Global Scale Modeller

Good evening to you ladies 'n gentlemen,

I bought this lovely Lansen kit today at a hobby show in Stockholm (to which I highly recommend a visit should you find yourself in the region; it's open during Sunday, too). My intention was to buy Tarangus' Viggen in 1:48 scale, but a retailer there had discounts on both Viggen and Lansen, and I suppose you know where that decision anxiety is at such a brilliant opportunity; I bought both kits! After reading a few build threads on both fighters and much consideration, I concluded that the Lansen would be my first build out of these two. Which is my first aircraft build in aeons; I had a plethora of 1:72 Spitfires, Mustangs and Bf-109's once upon a time, but lost my interest in scale modelling for many years before then making a return to the hobby somewhere 'round May last year - and quite frankly, that time included my first serious attempts at modelling, something at which I can't say I excel even today, but for which I still have my mindset, nonetheless.

In any case, I reckon that's more than enough banter and ramblings about myself, and I am certain you're more interested in reading about the Lansen model. I'm not intending to do a heavy write-up in the shape of a kit review, as there are several of those already. A few, quick thoughts are all that I'll contend with tonight.



Shiny, boxy Lansen box! Tarangus makes very sturdy packages I hear, and this one is hardly an exception. Alas I'm not doing the exceptional boxart justice with this photo, but it will suffice.



After a slight effort, the very tight-fitting lid was removed, and upon that removal we find common plastic model paraphernalia; sprues, sprues and more sprues. Also instructions, decals and plastic bags, and sprues.



Mess. Almost all sprues are in a single bag; it is a miracle that the parts are as yet unscathed!



Instrument panel detail is good directly from the box.



There are also decals for the panels, which apparently can be applied straight on to the surfaces without them having to be deprived of any molded detail. I might replace these with aftermarket photo-etch though, depending on how pleased I am with these. After all, the cockpit is an essential part of any aircraft model!



Helpful advice is helpful.



Main decals. Lovely checkered pattern there!



More decals.



Tarangus includes both seats as well as the exhaust, in resin! This is a fantastic addition to the kit, considering aftermarket parts are usually rather expensive.



I decided to dry-fit the hull halves - before fetching my camera - hence your never seeing them in the previous photos shown. No major fit issues could be spotted upon my fairly in-depth examination, but I have yet to actually assemble these to ultimately find out.

This will be an exciting build, and an excellent opportunity for me to return to the world of aircraft, albeit a serious attempt rather than merely throwing old 80's kits together and calling them finished. This kit is well-detailed and appears to be very advanced, but I'm sure I can produce something decent out of it if I spend enough time on the build. Some photo-etched cockpit details might be added to the to-buy list, depending on how convincing the included decals look, once again. Might also add a PE ladder and two pilots, but those decisions I can make at a later point.

Wish me luck on this one!

//Andrew

Hej och välkommen till forumet!

Will be a nice build to follow, it's a cool plane and a good size. The cockpit PE is a good addition to the kit, specially the belts. I think the color of the PE is a bit off, it's no way near the color of the decals.



And neither of them is the same as the real thing, but the decals are closer.



BTW if you're looking for good reference this book is really good. Rebell Hobby has it, they also have one on Viggen and one on Draken and all of them are just as good.



This reminds me, I need to get started on one of my Lansen kits soon.

JonMW wrote:Hej och välkommen till forumet!

Will be a nice build to follow, it's a cool plane and a good size. The cockpit PE is a good addition to the kit, specially the belts. I think the color of the PE is a bit off, it's no way near the color of the decals.

(...)

BTW if you're looking for good reference this book is really good. Rebell Hobby has it, they also have one on Viggen and one on Draken and all of them are just as good.

Tack så mycket!

I suppose the PE is worth buying regardless of the shade, its various other details seem to be a great addition to the cockpit regardless of which panels one would decide to use. Seeing the PE sheet with my own eyes allows me to easier make the decision, too.

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll get a copy of that book (and perhaps also the Viggen one!)

//Andrew

AndrewSW wrote: Seeing the PE sheet with my own eyes allows me to easier make the decision, too.
//Andrew

Just give Rebell a visit, they should have all the aftermarket for the Lansen in stock and really good colors for it as well, just be careful or you might do what I did and walk out with way more then you planned.

JonMW wrote:
Just give Rebell a visit, they should have all the aftermarket for the Lansen in stock and really good colors for it as well, just be careful or you might do what I did and walk out with way more then you planned.

Blimey! That's a lot of aftermarket! I think I'll just get a ladder, intake covers and some figures, as most of the standard parts look good enough.

Anyways, time for an update:


Preparing the seats took me an hour, due to clumsiness. I managed to break off certain parts of both of 'em whilst cleaning them up, and had to repair the frame several times per chair. Resin is quite difficult for me to work with, as I lack certain necessary tools for the material.



According to all reference photos I could find, the panel was inaccurate and seems to have been designed for the A32 Lansen; this being a J32, I had to remove a spotting unit (I'm actually not quite sure what it is, but it's only in the A version) and certain gauges, and another one had to be drilled out in the previous position of the curious sight - or whatever that was supposed to be. It seems the decals are an accurate representation of the J32, at the very least.



