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Euro Decals 1/72 Swedish Air Force Saab 37 Viggen Markings

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

The Swedish Air Force has flown some of the most interesting aircraft out there, with the indigenous aerospace firm of Saab creating innovative designs such as the J-29, J-35, and J-37.  The latter wore an impressive color scheme consisting of four colors in a splinter pattern.  While impressive on the plane, modelers have been less than enthused over all that masking, so the transition to a gray scheme in the 1990s.

One of the more interesting markings found on Swedish Viggens were the large wing numerals.  These were initially white, then later transitioned to fluorescent red.  With the switch to the gray camouflage scheme, the fluorescent numbers remained, offering a big splash of color on an otherwise drab aircraft.

The latest sheet from Euro Decals provides those large wing numbers (the white ones can also be used on the J-35, as many of those also had large numbers applied), along with tail numbers in black, red, and fluorescent red.  Completing the collection of numbers, small Wing numbers for the nose are included in both black and yellow.  In all cases, there are two styles of '1' provided, a nice touch as those numbers did vary slightly from aircraft to aircraft.  Also included on this sheet are the typical fluorescent red triangles found on the JA-37 Viggen.

As an added bonus, there is a special '3000 Flight Hours' scheme included, which has a Viggen silhouette on the tail, with its exhaust streaming down the fin and along the fuselage top.  A '3000' runs diagonally on the fin.  This particular aircraft is a splinter scheme AJS-37 and the celebratory date was March 13, 1997.  Interestingly, this plane only carried this marking on one side.

The decals are very nicely printed, with the fluorescent color jumping off the sheet (the photo does not capture the vibrant color at all here; trust me, these stand out!).  The research is quite thorough as well, including a differently shaped '4' that was only found on an AJSF-37, serial 0379740, from F21.  All in all, this is a great supplemental sheet to have for anyone building some Viggens.  Euro Decals also produces this sheet in 1/48 as well.  My thanks to  Euro Decals for the review sample.