1/72 Hasegawa A-10A - finished!

[Jonners]

Although I'm slightly in awe of the painstaking results that many modellers achieve here on BM, and I'm often astonished at how many of you find the time and have the commitment to long-term highly-detailed builds, here goes with my second WiP (concurrent with my SAAF Dakota).  

 

Here's the basic kit that I'm using:

 

As a teenager in the 1980s I used to see A-10s fairly regularly and, in my impressionable juvenile state, thought that they were the coolest things on two wings in the European 1 / Lizard camo scheme.

 

Being so impressed, I bought one of these kits and sprayed it with a Humbrol airbrush (with about a 6 ft scale overspray...), put it into a simple dispersal diorama along with some Hasegawa ground equipment and figures - I know, how unoriginal! - and it won first place in the diorama competition at my air cadet Wing competition.  That model has long since departed this life, but some smaller items were salvaged and have survived the intervening three decades.

 

I've become very frustrated recently at my seeming inability to finish a model to a standard that I find acceptable, so hopefully publishing a WiP and committing to improving the paint finish will give me the incentive to create decent results.  I just needed the right subject matter! In a fit of nostalgia I picked this model up for under a tenner including P&P from an internet auction site, which I think was remarkably good value as the box contents were complete and pristine. 

 

Here's what I'm working with, and where I've got to so far:

Some of the various salvaged, decades-old items are at the bottom of the pic.

 

I would like to model a UK-based aircraft similar to this one from Woodbridge (photo courtesy of Air-Britain):

 

Unfortunately I haven't been abld to find any suitable decals yet, but I'm sure that I'll work something out.  

 

The plan is to keep it simple: no aftermarket (except decals, perhaps) and minimal alterations or scratchbuilding. The emphasis will be on creating a decent paint finish...he said confidently!

 

Jon

Edited May 14, 2018 by Jonners

[Oldone]

Good luck with your build, hope you find the decals you need. Its looking good so far.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

7 hours ago, Jonners said:

 

Although I'm slightly in awe of the painstaking results that many modellers achieve here on BM, and I'm often astonished at how many of you find the time and have the commitment to long-term highly-detailed builds,

 

You’d be surprised to learn that some modelers aren't truly satisfied with a build others think of as perfect. I think that its more likely that we accept the little things  others dont notice. Yet we know they're there and call it done at some point. 

 

7 hours ago, Jonners said:

 

The plan is to keep it simple: no aftermarket (except decals, perhaps) and minimal alterations or scratchbuilding. The emphasis will be on creating a decent paint finish.

Thats one of the most important rules to learn in model building. Never try to learn everything in a single build. In my humble opinion You are correct in your thought. If you try a new technique with every new build. You're more likely to learn, and less likely to get frustrated. By doing this i also feel you learn more and quicker than you would think. Sorry if this is a bit preachy. 

 

Dennis

[Jonners]

Dash it all, as they say: I'm already on the horns of a dilemma. Okay, so it's not a very big dilemma, and it's certainly not very h.... oh, never mind.

 

My dilemma is this: do I a) complete this A-10 wheels-up on a bespoke stand, keeping it as simple as possible as I had originally intended, or b. model it wheels-down in a parked condition on a very simple display base, evoking the nostalgia of my 3-decades-ago teenage build?  Hmm.

 

I've made a start on painting the undercarriage and wheel wells in case option B wins the day, and the exhausts have been painted and fitted to the engine pods:

 

While spraying the wheels etc in the workshop I dug this lot out:

The groundcrew set was £3.49 from Beatties in Leeds!  Opening the boxes was probably an error, bearing in mind my original plan for a wheels-up build.  On opening the ground equipment box I found this, which includes items from my original late-80s A-10 diorama:

Decisions, decisions!

 

At least I am enthused again, which was the whole point of the exercise.

