SebastianP Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 So I'm giving Italeri's 1/72 Gripen another shot, starting with the "new" release with "super decals" since I appear to have lost a few pieces for my previous, stalled out, build. Aside from the usual Italeri issues of soft detail and plastic, I remember this kit in particular as having a few really annoying parts to it, those being the very poor fit of the under-wing hardpoints (if installed without modification, there's a *huge* gap between the pylon and the strake/actuator fairing, and I had to sand the platform around the locator pin to near paper thin before that gap went away); and the stores were absolutely abysmal, the only missiles that even looked close to what they were supposed to depict being the Mavericks. Which of course have the wrong launch rails. The RBS-15F anti-ship missiles are particularly bad - even the ones from the very old and very terrible Revell kit are better, and that's saying something. Did anyone ever make better missiles, or for that matter hardpoints, for the Gripen kit in 1/72? Or 1/48? The major, major problem with the kit -15Fs is that they're pointed, while the real things have blunt noses. Even just a replacement nose for them would be fine. The hardpoints, other than the terrible fit, are also out of date, or only used for training flights - a war-loaded Gripen would have dispensers in the back of the pylons for towed decoys and flares. I tried making those myself once, and they didn't come out right, but their shape is pretty simple. Finally, a question - what kind of bomb racks does the Gripen use, because I don't think the ones in the pictures I've seen look quite like VELs or AVELs as fitted to the Hornet and Super Hornet, even if they're the same general configuration (flat two). And does anyone have any pictures of the Gripen with any of the larger JDAMs loaded? (I could, of course, just use Taurus/METEOR/IRIS-T missiles from the Revell "Modern European Weapons set", AKA Typhoon Single-seater, but options would be nice. :)) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scotthldr Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Maestro Models from Sweden do the RB-15F in 1/72 along with alot of other interesting stuff to hang from the Gripen http://www.maestromodels.com/resin-set/2-x-rb-15f-anti-ship-missiles.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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