This is no. 3

[lancer]

With the discovery of a major new oil and gas fields off of the north west coast of the UK in 2009, and the ensuing boost that oil had for the UK economy, the UK found thatit had a LOT more cash to play around with and was less reliant of imported oil, there was a 50/50 split in home use and export from these fields. It was decided by the newly elected govt of the time that a large chunk of that cash would be used to bolster the armed forces. For the navy this meant a numbe of new ships, including 3 aircraft carriers. These would be smaller than the BAE/Thales design and would be british built. Once the design was finalised the task of looking for aircraft to base on it then started in ernest. There were the usual contenders for the contract to sell the planes, LM with the FA/18E, Dassult with the Rafale, BAE with the Gripen and the Eurofighter team with a naval varient of the Typhoon. All the contenders were put through thier paces, but at the end of the evaluation phase theGripen came out as the clear winner. Both on a cost and maintenance basis and on operational ability.
An order for 100 Gripens, Renamed the BAE Cyclone FR1 for RN service, was placed and the first deliveries started in 2010. The plan was for airwings of 25 Cyclones per ship with a land based OCU. 801 NAS was the first ship based squadron to deply aboard HMS Victorious, whose first job was to patrol the new oil fields and deter any potential aggressors.

The Kit.
Airfix's version of the JAS 39 is a sweet little kit to put together, with only a marginal amount of filler required where the wings join the fuselage. The build was straight of the box, with the addition of an arrestor hook, scratch built and a refuelling probe taken from the spare Buccaneer in my stash, with a bit of reworking to make it a little better.
I chose to use Dark Sea Grey as the overall colour for the plane. This was WEM enamel and went on very nicely with my airbrush. The decals came from the decal bank and were left overs from the Italeri SHAR1
Overall a very nice build and one I am very pleased with. Hope you lot like it.

[Gary]

Gripens Rule!!!!!!!!

Sweet.

[Brian da Basher]

Nice build there lancer! She looks great in those RN colors!

Brian da Basher

[Swedish Mick]

Real good looking! A nice build!

[NARSES2]

That looks real good Lance. Bringing her to Coventry so we can admire her in the flesh ?

[anthonyp]

Looks pretty cool, Lancer!  Any chance we can see the belly?

   

[Nigel Bunker]

Excellent model. Coventry bound, I trust?

[retro_seventies]

Nice one lance - really, really like this        

[Captain Canada]

Lancer, Lancer, Lancer.........how can you build such a sweet little bird, paint her up like that, and then take crappy photos in the dark ?

The people demand better !

Very nice, BTW...from what I can see of it !

Looks awesome, and all the stenciling really makes it stand out.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

That looks real good Lance. Bringing her to Coventry so we can admire her in the flesh ?

I wish to be associated with the comments of this speaker !

Ian

[lancer]

Yep, she will be coming to Coventry

Any chance we can see the belly?

Yeah, I'll post one up.

Lancer, Lancer, Lancer.........how can you build such a sweet little bird, paint her up like that, and then take crappy photos in the dark ?

My apologies for the quality of the pics. I'll post some better ones.

[Captain Canada]

Sorry Lance, in the process of berating your camera I forgot to mention that that is the nicest looking Gripen I've ever seen. I think I might paint one just like it !

Can't wait to see some more/ better pics !

 

[BlackOps]

Nice, gripens just look good no matter who's colors they wear.


Jeff G.

[John Howling Mouse]

Yes, just like that, baby!  

I, too, wish to see better pics, please and thank-you.

 

[lancer]

OK< here are the revised pictures.