Thomas Kolb I am just starting the build of this kit - given the complexity of the aftermarket parts I will be using and the limited-run quality of the kit, I can already see that this is not going to be a quick build... Yesterday I started cleaning up some of the parts, which are marred by large mold gates and ridiculous ejector pin marks at some very visible places... like in the middle of the cockpit and the landing gear bays. What were these guys thinking?
13 October 2019, 07:01
Daniel Mysak Nice to see the Lansen here. I´m very interested in the kit but the poor quality and the high price stops me from buying yet. Looking forward to your progress.
13 October 2019, 07:26
Bernd Korte Nice project! I still have the Heller kit in my stash. That kept me from buying this new one.
13 October 2019, 14:21
Oleg Smilyk Intresting project,Thomas.So you have chaff dispensers and Petrus,what included in the box.
13 October 2019, 19:00
Thomas Kolb Oleg Smilyk, only that bulbous central fuel tank and two rather simple Sidewinders are included in the box. The missiles are only valid for the B-version. The two BOZ 3 pods and the two Petrus/Adrian pods for the E-version need to be purchased separately.
Thomas Kolb This evening I cut out the openings for the air brakes on the fuselage sides. This was quite a nerve-wrecking task because it is really easy to mess up big time. I also had to perform some pretty serious plastic surgery on the main wheel wells to get rid of the hideous molding damages. The double cockpit/nose gear well assembly needed a lot of work too - the parts as designed hardly fit together at all.
I will next tackle the ejection seats - for some reason only the metal frame of the seats are provided in the box, no cushions or a parachute, so I need to look for references to build my own parts. Should not be too difficult.
14 October 2019, 19:45
Dave Flitton I have the Heller as well, looking to see what you do this this...er..thing.
14 October 2019, 21:13
Oleg Smilyk Ok! Thomas,I think no decals with aftermarket kits.
Thomas Kolb Oleg Smilyk, sorry I misunderstood you. No, there are no decals for the Maestro Models pods, only the main part in resin and a small sheet of photo-etched details.
15 October 2019, 18:19
Thomas Kolb It seems that the seats were in fact really just these hard-shells as molded in the kit. The pilot and navigator put on parachutes upon boarding, so the ejection seats didn't have any back cushions. In the pan of the seat was a survival pack in case of ejection over hostile territory. This package was formed as a cushion to sit on. It all looks pretty uncomfortable, but I guess it was like that in the 50's... Anyway, I formed the survival pack/cushion from styrene sheets, and will leave the back of the seat as they are. Seatbelts will be added of course after painting.
17 October 2019, 19:26
Łukasz Gliński How come I missed this one? I have no glue😉 how you guys manage to put those tiny PE frets together looking so clean... Mine always end up soaked in CA glue.
Treehugger @Łukasz Gliński, I don't know what he did, but you can use a special tool for applying very small amounts of cyanoacrylate, tool looks like photo etch loop (ring,that soaks up and releases liquid on contact). I think you can also use the tip of a sharp pointy plade, but I haven't yet tried that myself. Also a good idea to get a bottle of de-bonder. Also, not something I have used, but I have it in my stash.
19 October 2019, 18:56
Łukasz Gliński Alright, these ideas sound interesting, I have to try it one day 🙂 Thanks
19 October 2019, 20:08
Thomas Kolb This weekend I did a lot of work in the cockpit - unfortunately nothing fits without at least some level of surgery, but I am slowly getting there. I cemented the resin air brake inserts and jet intakes in place and added some internal bracing for the jet pipe - it would otherwise just kind of hang in mid-air with nothing to hold it in place, not sure what Sword/Tarangus were thinking.
I cemented the cockpit tub in place - without the seats, as they can be added later. I also added a ton of lead weights into the nose to avoid a tail-sitting model later. Some more dry-fitting is required and then I am ready to finally close up the fuselage halves. The fit however seems a bit so-so, and I can already see a week spent filling, sanding and rescribing.
Erik Leijdens Looks like a challenging kit. You've done a great job so far. Always liked the Lansen. Looking forward to the finished model!
8 November 2019, 22:43
Thomas Kolb Model primed and pretty much all antennas and bay doors are in place - now I am preparing the pods and canopy, and then it is soon time to apply the first color layer.
22 December 2019, 18:20
Thomas Kolb Finally painted the camouflage - I was aiming for an extremely faded Lansen where the blue almost turned into some kind of turquoise and the green into a weird greenish brown. I mixed the colors from 3-4 different Tamiya paints to try to match the photos I found online. I also used my newly found post-shading technique where I add a brighter shade of the main color to emphasize the center of the panels. Of course I will later add proper weathering with oils and pastels.
4 February 2020, 21:04
Daniel Mysak Camouflage looks great, nice worn out style. Love the swedish jets with there many different shades of their camouflages. I build three Draken yet and all look different 🙂.
Thomas Kolb I have been struggling with the replacement canopy - not having worked with vac-formed transparencies before, it was a bit of a challenge to get the fit exactly right, but in the end I think I managed - sort of. Unfortunately the windshield part is a little bit too wide and does not fit perfectly, but there is not much I can do about it.
Thomas Kolb Yesterday evening I started adding the decals, but I won't bother with some of the tiny black stencils as they are in fact totally invisible on the camo. I however botched up the position of the dayglo decals on the top of the wings and also nicked one while foolishly trying to move it after it had settled... so that will need to be fixed before continuing.
18 February 2020, 09:03
Daniel Mysak How about painting the dayglo, so you can fad it a bit wth yellow to fit the look of the camo?
18 February 2020, 09:08
Thomas Kolb Daniel, yes, thanks for the tip! I did in fact fade the decals with some yellow overspray, but I will now just spray them directly on the wings - I think it both looks nicer and is actually easier.
18 February 2020, 09:31
Daniel Mysak I also think so. Try to start with yellow as base and thin layers of orange.
Thomas Kolb I started to apply weathering effects with Abteilung 502 oil paints diluted with AK Odorless Thinner, and various Tamiya weathering pigments. I don't think I can overdo it, these old aircraft were literally oozing oil and grease from every seam! I then need to finish the cockpit, add the extended airbrakes, the jet pipe and also the underwing pods, but I am starting to see the finishing line!
23 February 2020, 07:28
Thomas Kolb Finally finished - a lovely model, surprisingly big for this scale. This was a rather difficult, but nonetheless very entertaining project.
20 April 2020, 11:42
Eduardo Soto Good looking aircraft. I love the colors and the soft blending of the camouflage. great job.
20 April 2020, 12:46
Dave Flitton Looking nice, I had my doubts that it would look this good
20 April 2020, 13:22
Łukasz Gliński Looks really great 👍
What are the things visible on pic #60?
20 April 2020, 13:27
Thomas Kolb Eduardo, Dave, Łukasz, thank you!
@Łukasz, if you mean the metal things extruding from the sides of the fuselage, they are the four air brakes. On the real aircraft they are automatically extended together with the landing gear. Very strange contraptions.
Thomas Kolb
2+
Daniel Mysak
Bernd Korte
Oleg Smilyk
Dave Flitton
Łukasz Gliński
Treehugger
Erik Leijdens
Eduardo Soto
Andy Ball
Markus Antonius