Jon

Edited March 4, 2018 by Jonners

[k5054nz]

I was sad when the A-10s went grey, to me they can't be in anything but Euro One. Following along excitedly, as I too thought that they were the coolest things on two wings in my impressionable juvenile state, albeit through weekly magazines and video games! I don't think any A-10s have ever been to NZ...

[Jonners]

9 hours ago, k5054nz said:

I too thought that they were the coolest things on two wings

It's probably a bit sad but, even though I've been a professional pilot for 25 years, I still think that the A-10 looks awesome. I found these dodgy pics, taken by a 15-year-old me with (IIRC) an Kodak Instamatic at the 1987 Mildenhall airshow:

I remember that I went home very happy, the proud owner of a 1/48 Hasegawa F-B/N which won its class in the following year's Wing air cadet competition alongside the A-10. Coincidentally, its box is the one in which I've stored all the Hasegawa weapons & ground equipment sets shown in my last post - the 6 smaller boxes fit perfectly. I'm seeing a nice 'circularity' developing here!

 

12 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Sorry if this is a bit preachy. 

Not preachy at all! Just more sound advice - thanks.

 

 

[Lord Riot]

Great subject! I actually thought of doing some 80's UK-based USAF stuff myself soon, even looked for a Hog on eBay, but put it on hold when I couldn't find any Bentwaters/Woodbridge decals. I'm sure someone on here will help you out though.

 

I remember the pairs and fours of A-10s over East Anglia, kind of took them for granted a bit back then, though they were always good to see. One time on the beach near Cley, four of them practiced attack profiles over the dunes, circling and rolling in then pulling up for their buddy to have a turn. Amazing times. Hope Trump annoys Putin again! 😂

[Jonners]

3 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Hope Trump annoys Putin again!

I think he annoys...oops! No politics! 

 

I can clearly remember sitting outside the Skegness flying club while undertaking my RAF Flying Scholarship in '89 and listening to the sound of the A-10s firing their cannons on the old Wainfleet range. Happy, carefree days!

[Christer A]

Green A-10?

I'll follow with great interest!

[Jonners]

Hands up all those who enjoy the rubbing-down process.

 

Thought not. Me neither.

 

Anyway, that's where I'm at, and will be for a little while. Meanwhile, the undercarriage has been painted in case I veer towards a wheels-down model (to be fair, I think the veering has started...). The engine pods will be left off for ease of access until after the main airframe seams have been dealt with.

 

I'll be adding a minimal load that will tally with what seems to have been normal for UK-based machines: a single dummy AGM-65 Maverick on one side and an ECM pod on the other.  The kit Mavericks differ in fin shape and size from those in the Hasegawa weapons set, with the weapons set missiles seeming to have the more accurate shape. My spares box includes ALQ-119 and -131 ECM pods plus weapons set Mavericks, all with 30-year-old paint slapped on them, plus an unpainted ALQ-131 pod. I plan to use the 'fresh' ECM pod and one of the weapons set Mavericks, suitably paintstripped and fettled.

 

Back to the wet 'n dry (and real life)...

Jon

Edited March 6, 2018 by Jonners

[neil5208]

80's A10's out of bentwaters had the following as standard load from port outer wing station, alq119,  next 2 empty, agm65, mk20,mk82, empty or fuel tank, centre line empty, reversed on port wing less outer station which was usually empty. Alq131 weren't fitted to a10's as they are primarily designed to defeat airborne radar unlike the alq119 which is designed to defect ground based radar

[Jonners]

Thanks Neil, that's interesting and useful info. I might use the ALQ119, but regarding the non-carriage of the AN/ALQ 131:

 

[Jonners]

Righto, it's about time that I made a bit of progress on this after concentrating on finishing my SAAF Dakota. 

To be honest there isn't much to see: the major airframe components have been assembled and some filling & rubbing down has been done, though the necessity for plenty more of that has emerged as parts have been added.

The white overspray could do with a bit of work, especially where it has run into the control surface groove lines.  It's vaguely A-10 shaped at this stage, and everything is square so far, but that's all I can really say about it!

