Saab J32E 'Lansen' - Tarangus

I have just finished the build of the Tarangus J32E 'Störlansen', the electronic warfare version in the late green/blue camouflage (the same as used by the J35 Draken) in a very faded and weathered appearance, like they looked by the end of their life.

The Tarangus kit is a vast improvement from the previous Heller kit - for instance the panel lines are finely engraved and not raised. But this is by no means an easy build.

There were quite few things that needed to be fixed already on the standard parts, like the horrible (and I really mean horrible) ejector pin marks marring the plastic at some very visible locations. Also the fit of the parts was dubious to say the least, and pretty much everything needed to be sanded, reshaped and filled.

The instructions are vague and make the parts somewhat hard to identify as the drawings depict them as they look in real life, and not the way they are molded.

I used some third-party extras to enhance the model. For instance, the air brakes on the Lansen were automatically extended together with the landing gears - unfortunately the Tarangus kit does not feature this. I bought the Maestro Models PE/resin detail set, which contains the parts to build the air brakes, but it required some pretty tricky surgery on the fuselage.

I also purchased a set of two vacuum formed canopies that I cut in two, in order to be able to display the cockpit open. The kit's own canopy is a single-piece item, but I wasn't sure that I could cut it nicely as it is very thick.

The E-version should have underwing electronic jamming pods (one pod under each wing) and usually also chaff dispenser pods (also one under each wing). These are not included in the box, so I had to buy all these items from Maestro Models. Of course I needed to fabricate the pylons for these as the kit only provides Sidewinder rails...

Well, this was a very interesting project with a lot of challenges - but I am pleased with the end result!