paulsbrown

I've purchased some of Arma Models Zvezda and GWH combos with added resin extras unique to them which are pretty good, it'll be interesting to see what comes of this project. Very happy they have mentioned rivets, the Ka-52 conversion below, an MH-60 and my Ukrainian Su-25M1 have been quite a time consuming affair, not to mention depleting my Archer rivet stocks! Nothing better to spur a complicated conversion (1/48 Neomega/Italeri) with all the aftermarket parts available than the treat of a new release. Sadly the announced Ka-52 Kitty Hawk kit was what got this one out of the box and then it was shelved again. I've been back on it for a month and this Arma-Models possibility will spur it to completion this time.

Thank you! It’s still growing with all the excellent new Flanker kits.

Hey Gaz, The bottom is definitely a bluish gray but different from anything in the upper camo. I had the MRP Ukrainian paints to work with, I used two of them for the overall top and the bottom. The photo below of the crashed aircraft shows the top and bottom colors well. The other main color change is the cockpit is more like the Su-35/57 darker blue gray and the landing gear, inner doors, ladder and chaff tubes share a similar color. I believe I used AKAN 73069 straight for the cockpit and slightly altered (lightened and blued) for the other mentioned areas. Hope this helps.

Just sanding. I'd hold it up in front of this profile photo until it was the same. No, not nearly as good as the Monogram but I've got one in the pile and I enjoy making prototypes with molds that were released at the time. It will be a quicker build, cockpit all in box as the canopy doesn't open.

Good scheme, I'm making it too with the (old) Tamiya F-16. Thanks for looking, I think early attempts at mixing model paints to match the boxtop might have helped my career choice to be an oil painter.

That belongs in a museum, what an effort. Superb!

When I first saw photos of the F-16 Viper Team Demo out of Shaw AFB, SC in 2020 I thought that this was one of the best of many F-16 demo schemes but thought it pretty unlikely I would be able to replicate it. Luckily Model Makers Decals had made this scheme super easy for someone with my patience and I ordered the decals immediately. They provide very clear steps in the instructions to lay all the scales down in sections. The decals were thin enough that the Tamiya surface detail still shows through. I had a few hiccups but overall it looks the part. I added a Quinta Studios cockpit as well, painting the gull gray areas to make it blend in better.

Two thumbs up!

Bomb away! Yes, Archer's rivets, set # AR88014. Rivet wheel wouldn't have worked so well since the rivets are sticking up and not flush. The Archer decals are pretty easy to work with and the results are spectacular. Wow, 72nd! That I would love to see, you will truly be a Jedi airbrusher. I'm tempted to do another one of the schemes as well.

FS 30118, I used Model Master acrylic. The Spots were Model Master and AK Real enamels, for me easier to spray and also make small clean ups without ruining the tan base. I love the old Monogram but the Tamiya seemed the better choice for this period; it's pretty accurate and the main issue I believe were the wheel sponson shape which I knew I'd replace. It has other benefits like no chaff/flare dispensers and some fuselage details accurate to the preproduction aircraft. The answer to the skin issue is raised rivets! The Tamiya has none on the rear fuselage and tails and I had already riveted the fuselage with them so using the Monogram saved a lot of time. Fitting wasn't too difficult.

The only one I know is in the MiG-31 kit. Might be worth looking at 3d printed product sites. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hobbyboss-81770-mig-31bm-w-kh-47m2--1255852

Great work! I've heard that kit needs a lot of patience.

Bravo! Nicely done and thanks for walking through the steps

Lets hope they also concentrate on the raised and flush rivets

From what I've read it was considered difficult to maintain, too big of a dash ten for that scheme I guess. The exercises also found the mottling blended in to a single color from a distance. I worked from a bunch of photos and did try to put spots and lozenges accurately when I could, I had a bunch of printed photos for each area of paint and took it color by color starting with the brown (FS30118). I never found any accurate diagrams; these aircraft received a lot of over and respraying and its hard to find a consistent pattern on the same aircraft - which was a bit frustrating at first but later I thought great as it gave a little more latitude to the freehand painting.

