Lansen
Once again the great company Tarangus, from Sweden, makes us happy with their products. This time it is the fighter version of the SAAB Lansen, model J32B. The scale is the same as their previous product, 1/48, and the stock code of the kit is TA4802.
After great success of their first kit of the Lansen, this kit follows with features of the previous machine but this time it is greatly upgraded with additional resin parts. So, when you open the nicely designed box you will find inside four frets with injected plastic parts, one fret with injected transparent parts, resin exhaust and ejection seat, a nice instruction guide and even three sheets of perfectly printed decals. These sheets include a large sheet with most of the decals on it and two smaller sheets, one for small yellow numbers and the other for the instrument panels. This last sheet is very important as it makes it easy to get a realistic appearance in the cockpit.
The parcel I received included one extra—the Maestro Models photo etched set MMP4814 and this includes interior details for the Lansen models J32B/DE. Maestro Models is well known in their products related to the Swedish plastic kits and this set I have mentioned is an excellent one, with ease you can build the kit interior in top shape.
Assembly of the kit is easy and I found no problems in removing parts and fitting them. The instructions point out that the seat must be placed into the cockpit on the first step but there is no need to do that, you can put it inside at the very end. An important detail is the transparent stabilizers CP4 which need to be mounted at same time as the seat; these are a bit oversized so it may be nice to sand them down into the proper size. Another item which need some upgrading is the wheel wells. There are plenty of pipes and lines there so you will need some time and good reference images to represent them all.
The whole assembly of the kit can be accomplished in one week and after that the kit is ready for painting. Decals are provided for four machines and they include various unit and National markings (small and large). What is specific for this model is the that camouflage is overall green with only the rear bottom side of the fuselage in natural metal finish. The radome is black and the leading edges are polished metal color. My marking choice is the sample machine J32B, 32606, no. 05 from F4 at Froson and it is shown in the top image of this article.
This is definitely a great kit and I absolutely recommend it to you! Tarangus is becoming sovereign for the Swedish airplane kits, and great things are coming for the future, the next project to be released will be the Viggen. You can order Lansen here!
Special thanks to Fredrik Zetterberg for this review sample kit!
Srecko Bradic
