Special Hobby 1/72 Saab AJ-37 Viggen 'Strike Fighter' # 72378

The SAAB 37 Viggen was simply an aircraft well ahead of its time.

Rather unorthodox solutions brought by the designers not just allowed to meet the requirements, they also caused that the Viggen even exceeded them in a couple of respects.

The Swedish Air Force placed order for several versions of the aircraft which would comprise the same basic airframe and would differ by additional equipment based on the role the version should operate in.

The type was powered by a Volvo RM8, a licence-built Pratt & Whitney JT8D airliner turbojet fitted with the afterburner chamber and thrust reversers.

This, along with the twin-delta wing allowed for excellent performance during take offs and landings especially on short airfields.

The Viggen also featured a folding tail fin which improved the handling of the aeroplane on auxiliary airfields, enabled very easy handling during while towing the airplane into the hangar and also contributed to better concealment of the plane during operations off non-standard places.

The type's avionics was also among the very top a the time, the Viggen was the first military jet to feature an onboard computer with integrated circuits.

The version first introduced to service with the Swedish military was the AJ37 Viggen, followed shorly by the SK37 two seat jet trainer, the SF37 recce version fitted with cameras in the modified nose section and the SH37 anti-shipping variety with different type of avionics and capable carrying a dedicated armament.

Around ten years after the initial version had been introduced into the service, a second generation of the Viggen, the JA37 fighter started to emerge from the production line.

Our model portrays the initial production version, the ground-attack AJ37 Viggen.

The kit comes on nine styrene sprues, the decal sheet with a very wide range of servicing stencils brings markings for three Swedish schemes, one of which is in bare metal, the other two in the typical Swedish splinter-type camouflage.