SAAB A32A Lansen

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Hi gang - Ok made a start on this beast ( about the size of a Tornado - so pretty big for a single engined 2 seater).

First up is to get rid of this ejector pin mark, right slap bang in the centre section main UC bay engine tunneling

A bit of CA/Talc mix, then this is sanded down and the grooves reinstated with a razor saw and file. Sorted!

Next up - opening out the prominent mid fuselage air intake - drill and file does the job - this will be boxed in with some plastic card. I ve also drilled out the hole for the tailplane to fit into - though I may also sharpen up the variable incidence guide slot in front of this too.

Now onto the intakes. The boundary layer bleed exhaust ( the slot above the intake) has been cleaned up and enlarged a tad with a file - then plastic sheet is cemented in to create a flat roof inside, and a rear section that angle forward sharply.

The interior intake piece has already been cemented in shape, and its top edge file and sanded to make some clearance for the plasticard inserted into the BL exhaust. ( I'll take pics of the one for the other side when I do it- whihc will make a lot more sense!)

The next step will be to re make the boundary layer splitter plate so it fits into the intake front and sits at a level that matches the exhaust vent. In this pic you can see the intake interiors front end where I've filled it to blend in with the fusealge half. Plus tape postionings for the cannon doors on the nose - though the lower one needs to be re-done as its too short.

More to come

Cheers

Jonners

[smoffo]

Looking nice, just waiting for this kit to get to my LHS. Just fell in love with the Lansen when I saw a few of them last summer in museums in Sweden.

[Moofles]

Great work so far, can believe they would of engineered the kit to have such a prominent ejector mark in the gear bay like that.

[Marlin]

Great Start.

I'm taking note for when I start mine.

I'll not start mine before I can get the forthcoming Maestro PE set for the cockpit.

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden (and ARC)

[Tim T]

I have been looking forward to seeing you build this Jonners. If anything will make me break my no new kit rule for 2012 it will be this beast!

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Great work so far, can believe they would of engineered the kit to have such a prominent ejector mark in the gear bay like that.

Yeah I know - seems a tad daft - it is covered a bit by a centre line in-fill detail peice- but it will still be visible. Good news is the plastic is easy to work, and polishes back up to a good clean shiny finish.

I'll posts pics of the intake work later - a lot simpler than I'd feared ( but as I mentioned in my review - only for anally retentive Lansen-a-holics, uuhm like me!)

Cheers

Jonners

[Vingtor]

This is interesting, I didn't even know there was a 1/48 scale kit of the Lansen. I remeber seing it on airshows in Sweden back in the '80s, and even on Mojave Airfield in California.

I will be following this tread.

Nils

[Martian]

This is interesting, I didn't even know there was a 1/48 scale kit of the Lansen. I remeber seing it on airshows in Sweden back in the '80s, and even on Mojave Airfield in California.

I will be following this tread.

Nils

This kit seems to have slipped under my radar as well. I shall certainly be following this thread with interest.

Martin

[Navy Bird]

Looking forward to the completion of this one! You've done a great job so far - I love the fix for that ejector pin mark! What scheme will you be doing?

Cheers,

Bill

[Christer A]

Great start!

Will follow this one with great interest!

My Uncle who got me into modelling, has always got at soft spot for the Lansen since his conscription time in the Swedish Airforce as a mechanic in the 60:s. My one year stint in the airforce had no Lansens, since they were only used for ECM duties at that time, so I haven't crawled around on any. A shame really. Plenty of Viggens and Gripens for me though

I wonder when Max at Rebell will start producing the S32C conversion, airbrakes and resin cockpits though...

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Morning all!! its suitably scandinavian outside, so time for an update.

First up - heres how the kit intake parts look. If you use these you'll need to thin out the intake lip as its a bit thick and flashy.

This is the internal trunking with the splitter plate tacked on.

And here it is inserted into the intake. Its not too bad - but the problem is that the top of the plate should line up with the lower edge of the BL exhaust slot ( in reality its the same bit of metal running all the way through).

