One of the Lansen prototypes, probably the first one, since HM the King of Sweden have signed its nose. It is however taken after the intake had been modified. (Photo from SAAB, via authors collection)

The Lansen was built in three different versions:
A32A, an all weather attack aircraft.
S32A, A photo reconnaissance version of the A32.
J32B, a night fighter, also called “Lansen Sport” due to the use of a more powerful version of the Rolls Royce Avon engine, called RM6A.

The J32B was later modified to be used as a target tug (J32D) and for use as an electronics warfare platform (J32E).

Articles about the Lansen on Plastic warfare:

Review of the 1/48 Tarangus A32A Lansen

Walk Around of the A32A Lansen at the Swedish Airforce Historical Fight

Walk around of the J32D Lansen at the Swedish Airforce Historical Flight

Pictures of a dismounted belly tank, intake cover, ladder and of the tow bar

Pictures from Göteborg Aero Show 2010

Here are some what I hope are, inspirational images of the SAAB 32 Lansen as well as two old SAAB photographs I found in my collection. They have belonged to my father, who probably got them from his parents, who both worked at SAAB.

Notice how the front of the tank is built from a thicker gauge of steel plating than the thinner aluminium used on the rest of the tank. This is because shell casings from the four guns on the A32 was hitting the front of the tank.

Since the birds have been in active duty until quite recently they are not 100% representative of the original J32B, especially not when it comes to cockpit instrumentation. But in main fuselage detail they still are. Some parts are quite identical to the A32A, and this walk around thus adds to the one of the A32 I recently posted.

First some comments regarding some photos:

Here, two of the three main external differences between the A32 and J32 can be seen. First one is the different openings for the guns (30mm guns instead of the 20mm guns of the A32). The second difference is also due to the guns. It´s the slight bulge in the fuselage beside the nose gear doors.

The aileron have a much thicker trailing edge on the J32. Compare with the corresponding photo on the A32 walk around.

Notice the grey aluminium boxes above the seat gun, between the seat rails in this picture, It was missing from the A32. I guess it really belongs there too.

The white spot on the nose is a GPS-antenna, NOT used on the original J32B aircraft.

Main gear bay, looking aft. In the A32 walkaround there are two large openings here, one in each bay. They were missing their covers. This is how it looks like when they are in place.

The tow bar is attached on to the lower scissors link of the nose gear. The upper link is spring loaded, so that it is lifted up out of the way.

The flaps are deployed for service only, they were usually retracted on the ground. But this gives us a splendid opportunity to document them thoroughly.

Some additional pictures of use for the A32 modeller can be found in my J32 walk around.

A few pictures will need some further comment:

The oxygen regulator, the black rectangle on the top right corner of the dashboard, is not a standard item, but a more recent modification.

This is the battery compartment just forward of the nose gear bay (notice the two landing spotlights on the gear bay doors on the lower part of the image. The bay should be covered by an aluminium plate, but it was removed (and I “found” it in the cockpit, but undortunately forgot to photograph it!)

This is the lower boundary layer bleed duct, on the underside of the aircraft. The upper one is the rectangular opening just behind the intake. Forward is towards the bottom of the image. Note that this is presented on the Tarangus Lansen as a rectangular panel.

Note the discreet panel line between the wing assembly and the fuselage. I guess that´s one thing that doesn’t need puttying on the Tarangus kit.

This is the trailing edge of the aileron. It´s thin, nothing special about that, but the trailing edge of the J32 is considerably thicker.

Finally, when I was a teenager and had work practice at the company that maintained the remaining Lansens then in service by the end of the 1980s I was told to climb in to the tight inlets of the Lansen – which I did. I even got as far as crouching in front of the compressor inlet, then returned out again. It was claustrofobic, but I could do it. I did try to do the same this time, but I didn’t get very far, fortunately, else they would have to drag me out. But I did get this picture:

Note the two bulges in front of the compressor, they are present in the man gear bays, and are there to make room for the wheels.

O, and I nearly forgot the dimensions for the gun ports:

Port dimensions: 32.5cm x 6cm
Vertical distance between ports: 20.6cm
Lower port distance from nose cone: 12.4cm

Without further ado, some 300+ pics. I probably missed an angle or two.

I won’t write a long article here, but just post some pics.

The photos of the completed vignette were shot and processed in Photoshop by Sven-Åke Grufstedt, so I can take no credit for them. Thanks for your help, Sven-Åke!

A short summary of the build:

The model is a combination of the Dragon M2 halftrack (front end) and scratchbuilt body from the windscreen and back, plus details/modifications to depict the Swedish M3 Scout car used during the Congo conflict. The fuel trailer is mostly scratchbuilt since there are no commercial models available of this item.

The vehicle and trailer have been painted in the typical cammo used during that conflict, bluish-gray with black spots.

