My Build: Hasegawa 1/72 Viggen natural metal



Like other aircraft manufacturers, SAAB does not build its fighter 100% from scratch. They made ingenious fighter design, integrating parts from their own production and other manufacturers. This way they can make highly effective fighter in efficient and timely manner. One of their fighter, Viggen, has performed an incredible feat: Lock on a Mach 3 SR-71.

Viggen is clearly not capable of reaching Mach 3, so tail pursuit is not an option. Instead Sweden successfully integrate Viggen into their air defense network. An effective air defense system that can detect, track, and predict Mach 3 SR-71 flight path. Viggen launched at a specific timing, perform precise climbing to intercept SR-71 head on. SR-71 travelling at Mach 3 and Viggen at about Mach 2, so their relative speed was about Mach 5. At this speed, there are very thin margin for error. Interception must be done in precise timing and positioning. And yet Viggen (integrated to advanced air defense network) succeeded.

This incredible background made me eager to build Viggen kit. The problem is Viggen kit quite rare. I have seen good Academy 1/144 Viggen, but that amazing little kit is not available here again. Other alternative was Tarangus 1/48 with superb detail, available, but unfortunately too expensive for me. And suddenly a friend sent me Hasegawa 1/72 Viggen, a rare kit, thank you very much. And the best way to thank him is by building this Hasegawa 1/72 Viggen as best as I could.


Re-scribe raised panel line.
Sewing needle mounted on in vise

This Viggen is an old Hasegawa release, so the panel line still raised, which give a huge challenge. I already build a raised kit before, Italeri 1/72 Tomcat. In 1/72 Tomcat the raised panel can be matched with grey paint scheme. But this Viggen is using natural metal scheme, and box art photo clearly shows distinct panel line. Natural metal paint scheme need good surface prep. A lot of raised panel line may be accidentally erased. So it will be better if I re-scribe the panel lines.

Lucky for me, the decision to re-scribe panel came early. Fuselage and wing halves can be put on solid flat surface for easier straight scribing. I conduct scribing per line in four steps:

1.       Erase raised line with coarse sandpaper. I use 400 grit paper, finer grit will erase line completely. Raised panel does not erased completely with 400 grit, but still leave faint line to guide next scribing step.
2.       Lightly score guide line with hobby knife. Carefully use light pressure to make as straight as possible line. I made a lot of error because of applying too much force. Don’t worry, error can be corrected with a drop of superglue and light sanding.
3.       Make line bolder using sewing needle. I use ordinary (cheap) sewing needle mounted in pin vise to give ergonomic handling. Needle point is flexible enough to follow lightly scored guide line from step 2. Use light pressure, let the needle tip dance. Perform multiple passes with needle to achieve desired panel thickness.
4.       The line looks good, but the edge is a bit rough. I use fine sandpaper (800-1000 grit) to give light polish. Then I drop a bit of super thin cement. The cement will follow the line and lightly dissolves rough edges. The result is fine recessed panel line. Do not use too many glue, they are expensive ho ho, and also it will damage the plastic surface. A tiny drop per line is sufficient. And also let the cement cure completely before touch.

With this method I managed to re-scribe most of the line. But I still fail to re-scribe small circular details in fuselage bottom.

Exhaust area

Sadly Hasegawa does not put any turbine face detail, only flat panel. I don’t confident enough to scratch build turbine face. On the other side, the reverser tube is quite deep. So I will just simply paint it black. Hopefully it still look quite decent for all angle except dead 6’clock. 
View from dead 6 o clock

A detail that can be fixed by me is thrust reverser slot. Hasegawa molded the three circular slot closed. But it can be easily opened using back side of a hobby knife blade. Using the sharp side will bury the tip too deep. The back side (not sharp) will scrape plastic lightly, easier to make curved scraping. Perform multiple light passes to achieve correct slot shape. Looks hard, but it’s quite easy, patience is the key.
Reverser before and after
Reverser slot opened
Painted reverser area

Main part Assembly

This old Hasegawa surely need a lot of detail modification, but all main part can be assembled with minimum gap. Viggen is a huge fighter, there are a lot of area to be glued. I use Tamiya extra thin cement to achieve good join. The gluing process performed in small steps. Clamp a small section, drop a little bit extra thin cement to the join, let it seep through, hold till cured, then move to next section. Thin glue will seep into narrow gap, creating smooth and strong join.

Pitot tube

Viggen has two pitot tubes: in nose cone and top of the tail fin. This tube is too thin to be molded using plastic in 1/72 scale. The most accurate solution is using aftermarket metal part, but it’s quite expensive and not readily available. Sewing needle can be used as cheap alternative. Even though its shape is not 100% accurate, it’s sharper and looks better than the original plastic part.
Pitot tube modification process
Gluing needle directly into plastic by using butt join is not a good idea, too fragile. It’s better to drill out small hole on the pitot attachment point. Pin vise and some sub-milimeter drill bit is a valuable investment. Needle can be inserted snuggly into drilled hole then locked with a drop of superglue. This will yield a very strong join.
Modified pitot tube

Canard Join

I often break canard join when assembling delta-canard fighter. So with this kit I want to prevent that. I reinforce the join with 0,35mm copper wire. It inserted with careful drilling into intake side and the most difficult the canard narrow side. When performed correctly, this will yield strong join than can withstand my rough handling in next assembly steps.
Canard join reinforcement

Canopy masking

I cut thin strips of masking tape about 1 mm wide to mask frame borders. Thin tape will conform easily to canopy contour, forms consistent and tight seal. It can also be easily cut and trimmed using hobby knife without damaging underneath clear part. Wooden toothpick or cocktail stick can be used to burnish the tape, make an even tighter seal. Then simply use patches of wider tape to seal off center area.

Canopy masking

Dry fitting shows that the canopy fits perfectly to fuselage. No need to attach canopy now. It can be painted separately and glued later with smooth join.  

Painting

Alclad might be considered as the best paint for multi shade natural metal plane such as this Viggen. But I only have Tamiya acrylics on hand, and I determined to make the most of it. It may not as good as Alclad, but I will try to make it look decent.

I don’t spray color layer directly into plastic. I use Tamiya spray can primer. This primer is simple to apply and yield smooth layer. Primer layer reveal surface imperfections that will be corrected by light sanding to ensure good surface condition.
Home made compressor, low pressure but have steady air pressure and incredibly silent

Metallic color looks good when applied over gloss black. The next step is applying few layer of Tamiya Acrylics gloss black to achieve smooth black surface.
My cheap but trusty airbrush

Viggen panels have slightly different metallic shade. I tried to simulate this by applying overall XF-16 flat aluminum then shift each panel shade using other colors. Tamiya metallic color sometimes hard to spray. But I have Jayjay hobby thinner, a local brand that a little bit stronger. I mix XF-16 with a lot of Jayjay Thinner in an empty paint bottle. Shake it thoroughly and let it sit for a couple days. The thinner will dissolve the paint evenly, yielding a very thin paint that can be applied easily using low pressure airbrush. I apply multiple light coats to achieve smooth aluminum color.

The color will be shifted per panel by applying light coat of other color. The most accurate way is to use accurate Alclad colors, but again I only have a few Tamiya Acrylics. A lot of mixing and guessing is needed here. I’m not aiming for accurate color, just aim to make it look decent. I spray color first to a plastic spoon that has been treated like the model (primer-gloss black-flat aluminum) first to see the result. Then comparing the color with box art photo to get approximate shade.

I use masking tape to create solid color demarcation between panels. Then use free hand airbrushing to create random color variation. A tedious and long process, but it’s rewarding when finished. I use this method because I only have cheap airbrush pen. I’m saving money to purchase better airbrush so that I can explore more on free hand airbrushing and reduce masking tape dependency.
Panel shade variation


Decal

I want to apply minimum layers above metallic paint. And after examination, the surface is smooth enough to apply decal without clear coat. Lucky for me, the decal performs very well and released from backing paper intact. Decal applied with Mr. Mark Setter and soften with Mr. Mark Softer.
This old Hasegawa kit has a good decal


Clear gloss

Then the model is coated with Tamiya Acrylic X-22 clear gloss to protect from next weathering layers. In the past, I used Tamiya spray can clear gloss. But it turns out to be lacquer and alter underneath acrylic paint slightly. Acrylic X-22 seems to be more compatible with underneath acrylic color layer, no color shifting/darkening occurs.

Wash

For this kit, I will experiment with a technique shared by a FB friend. Usually I choose between water or oil based wash. For this kit I will use both. Water and oil do not mix, they get together in a random way. I will use this property.

Washing is done per small area to attain better control. First I apply oil based wash mixed from oil paint and suitable thinner. Oil wash is applied by small brush and it will flow nicely on panel line. Then the excess wash is swabbed with cotton bud on certain direction. Then I immediately apply water based wash mixed from IPA and soft pastel powder. This water based wash is slightly lighter colored than oil wash. Apply with brush and let it mixed with oil wash in interesting manner. The result is random shadow/dirty effect.
Oil and water wash join force

Landing gear enhancement

It’s better to let the wash cure completely before spraying final flat coat. Oil need quite long time to cure. Then it’s time for other detailing such as landing gear. As a big plane, Viggen need beefy landing gear. Its main landing gear have to wheel in bogies. Hasegawa provide good basic shape, but they don’t provide details such as few struts and brake line. 0.3 And 0.6mm copper wire comes in handy for this situation. Just need to drill attachment points and lock with superglue.
Add some struts to landing gear

Being an old kit, Hasegawa mold wheels in old style: one piece. The problem is tire colored black and center is metal color, and the color demarcation is sharp. My hand is not steady enough to paint perfect circle for all six wheels. I use masking tape as a solution. But there are problem to cut perfect circular mask, a problem that turns out to be simple to solve, even with my shaky hand.

First I spray wheel overall black. Wait till fully cured then cover with wide masking tape. Trace tire border line with wooden toothpick. The tire demarcation line will soon be clearly visible and tape stick hard to the wheel. Then use sewing needle to retrace the border. Perform multiple light passes and the perfect circular mask will be easily detached. Then the wheel center can be easily painted with proper color.

Centerline drop tank

This Viggen equipped with centerline drop tank. The color also natural metal. To achieve slightly different sheen, I use RJ chrome silver spray can. This is an easy way to get chrome color. Just spray directly, a little bit thick layer compared to using airbrush. Just to make sure that painted part not touched or contaminated by dust. Leave it for a couple day, the paint will self leveling, resulting a good chrome layer.

Clear flat

Time to make surface flat again. I use Tamiya acrylics clear flat as a basis, mixed with some sky grey and flat white. Spray a couple thin coat to achieve good result.

Flat color is ready to receive final pigment weathering. I only applied mixture of black and brown color to simulate smoke effect on exhaust area. I don’t use expensive product, just use powder of cheap Reeves soft pastel. This pastel only consists of generic colors that need mixing to get proper shade. The pastel powder can be applied directly to the model using cotton bud. The result is slightly dirty smoke effect.
Slightly flat metallic color

Ejection seat

After all this steps, it’s time to tackle the hardest challenge: the ejection seat. It’s hard because Hasegawa seat looks like an IKEA sofa. I know, Viggen from Sweden, so does IKEA, and that sofa looks comfy. But it means to be placed on high performance multi role jet fighter, not in someone’s living room. The easiest and most accurate way is to use aftermarket part. But I determined to build this kit out of the box using scratch enhancement, so I will try to modify kit part.

I soon regret my decision after browsing actual photo of Viggen seat. It have very complex shape compared to plain kit part. I tried to trim a head rest a little bit, make it less comfortable, but a little bit more suitable for a jet cockpit. And I make a simple seat belt using masking tape. This is my first experiment using masking tape as seat belt. And it turns out to be simple and quite effective. Look a little bit decent from outside closed canopy.

