Saab VC-39 Grinen (finished page 2)

[Tophe]

I have received yesterday a 1/144th kit of Saab JAS-39 Gripen (Griffin) and I plan to transform it into the shortened VC-39 Grinen (Smile).
I chose this nickname because the painted model will be light blue and Grijen/Griyen/Grizen all mean Gray in Swedish.
VC will stand for Very Canard (foreplanes moved from the sides to the nose) or Việt Cộng (blamed in the West as winner over USA in 1973).

[Tophe]

The kit comes from the Chinese collection Mini Hobby Models. I have already started to take parts away from the sprues and glue them, to see the intended general layout:

[Pellson]

..and Grijen/Griyen/Grizen all mean Gray in Swedish.

I think you'll find that would be Dutch, not Swedish.. In Swedish, the colour "grey" translates to "graa", the "aa" sounding like the beginning of the word "awe" - if spoken in Queen's English and not in that colonial way.. 

"Grisen", however, translates to "The Pig". If that is of any help. A flatter radome, perhaps? 

[Tophe]

Maybe (or probably) you are right: my source is not at all a great personal knowledge but the automatic answer of Google Translate, that obviously made mistakes, as when I checked in the opposite direction, I did not find what was expected...
Thanks for the correction

[Pellson]

Translating and retranslating anything on Google Translate is a very enjoyable pastime, should you have a week or two.. 

[Tophe]

  yes very funny, absurd... (like "what if a translator was logical? no, impossible...")

[Rheged]

Translating and retranslating anything on Google Translate is a very enjoyable pastime, should you have a week or two.. 

Indeed, much amusement may be had by the whole family playing this game.    I suppose the 19th century equivalent was a phrase book English as She Is Spoke,  a 19th-century book that was intended as a Portuguese–English conversational guide , regarded as a classic source of unintentional humour in translation, because the "English" translations provided are usually inaccurate or incoherent. It is widely believed that the author  could not speak English, and used a French–English dictionary to translate an earlier Portuguese–French phrase book,  written by José da Fonseca.

Any phrase book that includes " to craunch a marmoset"  can't be all bad.

I've used this idea to keep a group of Venture Scouts (chaps 15 to 20 years old) amused on a very long, boring train journey. They invented  useful phrase book items such as:-

My aunt's bustle has been trapped in the lift doors

Why has that gentleman discharged his piece of ordnance?

Pray tell, are earthquakes common in this locality?

Your rhubarb plants would appear to have gone to seed


More data here:-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_as_She_Is_Spoke

[Tophe]

Interesting, thanks.

While, here, the butcher came and sawed/broke the bones, oh Lord... 
I started to add putty on the rear to make it solid again.

[Tophe]

I have added putty to fill the holes that were there to fix wings and forplanes at their RW position.
I will add putty also on the canopy/fuselage junction, rather bad (and losing transparency is not a problem for me as the canopy will be painted black).
I have not added putty again on the rear because I may truncate it even further: I have decided to decrease span (sorry PR19_Kit) and have it in a low position under the fuselage, so it may be a little more forward than the air intakes. I will see.

[Paper Kosmonaut]

..and Grijen/Griyen/Grizen all mean Gray in Swedish.

I think you'll find that would be Dutch, not Swedish..

Chiming in as a genuine Dutchie: Not so, I'm afraid. In Dutch Grey is "Grijs", pronounced "Ggggrice" (in which the Gggg is that typical Dutch guttural sound. An other related term would be "Grauw" (Graw), just like the German Grau. Grin or smile would be Grijns ("Ggggrynce") or Glimlach (literally 'shiny smile').

[Tophe]

Thanks to our expert in Dutch language!

This model is not progressing currently because I am busy reading/analysing an important book, far from models and aircraft, but concerning my son and school.

[Tophe]

The little Grinen is smilingly growing after sanding:

[Tophe]

About alternative names, I have asked Google translate "detect language" and both Pellson and Paper Kosmonaut are right, while disagreeing between each other!
Grijen and Grizen mean gray in a language from The Netherlands but not Dutch: Frisian (language or dialect?) from Friesland (in the north of The Netherlands)
And Griyen is from Haitian Creole.

[Tophe]

Building the VC-39 model is finished:

(just remains the paint step)

[Tophe]

"Grisen", however, translates to "The Pig". If that is of any help. A flatter radome, perhaps? 

I have hesitated between flat round nose and sharp one, then I choose the sharp one, more aesthetic according to my taste: