DONE @p.3 +++ 1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ‚B 9‘; F6 Västgöta flygflottilj, 1938

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, the last one before I start with work for the "Re-engined" GB.

The kit and its assembly:
This purely fictional Swedish dive bomber was inspired by reading about Flygvapnet's pre-WWII trials with dive bombing tactics and the unsuited aircraft fleet for this task. When I found a Hasegawa SOC Seagull floatplane in The Stash™ and looks at the aircraft's profile, I thought that it could be converted into a two-seat monoplane – what would require massive changes, though.
However, I liked the SOC's boxy and rustic look, esp. the fuselage, and from this starting point other ingredients/donors were integrated. Work started with the tail. Originally, I wanted to retain the SOCs fin and stabilizer, but eventually found them oversized for a land-based airplane. In the scrap box I found a leftover fin from an Academy P-47, and it turned out to be a very good, smaller alternative, with the benefit that it visually lengthened the rear fuselage. The stabilizers were replaced with leftover parts from a NOVO Supermarine Attacker – an unlikely choice, but their size was good, they blended well into the overall lines of the aircraft, and they helped to stabilize the fin donor. Blending the new parts into to SOC's hull required massive PSR, though.


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The wings were also not an easy choice, and initially I planned with a retractable landing gear. I eventually settled on the outer wings (just outside of the gullwing kink) from an MPM Ju 87 B, because of their shape and the archaic "double wings" that would complement the SOC's rustic fuselage. However, at this point I refrained from the retractable landing gear and instead went for a fixed spatted alternative, left over from an Airfix Hs 123, which would round up the aircraft's somewhat vintage look. Because the wheels were missing, I inserted two Matchbox MiG-21 wheels (which were left over in the spares bin from two different kits, though). The tail wheel came from an Academy Fw 190.


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Cowling and engine inside (thankfully a 9-cylinder radial that could pose as a Mercury) were taken OOB, just the original two-blade propeller was replaced with a more appropriate three-blade alternative, IIRC from a Hobby Boss Grumman F4F, outfitted with a spinner for a different look.
The ventral 250 kg bomb came from a Matchbox Ju 87, the swing arms are Fw 189 landing gear parts. Additional underwing pylons came from an Intech P-51, outfitted with 50 kg bombs of uncertain origin (they look as if coming from an old Hasegawa kit). The machine gun fairings on the wings' leading edges were created with styrene rod material.


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[kitbasher]

Looking Japanese Army or Navy to me!

[Old Wombat]

Glad it's Swedish! Those Matchbox chocolate wings would melt in a more tropical climate.    

[PR19_Kit]

A spare parts special! 

[zenrat]

Thought I recognised that fuselage.

 

[Pellson]

Lovely!  Swedish Std green over light blue, or what are we looking at? Do note that at that timeframe (prewar) you'll be looking at nonrimmed blue roundels with crowns, white tactical numbers on cowling and fin, and black wing no's by the fuselage roundel.

[loupgarou]

Very good mix of unlikely parts.
I admire your touch in making various items fit together well and resulting in a believable plane.

[Wardukw]

Lou is right..if I hadn't seen the  build I would have thought it was real ..bloody nice stuff Thomas 👍 😄

[Dizzyfugu]

Lovely!  Swedish Std green over light blue, or what are we looking at? Do note that at that timeframe (prewar) you'll be looking at nonrimmed blue roundels with crowns, white tactical numbers on cowling and fin, and black wing no's by the fuselage roundel.

The expert's voice! And this is what the livery looks like. 

Painting and markings:
I gave the B 9 a camouflage that was carried by some Flygvapnet aircraft in the late Thirties, primarily by fighters imported from the United States but also some bombers like the B 3 (Ju 86). The IMHO quite attractive scheme consists on the upper surfaces of greenish-yellow zinc chromate primer (Humbrol 81, FS 33481), on top of which a dense net of fine dark green wriggles (supposed to be FS 34079, but I rather used Humbrol 163, RAF Dark Green, because it is more subdued) was manually applied with a thin brush, so that the primer would still shine through, resulting in a mottled camouflage. On the real aircraft, this was sealed with a protective clear lacquer to which 5% of the dark green had been added, and I copied this procedure on the model, too, using semi-gloss acrylic varnish with a bit of Revell 46 added. The spatted landing gear was painted with the upper camouflage, too.


