Saab Sk 37 Viggen, Swedish Air Force

[CanDid]

Hi,

Around Christmas two years ago a fellow modeller offered me some resin and decal leftovers from a Viggen build he had recently finished. I bought them from him remembering that I made Viggen in my early building years. My idea was to use Paint Killer and save the old kit and turning it into a SK37 from my old wing, F4. I dug deep into the boxes from my childhood and in there I found it, an ESCI Viggen. This kit was beyond salvation due to some generous gluing so I went looking for a Airfix re-box instead.



Being a re-box the Airfix Viggen is not really an impressive one when it comes to details. It has raised panel lines and is not very accurate. I went to check the after-market and found some decent stuff. I decided to go All-In and the list became pretty long in the end. Cockpit and SK37 conversion from Neomega Resin. Nose cone, intakes, foreplanes, vertical stab & rudder from Two Mikes Resin. Air brakes, landing gear, wheels and boarding ladder from Maestro Models. Eduard Brassin F-16 engine. I also re-scribed the panel lines and added some scratch built and/or modified parts. I also built a emergency generator, as it is almost always visible when Viggens are on the ground. I also added a plexiglass cover in the rear cockpit and mirrors in the front cockpit together with ejection seat handles.



For decals I used JA37 Viggen decals from TwoBobs and Saab 37 decals from Euro decals. I also made a few decals on my own, such as the F15 unit markings on the stab (the SK37 used to belong to this unit and when it was closed the training was continued on F4 but the badges on this plane was never painted over) and numbering on the landing gear.











After hours of masking I painted my Viggen using Gunze colours for the air brush and Vallejo colours for brushing. I weathered it with AK Interactive products. I added three figures, a seated pilot from PJ-Production and a standing pilot from TwoMikes resin. The ground crew figure is a mix of parts from ESCI and Hasegawa kits.



This kit took me about a year to finish due to all the extras. But it was a fun build.

Cheers

/Fred

Edited April 15, 2012 by CanDid

[F-32]

Absolutely gorgeous build

[Andrew Jones]

Gorgeous indeed, anyone who can mask and paint a Swedish "splinter" scheme certainly deserves respect.

[Plasticbutcher]

Very nice build....

[jimbuna]

Very nice indeed.

[Mark]

That is easily in my top five builds that I've seen here, brilliant work!

[SwedeInSiam]

Fatastic looking Viggen.

[Wolf]

Great looking Viggen you have there!

[Ronnie]

Veeery nice - one to be proud of.

Ronnie

[Sean1968]

Thats fantastic!

[Alpha Delta 210]

Yet again, Fred you have produced a stunning show-stopper. You possess the skills and patience that I aspire to!

[halcyonjet]

Brilliant !!

Dave

[prowler0000]

Bravo!!!!

One of the hardest camo`s to apply, & on such an awkward airframe shape, too! You must be very proud of this one!

Edited April 9, 2012 by prowler0000

[James G]

Great build Fred . I might be asking for tips from you when I build my Viggen, just got to finish the Draken and Gripen first!

[fu_manchu]

Wow, stunning work!

[Marek Swiderski]

One of my favourite aircrafts, well done !!! Your Viggen can fly with my Vigen in formation

[Natter]

Absolutely fantastic. That splinter scheme is a belter; as someone has already - respect.

Dave

[lansen73]

superb build ,well done!!

[cooldudehenry]

Wow simply stunning build and paintwork, well done!

Thanks, Henry

[Lightningboy2000]

Absolutely fantastic build and well done with the splinter scheme!

An amazing looking jet!

Martin

[Mike DeTorrice]

A truly superb rendition of the unmistakable Viggen ! Excellent job on this one.

Mike

[the MDman]

Now that's a show stopper!

Did you actually flew the Viggen?

[woody37]

Stunning, just that paintwork alone would of scared me off, let alone the detailing !

[CanDid]

Thank you for all your kind comments.

Yes it is a lot of masking, but hey, it is just tape :-) I transferred the shape of the camouflage from a book on to the tape and then cut it out in layers. All the Viggens were more or less painted in the same scheme, but there was some individual differences.

This actual airframe for example has had the intakes switched during it's service period. That is why the 'FARA' signs look the way they do. The brown camo on the nose, under the '4', is also altered The SK37s were originally stationed at the F15 Wing. Also the '7' in '67' on the tail is newer than the '6'. Above the '67' this Viggen still carried the F15 badge, and still do. F15, an Attack Air Wing, was closed in 1998 and all SK37 were transferred to F4, a Fighter Air Wing. Some of the trainers were refurbished and converted into SK37E, Electronic Warfare Viggen. All SK37E were stationed at F4 until 2004, when they were transferred to F21 Wing to fly along the recce version AJSF37 during Viggens last operational year in 2005. D 67, a trainer, can be seen at the Viggen museum in Östersund.

Great build Fred . I might be asking for tips from you when I build my Viggen, just got to finish the Draken and Gripen first!

Any time!

Did you actually flew the Viggen?

Nope, I worked on the ground. But on occasions we could be invited for a ride in the trainers.

Edited April 15, 2012 by CanDid

[Wizball]

That's one of the best renditions of the splinter scheme I've ever seen. It's not just the endless masking, you've managed to find very good color matches and they work very well together. Have you used Gunze colors straight from the bottle, or mixed them yourself? You must have done SOMETHING clever to make them look that unified - it's a very hard scheme to do justice, many models I've seen just look garish.