Is a Swedish (SAAB) jet the NEXT FREEWING MODEL?

[fredmdbud]

Discuss, debate, prognosticate, wish, wax and wank poetic, you know you want to...

[Quickstop]

Discuss, debate, prognosticate, wish, wax and wank poetic, you know you want to...

no,and since you didn't say which one you must mean this one.

[fredmdbud]

More like Draken, Viggen, Gripen. That plane looks like a near-sighted guppy with wings

[Quickstop]

More like Draken, Viggen, Gripen. That plane looks like a near-sighted guppy with wings

It's right up your alley Saab 29.... it's gorgeous

[fredmdbud]

It's right up your alley Saab 29.... it's gorgeous

Looks like one of those toon version jets, but actually to scale

Flygande tunnan (English: "The flying barrel")

But it would basically be a ducted fan with wings and a fuselage just barely wrapped around it, so it should move fairly well compared to other planes using the same power unit/battery combo.

Still not my plate of Lutfisk.

[Tobbe Arnesson]

I just registered to wish for some Freewing Saabs!

Personally I'd love the Saab 105, but JA37 Viggen and JAS39 Gripen are probably better commercial options.

Nobody seems to make Saab jets, apart from an old, small balsa kit and Aerotetris. 😔

[Skosh25]

As someone who is half Swedish, I'd love this.

[Mizer67]

I'd be really excited to see a JAS39 Gripen. I've had four Mirages now (1 flying and I just bought a spare) and the JAS39 would be a worthy successor if built light.

My wish list would be 80mm fan in a ~70mm weight/size, but FW seems to have gone big.

Not really interested in anything smaller than 80mm fan to get the thrust and robust gear necessary to make grass ops possible.

[Tobbe Arnesson]

Yeah, grass is high on the wish list. 👍

I might try my hands on an Aerotetris-build during winter. 364 pieces of foam to assemble. Who knows, all the glue fumes might actually make it fun. 🙃

[Alpha]

It would be neat, I suppose. By the way, I'm a strong supporter of Aerotetris, he is quite an innovator, bringing an entirely unique assembly technique for us builders who like pins and hours of gluing!

[Tobbe Arnesson]

Yeah I suppose it's a good pastime and I really like the concept! A bit worried about impact resistance as a new pilot. 😎

I actually bought an "Airfix" kit of the Saab 105, thinking I might try to scale up and carve out of foam. But the parts suck with tons of flash and it's too much work. I spend all the hobby time repairing. 🙃

So if I can throw some money in the general direction of Motion RC and Freewing, I'd be a happy chap! 😀

[tab28682]

There are a few smaller options for those of you that simply must have a Swedish EDF fix while you are waiting for something bigger or nicer.

There has been a 64mm Gripen around for a long time, but not recently produced. Looks like this:

https://www.okmodel.net/lxhm-jas-39-...tored-lx-08001

I had one of these with thrust vectoring. Nice flying model. I have seen one show up on EBay before and one could likely be found With a “wanted” ad in the classified ads on the RC chat sites.

There is also a 50mm Gripen available from BH and other places.

There is a small 64mm Draken available on alibaba. EPS, but light and a good flyer. Used to be available from other sources.

if you are a builder, the RBC 90mm J29 Tunnan is reported to be a good kit and a good flyer.

https://fanjetsusa.com/product/rbc-s...nnan-90mm-kit/

Link tothe 64mm Draken:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/h5.alie...284405495.html

I would be all in on any size Viggen, but I am not much of a Gripen fan.

[Radar-Guy]

More EDF Saab kits (for builders) are available here:

http://www.mbs-rcmodels.se/skalamodeller/

Large Viggen (120mm Fan) Short Kit:

http://customwings.cz/classic-construction-models/

[killickb]

Radar-Guy, makes me think that the European modeler who builds, is catered for much better than the USA modeler; those kits are a dream come true ! Best I can afford though are the RBC kits. Have the "foamies" taken over as much of the hobby in Europe as they have here ? I receive a couple of European magazines and do see many more wood and/or scratch built designs than in the American mags. Seems we did have a few Saab foam models a few years ago but they disappeared to bring to market yet another F-18 or F-4 or whatever !!

[Tobbe Arnesson]

The MBS kits are pretty old. I'm sure they fly great, especially with modern fans. Custom Wings, wow! 😍 But I'm still a noob, so I would make kindling of a model like that. 😂

At my field (in Sweden) there are a lot of propeller planes. It's me and another guy that has EDFs. But I know there are a lot of Avanti on another field not that far away. I will get one when they're back in stock at motionrc.eu. I have the F9F Panther and it flies good, but I've had little success throwing it on my own. I might be close to getting it right by now, but it's starting to be a lot of epoxy in the bird. 😁

Most have electric foamies, but there's still a few older glow balsa planes. And then there are the large balsa planes. Most of them on gas, but some glow. Rarely on electric.

My local club used to be mostly scale back in the 70-80ies. Then they started with pylonracing in the 90ies and that kind of killed the other disciplines and the club. (Sweden is a major contender in the world championships, so not all bad). But with lipos and brushless the hobby has become a lot easier. So there's definitely a snowball effect with foamies going on right now. I saw a lot of interest with my EDF. 👍

Further south in Sweden there's a lot more jets, many with proper turbines. Guess they have tarmac. All fields around me are grass.

I can't judge the market for SAAB jets. It's not that many countries that have or had them in the fleets, but it would for sure be refreshing to see them in the Freewing catalog. JAS39 Gripen is the biggest export and of course the current one.

The "Sk60" SAAB 105 is close to retirement. It's the trainer for fresh pilots before trying out Gripen. I think it would make a great EDF with its wide envelope.

Viggen is the version prior to the Gripen. It has a lot of merits (not least numerous radar locks on SR-71 Blackbird - see video below, English subtitles available). I've seen it numerous times at flight shows and when it crawls past in high alpha and you hear the crackling from the engine. Man, that sound. 😍 I hold the Mustang as the best sounding prop plane, but Viggen is No 1. Hands down. I urge anyone to go see and hear it if you have a chance.

[Evoman]

Ever since I flew the Viggen in the DCS flight simulator I have gotten a better appreciation for SAAB jets. The Viggen in particular is a very unique jet capable of flying at low speeds, short take offs and landings. These are all attributes that would be very useful in an RC aircraft.

[Tobbe Arnesson]

Yeah it was designed to be able to take off and land in rather cramped places. We have a few locations where the country road is a bit wider and very straight, where the Viggen was to be serviced after the regular airfields was destroyed.

It's basically a rocket with two delta wings and a cockpit. 😁

IIRC there is almost the same amount of power in the JAS39 Gripen, but half the weight. And as the video said, Viggen is no slouch.

It's kind of funny that the engines where made by Volvo and the planes by SAAB. There has been a lot of rivalry between the two, at least in the car market. As a Swede you had to pick a side. Now SAAB automobiles are a thing of the past and Volvo is owned by a Chinese company. 😔

At least JAS39 Gripen is still a very Swedish product. We're also quite innovative in submarines and small warships. But we're getting off topic:

Please Freewing, give us some SAAB jets! 🙏

[Tobbe Arnesson]

That was quick! 😂

Wohoo!