Encore/Squadron 1/48 A-37B Dragonfly, Off to the Show!

Finally fresh paint has arrived in the mail and I've purchased some Yellow Frog tape and other stores. Funny, one would think that bottled paint would last over 10 years even though it has been opened years ago. LOL! 

Having not done a complicated camo scheme for several years, I'm trying new ideas to get it done. I scanned the instruction sheet and blew it up to 100% and printed it. I do have a light table and was able to cut through the copy and a strip of Frog tape at the same time for the pattern. Right or wrong, it's one approach. We'll see. I also have some Silly Putty to try. Slowly moving forward, I'm glad there's no deadline! LOL.

That's the report,

Max

It looks like I'm going to have to make some stand off masks for the camo job. The original appears to have been free-handed but between my unsteadyness and my spitting air brush I'm not getting the results that I want. Also I'm trying to use some old paint up which is never a good idea and the medium and dark greens are not far enough apart to stand out. It's time to stand down and make a long trip to the hobby shop for fresh and proper paint. I could order all of this but the kit numbers for the paint don't seem to match anything I can order or at least figure out. Be patient Silent Bob, I'll get it figured out. I wish you had built yours first! LOL!

And Greg, thanks for the glue info!. Hopefully I'm past the resin stage. Oops I forgot; resin ordnance to glue on. I'll try epoxy or Gator stuff, I'm done with the not so super glues I think.

Max

Hodakamax

Trouble began when I glued the small strip of instruments at the top to my finger almost instantly

Hey Max, this is a late reply to the above, just wanted to toss in that for this sort of thing I've taken to using Gator's Grip Thin Blend. It's like white Elmers, extremely forgiving, easy cleanup for unwanted blobs and such, slow setting which IMO is great for finickly little PE bits, no accelerated heartbeat due to nervous CA rush, no glued fingers.

Sorry the resin and fit is giving you trouble, but that cockpit really does look nice (great detail painting).

This is a neat little aircraft, I'd forgotten all about them.

Yay, Paint flying! I'm getting a bit more enthused now. It's been two years since I've used the airbrush and I'm a bit more shakey than I remember. Hopefully the camo will be forgiving and in the picture on the box it looks equally crude. We olde people does the best we can! 

Max

I thought I'd at least try the PE folding intake screens and it came out fair. I filled the klunky slots for the plastic ones and fit and glued in the PE ones. For the next guy who does this be carefull not to get any glue on the screen part. I did. I shot the first coat of the light gray belly to see how the screens would look. They actually look good to the naked eye and with a bit more putty and paint they will be acceptable to me anyway. That's the report!

Max

Wow, check out these PE intake screens to replace the plastic ones. Kinda cool but underneath and will be painted light gray like the rest of the bottom. They are not quite in position but you can get the idea.

Max

Hmm--just as I suspected, another bad design. The screens are way to small to fill the hole and the wrong shape to attach to the plastic ones. If you even touch the screens with glue the screen holes fill up and disappear. Luckily all of this is not going to show unless you pick up the model and look. I think I'm back to the plastic ones and will thin them down to fit better.

Brief update, Refueling plumbing installed along with hard points, engine cowls and such. Masked and almost ready for paint!

Max

With the experience from the top left wing cover making it fit to the fuselage I was prepared with more clamps to flex the wing into the fuselage for a nice glue joint. I also applied the glue to the fuselage instead of the wing which prevents the glue from getting on unwanted fuselage parts. Live and learn. This is minor stuff but it might help the next guy on this kit. I'm off to eat turkey!

Max

Although the resin cockpit fought you all the way for a week, the out come is nothing short of fantastic!  Looks like it should be smooth sailing from here. Everything looks great!

Merry Christmas,

The Toshi's

Slowly but surely I get a few things done on the A-37. It's nice to have a model in the works again to help entertain me through the Winter. Today I fiddled with the wing tops trying to figure out how to pull them up against the fuselage. I tried weights, tape and such and finally solved the problem with these handy little clamps. A little extra glue marks and ooze outs but nothing that can't be fixed. That's the report on Christmas eve and have a good one!  

Max

Ah, the beginning of wings, I'm getting a little more enthused! Just a report to keep things moving.  

Max

OK, did you ever get to the point on a model that the effort was more trouble than the final product? I'm not one to give up on things but today was nearly the end for the Dragonfly project. I've been trying to get this cockpit together off and on for over a week. Nothing in the aftermarket parts fit or will even glue together. Today I began to think, isn't this supposed to be fun? I got the box out to put it on hold and decided to give it one more shot. I got out the hot glue gun to join parts that wouldn't join. Super glue only softens both plastic and resin parts that fall apart when trying to assemble down the line. Enough complaining, hopefully I'm past the no fit /no stick stage where plasic glue will work again. The instrument panel I have to admit looks good assembled but not after almost souring me on the kit. Let's move on to fuselage assembly and put that phase behind. Grrrr.

