Jump to content

SAAB A 32A Lansen 343


Rudolf_Filip

Recommended Posts

I find the lack of SAAB aircraft in this groupbuild disturbing. 🙂 

Heller did quite a few SAABs in 1/72.

As a Swedish modelbuilder I feel grateful for Hellers efforts and I got to build a Swedish Air Force aircraft here. 

After looking through my somewhat huge stash I decided to go for an A 32A Lansen. 

I haven't built any of those for many years. When I was a teenager I must have built at least five of these nice kits. 

 

The J 29 Tunnan was also a favourite and I remember building many of this wonderful kit. I was in "Flygpojkarna" which was youth activities arranged by the Swedish Air Force. Me and my friends spent many evenings in a cellar at F 10 Wing airbase building a huge diorama with 50 (!) Heller J 29 Tunnans. This was meant to be displayed at an airshow at F 10 Ängelholm in 1990.

However the diorama was never finished in time. Some of our models were displayed though...  🙂

 

I'm going for a quick build with the Lansen. I also have a Trident in this group so I'm going to spend most of my energy on that one. 

The kit is slightly started but well with in the rules. The seats are glued into the cockpit and the two engineparts are also glued together. I've got an old "secondhand" extra fuel tank that I'm going to use. (It's the egg shaped white thing in the pic). 

spacer.png

 

Somewhere in the stash is an etch set that I might use if I can find it... 

 

Andreas / Rudolf_Filip 

Edited by Rudolf_Filip
  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Andreas,

 

Fantastic choice!  Another member of the Wez Heller Hoard, I'm so pleased to see this here, catalogue number 343 from 1982.

 

Good luck with this one.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I must agree, I honestly thought this GB would be full of Heller’s great SAAB kits, although that seems (so far) well short of the mark. I’ve build the Safir and have all the others stashed, so may join you with a  J-21, J-29 or yet another Lansen if time permits. 
 

Cheers and best of luck.. Dave 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed Sweden is well served by Heller. What do you have, Viggen, Draken, Lansen, Tunnan, J21, Safir, did I miss any? We Brits got (I think?) only the Spitfire, Hurricane and Javelin.

 

Great addition to the GB! 🇸🇪

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

Gladiator?  Tempest? Vampire?  Which nation did they come from?

Fair point. It was just off the top of my head.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They also did an eclectic selection of early German Trainer aircraft - Bucker 133, Arado 96, Messerschmitt Bf 108 and Focke Wulf 56.

 

.... and for British types, don’t forget the lovely Dragon Rapide. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heller had a good eye to Sweden in general. Rumour had it that one of the Heller staff actually was from Sweden. 

That should also explain why, besides the obvious SAABs, they also released several "Swedish editions" of their other kits. I remember buying many kits with an extra decal sheet with Swedish civilian aircraft stuck inside the plastic wrapping. 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

I remember buying their Junkers Ju52/3m, Arado Ar-96, Arado Ar-196, Caudron Simoun, Messerschmitt Bf-108. 

All in 1/72. 

In 1/50 scale I bought and built the Bell Jet Ranger, Piper Cub and Cessna Skymaster. 

All of these had a Swedish decalsheet! 

Heller was certainly huge in the toy- and hobbystores in Sweden during the 70s and 80s!!! 🙂 

 

Well, I really need to start building my Lansen... 

 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

 

.... and for British types, don’t forget the lovely Dragon Rapide. 

Oh yeah. I must have been having an off day. I mean, I’m in the process of building one and forgot about it.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Dom Barr said:

I have my eyes out for a Safir- I'm told it is a lovely kit

Not meaning to photo bomb everyone's threads with my one and only Heller build thus far, however I can vouch that the little Safir is a great little kit,

Like most models they do need a little TLC, however with effort comes reward and this thing still makes me smile whenever I look at it. Highly recommended, especially the new boxing which has a cracking decal sheet. 

Cheers .. Dave 

 

49581927311_0d3301c0fe_b.jpg

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 07/10/2020 at 17:45, Rudolf_Filip said:

I find the lack of SAAB aircraft in this groupbuild disturbing. 🙂 

Heller did quite a few SAABs in 1/72.

I know. And therefore I will build them ALL! 😜 But I am of course happy to see that I'm not alone. Come on, Andreas, you can build a Viggen as well! :D

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Bjorn said:

I know. And therefore I will build them ALL! 😜 But I am of course happy to see that I'm not alone. Come on, Andreas, you can build a Viggen as well! :D

Well... I really have my hands full for the moment and I'm working on some other kits as well beside the two in this group. 

