Page 10 of 10

Re: Matchbox 1/72 Saab J29 F Tunnan by speedgraflex

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2026 10:11 am
by Gary Brantley
Stikpusher wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2026 9:32 pm
cbaltrin wrote: ↑Sun Sep 13, 2026 10:14 am Looking good Bruce! If I was building this I would design a faux intake plug buck and vac form it. Just enough depth to trick the casual observer and maybe an undersized engine front to sit at the end :hmm:
A very good idea… another option is to create the intake cover used on jets while parked on the flight line between flights. I did that on my last F-16 and my F-86. There is usually a similar plug or cover for the exhaust as well.

Image

Image
That's a good option to consider, Carlos! 👍 I did the same on my Monogram F-86F model. I cut a piece of Evergreen sheet to shape and covered the edge with wire insulation to replicate padding and added a pair of wire "handles" in the center. This isn't a great photo but you can get the gist of the idea, Bruce. :grin:

Image

Re: Matchbox 1/72 Saab J29 F Tunnan by speedgraflex

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2026 1:51 pm
by Stikpusher
This link to some Alamy photos has some good ones of the Tunnan. The first is a straight view down the intake to the exhaust with the engine removed… you can see how straight line it actually was in this photo. The second photo has an intake plug fitted if you want to go that route.

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/saab- ... y=relevant

Re: Matchbox 1/72 Saab J29 F Tunnan by speedgraflex

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2026 5:03 pm
by speedgraflex
Great advice, gentlemen! Thank you so much. I appreciate all of these ideas. Some I have thought about but I didn’t know if I could or should (such as red plugs, which I’ve seen but I didn’t know that these were protective and I should have because Me 262’s had all of these issues) and vac forming.

I had to reconfigure my home to accommodate my landlord’s desires and I’ve been relocated for 7 days so I moved old stuff around and found this issue of Combat which has to belong to me. I forgot I had it. Not Tunnan but Horten related 80s goodness inside. Revell 1/72?

Image

In addition here are some visual notations on what to do with the interior based on the Tarangus 1/72 kit.


Image

The blue area I’m not changing but I needed to show it for ID purposes. I’m still not sure what the diagonal tubing does. Hydraulic assist for something? It seems possible that this was also modified a bit. I’ve seen variations on F air frames.

Image

It looks like the aluminum frame has built in segments to hang various components off of it; I’m not sure what the large square plate does. I’ll add it at some point.

Re: Matchbox 1/72 Saab J29 F Tunnan by speedgraflex

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2026 3:40 am
by Duke Maddog
That sounds like a good idea. The Horten though doesn't look like the Revell kit in that pic; given that it came from a mag that is focused on Scratch and Vac models; I'd say it was a vac formed kit. The canopy doesn't look like anything produced by Revell. It does look good though!

Re: Matchbox 1/72 Saab J29 F Tunnan by speedgraflex

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2026 8:48 am
by Stikpusher
The magazine is dated 1983! I do not think that anybody made a kit of the Horten in injection plastic back then. It was way too off the beaten path for the early 80’s. I’d say that your guesstimate of a vacuform kit is the most likely correct answer Mark.

Re: Matchbox 1/72 Saab J29 F Tunnan by speedgraflex

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2026 11:39 am
by speedgraflex
Mark & Carlos,

You’re both right! What was I thinking??

I don’t have the magazine with me, but I looked up the details for the issue and this was Combat Models Horten 229, a vacuum kit in multiple scales including 1/32! I couldn’t find more details on Scalemates but I did see the kit listed on the LSP database (useful database, too).

Thank you so much for your comments!

Re: Matchbox 1/72 Saab J29 F Tunnan by speedgraflex

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2026 4:41 pm
by Stuart
Superb bit of work on that u/c bay Bruce - very nicely done :shoutout: :shoutout: :shoutout:

Re: Matchbox 1/72 Saab J29 F Tunnan by speedgraflex

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2026 6:27 pm
by speedgraflex
Thank you so much, Stuart! I’m excited to see where you will go on your vintage Meteor!!!!!