Pilot Replica's 1/48 scale Saab J29 Tunnan by Roland Sachsenhofer

Pilot Replica's 1/48 scale
Saab J29 Tunnan
"Yellow Mike" Gate Guard

by Roland Sachsenhofer

Saab J29 Tunnan

Hobby Boss' 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Vb Trop is available online from Squadron

Description

With this "flying barrel" I finish a very interesting project of three parallel built J29 "Tunnan" of the Swedish manufacturer Pilot Repplicas.

This J29 here beats something from the kind: as a "gate guard" this model may enjoy some special features, which mean new territory for me as a model builder.

But all in turn: the idea and the motivation for this production and the small "diorama" that frames it, comes from a dear friend who runs a model shop himself. Sometimes it is refreshing to be served new ideas and above all challenges!

While the J29 Tunnan triplet was taking off on the workbench, I was looking at a lot of pictures of more or less weathered museum airplanes. This is an interesting world! The topic "weathering" is very popular with model builders anyway, but this kind of aging has little to do with the traces of use caused by flying.

Years of exposure to all kinds of weather and the legacy of all kinds of living creatures can make aircraft surfaces cruel. Blind cockpit windows, corroded metal surfaces, flaked paint, permanent rain and water run-off traces, or interesting forms of bird droppings are just a few of the keywords that become important in this context.

In order to come close to an appropriate appearance, I have chosen the following procedures: on the one hand, "Yellow Mike" was first built and painted with the other two "tons".

Immediately after applying the decals, however, they were scratched or partially sanded. In order to simulate an adequate matting of the paint, I also breathed Alclad metal colors over the markings.

The "dayglow" tips were treated with diluted orange colour, which I had mixed with red, partly with yellow. Previously I had applied metal paint as the base, onto which a layer of quick-drying masking liquid had been dabbed. After completion I could simulate the chipping off of paint quite well by rubbing down the covered areas. The whole thing was then treated with fine sandpaper.

I used a comparable procedure for the representation of corroded aluminium on the fuselage and wing tops. Also here a primer in different metal colors was used as the first preparation of cover varnish, over which I drew matt aluminium in layers.

After-treatment in the form of a solid wash with pastel chalk and the water and drain traces applied with a dry brush completed the weathered appearance.

Another unusual thing was the masking of the cockpit glazing. Not as usual the clear parts, but their framing was masked reason was a light and irregular light brown tone, which should "blind" the glass parts to an appropriate extent.

In the cockpit itself I also worked hard with "weathering": in addition to matt or abraded paintwork I also designed a half-removed instrument panel, some of whose instruments I drilled out, loose or "torn out" wires complete the impression of a desolate condition.

Thumbnail panels:

The small diorama was made on a wooden plate, which was modelled with polystyrene and plaster. The little dog, which in some pictures raises a leg disrespectfully in order to make the project title "sic transit gloria mundi- so transforms the glory of the world" even more descriptive, comes from a 1:48 "dog set" of the company Legend.

Conclusion

By the way, the model machine was stationed at the first Staffel of the Jabogeschwader in Linz Hörsching in the 1960s and early 1970s - and can actually be admired today as a museum machine in the Luftfahrtmuseum Zeltweg.

This "Gate Guard" model has given me great pleasure through new challenges as well as through the quality of the model kit! Information about the history of the "Tunnan" and its use in Austrian services as well as about the really remarkable kit can be found in the two other reports about this triplet, which I refer to here.

If you are interested in the building process, please have a look here on Scalemates:

https://www.scalemates.com/profiles/mate.php?id=10148&p=albums&album=47887

As ever, remarks will be appreciated: ro.sachsenhofer@gmx.at

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