix this Grey-Blue with 75% Grey 374 and 25% Light Blue 49. The colour on the radome is also a mix of 75% Light Grey 371 and 25% Grey 374. And I'm really satisfied with this result of my first mix orgy. As always it is build out of box and not weathered. Okay, all "Eufis" look very clean, as they are brandnew and well maintained. The first aicraft was deliverd to our Air Force in 2004.
The first time this kit will be seen is at my club's expo in Mannheim in 2 weeks.
I hope you like my little walk around and say thanks for looking. I will carry on in this thread whenever an afterburner leaves my workbench - or a prop that doesn't fit in the WW 2 forum.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Super fabulous work Torsten!! Love the ordnance! Russell

yep, well done!

And I also like that frame you made to put the model on upside down; Is it made of sprue?

Nice

Great stuff. And your right, jets don't look right unless they're armed to the teeth! Does the Taurus operate like the RAF's Storm Shadow missile?

Thanks for all your comments, guys!
Stephen, yes, I think the Taurus operates like the Storm Shadow. Here is what Wikipedia knows about it.

Torsten,

Your build looks fantastic, great work! How did you make that stand that the model is resting on?

Jon

Torsten,
Some how I missed this one of aircraft thread when you 1st posted it. It's really another fine example of your modeling style.

So when do you plan on doing another non-WW11 aircraft?
Joel

Thanks for your comments, guys!
Sorry, that I didn't answer earlier, but a few weeks ago my 12 years old computer crashed completly and I was offline for a while. When it perished it took also my external HD with all photos of my finished models with it. But I still have hope to save them somehow.
Meanwhile I have a new PC and though I'm still struggling with that strange Windows 8, it works nearly the way I want. Slowly I'm on the way back to the online life
Steve, I have used this rack to build all my models and in my Assembly Line thread over in the WW2 forum I have explained on page 1 how it is made. Just scroll down the page to the bottom. Sorry, but somehow copying that page doesn't work (Windows XP was better ....).
Joel, the Eurofighter was in fact the last post WW2 jet aircraft I have build. At the moment there are no plans to build any more jets this year. Right now I work on the B-25 for Russells Memorial Campaign and then I will switch over again the 1/35 military vehicels and build a German GTK Boxer, which was a christmas present from my sister last year. So it had to be build.
But before all that, I'll go on holidays!

Happy modelling everyone!
Torsten

Is it really 3 years ago, that I've build my last afterburner ....? Yes, it is! To change this I have decided to build a dual combo of a legendary jet fighter in the sky over Europe. Finished just this weekend I can show you today the first half of it. It's the Saab J 35 Draken from Hasegawa in 1/48 ....



.... development of the famous Draken goes back to 1949, when the Swedish Air Force asked Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Saab) to undertake development of a new fighter plane. Design specifications were really ambitious for that time, calling for a plane with an operational ceiling of 14.000 meters, climbing to 10.000 meters in under 3 minutes and a maximum speed of Mach 1,4. It should have STOL capabilities as well. Saab engineers constructed the Saab 210, an experimental plane, also named "Lill Draken" with double delta wings. Between 1951 and 1954 it made over 500 test flights and in 1955 the first prototypes of the J35 Draken were build. The test flights of these 3 planes were highly successful and Saab was given an order for mass production. The first regular aircrafts were given to units in 1958. 651 Draken were build until 1974, of which 556 were operated by the Svenska Flygvapnet, the Swedish Air Force. Drakens were also exported to Austria, Denmark and Finland. The last Draken was taken out of service in 2005 by the Austrian Air Force. Flight Research Inc. in the USA operates a few ex Danish Drakens. The aircraft was powered by a Svenska Flygmotor RM6C engine which gave the Draken a speed of 2.100 km/h at 11.000 meters. The successor of the Draken was the J37 Viggen ....




... I have build the J 35 Draken No. 35541 of the 3. squadron of the Flygflottil 10 (F10), Svenska Flygvapnet in its Last Flight livery 1999. The unit is based in Ängelholm on the west coast of Sweden ....




.... Hasegawa came out with this kit as a limited edition in 2010. There are 2 decal versions in the kit. The other one is completly in blue, the also very attractive Last Flight livery of the 2. (?) squadron. The kit consists of only 109 parts which are glued together quite easily. There is no real problem with building this fighter. At first I was a bit anxious when I saw the big decals of the swordfishs. They could cause problems because of their size, I thought. But with a little patience they went on very easy, nearly no corrections were needed. The paints I have used come all from Revell. Yellow is No. 310, on the underside I have also used Metal No. 91 and the cockpit is painted with Bronce Green No. 65. This aircraft has not a difficult paint job but a very attractive one. It was really fun to build this kit ....


.... I say "tack sa mycket" for stepping in and walking around my first jet plane within 3 years. Oh, before I forget, the original aircraft to my model is still alive and can be seen in an aircraft museum somewhere in Estonia. Sorry, I forgot the name of this museum.
I have finished another Draken, which I will show you in the next days, maybe early next week ....

