SAAB A-32A Lansen

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Well, after months of rumourmongering, its finally here! Tarangus' initial release is the SAAB Lansen in in its A32 attack version configuration.

For those of you unfamiliar with this graceful Swedish warplane: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_32_Lansen will give you a pretty good overview.

The box in which the kit arrives is reasonably big, and stoutley constructed - mine arrived from Swedien in good condition, though a couple of smaller parts had come away from the sprue in transit. The box picture is rather fetching and does a good job of showing off the lines of the Lansen. It most definitely has "shelf appeal" to me!

So whats in the box?

Tarangus provide 68 injection moulded parts in a glossy mid-grey styrene, 2 resin seats, and several clear parts, including a 2 part canopy which is reasonably thin and very clear. The clear parts are bagged separately, but the resin seats are in with the main plastic parts. There is no etch included in the kit - though AM sets are coming. Bear with me, and I'll come back to this. The styrene has the look of Sword to it (and I know this was moulded in eastern europe, so my guess is the same people tooled and moulded this model).

The plastic parts feature nicely recessed panel lines and the detail is pretty sharp. Trailing edges of wings, tailpanes and rudder are commendably thin too. Most small parts feature a little flash and the fusealge halves and larger parts will need their mating edges tidying up, but nothing that a few minutes with a sanding stick won't sort out. There are no mating pins on any of the parts so you'll need to check alignment when gluing.

There's detail moulded into the insides of the UC doors, and the jet exhaust with its clamshell nozzle is provided in 2 halves with a separate back face showing some engine detail. The UC legs arent too bad but would benefit from a clean up, and things like brake lines will need to be added, if thats your bag. A full range of wing pylons are provided, plus the distinctive belly tank, but there are no stores to hang from any of the pylons. Blade aerials and fuselage intake scoops are provided as separate peices, though some of these intakes will need hollowing for added realism.

There's a profusion of large ejector pin stubs on the parts - which will need removing if things like wing and tailplane halves are to fit. The worst one is visble on the main UC bay centre section, and that will need dealing with, which is tricky as the section is ribbed. In general the injection moulded parts are very good, and have that distinct feel of a well executed modern eastern european short run kit. This isn't Tamiya or Eduard standard - more Special Hobby.

The two resin seats capture the lines of the SAAB Mk3 ejection seats well, though you'll need to add seat belts and the seat pan cushion/ survival pack if you want to detail them up. You'll also need to add the overhead firing handles too - and just a note: On Swedish seats this is painted red, not black & yellow stripes. The clear sprue contains the unique side panels for the seats - which I guess are some form of airflow deflectors in the event of canopy failure, plus the internal windscreen for the back seater is also provided.

The cockpit tubs are nicely done, as are the instrument panels. Detail in the back seat area is sparse, but then it was on the real thing. Its a shame there's no decals for the instrument panels, as this would have helped to compensate for the lack of any etch cockpit details. You'll need to add some detail to fuselage side walls, and cockpit sills though - again if you want to.

The distinctive semi-blended intakes of the Lansen have been tackled rather well. A separate long internal peice of intake trunking creates the inside of the intake tunnel, with a boundary layer splitter plate added to the front. The boundary layer exhaust port above the intake needs cleaning out with a file, but it all fits pretty well, and will be fine for 99% of modellers. If you are in the other 1% of Lansen-aholics, then, like me (!) you'll want to refine this area a little more, as the splitter plate actually sits a bit high and close to the fuselage side, and needs to be caressed a little to get a totally accurate rendition of the area, but this is bordering on the anally obsessive and really won't bother most people.

One distinctive feature of the A model Lansen was thats its four 20 mm hispano nose-mounted cannon sat behind rectangular doors ( a bit like the gunports on the F-86A). These rectangular ports can be seen open and closed, but they are missed totally on the kit, and will need rescribing in place at least. I'm planning to show mine open - to add a bit of a feature - think of U-boat torpedo tube doors and you'll get the idea!

I have to say its a notable omission in the kit, and puzzling too, given its origin.

The Lansens unique 4 airbrake sytem is moulded closed - but I believe Maestro Models are working on resin for this, as well as ordnance to hang on your model, and etch details too...

