¹⁄35

Dragon Fires Again - Flak 37

Assembly – Stages 10 to 17

These stages instruct the construction of the cruciform base for the gun. Again, there are different parts to be used according to whether your gun will be depicted in firing or travel mode, so take care to use the correct parts. Everything fitted well, the only major problem being again, the joins between each half of each leg. These will take some time to correct, but if you don’t they will be very noticeable indeed on your finished model, so I thin it’s a necessary step. Before joining each half, make sure that you have sandwiched parts D13 and E12, and that they are orientated the correct way! You will not be able to insert these later. The best way I have found for covering long seams such as on these parts, is to first use styrene cement in the normal way and then to allow them to dry for a short while. Next, run a very thin bead of superglue gel along the join and then drip some accelerator on to it. Baking powder will do. This has the effect of instantly curing the superglue, but in such a way that it remains ‘soft’ for a short while, and this allows you to use some very fine wet and dry to sand down until smooth. If you’re careful, this gives perfect results.

I left the metal stakes, which are used to firmly hold each leg down when firing, unattached for separate painting, as they would be pretty banged up from being hammered into the ground.

Assembly – Stages 18 to 33

All these stages are concerned with constructing the two wheeled units that carry the gun for transport. Each of the two is a complicated kit in itself, with only slight differences between the two.

Stage 18 is the construction of the wheels, and unlike the first Dragon kit, these do not come in ‘slices’, but with complete styrene tyres. I liked the innovative thinking that resulted in the ‘sliced’ tyre of the Flak 36 kit, and the results looked great, but it was a complicated way of doing it and the potential for making a mistake was there I suppose. By way of compensation, these tyres are supplied with a tiny bulge to represent the weight of the gun, which looks great, but you make sure later to position the bulge correctly, for example, if attached to the gun, the bulge would be at the bottom, but if in firing mode and therefore unattached, the wheeled unit would be laying at an angle and therefore the bulge would be off to one side. I inserted part G8, which is the sidewall of the tyre, and then left the tyres off the wheel for later painting. I encountered no major problems during these stages, but with hindsight, there are a few things you should watch out for.

Parts F32 & F33 are the brackets for holding the cable reels. If you’re going to use the cable reels remember to drill out the holes as indicated in the instructions. There are some very heavy mould seams on the fenders which should not be there...take your time to clean these off before assembly, they’re very difficult to reach afterwards.
Make sure that you leave parts E6 free to rotate on part F21, they’re vital when you come to attach the wheeled units to the gun later. Whilst I was trying to find references for the wiring of parts E16 (the lights) I couldn’t actually find a Flak 37 with these fitted, so I took the easier option of leaving these off completely. If you do this remember to remove the small locating points for them.

Part F57, the towing arm had a really bad seam along its length caused by a slight misalignment of the mould, since no other part on the same sprue was affected, I can only assume it’s a fault and therefore present on all kits. This might be something Dragon should check.

I replaced some of the moulded on clamps on the tools. The method of attachment of some of the tools meant that not all could be replaced, so if you are going to use photo-etched clamps (not supplied in the kit), examine closely how the tool attaches before shaving the moulded on clamps off!

On the unit that carries the tow bar there is a cable connection to be represented, that Dragon suggest you use the black hose supplied in the kit. I had the same trouble with this that I had in the first Flak 36 kit. It frays quite badly, and no matter what I tried I couldn’t stop it from fraying. I used the same solution for this as I had with the other kit, and used lead wire instead. I also used this to represent the cable on the reels. It holds shape better, attaches more strongly and is much easier to work with...just remember to wash your hands after using it, remember lead is classed as a poison these days!