saab j-39 gripen italeri revell

**Saab J-39 Gripen**
Italeri Saab Gripen (Revell) Scale: 1/72 Kitno. #008 This new Italeri Gripen kit has about 80 parts in the usual Italeri style with good plastic and clear instructions. The surface details are quite accurate and the dimensions are correct. The kit should not be confused with the very old Revell kit of the Gripen, released way back in the nineties. This was very inaccurate. The new kit fits OK, but when the following is observed when doing the assembly, it will reduce work later on: - The nosebay and cockpit tub must be carefully centered in the forward fuselage as otherwise they will not be symmetric. - The wings are best glued first to the fuselage left and right part, so do not cement the lower wing part yet. Carefully trim the upper winghalves with sandpaper and try to get a good fit. This will prevent a large gap later between the upper wings and fuselage.	(includes some notes on the TOPGUN kit) ... . Italeri kit no. 008 parts..
- The intake splitterplate #21A on the right side has two edges moulded on, the left one #23A not. Slightly remove some material from the edges of #21A and add two small edges on #23A. This will enable you to get a good fit of the intakes on the fuselage. - The nose cone requires filling with ballast and carefully assure correct assembly; up and down are different here. Also add the nosepitot, fill and sand. - All the pitot tubes are best cut-off and replaced by metall needles. Finally, the kit requires slight amounts of filler at especially the intakes, the lower fuselage-wing joints and the fin to get it all right. The kit comes with a good set of usefull stores.	. lower area putty applied....
The kit also has been issued by Revell with kitnumber 4611, but both are still single seaters. The only difference are the decals. Whereas Italeri has the original blue Swedish roundels as fitted to the first Gripens, the Revell kit has not. Both kits also supply the toned down black roundels, but the diameters of roundels in the Italeri kit are not the correct size and shape, contrary to the correct Revell one's. Overall, nice kits to built and not be to missed by Swedish AF enthousiasts.	decals
Next step
The Gripen model being painted and ready to accept the decals. Colors used were Humbrol Hu34 (about FS 36373) for the lower areas and Hu156 (FS36173) for the rest (upper). Masking was done with some tape. The reference colorcharts of Urban Fredricson of IPMS Sweden were used.	A short note on the TOPGUN resin kit: TopGun Gripen Dual (two seater) Scale 1/72 Resin Kit no #43 The resin Gripen kit issued by TopGun (kitno #43) in 1/72 provides a Dual two seater kit, and the most noticeable differences between this kit and the Italeri/Revell injection kit offering are : - length of the tailcone; the resin kit being (incorrectly) not long enough (5mm). - The shape of the aircooling exhausts aft of the canopy; - The flap actuator fairings of the innerflap are to small - The intake shape needs correction. - The missile launchrails are not long enough at the rear and miss the position lights - The details on the kit as not as good as for the injection kit. Cross-kitting it with the Italeri/Revell kit is very difficult as the part breakdown is very different. It is therefore recommended to correct theresin kit in detail and to built it on its own. (information provided by Bas Damen)
The model is now complete. The excellent decals as provided in the kit of a service aircarft are used. the completed model, nice to have in the collection... NOTE: Revell / Italeri also issued a dual version of the Gripen later on, using the same basic kit
References: - Air international vol 33, page 224 , Vol 44, page 072 - Flight international 1990, number 4232, page 90 and... http://www.xs4all.nl/~basdamen/gripen/Gripen.html. -
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