[MOC] Saab 39E Gripen 1:18

[Akergarden]

Hi!

After a few years of just being a follower/reader only building for my own pleasure of it,  I thought I could contribute to some inspiration as others have done for me - so here's my first post  :-)

Being a theme agnostic builder and aircraft geek I thought I should challenge myself and build a Technic model I would have bought myself, still remembering not being fully satisfied with some aspects of the 42066 Air Race Jet (such as the wing proportions and a few other things).

This is my take on of the Saab 39E Gripen, in approximately scale 1:18 (80 cm long, 50 cm wide). The goal was of course to get the aircraft to resemble the original to as large extent as possible, but also to pack it with as many cool features as possible but at the same time keep it sturdy and playable. The size and hence, scale, was set based on how small I could do it without sacrificing the features I wanted it to have. I would have liked to build it smaller, but I didn't manage to. Most features are not unique to this aircraft, but I'm especially happy with how I succeeded with connecting different controls and features together in a, in my own opinion, cool way.

Overall I'm quite satisfied with how everything works and looks, the only issue I still see is that even if I tried to make it a lightweight contruction, the landing gear (especially the nose wheel) is a bit too weak for rough play. Making the gear sturdier would have sacrifieced the looks and functionality of it.

As I have built by prototyping my way forward, I don't have any building instruction and i'm not sure how many pieces that was needed. I estmate it being 3000+ though.

Motorized features:
- Two spool turbofan engine (connected to throttle and battery switch - battery on=engine runs with open nozzle)
- Retractable landing gear
- Canopy
- Radar (yes, the Gripen E do not have an old school rotating radar antenna, but actually a rotating swashplate for the radar, so I felt it was a cool feature to include anyway :-) ) 

Other  features:
- Ailerons and canards, controlled by HOG and cockpit stick
- Engine nozzle, controlled by HOG and cockpit throttle
- Rudder controlled by HOG pedals
- Airbrakes (canards, flaps, and aft fuselage brakes together) controlled by rudder pedals
- Flaps and slots controlled by HOG lever
- Ejection seat controlled by HOG handle and tension mechanism
- Folding air refueling beam
- Head up display horizon indicatort
- Servicable engine, i.e. it can be liften out using just pulling 6 sprints (yes, the real plane can have its engine replaced in less than one hour)
- Formation lights using glow-in-the-dark tiles

Hope you like it, and that it can inspire for more Technic aircraft builds out there!

 

 This is image links to video on Flickr, didn't manage to embed that properly

Edited March 15 by Akergarden

[Jurss]

I like that somewhat oldstylish, classic technic look.

[Davidz90]

Amazing!

[2GodBDGlory]

Nice job! Sounds like it's quite function-packed!

[Alex Ilea]

Sweet build! One thing I would do, is add black soft axles to the canopy, just to hint at the curved shape.

Edited March 15 by Alex Ilea

[scarface_le_fou]

Hi, impressive fonctions and look. Congratulations !!
And yes, even if it's not accurate, radar is a more fun like that :)

[Paul B Technic]

Wow, this is very impressive.

[ukbajadave]

On 3/15/2024 at 10:28 AM, Akergarden said:

...battery on=engine runs with open nozzle...

When I read this I thought it was surely some mistake in translation. After all nobody would make an actual variable exhaust nozzle right? Then I watched the video!

 Congratulations on the absolutely amazing number of features you modelled. All topped off by looking better than an official model. Well done 

[vascolp]

I have just seen the video (didn´t noticed it before) and this is fantastic!

Well... I thought I was able to paste the video... it works while composing the message... but it does not appear when saving.

So video is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/akergarden/53587289346/in/datetaken/

Edited March 20 by vascolp