Well I'm glad this group didn't go completely dormant on me! After a few months of non-stop chaos, I have finally gotten to pay attention to my poor little Saab. (Quite the "Saab" story, if you get what I mean...) Still trying new things, such as taking the time to engrave the panel lines BEFORE I paint it... Those who were on the French GB will remember how that fiasco turned out. So here is the finished cockpit:
Trying to find decent reference photos for this thing is nearly impossible, so went with what little I had and did my "usual" cockpit scheme to fill in the rest. The most prominent thing in the cockpit is the base for the antenna, so I payed special attention to make it stand out nice and pretty.
Here it is all closed up:
One thing I will give this kit is that many of the pieces have very nice detailing, such as some of the cokpit pieces and the engine. On the other hand, some very basic things are lacking, such as the fact that it has doors for what I assume is a weapons bay, but there is nothing there but blank styrene! Oh, and I did try one new thing with the cockpit. I have heard people say to add some clear glue to instrument panels to replicate the look of glass gages. I tried it, and you can't really tell in the photo, but I think it looks a little better.
The other thing about this kit is that some of the pieces fit beautifully. Some.
Others require quite a bit of fiddling to get them right. And while the kit has several options for various versions and markings including wheels, skis, or floats, it seems as though the float version was an afterthought. There really are no clear directions on how the float pieces should all come together. Well, there are no really clear directions for any of it! I think I have spent more time staring at them than I have actually building the dang thing. Anyway, the bottom of the wing has some stubs that are meant to line up the wheel well, and very clearly (though never mentioned) need to be shaved off for the floats to fit right. Even then, dryfitting shows I will have a very large gap to deal with when I attach them. Also, the float version requires a piece inserted into the wheel well that most resembles a plain piece of sheet styrene.
Unfortunetly, I discovered, once the piece is in there, the wing will now no longer go together. It requires significantly whittling the piece down to make it fit.
Nonetheless, I am thoroughly enjoying this build, and I believe it will turn into a fantastic looking little machine. Next update should have wings attached!
-Budd