I umm'd and ahh'd for a while over how to depict the cockpit. The etched sets all seem to be aimed at kits from other manufacturers and I didn't want to have to fight to fit the parts, but I also had decided not to use any aftermarket stuff. I pondered over a basic scratchbuild, but then decided to stick with the 'old-school' cockpit decals. It went against the grain a little bit, but my aim here remains to concentrate on producing a satisfactory paint finish and not to get bogged down in the detail. I'll dress the seat up a bit, but with the canopy closed I really can't get too stressed about panel decals. Of course, they tried to shatter when I applied them...

 

Anyway, more tedious wet 'n dry work to come, squeezed between the usual work and domestic commitments.

 

Jon

Edited March 24, 2018 by Jonners

[Jonners]

I'm also contemplating the load that I want the A-10 to carry: a single 'drill round' AGM-65 Maverick and an ECM pod.

The top lump of plastic is a Maverick from the Hasegawa weapons set with the tail fins removed, along with some of the 30-year-old white enamel. Once I've stripped the rest of the paint it should make a suitable basis for a drill round. The middle missile that I painted (and wonkily decalled!) in my teens is from the same set and shows the starting point. The bottom missile is from the A-10 kit; the incorrect fin shapes are clear.

 

I think I'll be using both of these, which are a 'paintwork in progress'. A standing pilot obviously means that I've decided on a wheels-down model.

 

Back to the wet 'n dry!

Jon

Edited March 24, 2018 by Jonners

[Jonners]

More slow but steady progress.  The airframe has been gap-filled, rubbed down, primed, re-filled where necessary, re-primed and smoothed over with Micromesh:

The windscreen has obviously been fitted and needs masking. I'm not going to try to add any extra detail the cockpit and I'm certainly not going to stress about emphasising panel lines - they would hardly be visible in this scale anyway. No dark panel washes here.

 

As nearly all the pylons will be empty I'm partway through making loose representations of sway braces - scale detail ninjas look away now:

More soon.

Jon

[Jonners]

More small steps, again due to other commitments (including work!) taking priority.  I've added some odds 'n ends to the kit ejection seat to make it slightly - okay, marginally - more representative of an ACES 2 seat. It's rough if you look closely, but I don't intend to!

What the photos show clearly, but which otherwise isn't really obvious, is that the padded part at the top of the headbox looks more like a wonky bit of Blu-tack:

Curses!  Mind you, it's only 3mm wide.

 

Up to that point all seemed to be going fairly well.  With an increasingly-common absence of foresight, however, I superglued the seat into the cockpit before test-fitting the canopy:

Curses again! You'd think that I would have learnt such basic principles a long time ago...

 

Anyway, it looks as though the pseudo-Blutack lump will have to be removed in order to close the canopy, or alternatively I could change my plan and have a raised canopy. That would, however, necessitate (in my mind at least) some basic detailing to represent the various bits of structure that are so obvious inside the canopy of an A-10. I'll have to decide!

 

In the meantime, real life calls again.

Jon

[Jonners]

Both the top and bottom of the seat had to have plastic shaved off before the canopy came close to fitting. I think that the Hasegawa designer intended that the canopy should be modelled open as, if the canopy actuator is fitted in the closed position, the canopy simply will not fit flush. As a result, I've also had to remove some plastic from the actuator, but this can be done in the area that is hidden by the frame of the closed canopy. 

After all the necessary fettling was completed the canopy was secured using Formula 500 glue, only to find a paper-thin gap between the canopy and windscreen. This was sealed by capillary action using thin Formula 500 applied with a cocktail stick. The next job will be to mask the canopy, then I should be able to get on with painting.

Jon

[rob Lyttle]

I like the plane, and your doing great with this!

[Jonners]

Green on - GO!

 

Very straightforward: Humbrol 30 applied using an aerosol. The grey will be next, using Humbrol 79.

