JAS 39 Gripen – update 1

I managed to straighten the wings or wing parts by dipping them in hot water and then bend them while hot. Not perfect, but after gluing the halves together it looked alright.

I then could glue them to the body, and the fit against the topside wa pretty nice.

Wings glued
Wings glued

The underside had a bit of a gap.

A bit of a gap on each side.
A bit of a gap on each side

Actually not very much, and a bit of thin plastic and some putty will solve that. I will also need some putty on the topside, but overall I haven’t used very much on this kit, and once the wings are done, I’ll check all seams with primer to see if there is any problems or perhaps ghost seams.

I’ve checked an old post about a Gripen prototype build, and saw that Hu64 was recommended as the main colour on the body. I need to see if I can translate into some other colour brand, as for the moment Humbrol isn’t allowed to be sold within the EU.

SAAB JAS 39 Gripen prototype – Revell 1/32

This is an fairly old kit, depicting one of the prototype Gripen.

JAS 39 Gripen boxart
JAS 39 Gripen boxart

32nd scale and all would be all nice and dandy if it was at least somewhat correct, but the flaws are quite large as can be seen on this drawing, printed to scale, with the fuselage halves laid out on top.

Drawing with kit parts laid out
Drawaing with kit parts laid out

As can be seen there’s quite a lot to correct. A large chunk of the plane is missing lenghtwise. Like about a meter on the real plane missing!
The wings are somewhat short both in lenght and width.

It would be quite a task to try and correct it, and with this kit I’m not going to try. I’m going to build it as it is. I think it’ll end up looking like a Gripen to the unknowing eye.

As usual it all starts with the cockpit.

Cockpit parts partly assembled
Cockpit parts partly assembled

I also started assembling the engine.

Engine assembly
Engine assembly

Wheel bays and intake parts was installed, and for some reason I assembled the radar. I don’t even know why they made parts for the radar as it won’t be seen at all. Pretty much the same goes for the engine.

Wheel bays assembled
Wheel bays assembled

The cockpit parts was first painted with a dark grey and then some areas got some black.

Cockpit parts painted
Cockpit parts painted

Then the side and front panel was painted light grey, and then seat and panels was detail painted.

Cockpit details painted
Cockpit details painted

All the parts to the possible loadout was assembled.

Load out assembled
Load out assembled

The cockpit got a gloss cote and a wash.

Gloss cote and wash
Gloss cote and wash
Wash added
Wash added

The instructions calls for 20 g nose weight, and a little more was glued in the nose after removing the radar parts I glued for some reason.

Nose weight added
Nose weight added

While the glue is drying, I started with the wings, just to discover that one was slightly warped.

Main wings
Main wings
Slightly bent right wing
Slightly bent right wing

At the moment not sure how to correct it. Perhaps it works with a hair dryer, or using hot water to bend it in position.

The engine was installed.

Engine installed
Engine installed

The cockpit was assembled and an ejection handle was made from copper thread and glued to the seat. The whole cockpit was glued in place and then the fuselage halves was joined.

Fuselage halves joined
Fuselage halves joined

As can be seen the intakes got some putty and the fin is assembled.

The fuselage went together very nicely and there will not be much to sort as this close up will show.

Close up on fuselage seam
Close up on fuselage seam

If only the measurements had been somewhat correct, this would have been a fairly nice kit that goes together very well.

F-16C German AF – update 5

I glued the main gear in place as well as parts to the bay.

Landing gear added
Landing gear added

The tires and rims was painted and the seam on the intake as well.

Tires and rims painted
Tires and rims painted

Then the wheels was assembled.

Wheels assembled
Wheels assembled

The intake was glued in place.

Intake in place
Intake in place

The canopy was masked.

Canopy masked
Canopy masked

Gear parts and missiles painted white.

Parts painted white
Parts painted white

Then I started adding the pylons.

Pylons added
Pylons added

I had to re-glue the cockpit tub and put the HUD in place before adding the canopy and later the nose (after addding weights).

Nose and canopy in place
Nose and canopy in place

A bunch of bombs was painted with OD.

Bombs painted
Bombs painted

The bombs will be masked and painted yellow on their noses. I also need to figure the proper colours for the missiles provided.

Not much left to do before it’s time to put some primer on. I think I’ll go with AK’s grey primer, even if it smells a bit. It gives a very nice and smooth surface.

BMW 507 Cabrio – Revell 1/24

I bought this kit 2nd hand quite a few years ago, and the main reason for building it, is to test some kind of silver metallic as body colour.

This is what it looked like when I started.

Partly started car parts
Partly started car parts

The engine got some more parts.

Engine almost built
Engine almost built

To be able to test colours, the hood got some primer.

