Gripen pics

[SebastianP]

I managed to squeeze one pic out of the camera tonight - damned thing shuts off when it's tilted any way it doesn't like, which is pretty much every way. Oh well, at least the image I did get was from the correct angle...

I've done some basic modding to this thing to suit its intended role as a SEAD bird - most of which involved stealing parts fom other kits... As you can see there's still some minor assembly left to do - plus decalling, arming and weathering.

First and most obvious is the ECM pod, cheerfully stolen from the Italeri single-seat Gripen. I was certain I had lost that thing, but amazingly it turned up still on its sprue...

Second are the inboard missile rails, which are from the Revell Tornado GR.1. I decided to cut off the integrated pylon from the rail, which left it pretty thin. Still, it was either that, or have the missiles drag on the ground. ALARM missiles will follow as soon as I'm happy with the paint on them.

Third mod is sadly invisible in this pic - I cut off 1.5 mm from the rear end what Italeri claims is a Maverick rail (though it looks just like the LAU-129 in the Hase weapons set, only thicker and detailless), and mated it to the last ten or so milimeters of Hasegawa's BOL rails for the F-14. Presto, BOL rails for the Gripen! I know there's actually yet another countermeasures system for the Gripen, which integrates into the pylons - can't find the pics I had of that, though, or I'd have tried to include them.

Anyway, here it is:

[The Rat]

I was certain I had lost that thing, but amazingly it turned up still on its sprue...

   I've done the same thing. After an evening of cursing and yelling and throwing things and vacuuming carpets and then dissecting the bag... Oh. There it is. I thought I'd already taken it off...    

Looking good so far, but I'm flummoxed about that camera. The only thing I can think of is that there might be a loose connection somewhere, and it only makes contact when it's at the right angle. Dirty battery terminals can sometimes cause a similar problem, if they're those spring-pin types one may be stuck in a bit.

[Damian2]

Me likey!

[Matt_S]

Me likey!

What he said.


Matt B)  

[lancer]

That is looking seriously good Sebastian. Can't wait to see the finished product.

  I've done the same thing. After an evening of cursing and yelling and throwing things and vacuuming carpets and then dissecting the bag... Oh. There it is. I thought I'd already taken it off...   

I think we've all done that at one time or another Ratty old son. Don't you feel a total pillock at the end of it, especially if you've ranted at family???

[SebastianP]

I've gotten all the black parts painted up now, so the tires, instument panels and coamings are all done, leaving only the metallic parts, and a little touch-up camo paint.

The trouble is making this thing whiffy - the only usable decals on the sheet (since I want low-viz roundels) are for the second production twin seater - an aircraft that spends most of its time on the airshow circuit and which has pretty much carried anything the marketing people thought to hang on it...

SP  

[SebastianP]

In the end, I may sadly end up ditching the idea of using ALARMs on the Gripen - I find myself wanting to add a third pair of AAMs instead, probably Meteors, which won't be very whiffy at all...

I tore off the AMRAAM rails I'd added previously, after consulting the SAAB site's page for the Gripen integrated EWS system - instead, I'm using Hasegawa rails with more drastically modified BOL launchers, which is part of why I want to use more AAMs. I'm also trying to scratchbuild the BOP/B dispensers that are integrated into the pylons themselves - the plan is to basically cut off the outboard pylons at the rearmost panel line, and adding a rectangular piece of plastic with the same cross section and six holes drilled into the rear end. After you figure out the one image I've got of the arrangement, it's actually pretty simple to do..

Looking at it the Gripen EWS overview, it strikes me that the Gripen is probably the most well defended fighter I've ever seen. Four BOL dispensers, with a total of 640 countermeasure packets; two BOP/B launchers with six towed decoys *each*; and four BOP/C dispensers with an additional 8 to 24 pyrotechnically launched countermeasures each. PLUS an onboard jammer, PLUS an optional jamming pod...

SP

[SebastianP]

My first piece of scratchbuilding ever just got done - the BOP/B towed decoy launchers built into the back of the outboard pylons were fashioned from a piece of thick Airfix sprue that I sanded down to size. Then I cut off the tail ends of the pylons and trimmed my new launchers to the right length and glued them in with thick CA. Then I added my newly modified rails with the BOL launchers - now I have to repaint part of the pylons again, but that's a pretty minor issue.

I'm still indecisive with regards to what missiles to hang on the thing after all - I read up on HARM, and with the Swedish Air Force's SIGINT assets being what they are, they qualify as good enough to employ HARM in the way that the US is doing presently - offboard targetting via SIGINT aircraft, supplemented by onboard sensors - rather than the old method of self-contained targetting on the launching aircraft, which is still in use by Germany on their Tornado ECR.

Still, ALARM remains an option, though no one outside of Britain ever exercised it - and I still want to slap on another pair of BOL launchers, which means I'd have to go all AAM. Decisions, decisions.

Looking at the new Typhoon kit I bought the other day, I found another member of the SAAB/Ericsson countermeasures family already molded on - the kit has two rows of dispensers on the underside of the wing, which look nearly exactly like the ones the Jaktviggen has carried for the past two decades. (I've gotta build one of those one day - though it'll be a *ton* of work getting it all right, since the mods are legio).

SP