Cockpit assembled and pilot sitting comfortably. (Albeit with no feet - I don't think this was strictly necessary in this case, but it often makes it easier to get his knees under the control panel)
The instructions call for Dark Ghost Grey on the upper surfaces of the aircraft. The grey decals should be darker than the paint. Looking at the shade of the decal sheet, the decals looked lighter than the paint appeared in the bottle. I decided to to a quick test, painting and varnishing a patch of the Dark Ghost Grey (from AK) and then using parts of the the anniversary decals I was not going to use to check. I tried this on the inside of the wing. The decals were lighter, which would look wrong. I tried another couple of greys and ended up with Vallejo Sky as being lighter than the decal, bu
Dry fitting the fuselage halves was a little concerning; I could align either the rear bulkhead or the instrument cowling, but not both at the same time. The halves were on different frames and not exactly the same length. There was a little flash on the main belly/inner wing panel that made it seem a tight fit. As it turned out, I needn't have worried. The cockpit misalignment was very minor and from the bulkhead back everything matched up fine. The belly panel fitted well, and even the gear doors sat flush in the bays once the tabs were removed.
I masked the canopy parts and sprayed the frames black before mounting them with Revell clear adhesive. The air intakes and outer wing sections also fitted well enough that I didn't bother with any filler. I did thin the leading edges of the splitter panels. The plastic is a little soft, so removing material is easy but care is needed to get a smooth finish.
The underwing inner and mid underwing pylons are swapped in the instructions. Luckily I noticed before the cement was completely set and could exchange them with no damage done.
After removing the masking the result was not good. Hardly any contrast between the upper and lower colours. I didn't really have much leeway to darken the upper grey or the decals wouldn't show properly.
I masked the nose again and sprayed over the AK Light Gull Grey with a thin coat of Vallejo Insignia White. I also found some AK Light Ghost Grey and this appeared to be almost identical to the Vallejo Sky Grey, but with better coverage. Messing about with these two paints I was able to increase the contrast between the 'upper' and 'lower' colours.
Fully loaded. The fuel tank blocks the pylon opposite the gun. On closer inspection this was entirely my fault: I've positioned the pylon too far inboard. It should be under the starboard intake and not corresponding to the cannon.
Normally I feel adding decals brings a model to life, but these were so low contrast that this effect was lacking. The tail number came from combining figures from the Czech and Hungarian versions as I didn't want to use the large black fin decal.
The Gripen is a no nonsense, practical fighter aeroplane that happens to look stunning. Its air show performances are impressive, but it is the low maintenance and quick turnaround dispersed operation from highways that are really clever. The latest versions are designed to make the actual flying as easy as possible, allowing the pilot to concentrate on the mission goals. I lived in Sweden for a short time and got to both visit the Gripen production line and experience the rather surreal feeling you get when a deserted road you are driving on suddenly widens into a multi-lane highway for no readily apparent reason.
When I decided it was time to 'do' a Gripen the cheapest price I could find was for the starter kit, complete with paints. I liked this idea as it would have ensured the 'right' grey. When my order arrived, it was actually the standard kit, so I got the cheaper price but was on my own for the paint. I'll do the plane in flight, in standard Swedish livery, ignoring the Swedish Airforce anniversary scheme. I bought a couple of Gripen pilots, so one of them will be used. Overall it's a pretty straightforward kit with a simple scheme so I'm hoping for a quick build.