The Swedish contingent had two of these vehicles, named “Olga Belle” and “Petronella Belle”.

A full article of this build can be found in Issue 006 of Military Illustrated Modeller.

Thanks for looking!

Short background about the EA-6A

Many are familiar with the A-6 Intruder attack aircraft, many also know about the larger, four seat electronic warfare version, the EA-6B Prowler. Fewer know there was a stop gap aircraft developed in the early sixties, and used in front line service until the mid seventies, before the Prowler was available. This was the EA-6A. It retained the fuselage of the Intruder, and the external differences are, apart from the “football” at the fin top, few  and not easily distinguished. Apart from antennas and the odd additional scoop, the “Electric Intruder” retains the fuselage mounted air brakes of very early Intruders. On regular intruders these were moved to the wing tips instead, but for some reason, they had to remain on the fuselage on the EA-6A. Also on the wings, there is an extra wing fence. The nose is slightly also slightly longer.

The kit

The Fujimi EA-6A Intruder kit is far from brand new. It´s from the early nineties at least, maybe older. But the details are crisp, the panel lines finely engraved. The Intruder fuselage is more complex than I knew when I started this build, and the complex lines demand that the fuselage is split up in several ways.The fit is however quite good. There are some lines that need puttying, or at least careful alignment and sanding.

The kit includes the two S-shaped ducts for the exhausts, with turbine blade faces to place at the ends (they will not be visible afterwards). There are also fans and ducts for the intakes. If you want seamless intakes, I guess it´s doable, but it will require a bit more effort than what I put in. It´s also not a very easy area to get to – it´s 1/72, remember!

The intakes will as usual, need a little sanding, but careful alignment reduces this to a minimum. The nose cone will need a bit more, and some puttying too maybe. I was a bit sloppy, and just used my scalpel blade, but unfortunately it shows after painting. The nose cone on my sample had only traces of panel lines on it, so the serious modeller want to scribe some lines here. Also missing from the nose area, are the various pitot tubes. They are not in the kit. The kit does however tell you to remove the fairings for the wing tip air brake jacks, and it gives you the extra wing fences. Also in the kit are the perforated fuselage mounted air brakes. The builder is told to open up the openings for the hinges, since the moulding is tooled to incorporate many different Intruders. The air brakes perforations are portrayed with sharp indentations in the plastic. I elected to do the only “superdetailling” by drilling these out completely. During the process I managed to ruin one of the brakes when drilling out a hole close to the corner. The corner simply gave away. I managed to repair it using plasticard and superglue.

The kit gives you decals for the cockpit, but the instrument panels features fine raised details, so I elected to paint them on instead. I was quite happy how it turned out. The seats are also fairly detailed. I am no expert on the Martin Baker Mk 7 used in the Intruder, but the amount of details on them (including moulded on harnesses) are OK considered the scale. Two detailed pilot figures are included, and I gave them the imaginary callsigns “Stars” and “Stripes”.

The canopy can be positioned either closed or open. It´s thin and clear, and even if it´s closed, it will allow quite a good view in to the cockpit. However, it has a fair amount of distortion. The fit is excellent, even when the canopy is closed. I think it should be slightly more bulged on the sides to be 100% correct, but moulding limitations would make that a complicated affair. When this kit was issued, use of slide moulding was not as common place as it is today.

The included load consists of three fuel tanks and two jamming pods. There is also an extra pair of wing pylons to be placed on the most outboard station, but there is nothing to put on them.

You get four different options when it comes to markings, three high visibility gloss grey/white schemes, and one low visibility grey. I selected the box art alternative of VMAQ-2 of the USMC. They wore the name “The Playboys” and displayed the classic playboy bunny on the aircraft back in the days. I thought the black fin with white lettering would look good.

The paint job was fairly simple. I first gave the aircraft a base coat of alclad microfiller primer. Then I started off with the radome tan on the nose, since it often is easier to mask the nose than to mask the fuselage. The under side (complete with landing gears and landing gear bay doors) was painted white. I then masked the tail and added the black , since I thought it would be easier to mask the fin rather than the tail later. I found a suitable grey among my tamiya jars. It was not as tricky as I hade thought, getting a fine demarcation between the white and the grey using free hand painting with the airbrush.

Painted the walk ways and black trim around the canopy instead of using the kit decals, I thought it would be simpler and better just to paint, and the walkways were added using flat black (Tamiya “NATO Black”) for two more reasons, the first being that on photographs of this particular aircraft, the walkways are indeed black instead of the greya of the kit decals, and by painting the walkways AFTER the decals were added and gloss coated, they remained flat. The weathering process have resulted in them being not as flat as I´d like, but there is still a little difference compared to the surrounding semi gloss surface.

