Cessna A-37B Dragonfly - FINISHED

[nimrod54]

I thought that I would jump in with Academy's kit of the A-37B Dragonfly for this group build. The box has three sprues of parts (2 for the airframe, 1 for munitions), a clear sprue for the canopy parts and decal options for USAF or ROKAF aircraft.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

 

[jean]

Hi John,

you always seem to choose fantastic kits and I, for one, is not going to complain, ever!

This A-37 is splendid, and so minute for a jet. But you have your E.T. specs, so you won't have any trouble.

Which scheme are you going to go for?

 

Have fun!

 

JR

[Col.]

Cool subject choice John. Not seen one of these built before so will enjoy watching you work on it.

[nimrod54]

On 28/01/2022 at 16:00, jean said:

Hi John,

you always seem to choose fantastic kits and I, for one, is not going to complain, ever!

This A-37 is splendid, and so minute for a jet. But you have your E.T. specs, so you won't have any trouble.

Which scheme are you going to go for?

 

Have fun!

 

JR

 

Hi Jean,

Thanks for your comment and it's good to have you following along for this build. As for the scheme choice, I think that am  going to go with USAF scheme, hope that it meets with your approval.

Regards

John

 

8 hours ago, Col. said:

Cool subject choice John. Not seen one of these built before so will enjoy watching you work on it.

 

And this is a first for me too Col, so we will both be learning as we go. Talk about the blind leading the blind!  

 

Cheers

John

[nimrod54]

I was able to squeeze in a bit of work on this lovely little kit yesterday, painting up the cockpit and seats. The cockpit detail is a bit sparse and I still have the seat cushions to paint and belts to sort which should dress things up a bit more.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

More soon.

 

John

[Col.]

Good to see you getting some bench time to progress this one John

[desert falcon]

A good start John! 

[nimrod54]

On 11/02/2022 at 07:17, Col. said:

Good to see you getting some bench time to progress this one John

 

With a couple of F-18's to start Col, I thought that I had better get my finger out and push something along and this looked a bit easier than they did. 

 

On 12/02/2022 at 09:38, desert falcon said:

A good start John! 

 

Cheers DF. I hope that you are keeping well buddy

 

 

Update time.

 

I got a bit more work done last night, gluing the cockpit in place, then after adding some weight to the nose I closed up the fuselage. Once that had some time to set up I glued the wings in position. Having left things overnight I tidied up the joins and assembled the wingtip tanks, I don't whether to fit those now or at the end, leaving them until the end could save me some slightly tricky masking when it comes to painting. Stiill, there is plenty for me to be getting on with before I have to make that decision.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[nimrod54]

It has been a while since my last update and with the deadline approaching I decided it was time to give this stalled build a bit of a push. It has sat around the workbench for some time in pretty much the same state as the above photos, thou I did add the wingtip tanks and the pylons. Yesterday I finished the seats, adding some belts using some Reheat Etch belts for the shoulder straps and masking tape for the lowers and these were then glued in place. I have been pondering on ways of reducing the see through look of the engines and decided to follow @AdrianMF's paper engineering technique and made some paper tubes, coating them with layers of superglue to make a couple of jetpipes for the exhaust outlets. The outsides have had some paint applied and I have to paint the interior to finish those off. before they are fixed in their final position.  I think that I will scratch a couple of FOD guards for the intakes and that will take care of that issue.

 

by John L, on Flickr 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

John

[Col.]

Nice work and good use of the composite material John

[nimrod54]

On 03/04/2022 at 17:24, Col. said:

Nice work and good use of the composite material John

 

Thanks Col. There is plenty of room behind there, I need to find out how much should protrude before finally fixing them in place. I will get some paint on the thing first though.

John

[jean]

Hi John,

 

that looks rather tasty. As usual with what comes out of your manufacturing plant.

The lack of exhaust pipes has puzzled me with this kit. Very strange.

Re the FOD for the intakes, be careful, they are actually made of a kind of chicken mesh and the whole frame folds underneath the intake.

Check it out on Google.

This couple of funnies notwithstanding, It Is a great little kit and you are doing it justice.

 

Keep having fun.

 

JR

[nimrod54]

I have made a start on the painting on this little Cessna, brushing the grey on the underside last night and putting the first of the camouflage colours on the top surfaces today. I hope to have the main painting finished over the weekend, then I can focus on the details.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

John

[Col.]

Good to see you at the painting stage now John

[nimrod54]

I have brushed on the two greens since the last update, finishing off with the wingtip tanks last night. I can focus of the smaller details now and then it should be time for decals,

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Cheers.

John

[Col.]

Good to see your continued progress John

[nimrod54]

38 minutes ago, Col. said:

Good to see your continued progress John

 

Thanks Col. It's amazing what shows up when you start looking back at the photos though, I have just spotted that seam line behind the canopy, not detected when I ran my finger nail across the join - time for some masking and a bit more sanding methinks.

[Col.]

Hadn't noticed that one 'til you mentioned it John. A little more work will see it right though

[81-er]

Looking good there, John, nice work. I know what you mean about photos, it's amazing what they seem to find that we can't spot. Good luck with the fix.

 

James

[nimrod54]

On 09/05/2022 at 20:41, Col. said:

Hadn't noticed that one 'til you mentioned it John. A little more work will see it right though

 

11 hours ago, 81-er said:

Looking good there, John, nice work. I know what you mean about photos, it's amazing what they seem to find that we can't spot. Good luck with the fix.

 

James

 

Thanks for the encouraging comments chaps. I sanded back the area behind the canopy earlier, along with the area in front of the fin fillet where rhe join was barely visible, then painted on some Mechanicus Grey acrylic (Citadel) as a base. I hope to tidy up the paint tomorrow, if my wrist has settled down after gardening over the weekend.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

John.

 

 

[Col.]

That area looks to have smoothed out nicely John. Good work.

[nimrod54]

I finished touching in the camouflage paint early last week, and after a couple of coats of clear I continued with the detail painting along with a bit of work assembling weapons and additional tanks and fixing the undercarriage in place. That just leaves the fin cap, intakes and lights to finish off the main painting, after that it will be time to start on the decals.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[nimrod54]

I am still plugging away with this one, and - in between trips to the local garden centre and a plant nursery - I finished adding the decals last night. They were left overnight and I sealed everything in with a couple of light coats of clear this morning. This afternoon I fixed the last of the clear parts (lights and lenses) in place, a couple need some clear red to finish those off. I have also started painting up the underwing stores and have completed two sets leaving the four drop tanks to finish those off, after that it is all about fixing all of the final bits and pieces to the airframe. 

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

We are at a christening for our great-nephew tomorrow but I hope to finish this off when we get back.

 

Cheers for now

John 

[nimrod54]

I wrapped this one up earlier tonight. After adding the underwing stores I fixed the aerial in place, unmasked the canopy and the last job was to add the intake covers - I am not sure if these should sit further into the intake, but they do the job of covering over the lack of detail in this area.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

Thanks for all of your support, comments and especially for sticking with an overly long build of this little model. Finally a big thankyou to all of those involved in setting up and running this GB.

 

Regards.

 

John

[81-er]

That's a really nice result, John, well done!

 

James