 

On the underside I have managed to damage some of the pylon sway braces; with hindsight it would have been better to wait completing the painting and handling before applying them.

They are overscale anyway, so I'll probably end up removing all 22 of them and replacing them with smaller representations later. You live and learn...

Jon

[Jonners]

This is getting quite tedious:

I'm possibly halfway there! And then, of course, I'll need to do it again for the third colour...

 

I used the Cybermodeller chart for the European 1 colour reference, based on which I'll be using Hu79 grey next then using Hu117 for the final green. It should look reasonable. Ish.

Jon

 

 

[rob Lyttle]

It's all looking kinda Salvador Dali right now, Jonners!😃

This is going to look fine, and worth the effort.

I'm not a great fan of splodge camo paint jobs - I'll go to great lengths to avoid them myself.

If there was an option to do an A10 in natural metal finish. I'd be on it like a shot!

But I'm going to have to do some thing like this, or various greys, if I'm ever going to do my Academy Warthog.

So I'm following with interest.

Admirable work on this little guy so far!

👍

[janneman36]

The humbrol 30 does the job, is it according to spec or a wild guess?

 

Love to see a old kit getting the attention it deserves!!

 

Cheers, Jan

[Jonners]

Yes, it is a bit Dali-esque. My eyes are starting to get that slightly manic Dali stare, too...

8 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

I'm not a great fan of splodge camo paint jobs - I'll go to great lengths to avoid them myself.

I would have said the same myself not too long ago, Rob, but I thought I would have to give it a go. We'll see soon enough whether or not that was a sensible plan!

8 hours ago, janneman36 said:

The humbrol 30 does the job, is it according to spec or a wild guess?

I wasn't sure which colours to use until I found the Cybermodeller paint chart online. It suggests Hu30, Hu102 and Hu79 (grey) for a 10% scale fade on an A-10. The Hu30 and Hu79 seem pretty close but Hu102 seems slightly off compared with photos; Hu117 is suggested for a 7% fade and this looked almost perfect to me, so that's what I intend to use. I started with Hu30 as the base coat and will finish with Hu117 simply because, having examined photos of the real thing, that seems to be the most likely order in which the original colours were applied - though, of course, I could be completely wrong!

Jon

[Jonners]

I've had some time going spare this morning (through a combination of being off work today and complete apathy towards those queued-up household tasks) so, as work will be taking me away from home for a few days, I was quite keen to make some modelling progress.

The blu-tack and tape masking for the Hu30 base colour was completed last night. It looks like an alien sneezed on it...

 

Earlier this morning I fired up my airbrush - remembering that my key aim at the moment is to get reliably acceptable finishes on my creations - and put Hu79 grey in roughly the right places.  It doesn't really show up too clearly against the Hu30 green in this mobile phone picture. Until I get myself a decent compressor I'm using an aerosol propellant, so I adjusted the valve to give as low a working pressure as I could get.

 

Once the grey had dried sufficiently I applied Hu117 green for the final main colour. Keeping in mind my attempt at self-improvement and in the spirit of fortune favouring the brave, I decided to try applying the paint freehand where there was no masking. Again, I tried to keep the aerosol pressure down (experts: feel free to tell me if this isn't possible and I'm imagining it!) and used a fine spray width.

 

Impatient as I am, as soon as the Hu30 was touch dry I peeled off most of the masking to see if I'd make a complete hash of it or not. The jury is still deliberating, but seems to be favouring 'not'.  The freehand borders between the Hu117 and the grey are quite a bit looser than those with the blu-tack masking, and the blu-tack has left the usual greasy residue in most areas, but neither of these are surprises.  Once it is all thoroughly dry I'll remove the big central mask and take it from there.

 

Meanwhile, I've been slowly working on the pilot figure and ECM pod, both of which still need quite a bit of work (including matt varnish on the pilot).

 

That will be it for a few days until I get back from my 'Busman's Holiday' to North Wales.

 

Jon

[thorfinn]

Progressing very nicely!