Pellsons Perceivings

[Pellson]

Sounds like a plan! 

Soviet aircraft aren't my thing, they just look big & ugly, to me - trying to achieve with brute force & gracelessness what the West was doing with sophistication & elegance.

I've always found the Soviet Cold War equipment fascinating. It might come from the rather acute proximity we Scandinavians felt during the time - I have seen submarines where they shouldn't be with my own eyes, and the ve spoken to enough pilots and ground controllers to know how many intercepts we pursued.

Also, from an aesthetic standpoint, the Soviet design was always different. Brutish, maybe, but the neverendingly long, ogival noses were fascinating. They oozed of speed! And, obviously, the secrecy. I still remember when my dad came home with that first Hasegawa MiG-25 Foxbat A. It just looked like nothing else!

Well. Most painting isn't sorted and they did get a bit dirty. Maybe too dirty. Then again - you don't have time to wash things too thoroughly in war, do you? So it'll be fine.
Tomorrow is a rather busy day, though, so the final loadout painting will have to wait a little. And I'm willing to bet that I'll find something else that I've forgotten before hanging missiles. I seem to always do. 

Oh! I've hung the tanks under the Lansen and it turned out rather ok. That meant the final antenna is on, just waiting for a dab of paint. Progress!

[zenrat]

Obviously, in real life, all soviet interceptors up to the Flogger we're finished unpainted, such as this Yak-28P, but I'm not really fond of NMF, so that's not for me. But the shot is nice.

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Well. I'll just have to make a decision, it seems.

I find the rivet/panel lines on that fuselage fascinating for some reason

The designers were heavilly influenced by late fifties Airfix...

[NARSES2]

    

[Captain Canada]

Lots of work going on here ! Glad to hear you got thing organized a bit better. Defo something most of us struggle with.

[Pellson]

Some small progress, despite a somewhat crowded week.

I've added some layers of white paint to those Soviet air-to-air missiles. Some of them are probably ready for detail painting, i.e. seekers/radomes, but others need more white. I hate white...

Also, I've thought quite a bit on the Swedish missile armament. As a matter of fact, Swedish SAAB Bofors Dynamics did buy the rights to the the BAe Skyflash missile for the JA37 project already in 1978. Almost immediately, development projects were initiated aiming to improve the missile, and in the end, these developments resulted in the Meteor missile, albeit obviously after several joint ventures etc with other European defence companies. However, on the way there, several different concepts and prototypes were produced, among them a rather simple conversation to active radar homing, basically the Active Skyflash/Skyflash 90, another one with ARH and a Swedish ramjet engine and later, easing towards the Meteor.

In real life, AIM-120B AMRAAM's were procured as a stopgap measure mainly for the JAS39 Gripens, but also integrated on some JA37 Viggens, in anticipation of the Meteor, but if some Skyflash development would have resulted in a working missile, then it's likely the AIM-120 buy would have been deferred, and the Skyflash derivative would have been the main weapon for the Viggen interceptor as well as for early Gripens, meaning that in my Whif timeline, the ARH Skyflash would have been in service well into the early 2000's.

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Those two Skyflash mid steps are interesting also as the first basically looks exactly like a standard Skyflash and the second is a Skyflash with jet intakes, so both are buildable.
While I likely will be too lazy to add jet intakes to missiles enough for all the Drakens plus the Lansen and that Hunter (16 missiles!), just painting them up and writing something to give them performance as per the latest AIM-7P Sparrows, but with active homing seeker, that would do, I think.

We'll see. For the time being, I've decided to use ARH Skyflashes on at least the older three Drakens and the Lansen, leaving the Mod 4 Drakens for now, but as the Meteor wasn't fielded until ca 2015, it's not unlikely the J35M's will get Skyflashes too.

In the meantime, I've revisited the Bloodhound SAM. It was supposed to be painted in the ubiquitous Swedish 325M olive green, but the Humbrol 155 I first tried was a bit too yellow. Having done quite some research without any solid result, it dawned on me that I actually do have an old military piece of kit painted in that colour, so I brought a number of tins outside, matching them against that old kit, and then chose to try the Humbrol 102. And I think it went quite well.

These shots from 1977 show an exercise where an entire missile squadron is deploying to a wartime base facility. Plenty of 325M olive green, as can be seen, but also some cool information on how they did things back in the day, when these missiles were quite potent weapons.

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This is a live missile on its transport trailer. A missile sqn brought at least six of these, three on trailers and three on lorries equipped with lifting cranes.

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And this is a live missile but fitted with dud boosters, i.e a non-fireable missile, on its ramp. Note the brighter green colour on the boosters, marking them blind.

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Having repainted the Bloodhound and then brought that out to compare against that old piece of kit, it actually looks great. And that's really progress, so now I've repainted a number of SAAB Rb05 missiles for my strike Lansen, and I also know how to paint some of the RSwAF communication aircraft I'm planning. Not bad for a days fiddling.

The Easter will, as usual, be spent with the Danish part of the family, so no modelling. However, it's always a really nice change from everyday life, so I'll manage. Rather well, even. 

[NARSES2]

Interesting shots of the Bloodhound 

[Pellson]

Enduring storm Dave in Denmark, and it's fine. Windy, sure, but fine.

