SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

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

10947 views
105 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    April 2016
  • From: Parsons Kansas
Posted by Hodakamax on Monday, November 21, 2016 12:43 PM

A Tamiya she ain't. There's no easy way to seat the resin (or the standard one for that matter), cockpit tub into the fuselage due to poor instructions and crude fit. Between the side walls not fitting, which fitting is not a bad thing but to what? I'll figure it out by building the standard cockpit first and dry fitting it to get a position for the resin one. It seems like I'm wasting a lot of time to make this work.

I know this is what modeling is all about but in hindsight I should have just bought a better grade model at least for my purposes for the museum. Actually the exterior of the model looks fairly good in detail and fit but the interior reminds me of models from the 1950s. 

One reason for my not-to-serious complaints as this was to be a quick practice model before I build the stash Academy 1/48 F-4 Phantom to improve my painting procedures. I've been away from modeling for over two years working on a 1/1 vintage racing motorcycle (A 50 year-old Hodaka of course) and the A-37 has a complicated camo paint which I personally wanted to improve on before tackling an expensive model. Now I'm seemingly trapped (lol) in a time consuming project just to make things fit. I'll get over it but I had to complain to someone.(lol again.) That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Humor me.

Max

  • Member since
    May 2013
  • From: Indiana, USA
Posted by Greg on Sunday, November 20, 2016 2:24 PM

You're welcome. I hope it works for you.

  • Member since
    April 2016
  • From: Parsons Kansas
Posted by Hodakamax on Sunday, November 20, 2016 12:47 PM

Hey Greg, Thanks for the info, I'll see if I can run down some gel and give it a try.

Max

  • Member since
    May 2013
  • From: Indiana, USA
Posted by Greg on Sunday, November 20, 2016 11:59 AM

Great to see a WIP from you, Max.

Sometimes I like to use CA gel with resin. It is thick and has a longer working/setting time than regular CA. I've had my tube for 2+ yrs and haven't touched it in probably 10 months. Just went down and checked, it's still fine. I use this BSI gel, but the CA gels on the shelves at local stores might be about the same.

Also, you mentioned you already know that resin dust is bad. Glad to see you wet sanding, but I really hope you are wearing a respirator.

I'm no resin expert, these are just a couple things I thought I'd throw out there for your consideration.

  • Member since
    April 2016
  • From: Parsons Kansas
Posted by Hodakamax on Sunday, November 20, 2016 6:19 AM

lawdog114
Your off to a great start on your first WIP. Resin is a pain but sometimes worth it. I look forward to your progress Max.
 

I'm a bit nervous, lotsa eyes watching me! Yikes! LOL!

  • Member since
    February 2012
  • From: Olmsted Township, Ohio
Posted by lawdog114 on Sunday, November 20, 2016 3:12 AM
Your off to a great start on your first WIP. Resin is a pain but sometimes worth it. I look forward to your progress Max.

 "Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    February 2014
  • From: Michigan
Posted by silentbob33 on Saturday, November 19, 2016 3:21 PM
I'll definitely be watching this one! I have this kit in the stash as well. I'm very interested to see how you build it up.

On my bench: Academy 1/35 UH-60L Black Hawk

  • Member since
    April 2016
  • From: Parsons Kansas
Posted by Hodakamax on Saturday, November 19, 2016 11:44 AM

Well, some of my fears have been put away. A little wet sanding on 220 grit and the seats dressed down nicely! Wet sanding also got away from the resin dust which could be harmful I hear. Yay.

Max

  • Member since
    April 2016
  • From: Parsons Kansas
Posted by Hodakamax on Saturday, November 19, 2016 10:15 AM

Here's a couple of shots of the extras supplied with the squadron kit. The instrument panel stacks together giving depth which I like. I'm not to enthused about carving big casting clunks from the resin parts though. I won't be using all the resin parts on this one. The seats look good except for having to carve them off of a block. Maybe I'm just weird but I cannot deal with the lingering smell of Super glue and being old and big handed the glue acts too quick for me. I'll probabably use 2-part epoxy on the pieces I use. Just an on going report!