Max

Everything looks really great!  Nice cockpit.

Toshi

Max - Sorry I mixed up your names, (Max and Cnq,) when I looked at his 1:72 build. Dumb, old guy stunt.

Your build is coming along really well, the cockpit and instrument panel details will stand tall when this one is completed. Your attention to build quality is going to result in a fine model, I'm enjoying seeing this one come along.

I was at an AF base once, when a bunch of the T-37's were shooting touch and go landings, many takeoffs and landings for some time. One of the observers was a pilot, he described the T-37 as the worlds most efficient way to convert jet fuel to noise. Loud little buggers.

Thanks for the post and photos.

Patrick

Well I finally figured out the "floating tub" problem. Once you get the resin tub to fit there's no place to glue it to. The tub is mounted to the right fuselage half and the right weight must be installed first. After a bit of testing to see if the hot glue method would melt either the resin or the plastic which it didn't, I was able to tack the tub in. Evidently the hot glue shrinks slightly as it sets and things moved slightly as it cooled. I was able to cut it free and sucessfully held it in position as it cooled on the second attempt. I hope this helps the next guy who trys this! One step at a time. The instrument panel and hood now goes in before closing up the fuselage halves.

Max

One reason that I built this kit was I saw one at Oshkosh in 2009. Not only was it a fine example but it was impressive in its flying demo. Here's a shot of it all loaded with ordnance. 

Max

The A-37's best feature was its straight wings. At low altitude and subsonic speeds they enabled the Dragonfly to be very effective at light attack.  My source flew them in the 1970s and very early 1980s.  

I think I'm OK on the weight. It called for .75 oz. or 2 grams none of which works out since there are 28.3495 grams in one ounce x .75 = 21.2621 grams. This is kinda typical of the whole instruction sheet, so double check everything before glueing things together. Depending how you read it I may have 10x too much weight. Goofy.

And yes, first serious resin experience and even though it has more detail it certainly is crude as in making things fit at least in my opinion.

Max

Nice work so far!  Hope you can fit all the weight in. If you're short on space maybe you could hammer out some lead shot to hide elsewhere.

I thought about buying one of these but I don't know much about the Dragonfly.  Is this your first use of resin parts?  The first time I used resin was a P-51A that Squadron boxed up with a resin cockpit and wheels. 

Back to the A-37 now that the Stuka is finally on display. This seemingly simple model has a whole list of time consuming problems with the cockpit tub fit being one of them. The resin tub and its two sides all have to be fit into the right fuselage half along with the front wheel well before assembling the two sides. All possible but it's fought me for a couple of hours. Also 3/4 ounce of total weight needs to be fitted on both sides of the wheel well. I've shaped the weights from fishing sinkers to try to fill all the space avialable to reach the desired weight. Really close. That's the report for now.

Max

Wow! What a test of manual dexterity for us old people. Not perfect when magnified but passes the visual naked eye test at least for me. Trouble began when I glued the small strip of instruments at the top to my finger almost instantly. The instrument panel is only about 1'' long and being composed of six pieces with bends adds to the complexity of the task. All is well but this is why I don't do 1/72. LOL!

Max

Hey thanks Jim, I checked it out and it sounds promising. I did buy some Super Glue Gel to also try. In reality I don't have too many resin glue joints and even though I hate the smell,  I'm sure I can get through it.

A bit of painting on the seats today has re-energized me on the project and the fit problem is finally working out once I got the right attitude! Much more to do on the interior but it's a start.

Max

BTW, I see the mold says Revell-Monogram 1992.

Max, I was at Maraudercon Saturday with our club and we talked to a vendor that makes this "Crazy Glue" type glue that glues almost everything to anything. Low odor too. We bought some and it seems to work very well. If you want to check it out here's the site. www.DrMikesGlue.com

Jim  

Now that, is awesome. Not that you were late for your dinner date, but that you have found your joy in model building.  :)

You know, having been away from model building for a couple of years, I've kinda been fighting this thing from the beginning but today somewhat of a revelation occurred after spending a several hours on the project. I'm a problem solver but incredibly slow in my action. I think, measure and contemplate a lot. I sometimes forget that model building is a series of challenges that are good for our way of thinking. I decided today that it was time to paint detail things. A little time on the internet looking at cockpit pictures and I was off doing the first cockpit paint. What fun! I was so immersed in the project that I lost track of time and was late for a dinner date with friends. I had forgotten what modeling was about at least for me. So much for the philosophy of model building but today was a good day.  

Max 

I must say that the seats and interior are quite the improvement over the poor redition of the stock model. Hopefully my vigilance will prevail! LOL!

Max

Nice subject. Resin cockpit parts quite often need thinning down, as well as thinning of the plastic.

Nice to see they include an Eduard PE set as well.