I did the same, not ever knowing how the box top builder did it so smoothly. Still, that box top had a lot to do with inspiring this build. In fact, as soon as the realistic JAWS load out photos were taken I put on those black and white pods that feature in the Revell photo. The Tamiya kit had them too, I only learned during this build that they are AN/ALE-37A chaff/flare dispensing pods, I had assumed they were some ECM pods (even the Tamiya instructions refer to it as ALE-37 ECM). I've got a lot of old A-10 books I've been reading during the build and it's design is pretty sophisticated considering how the fighter mafia and the AF were always considering such an unsophisticated aircraft. The engineering of the aircraft's survival features is just plain impressive, all designed to bring a pilot back and repair the aircraft on site (which was fully proven in Iraq). The Air Force was so enamored with its new F-16 wonder jets they constantly pushed to have it replace the A-10 in the CAS role (remember the lizard green F-16s) and the A-10 had to have a fly off with it and with the A-7 earlier on, both times winning due to it's high loiter time, large load outs, low maneuverability and survivability.

The A-10 is easily my favorite plane, I as a kid I often saw aircraft from the first squadron flying around Myrtle Beach, SC and later when out working near Ft Bragg I often witnessed A-10s doing gun runs with their 30mm GAU-8 gatling gun and it's bizarre, ear tickling sound (Pope AFB at Ft Bragg had the Flying Tigers based there for a spell). I used the 1977 Tamiya kit for this aircraft as it was based on the early preproduction aircraft and thus lacked many features such as chaff/flare launchers and other bumps that featured on production aircraft. It's a pretty good kit considering it came out in so long ago, I added a lot of rivets and quite a few items from the Monogram kit to get the skin right and a lot of things listed below from the stash. Lots of aftermarket was used, Quinta Studio combined with Black Box cockpit parts, Aires wheel sponsons, an ESCAPAC seat (used on the early aircraft-ACES later), Monogram vertical, horizontal tails and landing gear struts, Printscale decals, Model Master paints, Master brass gun muzzle (awesome) and pitot, Eduard etch and somebody's weighted wheels. The Joint Attack Weapons System (JAWS) was an exercise in 1977 at Nellis that tested tactics with US Army attack and scout helicopters. The idea was to integrate the firepower and overall effect of artillery, battlefield helicopters and A-10s. The A-10s flew low and used the terrain as cover. Finding the original gray schemes were far too visible to ground defenders and aircraft, several mottled camouflage schemes were tested and altered during the various exercises (which also took place in Germany). Lots of added rivets The gun Bigger than it's counterpart Some of the JAWS schemes

Fantastic job. They were always flying low down out over the water at Myrtle Beach. For me as a kid they were great days out with a rod and a bucket of bloodworms fishing for hours on the piers with those guys flying around all day.

You won't regret it, that gun nozzle is the business, I'd put it first on the A-10 aftermarket list.

Yes it is. I 'm using the first production which is like the one in the photo. I reckon you have the Tamiya reissue with the dark green Euro 1 camo on the box. It has revised moldings for the fuselage and chaff dispensers on the wingtips and gear sponsons, still a good choice for Desert Storm aircraft.

You could easily do one of the six preproduction birds with that kit, I'm currently finishing the same kit with one of the spotted desert JAWS schemes which I'll be posting soon, here's an early experimental gray scheme which is an option for you. The first squadron at Myrtle Beach is another gray option, the scheme is similar to today's gray.

Nor was I, the decals sure made the idea easier to consider but it was more the non standard colors that drew me to it- the ladder, flares and landing gear are a rich blue gray which I liked and the cockpit was the darker Sukhoi color.

Thanks, I'm pretty sure it was the original OEZ kit, I built it alongside the KP Su-25UTG and the details on the newer UTG were sharper than the older mold. I can't see any problem with making an M1 with the Eduard kit, a couple things in the cockpit and the flares are the main things to add, otherwise there's just the unique coloring of the Ukrainian jets. Here's an M1 cockpit photo I used, that spotters website has good reference photos

Keep us posted! Among the tons of reference books I have on the Su-25 I recommend the Duke Hawkins Su-25 , it was particularly useful and unlike other recent publications had good photos of the Ukrainian chaff/flare launchers.