Max

  • Member since
    March 2015
  • From: Streetsboro, Ohio
Posted by Toshi on Friday, November 18, 2016 5:31 PM

I'll be looking forward to your Dragonfly WIP.  That's a very cool looking aircraft.  Thank's for sharing!

Toshi

On The Bench: Revell 1/48 B-25 Mitchell

 

Married to the most caring, loving, understanding, and beautiful wife in the world.  Mrs. Toshi

 

 

  • Member since
    March 2010
  • From: MN
Posted by Nathan T on Friday, November 18, 2016 1:38 PM

Super glue is your best bet, but otherwise, 2 part epoxy will work. 

 

 

  • Member since
    April 2016
  • From: Parsons Kansas
Posted by Hodakamax on Friday, November 18, 2016 1:33 PM

First silly question: I see my Testors plastic glue doesn't work on resin parts. Any resin specific glue available besides super glue? I'm not liking working with that stuff.

Max

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Northern California
Posted by jeaton01 on Thursday, November 17, 2016 11:43 PM

I had thought that the A-37 would have a pretty high loss rate, but only 14 were shot down in 68,000 sorties.  But if you did get shot down 80% of the time you did not survive.  The A-1 had a much higher loss rate per 1000 sorties, around 6 times higher, but the survival rate was much higher for the crew.

Here is a pdf of the loss rates in Viet Nam:

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/c016682.pdf

John

To see build logs for my models:  http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html

 

  • Member since
    March 2010
  • From: MN
Posted by Nathan T on Thursday, November 17, 2016 10:43 PM

Oh this should be good! I've always loved the look of the Dragonfly all loaded up with napalm. I never understood the poor attempt by Squadron/Encore to enhance these older kits with substand goodies. As they want way too much for them too. 

 

 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Thursday, November 17, 2016 10:34 PM

I really dig this plane!

I've built the Revellogram boxing a couple times. Once as a kid and again upon my 1st return to the hobby. The 1st...long gone. The 2nd...the one and only model my dog ever messed with. As I am mostly into 1/72 these days, I just picked up Academy's kit...and itchin o get crackin on it!

fox
  • Member since
    January 2007
  • From: Narvon, Pa.
Posted by fox on Thursday, November 17, 2016 9:32 PM

Max, I'll be watching your build closely. I have the kit in my stash but have been putting off working on it. It looks like a lot of work. Good luck and keep the pics coming.

Jim  Captain

 Main WIP: 

   On the Bench: Artesania Latina  (aka) Artists in the Latrine 1/75 Bluenose II

I keep hitting "escape", but I'm still here.

  • Member since
    April 2016
  • From: Parsons Kansas
Encore/Squadron 1/48 A-37B Dragonfly, Off to the Show!
Posted by Hodakamax on Thursday, November 17, 2016 8:28 PM

Having shown you each and every model from Max's Aircraft Museum, it's time for my first W.I.P. project. This is a Squadron enhanced kit with several resin and photo etched parts along with a good sale price. I had never considered this as a model for the Museum until checking out the real aircraft at Oshkosh in 2009. Being from Kansas where they were built, I'd seen them fly through the years from the onset of production but always considered them to be just a trainer. Not only was the attack version cool close-up but that thing hauled in it's demo fly-by. A little research revealed quite a history in the Vietnam war with an incredible number of sorties. Actually inspecting one and seeing it fly along with its history made it a great candidate for the Museum. This will be slow but I'll try to do it justice with my somewhat limited skills. I've been somewhat humbled by the class of work on the forum and I'll do the best I can!

Not impressed with the first encounter with the kits resin parts, in that they are crudely oversized and need to fitted. I broke a piece off the cockpit tub while removing a large amount of material off the bottom for fit. All is well and repairable, maybe to much gusto. LOL. Be patient with me, this will probably take a while!

Max

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.