Tarangus 1/48 Saab 91 Safir B/C/D
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
The Saab Safir was designed by the same person who came up with the Bücker Bü 181, and the similarities are apparent. A low-wing monoplane trainer with side-by-side seating, the first Safir took to the skies in November of 1945. The first variant, the 91A, was powered by a de Havilland Gipsy Major engine, while the 91B/C/D variants were all powered by Lycoming engines. Over 300 were built, and the plane served as a trainer in Austrian, Ethiopian, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Tunisian air forces, as well as civilian operators such as Lufthansa and Air France.
The Kit
This is the first time the Saab Safir has been kitted in 1/48 scale, and is also only the second time this subject has been produced in injection molded plastic. For those wanting to build this attractive trainer in 1/48, your wait is over. The kit comes molded in a medium gray plastic, similar to what one would find in an MPM kit, which likely suggests the origins of the parts. The decal sheet provides three options from around the world, and I am sure we will see aftermarket sheets before too long as well.
Jumping into the construction, this begins with the front end. The engine is very basic, and indeed only a fraction of it will be visible. You get a six-cylinder engine molded in place, with a separate engine front. For the 91D and its 4-cylinder Lycoming, a purist would want to remove the last two banks of cylinders, but realistically none of that would be visible anyway.
Stepping into the interior, this area takes up most of the assembly, and rightly so as it will form a major focal point of the finished model. The instrument panel features separate rudder pedals that attach to the back side, while a separate hood fits on top. The instrument panel itself is nicely done, with an accurate representation of the instrument faces. Some Safirs had the right side instrument cluster blanked off, so check your references to see if you might need to do that.
For the cockpit floor, this serves two purposes: cockpit floor and wheel well ceiling. The nose gear well also fits into this floor piece, and two additional inserts complete the main wheel well. Flipping the floor over, there is now a decision to make: build a 91B or a 91C/D. The primary difference between the two is the number of seats, with the 91B having three and the 91C/D having four. Additionally, the rear bulkhead for the 91C/D has an opening in it leading into the rear fuselage. No extra detail is provided back there, and I am not sure if there is a shelf there or if it just opens into the rear fuselage.
The seats are nicely done, with padded cushions. The rear bench seat has a separate back upright piece, and for the 91B these pieces will need to be cut apart. Also for the 91B there is a shelf that fits over the spot where the fourth seat appears on the 91C/D. Separate control columns round out the interior, and after some painting up of details, the fuselage can be assembled. One thing that is not mentioned in the instructions is how much weight to put in the nose to keep this from being a taildragger. With the main wheels so far forward, I suspect this will require a fair amount, and hopefully the space under the engine will provide enough room for it all.
With the fuselage together, the rest comes down to the usual straightforward assembly. The wings are split into three pieces with separate ailerons, with the one-piece lower wing incorporating the proper dihedral. The horizontal stabilizers are single pieces, and I honestly would have liked to have seen separate elevators rather than separate ailerons here. The landing gear is simple and sturdy, with the nose wheel molded with the strut and the main wheels split into right and left pieces to maximize detail and minimize alignment issues. Smaller details include cowl vents, actuators, and different exhaust pipes.
For markings, the three options cover Swedish, Finnish, and Ethiopian examples. For the Swedish example, these markings are for a privately owned 91B that is finished in Swedish Air Force colors of overall yellow. While the instructions indicate that one could build a period military example by simply leaving off the civil registration, that is not entirely true as the size and weight of the numbers are incorrect for a Swedish Air Force example.
The Ethiopian and Finnish examples are better in that regard, being accurate renditions of period aircraft. The Ethiopian aircraft is a 91C finished in overall polished natural metal, with Ethiopian roundels on the fuselage and wings and a simple black number on the tail. The Finnish example is overall gray with high visibility orange on the nose, wings, and tail. The decals are nicely printed and should pose no problem in application.
Conclusion
This is a very welcome release and one that fans of the Swedish Air Force will be happy to pick up. For those who want to go the extra step, there are plenty of added details one could add (canopy curtains, for example, or aftermarket rivets as this was not a flush-riveted aircraft), but out of the box this will build up into a beautiful replica of an attractive trainer. My thanks to Tarangus for the review sample.