Tweedy Bird A-37B Dragonfly...The Finale!

[Triet Cam]

An angry Tweedy Bird that can sting. I have an old Monogram kit that's been sitting around for decades. Now's a good time to start working on it.

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Triet Cam

[modelling minion]

A great choice Triet.

I really like the tweety bird and have just finished this very same kit albeit in less warlike colours.

Really interested to see how you get on, have you decided on the markings yet? USAF or VNAF?

[Enzo the Magnificent]

   

[Triet Cam]

34 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

A great choice Triet.

I really like the tweety bird and have just finished this very same kit albeit in less warlike colours.

Really interested to see how you get on, have you decided on the markings yet? USAF or VNAF?

I had 2 in mind. This one:

 

 

The kit's decals are included, which is pretty accurate. But Monogram old decals, thick blob. This depicted VNAF 520th FS, was based in Binh Thuy, deep South VN. Or this one:

 

 

Only Print Scale offers, but completely way off in accuracy. This one depicted marking of VNAF 516th FS based in Da Nang Northern South VN. The only way to do it right is to make your own using Ink Jet printer, which is way harder to do.

 

Edited August 13, 2020 by Triet Cam

[modelling minion]

A couple of very nice choices there, and I'm especially happy that you are doing a VNAF one.

Give me a day or two and I will see if I have any suitable decals in my stash that you can have, although Monogram decals can be forced to conform if you lay them on a wet coat of Klear and the apply another on top all whilst still wet, then let them dry and it sucks decals right in.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

10 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Monogram decals can be forced to conform if you lay them on a wet coat of Klear and the apply another on top all whilst still wet, then let them dry and it sucks decals right in.

I can vouch for that process.   

 

I have also found that old, thick decals respond well to a thinned application of PVA adhesive to the area beforehand.   Apply the decals and then apply Microsol (or your favourite decal solvent).   After everything had drien, puncture any dodgy areas with a blade tip and apply more Microsol.  after everything settles down, a thin coat of acrylic lacquer provides long term stability. 

[trickyrich]

welcome along with a lovely Tweety bird, a favourite among many here!!

 

The Monogram kit is an golden oldie but still well regarded as the Trumpy version has a couple of issues! (A Trumpy kit with issues!!! )

 

Still one of these has to be on the list of aircraft models to buy.

 

Good luck with her, I know there'll be a lot of interested parties following this build.

[Triet Cam]

Ok. The last piece of components have arrived. The Airwaves set and the Quick boost should improve the appearance. The kit's seats head rests, plus there is some sort of electrical box installed on the outboard seat rails that weren't there during Nam era. The Airwaves PE set has at least a decent representation of the FOD chicken coop wire mesh screen cover. I may need to enhance it a little bit. The canopy riser framing should help enhance the look a little.

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Triet Cam

[modelling minion]

There's not much out there for the A-37 and what there is you've already got! Except for the complete resin cockpit, and to be honest the seats are the only thing that need improvement.

[Triet Cam]

4 hours ago, modelling minion said:

There's not much out there for the A-37 and what there is you've already got! Except for the complete resin cockpit, and to be honest the seats are the only thing that need improvement.

No there isn't much. But then this is a pretty detailed kits, for it's age. There's a resin gun bay Lone Star just came out, But open display isn't my thing, unless it's a maintenance dio. 

[modelling minion]

I have checked my decal stash but unfortunately I don't have any VNAF A-37's, I could have sworn that I did. I can cover most of Latin America but not Vietnam unfortunately.

[Triet Cam]

7 hours ago, modelling minion said:

I have checked my decal stash but unfortunately I don't have any VNAF A-37's, I could have sworn that I did. I can cover most of Latin America but not Vietnam unfortunately.

No worry, The outfit I am doing is not available, at least in accuracy. Thanks for the offer though.

 

I decided to do this scheme. 