The decals were the only serious let down of the kit, but this probably has more to do with the age of the kit, and not so much to do with the manufacturer. The decals were packaged with a piece of protective paper in a separate plastic wrap. The paper had become attached to the decals and required a bit of carefully applied force to remove. The result was that some decals on which it had stuck, had a “fur” of paper fibres. I thought that it would come off when the decals had been soaked- and it did, but not easily. The other problem with the decals was that they were brittle and prone do break. Both problems I guess is due to the age of the kit. Apart from those two problems, they were thin and reacted well to microsol. They are not as sharp as we´re used to nowadays, but I guess that is also a sign of the age of the kit.

After the decals had been applied, a protective coat of gloss coat was added. Then it was time for weathering. I wanted to make this aircraft “new but worn”, so I did not add any patches, chipping or paint touch ups. I begun by adding a wash to the aircraft. For the first time I used a ready made wash – from AK Interactive. I bought the wash for another project (it´s “For green vehicles”), and it´s a dark brown colour. I thought it would work for this grey/white aircraft also. Compared to the home made washes I’ve made before, this one is very dark, but fine. I´ve had problems with my own washes, that it has been very “grainy”. I don´t know if it´s the pigments of the oil paint or humbrol or if it is the solvent, white spirit that is the culprit. The AK wash is completely “grain free”. I added the wash very liberally, allowed it a few seconds to dry (I like the weathering process, it´s the really fun part of any modelling project, so I can´t sit around wait for stuff to dry.. unfortunately). Then I used brushes moist with white spirit, cotton buds and a rag to clean the aircraft up again, so that most of the wash only remained in the panel lines. After that I used oil paint (black and brown) to add streaks to the bottom, where I imagine oil and fuel would seep out through leaks in the panel lines. I also added a few streaks over the wings, where grease and oil leaks out from the actuators for the flaps.

It´s a simple build, and a simple weathering job, but I think it came out nicely. Probably the nicest 1/72 aircraft job I’ve done, ever.

The kit contens

Finally it arrived, after more than a year since we first heard of it, the Tarangus 1/48 scale SAAB A32 Lansen. The kit is a limited edition injection moulded plastic kit with five grey plastic sprues, one transparent plastic sprue and two ejection seats in resin. The kit comes in a sturdy card board box featuring a very nice box art. The box has all the parts placed in a single large ziploc bag. Fortunately the transparent sprue is placed within a smaller ziploc, so it is protected from scratches.
Two sheets of decals are included, one main sheet and an addendum with a second set of crown markings. The colours of the crown markings differs between the sets, and the addendum sheet is probably closer to the real colours. I think both sets are usable, but for the really picky it could be worth knowing.

The Decals

Speaking of the decal sheet, the main sheet holds a lot of stencils and Ö68 squares. The Ö68 squares were markings put on aircraft playing the enemy in exercises, and they have been known to come in two colours, dayglo red or dayglo yellow. On the decal sheet the Ö68 squares are really glowing yellow. It will make the finished kit a real eye catcher I think.

The stencilling is probably as complete as it can be, with variations for early and late markings. They are in register, and the film looks thin. I have seen crisper decals. It is not possible to read the small stencilling. But I think they will do nicely. If not, there are already after market sets on the market.

The parts

The parts come on six sprues, five grey and one transparent. This is a short run injection moulded kit, and it cannot be expected to have the same quality as any other contemporary kit from Hasegawa or Tamiya. But as short run kits go, this kit is quite good, as far as my experience goes. Actually, I´ve seen fairly new Airfix kit that looks worse (yes, I´m talking to you, Airfix 1/48 TSR.2 kit). There are no part numbers on the sprues, but there is a guide in the instructions booklet.

The engraving for the gun fairings is missing

The main fuselage parts have engraved panel lines, not as finely engraved as some manufacturers manage to do, but also not the heavy ditches from some other (still talking to you, Airfix). I´d say that they are nothing to be worried about. I have not compared the panel lines to any drawings in order so spot any errors, but I did found a spot that needs some work. The guns, ore more exactly the lack of them. On the A32, the four 20mm gun barrels are covered with small aerodynamic hatches. These look like four rectangular panels in lower nose. These are sadly lacking on the kit. Not to hard to fix if you know how to scribe. I am unfortunately not good at rescribing, but I´ll have to give it a try this time.

Also on the fuselage there are two air intakes and a few other details that will benefit from some drilling and carving.

When it comes to the details the kit is quite simple. There are almost no details in the gear wells, and the detailing in the cockpit is also spartan. If I remember correctly, the interior in the Lansen IS quite spartan to begin with, but I think the after market companies or scratch builders will have the opportunity to shine.

