Summer of 1943. Somewhere along
the Swedish east coast an aircraft of the 2nd Air Wing is moored near the shore,
awaiting it's next mission....
Background:
The Saab 17 was the company's first design of their own, first flown in 1940.
Originally designed as a dive bomber, the type was used in several roles and
became a workhorse of the Swedish Airforce during World War 2 and the following
years.
The S 17BS was developed for maritime reconnaissance and was basically a
standard 17B equipped with floats. This version was powered by a 980 horse
power Bristol Mercury engine.
The kit:
Marivox's Saab 17 kit is one of my favourites, so far I have built three of them
(this one was number two). The kit comes with parts for all versions made
and the Decals, printed by Techmod, are just excellent. I couldn't resist the
temptation to build the float
equipped version. Actually, building a seaplane in it's natural environment was
an old dream of mine, so I gave it a go.
The build:
After some clean up of the parts, I started off with the interior. I added some
structure to the rear compartment and made a pair of oxygen tubes from sprue.
The machine gun that comes with the kit is a bit out of proportions, so I
modified it a bit for better appearance.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The rest of the
fuselage went together without problem. The engine cowl, however, required some
surgery, the carburetor intake on top of the cowl fits really bad and needed
quite some sanding and carving before it finally fell into place. Wing
trailing edges were a bit uneven, so I sanded them down slightly and rebuilt the
shape with CA glue that once hardened was sanded into a sharp and even
shape. Wings and stabilizer fit perfectly to the fuselage and went on with
only a tiny bit of sanding and
filler. The additional fins on the stabilizer are quite thick so I thinned them
out to improve their appearance. Control surfaces are separate and went on like
a dream after some sanding. Now on to the big headache of the build, the
floats and their pylons. The pylons don't in any way fit to the wings without
major surgery. I cut and carved, swore, gritted and carved some more.
After several sweaty hours of work they went on but still required a lot of
filler. The foot steps on the pylons are massive on the kit, so I cut them
away and made new ones from lead wire. The water rudders aren't too good either,
so I made new ones from sheet styrene with details from sprue and metal
wire. All antennas were swapped for metal wire and sprue replacements.
Painting was done using Humbrol colours. I mixed Hu 86, 98 and black (can't
remember the proportions) to a shade that comes close to the dark gray green
used by
Swedish maritime aircraft during WW2. The propeller and exhaust collector were
painted with MM Metalizers. Kit decals were used, including the insignias.
A little glitch here; I accidentally put one of the fuselage unit numbers (the
black number 2) on wrong, they should both be placed to the left of the
insignia. The model got a light weathering by oil was, followed by a final
satin coat.
Making of the base:
I made a frame from sheet styrene and then built up the ground structure with
Hydrozell, a cellulose based landscaping material for model railways. Sand, and
stones were placed while the Hydrozell was still wet and once it had dried, I
gave the whole base a coat of primer. I the sprayed the ground with Tamiya Dark
Yellow, followed by various brown and tan shades to break down the surface in a
natural way. The shore line was painted with a dark brown tone and the sea
bottom with various shades of blue and green oil colours, carefully blended into
each other. I sprinkled various ground materials from Woodland over the base to
create grass, sea weed etc. and drybrushed it slightly with suitable colours.
The water was made with a Woodland product called Realistic Water. It's a one
component resin that's simply poured in thin layers until the desired depth is
acquired. When poured in slightly uneven layers it gives a good impression of
shallow waves.
Per
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