Two Mikes Resin Accessories

 1/48 Saab JA/AJ-37 Viggen Corrected Intakes
product # 48-017

Review by Tom Stewart on Mar 23 2009

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The history of the ESCI / Airfix Viggen is well documented.  It shows its age and it lacks the accuracy or finesse of more recent toolings.  Until Trumpeter or one of the other mainstream manufacturers decides the Viggen is deserving of their energies it is the best we have.  Then along come Two Mikes Resin Accessories and we now have a reason to get those kits out of the loft and create some more accurate renditions of a much neglected jet. Airfix – we need a reissue.  

Two Mikes venture seeks to correct some of the more obvious errors in the basic kit.  While we wait for a whole raft of resin to create that winning model, here are three of their newly released resin sets to get your mouth watering. All the sets are packed in sturdy clear plastic cases.  Each set is accompanies by a full colour guide with colour details of the real aircraft for reference.  

The accuracy of drawings of the Viggen is questionable and I have not attempted to measure things against the few profiles I possess because of this.  All my considerable photographic references do however show that the Two Mikes sets more accurately capture and represent the aircraft.  A search on the Internet will uncover a wealth of references.

The corrected intakes are the finest and most delicate of the three updates.  Again produced in grey resin the intakes are a good scale representation and are a significant improvement on the very inaccurate kit parts.

The Viggen intake is a complex shape and Two Mikes have sought to correct all the errors: shortening the length by 3mm; adding fine engraved detail (no one, in my view, is going to do all these amendments to the kit without re-scribing the rest of the model); adding the ‘slime lights’; altering the ‘splitter plate’ to include a more accurate profile and adding the small notch to the inner lower section.   Two Mikes have also included the connecting strakes (upper and lower) which connect the intakes to the fuselage. All of these strakes and their bullet fairings are not represented in the kit parts.  As final flourish reinforcement plates at the leading edge of the wing fillets add to the accuracy of this set.  These are a prominent feature and are well represented with their heavy rivets.

The resin intakes will have to be removed with care from their moulding block as there is little between them and the blocks.  A fine razor saw will do the job.  The intakes have good locating pins to connect them to the fuselage.  The joint will need filling and sanding.  The transition from intakes to fuselage is smooth with no step.

Finally

All the Viggen update sets from Two Mikes will be welcomed by Viggen enthusiasts around the globe.  They will go a long way to help creating a very accurate and attractive representation of the jet.  I look forward to the additions that Two Miles have planned for the Viggen:  Corrected fin and rudder; new foreplanes with separate control surfaces; new weapons pylons; new wing flaps; new wheel wells; new wheels; new thrust reversers and engine fan section; new RAT and a vac former a new canopy and windscreen. Will there be much of the kit left after all this?

Thanks to Two Mikes Resin  for supplying the sets for review.  This resin set is available through http://www.twomikesresin.com/. 

Tom Stewart

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Photos and text © by Steve Bamford