1:32 SAAB J-29B Tunnan Markings

The barrel that could do more than it looked

The Saab 29 earned the nickname Tunnan, meaning the barrel, from its crews. The wide fuselage wrapped around a centrifugal-flow engine and the fuel tanks, so the aircraft looked ungainly, but appearances deceived: at the end of the 1940s its swept wing made it one of the first genuinely modern jet fighters built outside the great powers. Sweden completed more than six hundred of them. The J 29B version received a larger fuel load and underwing pylons, so an interceptor grew into a machine for ground attack as well. It was the B models that flew under the UN flag over the Congo in the early 1960s.

Markings sprayed, not stuck on

The stencils are cut from thin self-adhesive film and mark out the areas of the national insignia, the fuselage numbers and the additional lettering. The paint goes on with a gun straight onto the skin, so the markings lie in the finish and not on top of it. There is no step you can feel, the sheen does not part company with its surroundings, and there is none of the silvering that gives a decal away on a rougher surface even after several coats of varnish.

A procedure worth following

Let the base coat dry thoroughly and free it of grease; the film bites into fresh paint and tears it when lifted. Spray several light passes from the edge of the stencil inward so that no build-up gets under the edge, and take the film off shortly after the paint has flashed off, while it still holds a sharp line.

Who the set is for

The stencils will be appreciated by the builder who wants the markings on a large 1:32 scale model to be as deeply colored as the camouflage around them. On an area the size of a palm a decal looks thin, and its edge gives itself away under raking light even after a clear coat. Spraying wipes that difference out completely, and the finished insignia will survive careful dry brushing when the edges are highlighted at the end.