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The undersides were painted with Humbrol 87 (Steel Grey), to come close to the original blue-grey tone, which is supposed to be FS 35190 on this type of camouflage. The tone is quite dark, almost like RAF PRU Blue.
The interior was painted – using a Saab J 21 cockpit as benchmark – in a dark greenish grey (RAL 7009). The model received the usual light black ink washing and some post-panel shading on the lower surfaces, because this effect would hardly be recognizable on the highly fragmented upper surface.

The markings are reflecting Flygvapnet's m/37 regulations, from the direct pre-WWII era when the roundels had turned from black on white to yellow on blue but still lacked the yellow edge around the roundel for more contrast. F6 Västgöta flygflottilj was chosen because it was a dive bomber unit in the late Thirties, and the individual aircraft code (consisting of large white two-digit numbers) was added with the fin and the front of the fuselage. "27" would indicate an aircraft of the unit's 2nd division, which normally had blue as a standardized color code, incorporated through the blue bands on the spats and the small "2nd div." tag on the rudder (from a contemporary F8 Swedish Gladiator). Roundels and codes came from an SBS Models sheet, even though they belong to various aircraft types. Everything was finally sealed with matt acrylic varnish.


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Svenska Aero SA-16 ,B 9'; aircraft '27 of the Swedish Air Force F6 Västgöta flygflottilj (Västgöta Wing) 2nd division; Karlsborg, late 1938 (What-if/kit bash) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The B 9 has almost been finished by now, just some finishing touches (pistion lights, wire antenne, cleaning the windows) to be done. 

[Wardukw]

Awesome dude 👏 😎 👍

[Pellson]

Magnificent!! 
This scheme, while never applied on any Ju-86, was actually a result of the procurement of Italian aircraft, namely the Fiat CR.42 and Caproni Ca 313. Both these types wore the camouflage you've used, and they were delivered with a fair amount of paint as well, giving the RSwAF the opportunity to paint Ali a few other types, mainly the Republic-Severskies (J9) of the F8 Wing at Barkarby, just NW of the Swedish capital.

Keeping the painting in which the aircraft was delivered was not uncommon when the planes in question arrived overhauled and ready. That was the case also with the Ju 86's that flew for a couple of years in their original German factory camouflage.

However, types arriving unpainted or in need of overhaul, such as the British Gloster Gadiator (J8), the American Northrop divebomber (B5) and the two German Heinkel seaplanes, He 114 (S12) and He 115 (T2), respectively, were painted in the standard Swedish green over blue grey during periodic overhaul.

For accurate colour call-outs, you've already seen Mr Fredriksson amazing work at the Swedish IPMS homepage, I assume?

https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/urbans-color-reference-charts-part-i/urbans-colour-reference-charts-sweden/

[SPINNERS]

Spat's lovely 

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, at least one B 3 (Ju 86) was painted in this fashion, most had the RLM color scheme of German origin, AFAIK reproduced later with local paints.
The aircraft of Italian origin had AFAIK Italian three-tone camoufage (sand, green, brown), but this was different from the style on my B 9, which mimics the scheme that was used on some aircraft of American  origin. Looks similar to the Italian scheme, but is quite different. I took the B 3 as an "excuse" to apply the American scheme on the B 9, too, even though it would in real life propably received the simple all-green/grey livery (like the Gladiators) as suggested, would be the natiral choice (but quite boring  ).

[Pellson]

Well, at least one B 3 (Ju 86) was painted in this fashion,..

Cool! I wasn't aware. Do you have pics?

The aircraft of Italian origin had AFAIK Italian three-tone camoufage (sand, green, brown), but this was different from the style on my B 9, which mimics the scheme that was used on some aircraft of American  origin.

Have a look at Mr Fredrikssons page. He lists the different types.
As you will see, the Fiat and the Reggiane Re2000 (J20) lacked the redbrown mottle, rather having only green over sand, as did the American Republic-Seversky. Also, this matches the aircraft displayed at the RSwAF museum.

As for your choice - I'm all for! The standard green over bluegrey is boring indeed! And the model is great!

[Dizzyfugu]

Cool! I wasn't aware. Do you have pics?

Found it in a book, contemporary b/w and a profile based on that picture. Must check if I can scan/upload it.
I am aware of the IPMS Stockholm paints list, but it does not mention the "special" paint scheme that was e. g. used on the J 9/P-35s, the benchmark for the B 9: