OK, so, the wrap-up. Italeri’s 1/72 kit…
(this was originally PLANNED to be a second contribution to the Saab 75th Anniversary GB, but got pushed to the side as other kits came into play)
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/29/t/147330.aspx?sort=ASC&pi240=1
Panel lines were a little inconsistent depth-wise, any ejector-pin marks were in spots that were easy to fix or un-noticeable. REALLY weird & large gap on the tail of all places, due to how they had broken down the fuselage halves, needed a good deal of putty + CA + sanding. No idea what the thinking was there. The canopy was too wide at the back, not sure how I should have handled this as that area of the fuselage has some narrow tolerances that would have made filling impossible. SO, it does have some issues, but builds up alright otherwise. Comes with a full set of ordnance, I didn’t use it all.
Three gray-over-gray options are supplied on the decal sheet. Two have brightly-coloured markings and one of those has some bright yellow wing-walk striping. I opted for the low-viz markings, saving the coloured digits etc for potential use on some of the older Heller kits I have in the stash. The decals themselves went down fine & included quite a few small stencils.
Interior bits and weapons were painted with Humbrol enamels. Landing gear were hand-painted with Vallejo acrylics as a coverage test. Camo colours were… two rattlecans of Testors enamels that I wanted to get rid of. [whstl]
If I did another one… I’d spend some more time in the cockpit & leave the canopy open, and likely deflect the forward canards to add some interest. The wheel hubs are a BUGGER to deal with, not much definition at the actual tyre, and really heavy detail on the hub. And the afterburner can… should be rebuilt using Arizona Tea Tin by someone more talented than I, or replaced with resin?