I've also had some bad experience with the Heller Viggen. Some of them are fine and some seems to be badly warped and almost impossible to build. ☹️ 

 

(I have a Heller J 29 Tunnan that is on my workbench that is almost finished though. 🙂

 

The reason for me to build a Lansen is mostly because I've recently found and bought a dataplate from one. I figure it would look nice to display the model next to it. 

spacer.png

I still haven't found any pics of this particular aircraft... 

 

Besides... I found the kit and it was in that lovely silver plastic that bring back so many memories. 🙂 

I also discovered that I have both the etch (with those pesky airbrakes!) and an aftermarket decal sheet. 

So I just need to get this thing assembled then... 

 

By the way! 

Bjorn, didn't you also have the 1/50 scale Trident in your stash??? 

 

Andreas 

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally I've started building the SAAB A 32! 

Well... define "building"... 😀  

 

I've opened up the bays for the airbrakes in the fuselage. I have the detail set from Maestro with the etched brakes. The airbrakes are always deployed on a parked Lansen. 

Besides they also add some nice detail to the rather smooth aircraft. 

spacer.png

 

I might have to go over the holes later. I can see that they are not completely straight. 

 

I've also decided to seperate the flaps from the wings. This might turn out to be a bad decision later... 😀 

If I manage to pull it off it will look rather nice. Right now I'm thinking about if and how I'm going to do something about the main landing gear bay. 

 

spacer.png

 

On the other hand I don't think that I'm going to spend to much effort in the cockpit. The "office" of the Lansen is very hard to see and the Heller canopy is thick and will probably hide most detail anyway. 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, Rudolf_Filip said:

Finally I've started building the SAAB A 32! 

Well... define "building"... 😀  

I know that feeling, I certainly feel that my Fennec build has been deconstruction rather than construction up to this point!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice kit,

 

I built one in the recent Nordic GB and it came out very well. I think in some ways Heller were ahead of the times when they started including clear lower nose halves for the photo recce versions such as in the Lansen and Viggen.

 

Good luck.

 

Pete

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well.

I haven't built as much as I've wanted on my Lansen. 

I feel rather inspired though. 

Since I already have decided to cut up the wings and airbrakes I want to step up a notch. I ordered some extra detail from Maestro. These arrived very fast, as usual, from Rebell Hobby in Stockholm. 

spacer.png

 

This is going to be fun!!! 🙂 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Rudolf_Filip said:

Well.

I haven't built as much as I've wanted on my Lansen. 

I feel rather inspired though. 

Since I already have decided to cut up the wings and airbrakes I want to step up a notch. I ordered some extra detail from Maestro. These arrived very fast, as usual, from Rebell Hobby in Stockholm. 

spacer.png

 

This is going to be fun!!! 🙂 

Nice :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Small update... 

 

I found some damage on my canopy. 

It was boken loose from the sprue and had a crack in it. 

spacer.png

Also, since it was also very thick I thought that I might as well replace it. 

Even though I haven't spent any extra effort in the cockpit, it would be nice to see what is there... 

I ordered the Maestro vacformed canopy. 

Well... 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

I guess that Maestro haven't actually tried to use their own products before they sell them... 😡 

(Not the first time I've had this issue with their products).

The canopy doesn't fit at all! 

It's a couple of millimeters short and much too tall at the rear. 

What a waste of time... 

I'm not sure what to do next. 

I might hide the issue by having the canopy open. This was not what I wanted to do though since I wanted to keep the clean lines of the SAAB intact. 

I might have another Heller canopy somewhere. It may still be the best option. 

 

Edited by Rudolf_Filip
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A bit of sanding, micro-mesh polishing and a Clear dip should sort out that Heller canopy I would think Rudolf. 

Shame about the Maestro canopy, however you could carefully cut it and display the canopy in the open position I suppose. 

Cheers.. Dave  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to try and save the Maestro canopy. Perhaps I can make it fit better by cutting it down a little in the rear and add a bit of plastic card? 

 

I discovered that Heller made an error on the rear fuselage. They have somehow managed to get the two "shoulders" for the horisontal stabilizers assymetric! 

spacer.png

They should be of the same lenght. 

I don't know which one is of correct size but I'm going to take the easy way. I'm going to shorten the longer one with some careful sanding... 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Late answer from me about the Trident - yes, you are correct! There is one in my stash. However, having eight entries in this group build already, I am leaving this one to you. And I will follow with great interest what you will do with the canopy. 😊 

 

Speaking of canopies: I think that I have a spare Heller Lansen canopy. I'll look for it, so do contact me if you are interested.

Edited by Bjorn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...