Yep Steve! Ready and excited to begin the Boeing build! Good thing we have a long time to do the models. I bought a bunch!
Here is some work on the A37. I had seen them flying around in Vietnam movies and always liked them and the Skyraiders too. This particular kit had been sitting at the Local Hobby Store for years and kept getting marked down. I nearly bought it a few times. When I saw this build, I thought I’d try to shoot this model in before it ends.
Its very small but I enjoy the little guys. I completed an Apache & Hind in 1/100 for a friend in trade for a 1/35 A7 WWI German Tank. I got the braille-scale bug and started making some 1/72 Armor as well as buying some 1/72 aircraft.
The kit has raised panel lines which I hate, and did require filling. The tanks & weaponry were warped and fussy (Clamps Ahoy!). The rest of the fit is not bad. Pleased so far with it. Mocked it up with the wings and fit is nice. At least that’s one headache I wont have to deal with. Sitting in Primer now. I will go with the jungle style camo. The grey looked too boring!
So when Matt originally rolled this idea out, I felt like an A-20G (gun nose) from the Pacific Theatre would fit the bill perfect. By the time I decided to give it a go, the original thread had died off, so I decided to put it on hold. I recently started tinkering with the cockpit, then I discovered this re-pop of Matt’s thread. So here we go. The AMT 1/48 A-20G. Progress so far. This kit is molded in fairly weak plastic, and the fuselage is kind flimsy around where the turret is located, so the entire thing is warped pretty good. I had to cut all the alignment pins and glue the fuselage a few inches at a time and let it dry before moving on to keep everything in line. That is drying up as we speak.
Ok, I pretty much took care of the warpage. Obly rough seem is right behind the turret. Now time for the wings. They come in 4 pieces, so to avoid as much gaps/lips as I can, I am gluing them on seperate. Bottom wings 1st, conforming to the wing root. Then top wing, just joining the wing root. When both are dried in place, I will then glue the two halves together. Oh and as with the fuselage, I cut off all alignment pins.
Alright, I pretty much have the airframe together, aside from the nacelles and the bomb bay door, which is going to ba a chore thanks to the warpage. Now before some freaks out and says “Holy crap! This guy puy together a 1/48 A-20 in less than 48 hours!” It needs to be said that there was a decent amount of preperation I have done over the past week. Lots of cleaning up the parts of sprue gates, flash, preparing the joints, and lots, I repeat LOTS of dry fitting. I must of had this sucker put together 5 seperate times with tape figuring out how I was going to work around the warping, where the problem areas were, and what to expect once I started assembly.
Holy crap, you put that together in 48 hours!!! Just kidding. You’re really moving right along here. Nice job and I can’t wait to see more, which by my count should be in a minute to two.
Thanks crazy. You’re cheering me on pretty good. Might need to invest in a pair of pom-poms for you Anyways. Assembling the main landing gear was a small adventure in modeling. Lots of flash, sprue gates, injector marks, vague instructions, and little fiddly parts. Due to the fickle nature of the A-20 's undercarriage, I decided to get out my trusty pin vise, my smallest micro bit, and bore a hole into the base of the main strut. I then cut a piece of 1/32 brass rod and super glued it into the strut. Then I drilled a hole into the bottom of the wing where the strut would sit. Hopefully that will give her alittle more support. Here is the finished gear assembly
So one of the many problems with the fuselage warping was that the bomb bay opening was contorted some. This made it to where the rigid bomb bay doors would not fit in correctly. So after some thinking, I cut lenghts of Q-tip shaft to just alittle larger than the width of the fuselage. I then wedged them in to hold the bombay opening open wide. Then slipping the bomb bay doors in was a snap. Literally. Once I had the doors where I wanted them, I slid a small file down through the slim opening behind the turret. I then CAREFULLY felt around until I found the Q-tip spacers, and popped them out. The sides of the fuselage then clamped down on the bomb bay doors, and this is the result. Just alittle clean up and sanding needed. Oh and in other news, here are the Wright R-2600s all painted and ready to go.
Hey Steve, I’m swamped in work and moving, so, I try to look in every now and then. It’s especially awkward because I’m putting ALL my stuff into storage as I had to give up my apartment for July 1 and NOT taking possession of my new place 'till 1 Aug, SO, I’m homeless for a month [:P]
Here are the R-2600s all cowled up. And now some fishing sinkers in the nose to make sure she assumes the correct posture She’s starting to look mean now fellas
No picture progress today. Lots of filling and sanding and repeat. I’ll be a happy man if i don’t have to see another drop of Mr. Surfacer 500 for a few weeks. That said, I am enjoying this kit and subject matter very much, and learning from this experience will help make my future A-20 builds go alot smoother I am sure. (I have a mentle catalog of kits I plan on doing in the future, and that catalog includes at least 3 more G’s, 2 B’s, 1 C, 1 J, and 1 P-70 if I could ever get ahold of the Italeri decal sheet)
Anyways. Assembling the main landing gear was a small adventure in modeling. Lots of flash, sprue gates, injector marks, vague instructions, and little fiddly parts. Due to the fickle nature of the A-20 's undercarriage, I decided to get out my trusty pin vise, my smallest micro bit, and bore a hole into the base of the main strut. I then cut a piece of 1/32 brass rod and super glued it into the strut. Then I drilled a hole into the bottom of the wing where the strut would sit. Hopefully that will give her alittle more support. 