Worse are the endless gateway issues with this site. It shouldn't really be this annoying, but it is. I really do enjoy surfing around here, reading about your projects, tools and troubles, and also posting a bit of my own. Being locked out from that, this refuge on the web, is bothering me more than I'd like to admit.

Well. Hopefully it'll get sorted eventually. It shouldn't be but a rather easy technical issue from experience. I just hope it's sooner than later. 

[Pellson]

At home again after having driven through the southernmost third of Scandinavia in the aftermath of storm Dave. Quite a few toppled trees, but most of them were properly cleared off the roads so no worries to speak about. That said, there were quite a few accidents on main roads, apparently, but as we mostly like to go back roads where possible, we weren't affected.

Having brought yet another book in the series about the RSwAF during the Cold War, this time on air transport matters, I discovered yet another few fascinating facts about the operations back then. Among other things, quite a few Curtis's C-46 Commandos were to me mobilised into service as late as during the mid 1960's, and there were debates whether to try to paint those at least topside with 325M olive green and add roundels. They were big, slow and rather easy to spot from afar when flying low in civilian schemes. Now - I do have at least two Williams Brothers C-46's in my Stash^TM..

Also, even when having moved on to jet airliners in the 1970's, the tactical modus was still to fly low, mostly below 1000ft/300m, and usually in pairs to minimise the ATC load per transported unit. And this was rather frequently practiced. Hence, there were many occasions where pairs of Fokker F28's, DC-9's or B737's could be observed groundhugging in formation over the terrain. One would have liked to be able to see that live..

A few shots from an exercise in 1985; look at the distance (or rather lack thereof) between these fully laden airliners!

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Often, fighter escort was provided.

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Now, I need to consider whether to chase up the only available F28 kit I know of in 1/72, a rather bad resin kit, or to whif an equally not perfect, but at least injection MACH2 Caravelle already in my possession..

[Rick Lowe]

I say go for the Plastic Option... so much easier, and if you're not concerned with strict millimetric accuracy, well...   

OTOH, I just found these, FWIW:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/replicas-by-jc-72s-f28-2b-fokker-f-28-mk1000--1370747/related

https://www.facebook.com/643670012347411/photos/a.712733852107693.1073741830.643670012347411/1206202326094174/?type=3&theater

[Pellson]

I say go for the Plastic Option... so much easier, and if you're not concerned with strict millimetric accuracy, well...   

OTOH, I just found these, FWIW:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/replicas-by-jc-72s-f28-2b-fokker-f-28-mk1000--1370747/related

https://www.facebook.com/643670012347411/photos/a.712733852107693.1073741830.643670012347411/1206202326094174/?type=3&theater

Still resin, methinks. And admittedly most likely somewhat unnecessarily, I am still a bit put off by resin.
Also, while buying a book I wanted the other day, I got a few others in the package, one of them dealing with the Caravelle in Sweden, both in military and civilian service. Interestingly, it seems early on, before thrust reversing was available, it was fitted with a brake chute for landing on short fields, making it quite suitable for wartime use. Unusual for an airliner, as far as I can understand. And why not keep the chute even if you get thrust reversal, at least in a whif world?

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Also, runway requirements were quite similar, and both aircraft shared  a built-in stair solution to do away with airfield equipment. So maybe I'll stick with the Caravelle nevertheless? I'll have a think on it, at least..

Well - this weekend is devoted to other things than actually modelling. There's some season-opening stuff to be sorted at the cottage etc, but that said, I did bring the Caravelle book anyway, so I can read a bit in pauses.

[Rick Lowe]

Hope the relaxing goes well. 

[Pellson]

Hope the relaxing goes well. 

Thanks, it does. When my better (and endlessly much more beautiful) partner doesn't force me to scrub the wooden deck, all 70 m² of it. 

Well, right now I'm in a very comfortable chair, digesting the first barbecue dinner of the season and waiting for the wood-fired bathtub to reach optimal temperature, a beercan at my left hand and that Caravelle book in my lap. And I just have to show you a photo.

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This, gentlemen, is a RSwAF Caravelle landing at the Vidsel base in northernmost Sweden, obviously during winter. The runway is snowy, and accordingly, the pilots have elected to pull the brake chute. Magnificent shot! It is somewhat annoying that it's traversing the book fold, but still. What a shot!

Well - I need to check the tub. And, perhaps, sort a refill of that beer.. 

[NARSES2]

What a fantastic photo   

[Pellson]

Having a slow morning before going out to that deck scrubbing again. But it does make a difference.

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And it's nice to be back. Spring is coming, even if there still is ice in the wind. But that's the downside of being close to the sea. It's got quite the lag as it comes to temperature. On the other hand, there's payback in September. And the Crocii popping up is making the air feel warmer than it really is.

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Well, I suppose it's time to get back to the soap and brush. 

[Pellson]

Spring seems to be arriving, even if there's still some chill in the air. But today, the first cherry blossom arrived, and that is a milestone every year!

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On modelling news - not much, if I am to be perfectly honest. Life (and work, annoyingly) has interfered to such an extent that not even the Skyflash missiles has been completed. And to be even more honest, trying to just churn on with tasks I'm not really enjoying is detrimental to productivity.

By pure chance, however, I did come across a set of Irish decals. Nice ones too, by the looks of it, so now I'm contemplating what to match them with. So many options!

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But I need to clear the table somewhat first, and I doubt that'll happen very soon, tbh. There are a couple of stiff weeks ahead.