COBI Saab AJS 37 Viggen Set 5911

COBI's Saab AJS 37 Viggen is a 1:48 model built from 911 blocks, 33 cm long, produced under licence from the Flygvapenmuseum in Linköping and modelled on the aircraft displayed there. The ailerons and wheels move, the cockpit opens for the included pilot figure, and two Bombkapsel 90 dispensers are fitted. A double movable display stand with a plate carrying the name, scale and Swedish flag is included. All markings are printed; no stickers.

A fighter with a reverse gear

The Viggen is the only combat aircraft of its era with a thrust reverser, and it exists because of Swedish defence policy.

Sweden expected its airbases to be destroyed in the first hours of a war and planned to operate from public roads instead. That requires landing in a very short distance, on a surface that may be wet or icy, with no arrestor gear.

So Saab fitted the Viggen with a thrust reverser of the kind airliners use — doors that deploy into the exhaust and push it forward. Combined with a no-flare landing technique, where the pilot flies the aircraft firmly onto the ground rather than easing it down, it could stop in around 500 metres. It could also use the reverser to back up on the ground, which no other fighter could do.

The ghost on the tail

The white ghost is the emblem of a Swedish Air Force squadron known as Johan Röd, and their motto — painted on the aircraft — was The Show Must Go On.

AJS stands for Attack, Jakt, Spaning: attack, air combat, reconnaissance. The 1990s AJS37 upgrade let one airframe do all three, carrying the Rb 15F anti-ship missile and up to six Sidewinders.

In the COBI range

Set 5915 is the JA 37 interceptor version. Set 5820 is the Gripen, the Viggen's successor.

Specifications

Pieces: 911 · Figures: 1 pilot · Scale: 1:48 · Licensed by the Flygvapenmuseum · No stickers
Model dimensions: 33 × 22.5 × 12.5 cm (13.0 × 8.9 × 4.9 in)