Kitty Hawk’s JAS 39A/C Gripen consists of almost 300 parts molded in gray styrene on 10 sprues, three of which are for ordnance. I’m amazed by how much is packed into the small box.
Surface detail is fine, with engraved panel lines and a limited number of rivets. The fuselage is molded with separate forward and aft components, hinting at a future two-seat version. All the control surfaces, including the leading-edge slats, are molded separately but cannot be posed in any position except neutral without some extra work. The nose can be opened to show off the radar antenna, and the canopy can be posed open.
Cockpit detail is fine, though a bit sparse. A decal replicates the three displays in the instrument panel, and a five-piece ejection seat features photoetched-metal seat belts. The clear parts are thin: Mine had a stress fracture running from the top sprue attachment down the middle, likely sustained during shipping. There is a deluxe 29-page instruction book with full-color plates showing painting and placement for all four sets of decals.
Construction started with the cockpit, nose-wheel bay and the rear fuselage/engine/main-gear bays. My kit had ejector-pin marks sticking up on the rudder area of both rear fuselage halves, the inside of both engine halves, and the forward inner wing roots. I cut them off with my sprue cutter; only the rear engine ones needed to be cleaned up to allow the photoetched-metal afterburner liner to fit properly.
Overall fit was less than precise: Every mating surface needed filing and sanding to fit, and I still ended up using filler on most joins, even after careful test-fitting. The nose cone needed some serious sanding to match the forward fuselage; its diameter was just too big.
The engine has nice exterior detail, although it won’t be seen after installation. There was no intake ducting.
I painted my Gripen with Tamiya acrylics mixed to match the two-tone grays shown in many pictures. For the clear, I used something new for me: Mr. Hobby Mr. Super Clear in a spray can. I got a super-smooth glossy finish in one pass, and it dried really fast.
The decals were troublesome. They looked fine, were in perfect register, and printed in a dead flat finish, but putting them on was another matter. If not removed from the backing paper and placed on the model immediately, they stuck to the backing paper and would not budge. Even re-wetting them did not loose them. Once they were on the model, I was able to move them around on the glossy surface. However, they were delicate and tore easily. I used Mr. Mark Softer to tame the colorful tigers on the tail, but I mucked one of them up trying to do so. Once the decals were on, I finished with Testors Model Master clear flat.
The landing gear and gear-bay doors were no problem. The pitot tube for the nose cone was molded crooked and a bit thick, so I replaced it with fine brass rod.
Loading ordnance ended up being more difficult than I thought it would be. The kit provided an impressive amount of underwing stores, including AIM-9, Python, IRIS-TT, AGM-65, and AIM-120 missiles. There also were GBU-12 bombs and a centerline fuel tank. But the instructions didn’t explain which of the two types of underwing pylons to use. One set had mounting pins, the other didn’t. The mounting pins were way too small for their locating holes, preventing positive attachments for any of the ordnance. The wingtip missile rails had two attachment lugs molded on them, but only the AIM-120 missiles had matching molded slots for a positive missile-to-rail mount. The instructions show the AIM-120s mounted on the underwing pylons, not the wingtip missile rails. Also, the pylons lacked any sway braces, even though there were molded spots were they should be attached. I ended up using just the centerline fuel tank despite it not being shown anywhere in the instructions; I thought my Gripen needed something hanging off it.
Weaponry notwithstanding, the finished model really looks the part. However, I would recommend it to more-experienced modelers due to the fit issues, finicky decals, and confusing ordnance.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the March 2014 FineScale Modeler.