Canopy attachment

I don’t attach canopy using plastic cement or superglue. I use ordinary white glue instead. Yes it’s the ordinary white glue used for paper, cardboard, or wood. I use the yellow bottle because it’s easier to store without contamination. Apply thin layer of glue using toothpick (tooth pick is one of the most useful modeling tool) and position canopy in place. The glue need some time to cure, so I can perform small final position adjustment. Excess glue can be easily cleaned using toothpick. Wood glue dries in transparent color, can be useful as thin gap filler, resulting a good canopy join. Wood glue also dried hard enough to hold canopy in place.

And the moment of truth, the moment that make or break aircraft model: removal of canopy masking. The mask carefully released using tweezers and toothpick. And I’m very grateful that the mask works perfectly. No paint seep into clear area, canopy framing painted sharply.
At first I doubt about the single piece canopy. Not like more modern kits that have separate canopy and windscreen. This single piece canopy cannot be posed open without risky surgery. But it turns out to be very beautiful in closed configuration. Better than all of my previous more modern split canopy kit in closed configuration. Bravo for Hasegawa.

Anti-ship missile

At this point, the Viggen looks good, and I should stop here. Instruction sheet suggest that this specific Viggen only carries centerline tank. It looks good and elegant that way. But Hasegawa seduce me with a pair of very cool looking anti-ship missiles. I forget the name, but it a generation before anti-ship missile that Gripen used to carry. The missile’s fuselage and front fins looks similar, but it have a cool looking large wing with wingtips. Then I face with dilemma between building accurate model or cool looking one.
And I choose the cool one.

After careful examination, the fuselage looks good and the wing is thin enough. But front fin look terrible, too thick and have non uniform shape. Correcting all 8 fins (4 fins for each missile) to have uniform and thin shape is beyond my current capability. The viable solution for me is to replace all fins with thinner material.

First thing comes into my mind is using pla-plate, but I don’t have it. The other solution is using left over PE fret from my JMSDF Hayabusha build. But not enough flat PE plate available. Buying copper plate is also out of option. Then I saw a disposable plastic plate. The ones that my wife use when inviting a lot of her friends home, no need to wash, just throw it away after use, a very not eco-friendly lifestyle. Therefore I choose scale model hobby, a peaceful solitary life. No need to socialize and use a lot of disposable plastic plate ho ho ho. Back to topic. The plastic plate material turns out to be thin and flexible. After a simple testing, it can also be glued with superglue. Now that’s what I call a scratch building material. Turning other’s trash into my treasure.

The step was simple. First measure one fin dimension using caliper. Then draw fin shape using pencil in the plate, all 8 of them. The plate is thin enough, easy to cut using hobby knife, a ruler, and cutting mat. Then trim off kit fin and make a quite deep slot in the fin attachment area using hobby knife. The plastic plate fin fit snuggly into the slot and locked with a drop of superglue. This way I can have 8 uniform, thin, and strong fins easily. After priming with Tamiya spray can, the home made fin blended nicely to the missile body.

This missile has quite complex paint scheme. Black nose and tail, grey fins and wings, and white center body. I use masking to achieve sharp color demarcation.
my Viggen load out: centerline tank and improper for this specific plane but cool looking anti ship missile


Final notes.

Hasegawa 1/72 Viggen is an old kit that lacks details of more modern kit. But it is still a Hasegawa. Treated with respect, it will turn into a good model.

This build definitely not perfect. I failed to re-scribe a few circular detail in the bottom. No to mention a lot of slightly (or huge) inaccurate scribing. I also fail to notice and correct the absence of dogtooth in the wing.

But overall I like this Hasegawa Viggen. It challenges me to improve my skills. A lot of difficulty arise, but also a lot of smart solution learned. Not a shake-n-bake kit. But definitely recommended for any modeler that eager to learn.
 
Mean looking Swedish huge fighter
 


with his younger brother: Gripen

psst little bro, cover my six while I slam that ship





Tidak ada komentar:

Posting Komentar