Airfix 1:72 Saab JAS 39 Gripen

The Gripen (Griffin) was designed to replace the Viggen. It it the current fighter in the Swedish air force as well as several other countries. As is the case with many aircraft it was plagued with high cost and taking years long to produce than expected, yep sounds like a Saab aircraft all right.

In the end the fighter has proved itself to be a capable fighter, with favor in it's agility and maneuverability. One of the other notable characteristics of the Gripen is it's smaller size, especially when compared to the Viggen. 

Rob@basicmodeling was kind enough to give me the heads up on this kit. I saw this in my hobby store but the thoughts of the Airfix Eurofighter quality can to my mind, and I was passing on this kit. Rob informed me that the kit is in fact and Italeri design, and this got me interested in the kit once more. He then explained that the Airfix version features 2 version of the prototype. The First being the one on the cover in a Grey-light greay scheme. And the second in an all black scheme. 

So thanks to Rob you've got a full look at the parts, and the painting guide, this one looks like a very fun build.   

The "Handy" way to paint a spinner.

My Dad taught me this years ago. When he was building an Italeri 1:72 Lavochkin La-9. The spinner need white bands and he took his drill and fastened it to the propeller rod. Turned the drill on and proceeded to paint thin white bands. 

I thought at first that he had done it all by hand, and than I was even more impressed by this trick. 

I needed to paint the spinner on my Ki-100 white. Easy enough, grabbed some Vallejo white, and my Tamiya "Handy" drill and done. Just a few dabs of paint and a few passes, and I'm more than pleased with the result. 

Thanks Dad.

Aoshima 1:72 A7M Reppu

The A7M Reppu was designed to replace the sadly outdated A6M Zero fighter. Designed my Jiro Horikoshi, this was his final great masterpiece before the war ended. Only a handful were ever built before the war came to a close, so unfortunately we'll probably never know the full capabilities of this beautiful design. 

Probably the most recognized A7M kit, is from Finemolds. And I do plan on getting that on in the future I thought this one would be a fun "inbetween kit". I picked this one up for quite the bargain price, and though it lacks a lot of modern details, this kit still has a lot of charm to it. 

Sadly the decal sheet does not include any tail markings. Only white banded Hinomaru's, which will still be prefect for building an all orange prototype A7M. So I've purchased and appropriate Mr.Hobby color, and when it arrives I'll most likely begin the project.

Again to not completely criticize the kit because of it's age, I will be building this one straight from the box, with the exception of the wheels, which are nearly paper thin, these will have to be replaced.

1970's box art.

Raised area for decal placement.

Quite a few parts rattled off the sprues.

A pilot figure

Darn, hope this will be a quick fix.

Note the thin wheel.

Quite a scratchy clear part, will still work fine.

Hope these decals have still held out over time.

Quite looking forward to starting this one, and later on I'll grab the Fine Molds kit and build up a Green version. Always interesting to see how far model companies have come over the years.