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Torsten,
It's been years, but the wait has certainly been worth it. Just an outstanding build. Your usual museum finish works very well with the paint scheme of your Saab J 35.

Overall a perfect build and a perfect finish. Well done my friend. Looking forward to your other Draken in the next few days.

Joel

Joel, thanks for your nice comment.
I also think this Draken looks super cool in that yellow outfit. The box art of this kit graces an original in flight photo of the aircraft and it looks very shiny. So this time I did it right with my no weathering strategy ....
I remember that I have seen the photo of this machine somewhere at airfighters.com and here it is at the museum in Estonia.
At the moment I prepare my new stuff for the first expo this year at the weekend, so the other Draken has to wait until next week.

Torsten

As promised earlier, here comes part 2 of my Draken Duo ....



.... the Suomen Ilmavoimat, the Finnish Air Force, was one of the very few in the western world to have planes from both sides of the fence in their inventory during the Cold War. So the Draken flew at the same time as the MiG 21. Finland had a total of 48 Draken of different versions in the air force. Some were bought used from Sweden but most of them were assembled in Finland by Valmet Works in Kurovesi from components made by Saab in Linköbing ....




.... my Draken DK-223 is one of those Finnish assembled J35S (S = Suomi) from the Hävittäjälentolaivue 11, Lapland Air Command, Suomen Ilmavoimat, based in Rovaniemi in 1985. It wears the emblem of the unit, a european bison, on the fin and the name "Kreivi von Rosen", which means "Count (Eric) von Rosen". The Swedish Count von Rosen donated the first aircraft to the young Flying Corps of the White Troops in 1918 ....




.... the kit is from the same manufacturer as my yellow Draken and was also a limited edition in 2010. This was in fact my first Draken kit, as I wanted a Finnish one. It builds as easy as the other Draken kit and differs only in a few parts. So I have added the 2 external tanks of 500 liters each. That was a usual sight on Drakens. On this bird I used paints of different brands. On the underside you find Grey 374 and Steel 91 from Revell. The upperside is painted with Olive Drab 71043 from Vallejo and Midnight Blue H55 from Gunze. Both kits have a primer of White 5 from Revell underneath, which was especially important for the "Tre Kronor" Draken, to get the yellow paint opaque. The decals are also of good quality and go on the surfaces without any problems. But as usual I have used some decal softener from Revell on both kits ....



.... again I say "Kiitos" for walking around with me. Draken DK-223 is also still alive and can be visited at the Keski Suomen Ilmailomuseo, the offical Finnish Air Force Museum in Tikkakoski near Jyväskylä. I've been there last July but unfortunatly took only 2 photos of that old warrior. It's pretty packed there in the museum, looks a bit like on an aircraft carrier This Draken was on duty between the 3. October 1975 and the 23. August 2000 and had 2297 flying hours done.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

And this is how I will show my Nordic Dragons on some expos this year. Would love to have some more of these great kits, as I need at least a Danish and an Austrian one ....




Torsten

That is a very handsome display. I hope you can build the rest of the family in future.

That's a good choice of subject Torsten !

I've seen the Finish one fly at an airshow in Sweden in 1990, the yellow Swedish one I only saw on the ground when they had it at the Airforce Museum some years ago.

Beautiful!



Magnus

Jonathan, thanks for the nice feedback and your PM. I'll do my best and can promise that my Draken family will grow in the future. But not now, I'll be back with a prop soon ....

Magnus, also thanks for your most welcome reply. I'm glad that you like what you see. In 2011 I was on holidays in Sweden the last time and of course I visited the Flygvapenmuseum in Linköbing. What a great museum you have there. So many rare aircraft, that is fantastic. I came there 1 hour before they opened and left 5 minutes before they closed. And that all for just 50 SEK.
Of course I've also been in Trollhättan. Another fantastic museum there. Too sad, that Saab doesn't produce cars any more ....
At the expo last weekend I saw the new quarterscale Viggen from Tarangus but 88 Euros for the kit is far beyond my limit (and wallet) ....

Torsten

Torsten,
Another one of your most excellent museum quality builds. Just a perfect camo paint scheme. The two of them together makes for a fine display. Opposites yet, the same.

Nicely done my friend. Your work is not only up to museum standards, but it's the consistency build after build that sets your work apart from most of our efforts.

Joel

Joel, thanks for your kind words.
This time my museum quality is surely correct as both original aircraft are standing in a museum, though the camo of DK-223 truely is faded and there's only little difference between Olive Drab (or what colour it really is) and Dark Blue. After 25 years in the open we would also look a little faded, wouldn't we?

You spoke about the consistency of showing my models here on Aeroscale. Well, there's no secret behind it. I try to spend some time at the bench every evening when I'm at home. So usually it's 1 hour, sometimes it's 2 hours or just 30 minutes. All is okay, as long as it is every evening. In some weekends I have more time and can spend 4-5 hours in the afternoon or so. This is the way I try to fight my own "stash war". With both Draken I started on the 18. January and finished both completly on the 28 February. So that's about 6 weeks for 2 equal kits. At the moment I work on models 4 and 5 in 2015, a Leopard 1 tank and Trumpeter's new Whirlwind. The Whirlwind should be ready by mid April. For tanks I need a little longer. Per year I finish about 10 models.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Torsten,
That's the consistency and dedication that is necessary to build at the level you do. I tend to spend more time at the workbench in a given week then you, but have never managed to build more then 4 models per year.

I am getting to the point of Military aircraft burnout, as that's all I ever seem to build these last several years. A change in scale, and or era really hasn't helped. What I think I need is a change in type of model at least once per year. And that change will most likely be 1960-1970s race cars, and exotic street cars.

Joel

Just returned from summer holidays and guess where I've been and what I have seen?
The way brought me to the Eesti Lennundusmuseum, the Estonian Aviation Museum near Tartu, and there she stood ....


Happy modelling!
Torsten

Splendid!

thanks for posting

All excellent builds, Torsten. Nice and clean as always !

Nearly a year has past since my last posting here and all of a sudden I have something new! Well, what should I say? The Saab story continues. Finished earlier this month today I can show you my new Saab J 29 Tunnan from Hobbyboss in 1/48 ....


.... the J 29 was Sweden's 2. jet aircraft and the first in Europe after WW 2 with swept wings. Maiden flight of the first prototype took place on the 1. September 1948. First production aircrafts were delivered to the Flygvapnet in May 1951. Until the end of the production 1956 a total of 661 Tunnans were build. It was powered by a licenced build De Havilland Ghost engine with a thrust of 22 kN which gave the bird a speed of 1035 km/h. The maximum ceiling was 13500 meters. For comparison, the Eurofighter has a thrust of 90 kN.
The armament of the "Flying Barrel" consisted of 4 Hispano Suiza 804 cannons, caliber 20 mm with 180 rounds each. The aircraft was further capable to carry bombs and rockets on 8 hardpoints. During the Congo Crisis in the early 1960's Sweden used 9 Tunnans in that UN mission. Today there are still some of these aircrafts left in museums all over the world. The last one in flying conditions is operated by the F10 Friends Society Ängelholm in Sweden. This aircraft can been seen on air shows around Europe ....



... I have built "Red B" of the 2./JaboG 1 of the "Luftstreitkräfte des Österreichischen Bundesheeres" or, for our non-german speaking friends, the Austrian Air Force, based in Linz-Hörsching in 1969. Austria was the only export customer of the Saab J 29 and operated 30 used machines from 1960 to 1973. The aircraft shown here was build 1954 for the Swedish Air Force with the Serial No. 29649 and was sold to Austria, which used it from August 1962 to July 1972. There are several J 29 surviving in museums but the fate of this aircraft is unknown to me ....



.... Hobbyboss came out with this kit in late 2015 and I must say, they did a good job. It's the first quarterscale kit of a mainstream producer since that AZ-Model kit some years ago. The fitting is good, there is no filler needed. All in all it was a quick build which lasted about 4 weeks. This kit hasn't seen my stash, it went strait to the workbench after I bought it. The only problem I have (and I guess everyone of us will have) is, that it is a tailsitter .... Yes, and I can't do anything against it. There is only very little room inside the fuselage for weight (no room in front of the front wheel) because of the long air intake which goes from the front, under the cockpit to nearly the main landing gear. I've put the double of weight, which was recommended by the intruction plan, in that little space under the cockpit (10 g instead of 5 g) but it was not enough. I think it's the first tailsitter in my collection. Well, for this photo shooting and on expos Uhu Tac will do a good job hopefully ....


.... Hobbyboss offers 2 decal versions for this bird, a swedish and an austrian one, and I decided for the more colourful austrian version. Painting here is no big deal, the main paints I used are Aluminium 99 and Yellow 15. Interior was painted in Stone Grey 75 and Black 8, for the rockets I used Yellow Olive 42. All paints are Revell Aqua. The decals are thin and easy to apply. The few stencils though are more or less rubbish. They are unreadable. In 1/48 it is possible with todays technics to print perfect readable stecils, even in China. If the Hobbyboss guys don't know how that works, I can recommend them a company in Italy ....

So for today I say "Hoassn Dank" (which is "Thank You" in austrian slang I believe) for stepping in and hope you enjoyed walking around this little fighter. There are quite a few videos on You Tube like this one with historical footage. Have a look if you like.

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Another lovely clean build Torsten, and a subject that I haven't seen built and until now knew very little about. Thanks once again for the history lesson and well done getting the "Flying Barrel" on the display shelf.

Cheers, D