Overall fit of parts seems to be very good - a dry fit shows the fuselage and wings go together well, though the wing to fuselage join will need care to get a good clean fit. I'm currently checking on dimensional accuracy , so will report back when I've done measurements - but the shape of the Lansen has been captured well, and its slightly plump, but rakish, dogfish-like lines are clearly evident.

Decals are provided for 2 aircraft: 32070 of F17 "Blue H", representing the restored A32 based at the F7 Historical wing. Option 2 is for 32177 of F15 "29" in 1968 - this has dayglo yellow checks on the fin, wings and fuselage. The decals are sharply printed with good density, and there's an extra set of Swedish crown insignia provided - in which the blue, is, err.. bluer and the yellow warmer. These however are the larger, earlier type roundels and possible only applicable for option 2. Full stencilling is supplied, with copious notes on the instructions, which by the way, are well laid out and clear to follow.

Tarangus give FS and Tamiya, Humbrol and Gunze numbers for the Swedish Olive Green top colour for both schemes, while the undersides are in natural metal in both cases. Strangely, colour callouts for internal and detail painting are just generic names, which is fine for things like "black" and "aluminium", but the interior grey and green colours could do with some referenced call outs. Perhaps Tarangus could consider aadding these in future releases? It would be very helpful.

One thing to note is that the model supplies the underside forward ventral strakes ( used to stop spent cartidges blowing into the intakes when the guns were fired). These fit at either side of the nose UC bay, but arent mentioned in the instructions, though they appear in the painting guide, and just about on the box art.

Now this model retails for around £63 ish, which with postage from Sweden ends up at around £80 ( thats what I paid anyway) so it isnt cheap, by any means. I have to say that I am surpised that a model of this price doesnt come with any etch for extra details - even a small set for cockpit instrument panels and details, plus UC oleo scissor links would have been a real help. I'd be interested to know why this wasn't done as it seems a real shame that the modeller will need to spend extra on the forthcoming Maestro etch set to beef up the cockpit etc.

If I were being bluntly honest, I'd say this is more of a £45 model with whats in the box. I thought long and hard about saying that, because I'm so chuffed to have this model available, and really grateful to the chaps that have gone and made it, so I dont want to seem like a whinger: But times are tough, and I fear that at this price it may put a lot of people off. So make of it what you will - but please Tarangus, put some etch in the J-32B release, and then the cost won't seem so bad.

In conclusion this is a fine, well detailed model of an attractive cold war aircraft, that you are unlikely to see kitted by anyone else. You'll need some modelling skill to build it but no more so than a Special Hobby or Azur model.

I have always loved the Lansen, so will be doing a full build on this model on here. Apart from my comments on the price, I'd recommmend this model wholeheartedly.

Cheers

Jonners

[Mike]

Looks great. I'm very happy to see this surprisingly large fighter in plastic Hopefully our review sample will arrive next week, and I suspect I'll be building it straight away

[Dr Evil]

That's a bit more expensive than I was hoping, but that just means my collection of Lansens will be smaller as it looks cracking!

[Toe]

Nice to see it arrive, well worth it seems and being a SAAB car nut this does appeal to me. Only thing I can ask is will be available from retailers here?

[Phantom56]

It's not often a new kit gives a semi, but well, this is the dogs. I can't wait for one as the posted pics look first class.

56.

[pigsty]

Nice to see it arrive, well worth it seems and being a SAAB car nut this does appeal to me. Only thing I can ask is will be available from retailers here?

Hannants is offering it for £64.99. This is an awful lot for an average-sized 1/48 kit, even allowing for resin details. It approaches Hasegawa pricing. Looking at what Jonners has done so far, I'm not convinced it's good enough to justify that, which is a terrible shame, as a Lansen has been near the top of my "yes please" list for many years now.

[andym]

Hannants is offering it for £64.99. This is an awful lot for an average-sized 1/48 kit, even allowing for resin details. It approaches Hasegawa pricing. Looking at what Jonners has done so far, I'm not convinced it's good enough to justify that, which is a terrible shame, as a Lansen has been near the top of my "yes please" list for many years now.

Yup, I'm with you. Had it had a fully detailed resin cockpit, wheelbays and wheels, jetpipe and etched brass sheet then I might have considered it at that sort of price, but for a basic kit, sorry no.

Edited January 12, 2012 by andym