 

  

 

I think I can make it work with just Ink Jet printer. I went this route multiple times before. Basically, it's a crap shoot, I give it a 50/50 success rate. Those who venture on less traveled road know what I'm talking about. 🙂

The most troubled area is the Bu No. which was painted camo tan. It's gotta be masked and paint, don't see any other way. I've been toying around with using dry transfer as masking. The trick is not to press it too hard on the surface because it can be hard to pull off later.

Hey, if I can't pull this task off, I can always go back to use the kit decal markings.

 

Cheers 

Triet

 

 

[modelling minion]

Good luck with printing the decals, not something I have ever tried so I take my hat off to those who can do it.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

I may have an old super-scale set in my files and have already built a VNAF Dragonfly so not going to do a second one. Let me look and see what I can find over the next day or so ? 
 

Dennis

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Sorry for the delay in responding... I only have a partial set from Super-Scale Decals. These are from the 1980’s and are sheet 48-435. 
this is whats left and the star decals in between the red/white fuselage hash lines are from the Monogram set. I doubt these will help you at all ? 
 

Dennis

[Triet Cam]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Sorry for the delay in responding... I only have a partial set from Super-Scale Decals. These are from the 1980’s and are sheet 48-435. 
this is whats left and the star decals in between the red/white fuselage hash lines are from the Monogram set. I doubt these will help you at all ? 
 

Dennis

No I won't be needing that version. My version is the 516 FS out of Da Nang. Only Print Scale has that version, but badly inaccurate. So I'll be doing an Ink Jet Version with arts I collected.

 

  

       

 

 

I'll be trying out some test print this wekend. Thanks very much for the offer Dennis.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by Triet Cam

[Triet Cam]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Sorry for the delay in responding... I only have a partial set from Super-Scale Decals. These are from the 1980’s and are sheet 48-435. 
this is whats left and the star decals in between the red/white fuselage hash lines are from the Monogram set. I doubt these will help you at all ? 
 

Dennis

Incidentally, I just completed this same version of Superscale, except in 1/72. I didn't use the fuselage band, but instead use my Ink jet to print my own. Notice the differences in the red/white hashes?

 

 

[modelling minion]

That A-37 looks fantastic as do your homemade decals for it. Are you sure it's 1/72 scale it is very well painted. 

[Triet Cam]

Let's kick off the build by addressing the weight problem. The tail weight that is. as this is a tail sitter. Any mass reduction aft of the main landing gears should help. I cut off the platforms right behind the cockpit, as they located aft of the landing gear, and really serves no purpose. A modded lead nose weight was added at the nose. This was molded specifically for the A-37  by a guy name Terry Dean many years ago. He specialized in making molded metal weight for tail sitting airplanes. Don't know if he's still doing this, but lucky for me I got one.  It placed perfectly between the front nose fuselage and the front wheel bay. I forgot to measure the weight, but it has considerable weight. This help takes the guessing of how much weight is needed out of the equation.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Triet Cam

[modelling minion]

Great to see this one underway.

Those weights are an ingenious solution to the tail sitting problem, I stuffed that area on my build with as much weight as I could.

[Triet Cam]

I had to file down the tip of the nose weight a little. It was interfering with the wheel bay. The weight took pretty much the entire free space within. This is a big wheel compartment for a little plane like that.  

[Triet Cam]

Moving along to the cockpit tub. I chose to stay with the kit's parts. They're quite detailed for being nearly 30 yrs old. It didn't lack much in details compare to the after market resins. Some wiring and the Airwarves peddles were added. I should've reworked the throttles. They're in the wrong position.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Triet Cam

[trickyrich]

gee that's some nice work on the cockpit. You are right, all it needs is jut a touchup here and there.

 

You're luck to have that weight, space looks to be really tight.

[modelling minion]

Cockpit is coming along very nicely.

[Triet Cam]

Moving along, I just finished the Quickboost seats. These are more accurate for the Nam era as I mentioned before. The molded details are superb. Also, thank goodness the belts poses are different from each seat. The only issue was when I test fit them in the cockpit tub, they sit kind of low. So I added some plastic cars to raise them up higher.