Now heres my new splitter plate for the other side. Needs a bit of a tweek, but when its fitted it does look better ( well I think it does). The top of the spittler plate still needs a bit angling down.

This is a useful pic to show what I'm after. Note the small stand offs that attach the plate to the fuselage side - that will be fun!

The lower wing comes in 2 halves - so, Ive joined this and added the UC bay wheel well. This is now a very strong assembly - I think that you need to do this as otherwise that central joint will be very springy to clean up if you attach the wings in separate halves.

Note the 2 plastic strip tabs I've added at the front - this keeps everything lined up when the wing is fitted - meaning there'll be no step on this join.

One thing you do need to do with the wing to fuselage join is to file back the fuselage rear mating area as the overall gap is too small to take the wing.

You also need to file out these angled recesses on the upper wing fuselage fillet - as other wise the wing does not seat itself properly

really enjoying this one so far. Its not a slot together model at all, buts its all easy stuff to do.

More pics once the camera recharges!

Cheers

Jonners

[J.D.]

Love that splitter plate Jonners.

Watching this with interest.

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Ay up!

Bit more work on splitter plate 1, the angled end piece on the top of the plate has been added and sanded in, plus the attachment points have been made from thin sheet and CA'ed into position - they will be progressively thinned and narrowed as I tinker with the fit... which isnt actually too bad

Made a start on intake 2: Here's the inner peice glued in place, and the joined filled with Mr Dissovled Putty, plus the BL exhaust slot has been filed out

More later

Jonners

[Vingtor]

Morning all!! its suitably scandinavian outside...

White and cold?

The kit looks very MPM'ish. Buildable, with some challenges.

Nils

Edited January 14, 2012 by Vingtor

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

White and cold?

The kit looks very MPM'ish. Buildable, with some challenges.

Nils

Hi Nils - thats a spot on summary of the kit, and yes it was frosty and cold here this morning - certainly cold enough for our rubbish cat to complain!

So made a bit more progress this afternoon. Gunports. The A32A's unique covered ports are missing from the kit - not even shown as recessed lines. To replicate this interesting feature of this model of Lansen, the areas were first marked with strips of masking tape, then a coat of matt black brushed on. Tape is then removed to get you this-

Then its chain drill, file and make good, line the holes with plastic card, add some brass tubes for the gun muzzles, and add plastic card to make the backs of the ports. Phew! which gets you here:

The gunport doors retracted inwards into the apertures to lie flat against the port back - so these will be added with strips of suitable painted plastic card at a later stage. The brass tubing will have a smaller diameter tube added inside too for extra detail.

Pretty pleased with how these turned out! All in all a good days modelling.

Cheers

Jonners

[Vlamgat9]

JKT, what are you going to do about the air brakes?

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

JKT, what are you going to do about the air brakes?

Hiya mate - yes Im thinking about them. TBH when deployed they make the airframe look messy, so aesthetically I may just leave them in. Maestro are doing a set anyway, so Ba Da Bum, Ba Da Bing.

Jonners

[Av8fan]

Very very nice work. I like the looks of this kit.

Thanks for posting the step by step, I think it will help anyone who is interested in making one.

Edited January 15, 2012 by Av8fan

[Tim T]

Great work Jonners. Obviously more inspiring than a pile of Hobbyboss plastic for you! Keep up the good work, I am really enjoying this thread.

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Morning gang, right bit of an update today.

The new intake splitter plates are now 99% finished

The mounting arms are reinforced with CA and are pretty strong.

Here you can see how they fit: See how the top flat portion of the boundary plate now lies on the same level as the floor of the vent - much betterer!

And a front view showiing the gun ports too; the gap in the nose is not a problem - more down to the fact the fuselage is just taped.

Theres also 2 boundary layer exhaust vents underneath the intakes too - on the kit they are shown as rectangular areas, so I've drilled them out and lined them, again the internal trunking curves forward and out.

I should really have made holes in the intake trunking for them to meet up with - but as you wouldnt see this at all on the model, there no point in the extra faff.

This pic also shows the clean join of the wing to fuselage that can be acheived by using the 2 plasticard lugs attached to the wing front edge, I showed earlier.

The rear fuselage needs to be pushed out a little so the rear edge of the wing will sit flat with it. So a piece of kit sprue was cut to size, and this now acts to very gently increase the fuselage depth perfectly. Note I've left the "T" section on the top - the idea is that this will spread the strain on the top fuselage join....

In the meantime I've been improving the fit of the cockpit parts: This is really just a case of sanding the edges a little and checking to see how the tubs fit within the fuselage. As the forward tub also includes the nose gear bay, I've added plastic card and sprue stays so that everything fits snugly into place. It looks complex but it was about 10 minutes work to sort all this out. The sprue stay CA'ed onto the top of the wheel bay is important as it locks the bay down against the inside of the fuselage giving a very secure location.

The two plasticard beams CA'ed to the underside of the front tub, support the rear tub securely, again its fabricated to be a push fit.

This last pic shows the lower boundary layer vent trunking, the plastic card side stay for the noseweel bay, and the inner construction of the gunports.

This all means that when its together, everything will look nice and neat:

In the pic above, I've also thinned down the cockpit sills, so I can add some sharper detail.

Finally - via the wonders of Tamiya tape - Its beginning to look a lot like a Lansen!

Next up - the jet pipe...

Cheers

Jonners

[Silver Fox]

Lovely work, I really like the work you have done on the splitter plates, well worth the effort. Thanks for posting the step by step photos.

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Lovely work, I really like the work you have done on the splitter plates, well worth the effort. Thanks for posting the step by step photos.

Cheers mate - I hope its of use to other Lanseneers.

The jet exhaust took a bit of head-scratching to re work, but if you have a spare Mosquito prop hub to hand, all becomes simpler...

Cheers

Jonners

[Antoine]

Well done so far, Jonners.

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looking good Jonners

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Evening all, righty ho - the jet pipe and exhaust. Lets just recap on the kit parts:

These have 2 massive ejector gate stubs inside - so its out with the cutters , sanding system and Marines, so get the internals all smooth:

These peices are split vertically, and the eyelid style afterburner ( think of the original Mirage IIIC style) is represented by these parts. Its a bit perfunctory however. I wanted to give this area a bit of a makeover -so first of all, the eyelid parts were removed, and the interior of the exhausts was "dremelled" out to give a larger internal diameter. The parts themselves when joined don't give you a very circular internal cross section - so after adding a bit of detail towards the rear of the pipe, I fashioned a liner from plastic card to make the rest of the pipe at least appear more cir-clee-ar

You can see in this pic the liner and the area that's been motor tooled out. This is important because the next stage is to re-make the eyelid clamshell nozzles, and for this you need a circular inner peice to attach these too. The clamshell nozzles need to be as big as possible- that's why you need to refine this internal diameter - so it will all just slip in afterwards.

I found that a spare 1/48th Mosquito prop hub could be cut and worked to give the internal central ring. The eyelids are then made from some heat formed plasticard ( just wrap a peice of card around something approx the right diameter and plunge into boiling water to fix the curve); after much fiddling, filing and sanding - I was able to CA these 2 pieces to the Mossie prop ring.

Please note there are also some internal inner eyelids also added here ( just thin plasticard CA inside leaving a small gap at the edge).

The liner goes inside the tube, the kit supplied rear face is painted and washed:

And you get this:

As you can see each eyelid has a rounded gimbal type rear - this was done by sawing through the formed eyelid pieces once they were attached to the inner "Mossie ring" then filing and sanding the stub piece to a rounded shape. CA'ing the rest of the eyelid back onto the now rounded stub gave a reasonable impression of the real thing ( I hope).

On the real thing the rounded gimbal sections have guide vanes - I think I'll use a pencil to mark these in , as they are many and micro-tiny!!

This was a lot of work to get to where I am with these bits ( about 8 hours I reckon), and in truth I'm still not 100% happy. Hopefully some kind resin AM will turn up for this part - as it needs something.

Still paint is starting to be applied, and that is always good.

Cheers

Jonners