A-37B Dragonfly 'Black Eagles' 1:72 Hasegawa - Limted Edition Double Kit Boxing

[Julien]

A-37B Dragonfly 'Black Eagles'

1:72 Hasegawa - Limted Edition Double Kit Boxing

The A-37 Dragonfly was developed by Cessna for light attack from their successful T-37 training aircraft. Growing American involvement in Vietnam led to a strong interest in a counter insurgency or COIN aircraft in the early 1960's. The T-37 was evaluated in this role but found to be lacking in endurance and payload. Cessna doubled the original engine power of the T-37 by replacing the J-69 engines with JH-85 engines. The stores pylons were provided on each wing along with the addition of tip tanks to increase the fuel load. For the attack role a 7.62mm mini gun was also added to the nose of the aircraft.

Due to the simplicity of the aircraft and its ability to carry a large amount of ordinance the A-37 proved to be very popular with smaller air-forces around the world including a lot of Central & South America.

The Black Eagles are the Aerobatic Display Team of the Republic Of Korea Air Force. The team has flown many aircraft since 1953 and has operated on an informal basis until 1994. The permanent team was only formally formed in 1994 using the 2nd Flight of the 238th Fighter Squadron. For this they flew the Cesna A-37B Dragon Fly. Since then they have become the 239th Aerobatic Flight Squadron and have transitioned to the brand new T-50 Golden Eagle. Flying the T-50 they have been awarded the Boeing Trophy for best display at RAF Waddington in 2012. In 2013 they went on to win the King Hussain Memorial Sword for best overall flying demonstation, and the "As The Crow Flies" Trophy at RIAT 2013.

The Kit
Hasegawas A-37 kit dates back to the 1960's and it pretty basic. Shape wise it seems to be spot on, and given its age it features fine raised panel lines. The kit is fairly easy to build, but some of the seams particularly on the underside do need some work, however it does make into a good looking model of the A-37. Hasegawa have re-released this kit as a double boxing featuring markings for the ROKAF Aerobatic Display team "The Black Eagles". The kit has been released in white plastic presumably so you don't have to paint the aircraft if you don't want to.

Construction starts with the main cockpit and here the kit is none too accurate for the aircraft in this boxing. The kit features two crew and seat backs only not full seats. However the Black Eagles flew these aircraft only with one seat installed. An instrument panel is provided with decals for the instruments.

Once "the cockpit" is completed it can be installed into the main fuselage, and then the fuselage closed up, after which the tail planes are added. The main wing is a conventional one part lower wing to which the upper wing panels are added. The modeller will need to fill all the holes in the lower wing where the pylons attach, as they are not used for these display aircraft, because only the tip tanks were used by The Black Eagles. Once these are installed the landing gear can be added along with the single part canopy.

Decals
The decals are the star of the latest boxing of this old kit. Decals are provided to make any two of the six Black Eagles from the period 1994 to 2007, and with only 3 kits to buy, it would be tempting to make the whole team.

Conclusion
This maybe an old kit now with its associated problems of detail and raised panel lines, however its good to see it re-released with Aerobatic Team markings. A double boxing also brings the cost per kit down to a more palatable level.

Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looks good Julien.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Mish

[jean]

I still think that for a decent A-37, the Academy kit is far ahead of the old Hasegawa... and much cheaper.

But an oldie and goldie can still be made into a great looking model. Just takes more work...

JR

[Hook]

The much better Academy kit is also available in a Black Eagles boxing, with decals for the whole team to boot - kit #1672.

I'd gothat route rather than wrestle with the ancient Hasegawa mold.

Cheers,

Andre

[Julien]

Yes it is available but the hasegawa kit also makes into a good looking kit.

A kit should not be dismissed just because its an older tooling.

Julien