The kit comes with 14 weapon pylons, but sadly enough, no weapons. They will undoubtedly turn up from Maestro later. I believe, but I am not sure, that 12 of the pylons are so called A-pylons, that could be used only for rockets and light bombs, six pylons on each wing. There are two optional pylons included, to be used instead of the most outboars A-pylon, but if this is a so called B-pylon for heavier bombs, I don´t know. The instructions just give you the option, no information. There is no center mounted D-pylon includen, neither are the G-pylons used for the Rb 04 anti shipping missile included.

There are ejection pin marks on many parts, but they are with a pair exceptions placed where they do no harm. Often they are of the protruding variety, to they can be cut and sanded away. One exception is a pin mark on the main landing gear bay. It might need some work to get rid of.

I found no sink marks on any parts and only a small amount of flash.

The clear parts are very clear and reasonably thin. Thin enough for the canopy. The gun sight and perspex parts for the ejeciton seats might benefit from being replaced by parts cut out from transparent plasticard.

The seats are moulded in resin, and my seats did not have any air bubbles in them. The Lansen bang seats are quite simple and basic in design, and this goes for the resin seats too. They are depicted without the survival pack/seat “pillow” and the parachute/”back cushion”. There are also no belts present. Also missing are the foot rests and the ejection handle. Those two details are not too difficult to add yourself.

The instructions

The instructions come in the form of an black and white A4 booklet printed on a good quality paper. It has a very nice feel to it.

The illustrations are clear and contain colour call outs that are quite thorough regarding to what colour goes where. The description of the colour is however generic, and no paint manufacturers numbers or FS numbers are given. To be honest I think the call outs are specific enough, so it doesn´t bother me.

There is one think I would have liked to see in the instructions, and that is a guide for which pylons that were used for carriage of what weapon. The instructions give you a drawing of the A/C with all pylons mounted and a rocket on each pylon, but it would have been nice to see what alternatives there were. As previously mentioned, different loads used different pylons, and not all pylons were always mounted.

There are two alternatives regarding markings included. Both alternatives are olive green aircrafts with natural metal undersides. Here the instructions give the modeller a suggested FS-number (FS34079) as well as Tamiya (XF-61), Humbrol (116) and Gunze (H-060) numbers.

The instructions also hints on differences in markings and stencilling between early and late aircraft, and the decal sheet includes several variants, so that various time frames can be depicted.

A brief test fit

A quick test fitting of the fuselage and wings is promising. As is usual with short run kits, it has no location pins.

Conclusion

This is the ONLY 1/48 Lansen kit on the market. Perhaps there is an old vacuform from the age when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but it´s hardly “on the market” any more.
If you want something that is easy to build, and that is state of the art in detailling – look elsewhere, but if you want to build something odd, something of the Swedish Airforce and you are prepared to do some extra work?

Personally I have waited for this kit, and I knew all along that it would not be in the same class as anything from the large manufacturers, and I am very happy that it came to be. For a short run kit I think it looks very good.

I think Tarangus made a great job bringing the Lansen to us, and for that I am grateful. I hope I will be able to to it justice while building it. Looking forward to more releases from Tarangus in the future. A J32 “Lansen Sport” for example.

The review kit was bought from Rebell Hobby, and costed 695 SEK (about €70 or $100).

Some recommended internet reading

The Facebook Lansen Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195429103879536/
An article about Lansen (in swedish): http://www.aef.se/Flygvapnet/Notiser/FPL32%20Lansen%20notis%202.htm
Another Lansen article (in english): http://u-fr.blogspot.com/2011/12/saab-lansen.html#more

Update: More useful links can be found here:
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=234910237&hl

This is the second of the tracked SEP prototypes, built by Hägglunds for the SEP project. It is the only one of the three SEP prototypes that Arsenalen has in its collection that is currently displayed in the museum.

Compared to the first tracked prototype, this is slightly simpler. It lacks the advanced camera system of the former, and the “cockpit” only has two LCD displays instead of the five MFD-type displays of the older prototype. The drive sprocket has been moved to the front as on most IFV´s. I don´t know why, and I don´t know a great deal of this vehicle other than it is powered by two diesel engines (from Audi, if my info is correct) that via generators powers the electric drive motors. This vehicle apparently share some components with the Strf 90, and also the wheeled prototype.

You can find the walkarounds of the other SEP-prototypes here:
SEP W1, the first wheeled prototype
SEP T1, the first tracked prototype

Ulf L held a demonstration in rigging techniques for 1/350 scale ship modelling.

Kits kits kits

Per-Olav Lund from Norway brought a fine collection of stunning dioramas, and can now add "Swedish champion" to his titles.

The first ever Swedish Champions of plastic modelling.

More pictures from the event can be found in these galleries:

Military vehicles
Aircraft
Dioramas
Figures
Ships, Theme class, civilian vehicles etc.

Update 2011-11-01

I claimed that the championship would be held in Stockholm in 2012, that was wrong. It will be held in Gothenburg. Thank you for the correction, Lars!