Rosenberg92 Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) Hello all, As the title says, I will be doing Academy's excellent A-37B Dragonfly in 1/72 scale for this groupbuild, by first ever groupbuild too. The kit looks fantastic, so, here are some opening shots to look at whilst I slowly work my way into this photographing ever step I take. Kit has had major comonents removed and masked together to get a feel for overall look. I tend to do this with every kit I get (not so many these days) as it makes me less excited to rush the job to see it finished. Second shot of the sprues, alot of plastic for the pricely sum of £0.99 on ebay although alot of it is for weapons sprues. (Who says you cant have too many weapons, anyway) I look forward to showing you my progress, will probably have an update tomorow night after work has started (or later today for those who note the time). No work to commence this early in the morning. All the best, Dan. Edited March 26, 2011 by Rosenberg92 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosenberg92 Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Ok so I got some work done this morning, everything I do is brush painted and using Revell Aqua Acrylics. I dont have any filler here so no filler to be used. Here goes. Dashboard was painted in Black, drybrushed several times with White and then picked out with Yellow and Red. The I put together the tub and assembled the cockpit. Seats were 3 piece and painted in Mouse Grey, the pads were Greenish Grey and the headrests Red. I have never added seatbelts before so thought I would give it a try, using masking tape. Who knows if it is correct but it looks okay. Painted those in Olive Brown and put it all together. Washed it all over with watered down Black before drybrushing back on the original colours to highlight. Then I painted up the cockpit interior with Mouse Grey, shoved some nose weight in the front (it said 5 grams in the instructions, but from obeying instructions before I have an Airfix Strikemaster at home that sits nose high, so from now on I overload a bit). Wheel wells were painted out white, a couple of coats gave a nice finish. Finally, for today as I have to keep some work going, I pulled all of my efforts together and got the tub into place along with the dashboard, the wings on and the halves together. More to follow. All the best, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moofles Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 coming along very nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Looking great is it going to be in kit decals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosenberg92 Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Yes kit decals, USAF and South Korean are supplied and I will be doing the USAF version. This is for an A-37B, 8th SOS., 14th SOW., Blen Hoa AB., Vietnam 1970. Upper 3 tone Vietnam camoflage lower USAF grey. Today there has been no progress as the missus had me round her Mother's... Sigh. All the best, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moofles Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Today there has been no progress as the missus had me round her Mother's... Sigh.All the best, Dan. ah i feel you bud, been there. looking good, your colour choice is coming off well, just watch out for the decals, some people (myself included) have had a hell of a job with the decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robw_uk Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 started well... hope to see more progress do like this kit - mine is stalled after the camouflage went wrong... need to be cleaned and started again I guess.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosenberg92 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 ah i feel you bud, been there. looking good, your colour choice is coming off well, just watch out for the decals, some people (myself included) have had a hell of a job with the decals. Yes, have been caught out on both before (with the missus and poor Academy decals). I think it is a shame, they produce some lovely detailed kits and then ruin them by supplying decals you just hate. All the best, Dan. started well... hope to see more progressdo like this kit - mine is stalled after the camouflage went wrong... need to be cleaned and started again I guess.... How did you go about the camoflage? I tend to go freehand but have seen people use masking tape and blu-tac before. Also, what colours did you go for, in terms of the Vietnam 3 tone camoflage? Dark and mid/light green and tan/sand are my choices but picking the shades is another thing. All the best, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosenberg92 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Progress. Finally. Have gotten some free time and started putting the undercarriage doors on, weapons pylons have been attached and the wingtip drop tanks added to the undersides. Painting has also commenced, with 3 thin coats of Revell Aqua Light Stone on the undersides. On the topside I have attached the front probe and added 3 thin coats of Revell Aqua Dark Green. This was after I had turned it over only to hear a clank... clank... One of the weights in the nose had come unstuck... Or moreover, one had avoided the glue and blu-tac in there. This wouldn't be much of a problem as it is going to sit on the shelf, so you would not hear it or know of it. However, handling it to work on it means hearing it again and again. So, took the knife to the join line and yanked her open, reglued the weight and closed back up. Small amount of sanding the join to seal it and then on with the paint. Some areas need a slight touch up, most noticably is the dashboard which needs some more Black after I caught it with my finger trying to wedge it open. I will get this done next time out before I start on other bits. Other than that, some touching up along the camoflage join line to the base colour of the jet and some slight patching up in the cockpit should suffice. Hopefully this will get done this evening and pictures will be posted (again hopefully) sometime tonight. All the best, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moofles Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 looks damn good to me, great progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 great progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosenberg92 Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 More progress. Tonight I got the camoflage on. The tan/brown looks a little light in the pictures, and the olive looks a bit too grey, but to my eye on the model they look okay. If in doubt I can mix up the olive again and put a quick coat on it to see what happens. I then put the paint to the canopy. This is done freehand using a brush and wiping away any excess as I go. It takes some time, but if you spend ages masking it off, then it is quicker this way. I then did a quick test fit of the canopy, and all appears well. I am still unsure if I want the canopy closed or open on this bird yet, as a wheels down modeller, I could do canopy open to display a nice cockpit, but I have never done this before, what do you think? Also, external parts have been added, aerials and such, as seen in picture above. I chose my ordanance at this point too, I think I will go for a fuel tank on each inner pylon, 2 Mk.82 Fuse Extenders on the middle pylons on each side and an SUU-14 on the end pylons. The Mk.82 Fuse Extenders did not come with the kit, they were spares, so if you dont think they go just let me know, and I can swap back in an extra fuel tank and LAU-3's to each side. This is all I got through tonight, the missus has gone away though so time can be spent on this, hoorah. All the best, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosenberg92 Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Just a note, I realise in the pictures it looks patchy, I touch up as a final step before decals go on. All the tidying up gets done in one go, I dont know why I do it this way, but it does make it easier for me personally. Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosenberg92 Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 Progress from the last few days. Decals are on, and all the pieces are now either attached to the A-37B or are ready and assembled and just need to be attached once decals are dry. I dont own any klear or any decal setting solutions here at University so, the decals are as per Academy wished them to be, shiny, thick and utterly useless. Stores are all together, decals applied to those too. Tomorow shall be the last day for this one, I hope. Canopy to attach, stores to the pylons and then undercarriage in place. Has been a very pleasant build thus far, the only let down being the decals. If there is any advice I can give about this kit, it is to replace the decals. This though, is not a problem as the kit itself is very cheap, and for what you get a bargain before you get it in the sales or second hand areas. Paying out for one of these and the extra decals is an investment worth considering. All the best, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosenberg92 Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 And she's done! And she started to fight me at the end but it was nothing too much. The undercarriage did not want to sit and the front wheels especially would not fit flush in their hole. The ordanance too decided that it did not want to sit on the pylons (despite there being a slot and a clip). Anyway, here are some finished photos. Hope you enjoyed it, I had a blast. All the best, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metallicus Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Hi Dan Great build and congrats on completing your first Group Build. You got yourself a great little model there! Cheers Brenden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Nice work! The Dragonfly does sit low to the ground doesn't it? neat aircraft. Congrats on your first GB entry being finished, let us hope it is the first of many! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smuts Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Hi, nice Dragonfly & congrats on your first GB. Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonflyer82 Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Hello, Great Job. looks great ! I just bought the kit and I was wondering if you could list all the you colors used in it. This will help me a bunch. thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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