Saab J29D Tunnan all-weather fighter; “Röd Rudolf” of Swedish Air Force F1

Dizzyfugu · October 06, 2017, 08:42:46 AM

The kit and its assembly:
Sweden is IMHO a prolific whiffing territory, and the Saab 29 offers some interesting options. The all-weather Tunnan was a real Saab project, and things actually got as far as radome shape tests. Eventually the project was fully dropped, since Saab had been busy with standard J 29 production and conversions, and the Saab 32 was arlerady in the pipeline, so that this aircraft never materialized, just like the projected side-by-side trainer Sk 29 of the same era.
However, I recently came across a nice Saab 29 book which also covers some projects – including drawings of the radar-equipped Tunnan that never was. My converted model with the thimble radome and the raked air intake is based on these drawings:

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The kit is the Heller Saab 29, which I deem superior to the Matchbox Tunnan, with its mix of raised and engraved panel lines and overall rather soft detail (despite the surprisingly nice cockpit). Anyway,, the Heller kit has its flaws, too, e. g. a generally weak material thickness, lack of locator pins or other stabilizing aids and some sinkholes here and there.

The kit was built mostly OOB, the only major change is the modified nose section. It sounds simple to graft a radome onto the Tunnan's nose, but the rhinoplasty was challenging. The whole front end had to be renewed, based on the profile drawings and sketches at hand.

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The thimble radome is actually a recycled drop tank front end from a Hasegawa F6F Hellcat. The raked, lower air intake lip comes from a Matchbox Mystère IVA - but it lost its splitter, was reshaped and had the OOB air intake duct glued into place from behind. Once the intake was glued into its place, a wedge opeing was cut into the area in front of the canopy and the drop tank radome adapted to the gap, a step-by-step approach, since I wanted to have the radome slightly protrude into the airtake, but also keep a staright line in front of the windscreen. A ton of lead in the gun tray ensures a proper stance.

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Looks a bit like the spaceship from The Muppets' "Pigs in Space"?

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Additional details include new pitots on the wing tips and some additional antennae. The heat shield for the afterburner engine is OOB, as well as the streamlined drop tanks and their pylons. I just added an additional pair of pylons (from an Acedamy MiG-23) to the inner wing, holding a pair of AIM-9Bs.

More coming soon...

Tophe · October 06, 2017, 08:59:24 AM

Good pictures of the hard part of model making...

PR19_Kit · October 06, 2017, 09:08:42 AM

Very tricky, and very interesting too. It reminds me of a large scale Lindberg kit of a MiG something-or-other that had a very similar thimble radome.

What's that about a side-by-side Sk 29 then? How come you haven't built one already?

loupgarou · October 06, 2017, 12:04:44 PM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on October 06, 2017, 09:08:42 AM
Very tricky, and very interesting too. It reminds me of a large scale Lindberg kit of a MiG something-or-other that had a very similar thimble radome.

What's that about a side-by-side Sk 29 then? How come you haven't built one already?

The side view in the drawings reminds me of the -very - old Aurora MiG/Yakovlev from the heroic age of plastic modelling.

DogfighterZen · October 06, 2017, 12:24:50 PM

Looking good.

zenrat · October 06, 2017, 04:58:47 PM

Looking ugly.

Good job so far.

ChernayaAkula · October 06, 2017, 05:25:06 PM

ISeeWhatYouDidThere by Motschke, on Flickr

Dizzyfugu · October 06, 2017, 11:57:54 PM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on October 06, 2017, 09:08:42 AM
What's that about a side-by-side Sk 29 then? How come you haven't built one already?

He he, stay tuned.

And, yes, this thing look ...different, even though just the air intake has been changed. Has some German looks now? Also agree with Lindberg's fictional MiG kit/thing, the front end is very similar. The slightly elongated nose section makes a big change in proportions.

Dizzyfugu · October 07, 2017, 02:05:55 AM

Painting and markings:
Finding a suitable, yet "different" scheme for the J 29 night fighter was not easy; most J 29 were left in bare metal, some carried dark green upper surfaces and some S 29C wore a paint scheme in olive green and dark blue. I eventually settled for the RAF style paint scheme that had been adopted with the J 30 Mosquito and J 33 Venom night fighters – not spectacular, but different from the Swedish early Sixties norm, and it subtly underlines the J 29D's role.

The scheme was lent from RAF Venom night fighters (which was used on the Swedish J 33, too), and of the upper surfaces I used RAF tones, too: Humbrol 163 (Dark Green) and 165 (Medium Sea Grey). However, I did not want to use the grey on the lower surfaces, since I found that scheme a bit too uniform and British, so I painted the lower surfaces in NMF, with a waterline at medium height - higher than the camouflaged S 29C's and lower than the early, camouflaged J 29A fighters (with an experimental all-green upper surface).
The bare metal finish was created with acrylic Aluminum (Revell 99) and Polished and Matt Aluminum Metallizer (Humbrol) added on top, highlighting single panels. Around the engine bay and the exhaust, a base with Iron (Revell 91) was laid down, with Steel Metallizer (Modelmaster) on top.

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Under the wing tips, green formation markings (again Humbrol 163) were added, as well as black ID stripes (cut from generic decal sheet material). Other, Swedish adornment, like the roundels, codes or squadron markings, was taken from the OOB sheet, a PrintScale sheet for the J 29 and leftover decals from a Heller J 21.

Interior details were painted according to Swedish standard, thankfully there are many good pictures available. The cockpit interior became grey-green (Revell 67 comes very close to the real thing) with light grey dashboard and side consoles. The landing gear wells medium (Revell 57) grey with some dry-brushed Aluminum, while the wheel discs became grey-green, too.

More to come soon...

NARSES2 · October 07, 2017, 06:18:32 AM

Now this is an interesting build

Dizzyfugu · October 07, 2017, 09:07:58 AM

More progress concerning the markings:

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Saab J29D (Flygande) Tunnan; "Röd Rudolf" of the Swedish Air Force F 1 Kungliga Västmanlands Flygflottilj, 1st Jaktflygdivision; Hässlö Flygplats/Västerås, central Sweden, 1964 (Whif/Heller kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Not a real, natural beauty, but the Tunnan looks certainly interesting with this elongated nose!

NARSES2 · October 08, 2017, 05:59:49 AM

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on October 07, 2017, 09:07:58 AM

Not a real, natural beauty, but the Tunnan looks certainly interesting with this elongated nose!

It certainly looks the part

Scotaidh · October 08, 2017, 07:42:02 AM

That really looks good! Nice work!

I find that most Saab aircraft look purposeful, no-nonsense, and capable, if I can use such terms to describe aircraft. There are some aircraft I find hard to take seriously - the F-16 being a case in point; it's too cute* - but Saabs are always serious. Perhaps because their purpose is a Pyrrhic victory ...

Anyway, your build looks the business.

*The F-16XL is different. No, I can't say why - it's a subliminal thing, a "vibe".

NARSES2 · October 08, 2017, 07:47:44 AM

Quote from: Scotaidh on October 08, 2017, 07:42:02 AM
I find that most Saab aircraft look purposeful, no-nonsense, and capable, i

I know what you mean. I also have this feeling that until the Draken * they tended to take a good look at what others were doing and then in the main improve it. Nothing startling but a case of "well that works, but if we were to do this". And then the Draken came along !!

* Someone will now tell me about someone else's similar designs I either know nothing about or have completely forgotten.

DogfighterZen · October 08, 2017, 08:57:19 AM

Great choice of scheme, i like that a lot.