Academy 1/72 scale Cessna A-37B Dragonfly
By Richard "RJ" Tucker
	
History:  The A-37 line of aircraft was developed from the USAF's primary jet trainer, the T-37. During the early 60's, counter insurgency dominated US military planning and procurement.   Cessna saw a need for aircraft that was easy to operate and maintain for use by developing nations. By strengthening the airframe and increasing the thrust, a trainer became an attack plane. In actuality, a trainer carried some bombs. The A-37 was underpowered, had poor range, and marginal on station time. USAF aircrews dubbed it the converter; it converted jet-fuel into noise! Back to the drawing board! The A-37B version sought to address some theses deficiencies.  The General Electric  J85-GE-17A engines increased the thrust and fuel efficiency, and the addition of a fixed refueling probe mitigated the on-station concerns. Internal airframe modifications increased the weapons load. Timing, however, is everything. The A-37B was a low cost airframe when the old prop jobs were just plain-ol' worn out. The A-26K, A-1 and assorted museum pieces had to be replaced in the South Viet Nam AF and USAF special operations squadrons. The USAF was caught in a war, and  attrition was slowing and even stopping the Reserve modernization. In the 70s, many USAF reserve pilots  would log their flight hours in the A-37B before they got into F-4s or A-7s!  

The Kit: This Academy kit is a gem.  With a modest price, logical engineering and loads  of details, this kit is every bit the equal of  Hasegawa, RoG, Italeri, etc. A big plus is the accurate stores options: drop tanks, LAU-3 rocket launchers, Mk-82 bombs, and SUU-14 dispensers, enough, so good stuff is left over!!! (Is a major Japanese kit manufacturer listening???......no........didn't think so!) My kit was packaged as a Viet Nam era airplane, so it had two decal options: one USAF airplane and a Republic of Korea AF aircraft. 

My Model: This kit is straight out of the box using the kit decals for the 8th Special Operations Squadron of the 14th Special Operations Wing at Bien Hoa air base, South Viet Nam circa 1970. I added paper seat belts and hardware made from photo-etch frets and added the LAU-10 rocket launchers from the Italeri weapons set.  The model is finished with Testors enamels using the soft mask painting method.   

Two f’ers!:  I built this kit along side my F-5 kit. I find building models two at a time conserves paint and my ever-diminishing leisure time.  When I paint, most of the time goes to mixing and thinning the paint and cleaning the airbrush. Once the paint is thinned, you can’t put it back, so it’s either used or tossed!   Time spent actually blowing paint was minuscule compared to the prep and clean up. I get twice as much done in one painting session. This is really efficient for the small paint jobs like cockpit colors, gear wells, landing gear, bombs, etc.  When one model’s sub-assembly is setting or drying, I work on the other one.  I split the projects when it comes time to decal and final assembly.  Works for me!    

Reference: "Cessna's Tough A/T-37 TWEETY  BIRD  by Robert L. Trimble, Air Combat Vol. 10, no. 4  July 1982 

ARC bonus:  Here is the camouflage diagram from the USAF tech order (TO1-1-4). I used this for the soft mask patterns. 
(A-37  SEA  camo.jpg) 

Happy Modeling!
RJ