Hood primed
Hood primed

I decided to have a black leather/vinyl interior.

Interior painted black
Interior painted black

Then I masked parts of the interior and painted the engine room with steel.

Engine room painted
Engine room painted

Perhaps not very visible in the pic, but the ejection pin marks, I thought I had scraped away, was still visible. Time to sort that!

Pin marks sanded and puttied
Pin marks sanded and puttied

Time for some more primer.

Some more primer painted
Some more primer painted

I should have masked the interior better, so now I had to redo it, after painting over the red with flat black.

Gloss black primer painted
Gloss black primer painted

It turned out the body had some mold line and other flaws to take care of, and the hood and underside of the chassie got some steel paint.

Steel painted
Steel painted

Then the engine room was painted again.

Engine room repainted
Engine room repainted

After sorting the flaws, the body got some more primer.

Primer painted
Primer painted

I wasn’t happy with the steel colour, partly because I had problems painting it good enough on the topside. I’ve also had problems with Vallejos primer.
Anyway I decided to use Vallejos new metal colours. I tried aluminum on the hood.

Hood painted aluminum
Hood painted aluminum

I changed to medium grey and gave the body a cote.

Body painted grey
Body painted grey

The outer rims was painted aluminum.

Rims painted
Rims painted

The exhaust pipes was painted with brass.

Exhaust pipes painted
Exhaust pipes painted

Some parts was painted black and the mufflers was painted with gun metal.

Parts painted
Parts painted

I’ve also assembled engine, transmission and exhaust system.

Exhaust system in place
Exhaust system in place

Two problems have arised during this build. 2 parts are missing and I should have checked better, but as my my intention was to test body colour, my check wasn’t as thorough as it should have been.

I’ve asked for help, and possibly a friend of my son can print the parts on his 3D printer. I’ll see how that goes. Possibly I can make one of them myself if I can get the plastic material needed.

I’ll build and paint as much as I can, and hopefully the parts will be sorted so I can continue.

Warrior – Revell 1/72

This is a kit that have been sitting on the shelf for several years. When looking for something else I found the instructions and “missing” parts, I decided to try and finish it.

Little  shelf queen
Little shelf queen

From the start I intended to do somekind of what if future vehicle, but decided to build it as it is this time.

Revell has it own colour markings with their colour brand and very often mixes which doesn’t make it easy to translate, and it isn’t always easy to find the right corresponding colour.

I was told that Hu29 with some white might work, so I tried.

Dark earth painted
Dark earth painted
Turret in place
Turret in place

While handling it I accidently broke the barrel. Have to sort that later.
I wasn’t happy with the colour though, so I ordered a colour I think should be a proper match and repainted the vehicle.

Repainted
Repainted

Now I’ll just mask it and paint the od colour. Then I need to paint the tracks and wheels and all the details.

F-16C German AF – update 4

After getting the cockpit and the exhaust addition in place, things went pretty fast, and the fuselage, wings, stabilizers and fin was assembled.

Body, wings and things assembled
Body, wings and things assembled

Not entirely without problems as there are some things to sort.

Seams and fin to sort
Seams and fin to sort

I had to cut a little to make the prolonged exhaust fit with the locator tabs on the inside.

Inner part of the exhaust
Inner part of the exhaust

Just to check, I fit the outer part of the exhaust to the body.

Exhaust pipe test fitted
Exhaust pipe test fitted

I think that turned out looking pretty good, and I’ll only need to touch up a little.

Next will be to sort out all the seams and also sort some panel lines to connect the upper and lower body panels. Then it’s time to start sorting the landing gears and some other stuff that will be needed later.

F-16C Germany 1/32 – update 2

I tried to make up for missing depth in the exhaust pipe. So I wrapped a piece of plastic with thin stripes around the “fan” and glued the ends. It wasn’t easy to get it entirely even.

A bit of scratch building
A bit of scratch building

I added the same kind of stripes to the existing parts.

Stripes being added
Stripes being added

Typical Revel stunt on older models.

Visible copyright on the wing
Visible copyright on the wing

I decided to glue the turkey feathers to the can.

Exhaust nozzle
Exhaust nozzle

My plan is to cover the inside with something that resembles the real thing Not quite sure how yet, but I’m working on it.

For some reason tabs was missing on the bomb parts.

Missing tabs
Missing tabs

Re-scribing and working on parts like landing gears and weapons, have kept me busy for a while.

Assorted parts getting ready
Assorted parts getting ready

Re-scribing is tedious and takes a while. I still got some more scribing to do. The top fuselage is quite complex.

Once the scribing is done and the interior got some more paint, I think I can start assemble.