For a relatively small country, Sweden has produced some magnificent jet aircraft, culminating in the sleek JAS 39 Gripen. All of them, however, trace their heritage back to the not-so-sleek J 29 Tunnan, Saab’s first swept-wing fighter. As a contemporary of the F-86 and Mystère IVA, it was a spirited performer that could hold its own with any of them. Its rotund shape came from the diameter of the engine and the necessity of having the main gear retract into the fuselage because the wings were so thin. It was nicknamed the “Flying Barrel” for obvious reasons.
The J 29 is Tarangus’ first effort in 1/72 scale. The Swedish company chose to offer the A/B version which lacks the “sawtooth” leading-edge wing extension found on later aircraft.
Molded in soft gray plastic, the parts display fine panel lines and surface detail. Resin parts add detail to the cockpit and wheel wells, and the excellent decals provide markings for two Swedish air force planes and one in United Nations service.
An eight-page instruction booklet and a separate two-page marking guide round out the package. A nice touch is the use of the Tarangus website to view walkaround pictures of the Tunnan.
This is a limited-run kit, so expect to exercise your modeling skills to get the job done. I generally followed the instructions, which have you start with the cockpit. Detail here is a little soft. But the resin seat is nice; it just needed some tape belts/harnesses and a wire ejection handle to make it look better. Be sure to add plenty of ballast to the forward fuselage to keep the jet on its toes.
With a modest parts count, construction proceeds quickly. I did leave off the exhaust (Part 14) until the end so I could use the opening to insert an old paintbrush handle to hold the model while painting.
The only areas requiring additional attention were the wing/fuselage joint and the wing-mounted pitot tubes. On my model, the wing roots were slightly thicker than the corresponding stubs on the fuselage. Careful sanding will remedy this situation.
Regarding the pitot tubes, there is not much purchase where they join the wings. Rather than drilling holes in the wings, I filed notches and super glued the pitot tubes. Then, I sanded the areas flush with the wings. Predictably, I broke one off near the end of the project.
Early on, I decided to do the version with the black exercise stripes and day-glo orange wingtips. First, I sprayed on Alclad II black primer. Then I masked the stripes; Tarangus thoughtfully provides the dimensions for these.
Next, I used Alclad II dull aluminum as a base and sprayed other metallic shades for contrast. In retrospect, the model looks too dull to me; I should have used a different base color.
I sprayed the fluorescent orange panels with Testors enamel over Tamiya white acrylic. The external fuel tanks remained natural metal. The decals were excellent. They were opaque, easily moved into position, and settled into the recessed detail without any setting solution.
Tarangus has given us a really nice model of this important early jet fighter. A beginner who has completed a few models can handle this build. I spent 23 hours on my Tunnan, with the masking and painting consuming a large portion of that time.
I hope Tarangus expands its 1/72 scale product line.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the February 2014 FineScale Modeler.