As promised here is a look at the new Tarangus kit of the 1/48 Viggen. Before I start I must say two things, first I have no connection to Tarangus, second I met two of the gentlemen from Tarangus at the Telford show and they couldn't have been nicer or more enthusiastic about the kit. I was surprised they hadn't sold out of them when i passed the stall later in the day and I hope this will give them some publicity.
Fist off there is the box
The instructions are in an A5 booklet which is nice and clear with the only complicated stages being on the landing gear
Middle pages to show the way they are set out.
There is then a nice A4 colour painttineg and decal guild
Now the sprue shots
Clear sprue
Decal sheet, which looks nice and in register but not idea who printed them
Now some close ups to show some of the nice detail.
So now you've seen the pictures (taken with my limited skill). In the flesh I'd say it looks good. The panel lines look good and the styrene looks like it will take paint well. It feels a little softer than some other manufacturers but I don't think that will be a huge issue. I did notice two cockpits and two ejection seats so there may be more coming in the shape of a two man version or Tarangus may have noticed an issue, I did notice a difference between the two which is a small control column so that may be a version difference.
So is it better than the old Esci/Airfix - silly question yes a lot
Is it worth the money? Well mine cost me £65 and that stacks up well with most other manufacturers in this scale over here and if you bought the old kit by the time you made it look as good it would cost more I think.
It would have been nice to have some ordnance but that's not a big issue as there are some manufacturers who don't offer it either. It would have been nice to see some colour call out for the interior and intake trunks but I'm sure that can be found on the net easily enough. There are no belts for the seats but that's easy enough to fix as well.
Over all I'm very pleased with the kit and I spent my own money on it. it looks right and checking the wing span it looks dead on for scale. From a manufacturer who in the past has done low run kits I think its a triumph and I hope its a huge success for them. Would i recommend it? Yes if you want a Viggen in 1:48 then this is now the only game in town I'd say
If anyone wants any more info let me know.
Phil