Marivox
Saab 105 / Sk.60 in 1/72 scale: building the Marivox kit
The Saab 105 was designed by the Swedish SAAB company in the early 1960s as a private venture. At the time for both military roles and civil use as 4 to 5 seat business jet.
The Swedish Air Force purchased the Saab 105 and used it for various roles, giving it the designation Sk 60. The Sk 60 entered service in 1967, and the Swedish Air Force bought a total of no less than 150 aircraft. The Sk.60A was for training, Sk.60B for light attack and the Sk.60C for reconnaissance. The Saab 105 was also flown by Swedish Air Force display team "Team 60".
Some 40 Saab 105 were exported to Austria, designated Saab 105öE with multiple roles. It also flew there with two display teams of the Austrian Air Force, the "Karo As" and "Silver Birds".
1970 advertisement
The only model of the Saab 105 I know off is from Marivox. This 1/72 kit released in 1996 is really short-run and contains many parts with gages.
The kit assembled here was the later 2002 Marivox release with an extra etched metal set. You do have the choice to make different versions including a pre-production aircraft.
The schemes are shown here...
The kit instructions with sketches are quite chaotic though and inconsistent. How to use etched metal parts is also vague and the parts are not always an improvement. I used only some etched metal parts. It is best to determine what you need looking at photos.
This is really a kit that is difficult to assemble.
It really requires subsequent passes with putty/ filler and sanding.
Again, a lot of putty and sanding is needed, particularly to get a flat top finish.
A grey base finish was airbrushed with Revell Aqua 75 steingrau to check for any flaws. Here we go again...
Again, filling and sanding...
The Austrian metal scheme was choosen with red and white stripes. The decals are in the kit and these are neat with many smaller stencils. For the color scheme, a number of different metal acrylic paints from Revell Aqua #90 Silber and #99 Aluminium were chosen which were airbrushed. I did not use a metallic system here as the model is very small.
The white stripes and red panels were masked and airbrushed.
Some panel details were drawn with a pencil rather than inscribing with a scriber to avoid damaging the puttied undersurfaces.
Completing the model with details was now done. The landing gear installment was bit unclear. The main gear doors were difficult to set. A pitot tube was also fitted made from a metal needle.
The cockpit was given some extra details and which antennas were needed was determined with photos.
The windscreen needed a bit white glue to close gaps.
Decalling was now done with the excellent kit decals.
When done, a gloss varnish coat was airbrushed. Anti-collision lights were painted. The canopy hood was set open and got some details inside. The model was ready.
AUSTRIA
[ area: 84,000 sq.km | capital: Wien (Vienna) | population: 8,9 million | GDP 45,000 Euro per capita nominal ]
The "Austrian Air Force", as part of the Austrian Armed Forces "Bundesheer", was founded in May 1955.
For info about the Austrian Air Force, look at the Typhoon page here....
From 1970, to replace the J-29 Tunnan, some 40 Saab 105öE light jets were purchased for multiple roles: reconnaissance, interception, training and ground attack. The operations were usually controlled from the various radar stations. The Saab 105öE served 50 years with the “Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte”, the last one retiring December 2020.
... situated at Zeltweg base...
References
- Air international, magazine Volume 15, pages 220.
- World Air Power journal, Volume 23, pages 40 - 45
Internet: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_105
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Created this page, June 11, 2021