Eth gives us his unique perspective when building the new Tarangus kit of the SAAB A32A kit in 1/48th - today we look at the plane itself and get started a little on the cockpit and add some photo etch to the kit ...
Kit Maker: Tarangus
Scale: 1/48th
Kit no: TA4801
Sprues: 5
Parts: 80 grey + clear Parts
Material: Injection moulded plastic + PE Parts in the Maestro Add-on kits
Where to get it: Tarangus website directly
SAAB A32 Lansen A Build Pt. II
SAAB A32 Lansen A Build Pt. III
SAAB A32 Lansen A Build Pt. IV
SAAB A32 Lansen A Build Pt. V
Tarangus
- A name most of us would not be familiar with as it is the name of a new
Swedish model company and this, the Lansen, is their first kit. The Lansen has,
to my knowledge, never appeared as a 1/48th kit before. So what do
we get from Tarangus in their first release? Well it has to be said that this
is a limited run kit and as such exhibits all the traits of a limited run kit,
a lack of locating tabs on the larger parts, a certain amount of flash and some
dubious lack of detail or over sized parts. However none of the above is a deal
breaker but i do recommend a lot of dry fitting until you are certain you have
the best parts fit that is possible. Because the Lansen is not a well known jet
here’s a little bit of history for you:
The
SAAB 32 Lansen was a two-seat, swept wing attack aircraft manufactured between
1955 and
1960 for the Swedish Air Force. During its long operational life the Lansen
also served in the
role as a fighter, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and target tug. Today two
Lansen is still operational
to provide air samples for the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, very
impressive.
However,
the A32A Lansen main role was to provide air defence against possible Soviet
hostilities
and defend Sweden´s long coast line from a Soviet invasion, if the cold war
turned
hot.
The
Swedish Airforce wanted an attack aircraft that could deliver it´s payload from
its home
base,
anywhere along Sweden’s 2000km long coastline within 1 hour, in all kinds of
weather.
The
SAAB A32A Lansen replaced the last piston-twin engine bomber in Swedish
airforce
service,
the SAAB B18. Although not designed as a supersonic aircraft, a Lansen managed
to brake
through the sound barrier during a shallow dive on 25 October 1953.
The
A32A Lansen had a fixed armament of four 20mm Hispano cannons and could carry
an
vast
array of different kind of bombs, napalm bombs, rockets. The most powerful
weapon was the
Rb04C anti-shipping missile. The Lansen was also expected to deliver a nuclear
payload, but the
Swedish nuclear program of the 1950s and 1960s did not produce any operational
weapons.
Included with the kit, but sold separately, where
four sets of photo etch from Maestro Models (http://www.maestromodels.com/)
some pre painted some not. The four sets are as follows:
Part One - The Cockpit
The first task here is to remove all the moulded on details
in preparation for the pre-painted photo etch. This is a fairly simple task and
one that is soon over. Then all that was needed was a quick coat of paint and
the cockpit could be left to dry and then the photo etch could be added
The instructions in the Maestro photo are very
similar to the Eduard instruction layout and as a result are very easy to
follow. The application of the photo etch parts moved along swiftly and after a
short while the cockpit was complete.
The seats also get the photo etch treatment with
pre-painted belts and escape handles to be attached. This is where the first
problem occurred. When bending the seat belts to shape the top coloured layer
did it’s best to separate itself. I have no idea why it did this as there as
the straps were only bent with gentle pressure and no glue was involved.
Searching various modelling forums it would seem this is not a problem with
just the set for the Lansen, but a problem that crops up with a lot of
pre-painted photo etch. Eventually with the help of some Crystal Glo the
truculent seat belts were joined together and eventually conformed to the shape
i wanted.
The construction of the rear cockpit followed the
path of the first, although there is not as much photo-etch needed for the rear
cockpit. The same problem reared its head with the seat belts but i was
prepared this time and solved the problem without any issues.
And that is the first part of this build. I do want
to mention one thing here, without the photo etch for the cockpit it would look
a bit bleak in there .Tarangus do an ok job of the cockpit detail, but it is
not up to what you find in a more mainstream kit and really does need the photo
etch set.
Thanks
to Tarangus for this kit and
the extra additional etched add on parts more of this build very soon right
here - stay tuned.