SAAB JA 37 Viggen Wire Cut

     Hi, I'm Bryce, and I love building things that fly. I have been flying RC for 4 years now and absolutely love it, and also got into Team Nana which is incredibly off topic. I saw Flite test 2 years into it and now have 3 planes from them including the FT Viggen. To me the FT Viggen seemed too square and didn't really show what a magnificent plane the Viggen really is to it's full extent, so I'm doing the wire cut version. I saw David Windestål's build and became immediately attracted to the nice curvy fuse. I really do love how well the original viggen flies though, so I am really doing this for looks, a good build, and an EDF. (I did the prop version of the FT viggen) I followed David's version kind of for directions, so it is very similar.  Keep in mind, if you want to do this build and need information, ask me as many questions as you like, even if I explode. He is a link to the plans I used: https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.flitetest.com/article_files/ViggenEDFplans_1367267897.pdf 

If you are not familiar with the FT Viggen, or the Viggen in general, he's some pictures:

FT viggen

Full scale

The wire cutter I used was a simple setup with PVC pipe and a directly connection to a 2s battery. I thought the ESC and the servo tester that David Windestal (from rcexplorer.se) did was unnecessary in my case.

I had only 2 inch foam, so I had to join them to make four inch pieces. As you can see, there are four pieces all together when connecting the entire piece. I first used 3m77 to glue the two pieces to get one four inch piece, the stuff David recommended, but it melted the foam the nest day.  I used White Gorilla glue instead, another recomended glue. I personally don't understand that glue, since it expands. This is really bad when working, and I can't melt through it with the hot wire. So I then used three small beads of hot glue and stuck them together, and after cutting, I reinforced it. This worked wonders.

The parts are not glue together, just sitting there. It was tricky to get the top lined up with the other, so sometimes my wire was slanted, and created a large line.Added Light Spackel to fix that problem.

Rear section done.

All parts except for the hatch and nose glued together. 

Hatch glued.

Here's the nose before sanding. I did it like david, where I put a bolt in the center and fastened it to a power drill. The power drill made a nice curve, which was not hard at all to get right with the plans.

Looks pretty nice!

I sanded the intakes a little, as well as put Spackel where the hatch goes. I will fiber glass them later.

Time for sanding. Wear dust protection!

Added more Spackel and sanded again.

Cut out the wing.

Looks pretty good. I then installed the canards.

I used fiber glass to harden the intakes. Mine were close to snapping, so this helped! I used 5 minute plastic apoxy. It was hard to work with, since it dried so fast, so use 30 minute.

Second part arives: Changesun 14 Blade 70mm electric ducted fan (EDF) unit from EDF Hobbies. 14 blade might be a little over the top, but it sounds amazing. You don't get the whining noice from somthing like a 6 blade. It sounds...swooshier! Actually I should have gotton a 10 blade since I think 14 blade is a little inefficient. It was the only one in stock. ( The first part was the Spectrum AR400, but I coud not get a picture.)

Then the 2200mah 4s 30c Turnigy lipo battery, and the two 9 gram Hextronic servos:

I used a motor and ESC combo from Hobbypartz.com. Amazing quality for the price. (Photo credit, Hobbypartz.com)

Installing the EDF.

Done.

Installed the wing, and servos.

Installed the rudder.

Added some detail on the wing. The bottom plate looks fantastic! It covers the wires very well.  (I will sand that spackel area.) Obviously installed the ESC. Just so you know, the CG is about 1 inch from where the big lumpy lump of Spackel is. 

I then connected the linkages and added wing formers. The formers weren't on the plans, so I had to measure it. They really do transform the plane, and of coarse hide the servo wires.

It's ready!

Madien Flight:

Here's the first flight of the viggen. It is a dream to fly. It flies almost exactly like the foam board version, but looks so much better in my opinion. I loved this project and hope you do it also. It is fare woth it. EDIT: Unfortunately I landed in melting snow the next week. I kicked myself for not Minwaxing the wing. The battery dies quickly (2 minutes) and I forgot to set my timer on my dx6i, which resulted me crash landing in cold mud. I replaced the whole wing and the esc which was naturally toast. I flew it again and no problems! Good as new. I hope you've enjoyed this article, please rate and comment, and, as always, happy landings.