I've made a start on the cockpit, and the decals are good enough, I think. It will be completed with detail painting and some scratch-building, I'll probably not need to use any PE parts for this. Seats aren't done as of yet, but they will come in due time.



Another shot of the as yet crude cockpits. I'm glad this is a double-seater; this part of the build has hitherto been very enjoyable!



The frontal air intakes were lenghtened as per the kit's instructions, but I might fill them in at the back to prevent any see-through effect.



As you can see (or not), the intake is still open at the back. Once again, I will probably rectify this.



Resin exhaust was drilled out and cleaned out, and the remaining injection-moulded parts of it were assembled.



//Andrew

Välkommen!

Looks good so far Andrew.

Nice to see that you sorted out the resin. I was not so lucky with my resin parts for the 39D Gripen.

Looking good so far.

Hej Andrew,

Looking good, keep up the good work


Tommy

I'm still working on the project, albeit at a snail's pace. This day I managed to finish the seats, meaning that the cockpits are almost complete! Regarding the speed, I'll accuse Christmas and New Year's celebrations, along with certain, encumbering school projects having been prioritised over any modelling projects.

Anyways, the update itself. Not much to it this time, but here it is!


The catapult seats (or knallpall för my fellöw Swedish aviatiön enthusiästs ) were all hand-painted, and miraculously so without my breaking anything. This resin is such a delicate material to work with!


I almost exclusively use Vallejo colours for all my models. This grey scheme was a mixture of roughly 50:50 159 Dark Sea Grey and 178 Natural Steel. Details were made with various other paints, the numbers of which I haven't taken notes of. Prussian Blue, Bright Red, etcetera. I'm not too picky about accurate colours on small details such as these anyways.


Installed in the office! Seatbelts were made using duct tape, which I didn't even have to paint in order to receive a satisfactory result. I might add some scratch-built details to these chairs, which would include the release handle, but we'll see about that; details are incredibly small and delicate, and I don't wish to make anything appear afflunters or rough, or anything like that.


(All this photo are belong to Eduard/Rebell Hobby)
Hitherto, I'm not certain as to whether or not I'll use pilot figurines for this kit, and should I make that decision I've yet to decide if I'll use standing or sitting such. That can, of course, wait until later. I did order a bunch of Eduard Rb24B (AIM-9B) "Sidewinder" Air-to-Air missiles from Rebell Hobby, made of resin and brass, which will hopefully arrive soon!

I wish you a belated Happy Christmas/God Jul and New Year/Gott Nytt År! Hoping to have some more time for this model soon.

//Andrew's Scale Workshop

Excellent work, Anders!


Tommy

Looking good so far. I'll be following this, as I've got this kit in the stash.

This look like a nice kit. Have watched the ISM video review - I may have to add it to my stash.

The project ain't dead, ya know!

These last few months have been very hectic. I had my birthday and started on a Strv m/38 (Swedish WWII-era tank, also known as Toldi in Hungary) I received as a gift, which put the Lansen on hold, for one thing. Then I temporarily lost my modelling spirit for about a month or so. Went back, but got an interest in WWI-era aircraft and started playing Rise of Flight , which took even more modelling time away. Then there was an attack in my home town, which put me off of going to the hobby store - rest assured though, no one I know was hurt! - and certain other things. I've not been feeling too well recently due to school matters, but a few days ago, I finally managed to find the time and spirit for working on the Lansen again.


The first thing I finished off was the two cockpits, to which I added control sticks and those little glass things for the seats, whatever they are supposed to be. A little bit of detail painting, and they were good to go!


Hull halves being glued together. The cockpit has been sandwiched in between them.


With this being a short-run kit, there are a few fit issues in the hull halves. This is quite typical for most traditional aircraft kits, really, and won't be difficult to rectify with a bit of sanding and filling.


Above view down to the cockpit. The front is missing a little piece here, which I added after photographing.


The exhaust came on, too. It lacked insertion slots, which are shown in the instructions but not molded in the hull halves themselves, but the parts fit perfectly despite that. I combined super glue with Tamiya Extra Thin, and added a bit of tape internally, to ensure it would stay there.


I have now decided upon the armament of this Lansen. It will carry two Rb 24b, as well as the kit-included radar. If I feel like it later on, I might add a drop tank to each wing too. Those "Remove before flight" tags in PE look excellent, but I wish they were in Swedish. Perhaps it won't be noticed that well in this scale, but ideally, they should say "Tag bort före flygning". Then again, I'm not sure if I want to use the covers on these Sidewinder missiles - which would require some sort of tags - or if I should remove them, as if the plane is ready for flight. After all, I haven't added any open airbrakes, lowered flaps or similar. I don't think I have to worry too much about them at the moment; once the plane has been painted up, I can decide that.


Holes have been drilled out in preparation for pylons to put the missiles on. Even if I won't add any drop tanks, I will put the pylons for them there, as the wings look a bit naked without them.