Hi everyone,
I have been building armor, on and off, for a few years but have some type of psychological block when it comes to building Dragon kits. Any tips on Dragon kit construction and dealing with the sometimes confusing instructions? Any and all tips very appreciated.
Thanks!

Always test and dry fit, and check reference pictures. I have found with their instructions sometime they omit steps or they show the wrong part being attached or on the wrong side.

Plan ahead,
Cross out versions you don't want to build, and have a walkaround of the vehicle you build handy. Look up build reviews on the various modelling fora. Paul Budzik has some very usefull info on building the DML Shermans:
http://paulbudzik.com/index.html

I think the best thing to do is when you are ready to start a Dragon kit ..Ask on different sites (including here of course) If anyone knows of a list of corrections for the instructions. You'll also just get used to Dragon kits after a while.

Rick

Dragons instructions are one of the worse, test and dry fit first, look up references, build reviews will be a big help. Build in sub assemblies, and leave all the tiny parts till last. Mirrors, lights, antennas, etc. Good luck...

I always check as many reviews as I can find. These will point out errors, in the instructions. Dry fit everything. Have a definite plan. I recommend building the entire kit, then painting it. The exception to this are the suspension and tracks. It is much easier to paint and assemble these off of the build. Read through the instructions and make sure you have all of the parts. With one of their flak guns, there is a major part missing.

I've been building mostly DML kits the last few years, and they get easier to deal with as you get through a half dozen or so builds. Everyone has given you sound advice. I do test/dry fit every part prior to gluing it up. I also look at the next few steps making sure that the part actually belongs where there often arrows only point to a general area, and that other parts just don't show up unexpectedly without mention.
Joel

Looking at Dragons instructions can be quite daunting (try their flak 37 for example) but they are not too bad when broken down into steps. Its good to read through them to know what to expect and as advised already to be aware of what faults exist.
My tip is to have all parts for each step cleaned up and laid out in the order of the drawing. This means you can assemble a complete step in one sitting, and if something goes wrong or is positioned wrongly, its quite easy to remove it again. Same goes for allignment.

When looking at the instructions beforehand (it's not that often I do that, but Dragon's are one exception), it's good to make notes of what alternate parts you need to use and which not, what to build as subassemblies, etc.