Lifeline

😄... I do got one more Italeri kit, a 1/72 GWH A-10C, with another one incoming... Cheers, Mario

Many years back I actually planned to build this airplane with one of the engine nacelle opened, and I already cut the part to do it. But I don't have the time or parts to continue that plan, so now I have to glue it back together Dry fit it with the front part of the engine assembly. I'm glad that the cutting did not change much of the shape, probably some filling later on, but it's better than I expected. I saw few of references showed the flaps slightly deployed when the plane in parking. The book also said the elevator is almost always in up position, so I decided to cut the flaps and elevator. Then this arrived; I originally want to use some of the decals I need for the scheme (panther rats).. But those marking (and history) of the Euro-1 aircrafts really interest me... A lot! Now I'm in limbo.. another grey jet (albeit with rather humorous marking).. or a green jet with lots of history behind it.. Help? Cheers, Mario

Thanks! Let's just hope I could finish the build in time and do justice fir this legendary aircraft. Out of the ordinary, the first step is to try and fix the known mistake of Italeri warthog. For one is the nose shape. The original; Add a small amount of putty to give some volume to shape, and with the help of filling stick and sanding.. I decided to give the general shape of the nose and to stop right now and leave it until I glued on the nose area and the gun so I could use the whole fuselage and gun barrel tip as reference point. For now I think it still need to be shortened by 0.5 to 1 mm. Next one is the engine.. Reading other build, the kits has the wrong number of blades, and it was not placed deep enough inside the nacelle. I should reposition the engine face approx 11 mm from the lip of the engine nacelle. So the plan is to get rid of the kit engine face, add additional space using thin acrylic sheet, and add new engine blades and spinner I printed (the 3d plan was obtained from cults3d). Cheers, Mario

Hi... I've been thinking of entering this GB, since A-10 is one of my top 10 favorite airplane, but I was still building for Vietnam GB. So I decided to finish the build and join this GB instead.. Looking in my stash, apparently I actually have 2 Italeri OA-10 kits, and one of them already lost it's original box, and partially primed, from a brief inspection of the sprues, seemed to me that all the parts is there I planned to build it as OA-10 with preculiar markings as the one discussed here; Might also corrct few of the mistakes from the kit... But we'll see Cheers, Mario

Italeri 1/72 A-7E Corsair II VA-93, Iron Hand mission.. Cheers, Mario

All final bits and pieces are on. I did thinned the oversize pitot and replace the needle part with wire. Spray semi-gloss coat (added with with few drops of flat clear), clear parts on. And, finished the Sluff Cheers, Mario

Thanks... Due to the decal condition it was so stiff and almost lost it's adhesive ability so it was not adhere well with the contour and not reacted at all with decal fixer I used.. I have to cut it into 2 pieces and apply it partially. Anyway, I choose to do 2x shrike, 6x snake eyes, and 2x fuel tanks for the armaments, typical for Iron Hand mission And start putting it all, and some other parts into the aircraft.. Then I realized I had made a terrible mistake. The "NAVY" decal is applied way too aft.. I used the panel lines depicted on yhe instruction sheet for decal orientation, while it turned out that the panel line position was different with the actual kit 😢 My heart sank... But there's nothing I can do but to continue the build Cheers, Mario

Spent last several days to applying decals (lot less than phantom, with many inaccuracies).. Spray a coat of gunze semi gloss clear, and apply AK's enamel wash. Not shown here, I started working on the armament too... Cheers, Mario

Yes.. It's Light Gull Grey... FS16440 For some reason I forgot the FS number when wrote the post, and I was too lazy to see the code on the bottle 😃 Sorry Cheers, Mario

I reached painting stage apmost a week ago before cathing a flight to Penang to attend Malcom 2025... Nothing fancy just plain LGG over white.. Next stage.. decals Cheers, Mario

Wow! Will definitely following this.. Mind to share how deep the intake faces should be in 1/72? Cheers, Mario

@Col. Thanks! This should be a fast(er) building process. I also copy a lot of things from other A-7E build here on BM.. @heloman1 please do... 😀 Meanwhile... Add simple details for the wheel well.. Cheers, Mario

I knew something was off when I said it was finished.. I just can't put my finger on it. Then just yesterday after reviewing the photos I saw it... I forgot to apply the a/c number on the inboard flaps Well I still kept the leftover decals.. unfortunately printscale only provide "06" while it should've be "106".. so I have to sort it from other decals, this time spare decals leftover from academy tomcat Oh well, it would be good test for my new photo box I just bought.. Gallery will be updated with new pictures Cheers, Mario

Build started with the cockpit All except the ballast was out of the box But, it isn't Italeri (or actually ESCI for this matter) if no putty involved.. Cheers, Mario

Yes, @Jens it's actually my prime suspect! There's actually a lot pictures of 80-0194 from when it was involved in Desert Storm to the time when it's apready upgraded into A-10C. Unfortunately none came from 1999 time, or probably any records confirming that it was in the 74th. Also thanks for the correction @Hoops! Cheers, Mario