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I've always wanted this kit after building the 1/72 version during the dark days of the first lockdown, it was one of my first builds. The build itself was pretty straight forward, I did not realize until final fitting of the canopy that the seat sits too high to allow the canopy to be assembled in the closed position so if you want to close the canopy some of the bottom part of the seat will need to be removed. The Tamiya cockpit installs from below the nose section of the fuselage into the previously joined fuselage halves. The fuselage halves were joined with good alignment. The nose gear bay fit is good although the appearance is less than completely realistic due to the lack of a roof to the gear bay. Just before completing the nose gear compartment assembly weight needs to be added if you want to prevent the model from being a tail sitter. I glued 3 AA batteries in the cavity behind the cockpit and that was just enough. The wing top and bottoms join up fine. The engine nacelles and the fit of the inlet turbine to the nacelle is poor in and both inlet and outlet need to be finished/painted before assembly. Following the decal stage final assembly proceeded with addition of the small parts such as landing gear struts, doors, links, and weapons. The complex landing gear of the A-10 requires close attention. The accessory gear covers are excessively thick but I did not thin these parts. The linkage part engineering lacks scale accuracy but the fit is good. The Tamiya A-10, despite some dimensional and shape shortcomings, looks very good in my opinion compared with my only other A-10 that is the 1/72 Revell kit. The Tamiya is a fairly easy building project and for less experienced modeler would be a good kit in my opinion and upon completion will look impressive in your display line-up. BRRRRT!!

After the 1/48th kits (thread), Great Wall Hobby (GWH) is to release 1/72nd Republic A-10 Thunderbolt kits. First boxing - ref. L7215 - is a A-10C variant V.P.

My latest completion, an A-10 in one of the many JAWS schemes. Decals are from the "A 10 Early Years" sheet from Caracal. And a few of his friends

Hey y'all! You probably didn't see it comimg but I'm doing yet another A-10. My plan is to build all of the 48th scale Hogs (excluding perhaps the Revell kit from 1979), and I'm still missing the Tamiya, Italeri and GWH boxings. That is, until the other day when I finally picked up this newest molding. This kit been on my list ever since it got first announced, and I'm hoping it'll be one of my nicest builds. The GWH kit is easily the best A-10 on the market period, but I won't go in to it too much, as it's been talked about a lot in other posts. I'm a huge fan of the A-10 and it was about time someone released a proper kit which doesn't need an excess of $50 worth of aftermarket parts to make it accurate. That doesn't mean I wasn't going to get any though. I went all out this time; 3D decals, PE, resin parts, you name it. So instead of spending $50 on aftermarket parts I spent about... $115. I can't wait to see how it all fits together as some of it will be completely new to me as well. So there's an element of learning in here too. We love learning. And making mistakes... My current list of aftermarket additions is as follows: -Quinta Studio 3D decals for the cockpit -Detail & Wonder landing gear upgrade -Mini Craft Collection ACES II ejection seat -DEF model pilot figure -Eduard photo etch set for the exterior and interior -Eduard GAU-8/A resin barrel -Galaxy-Model pitot tube -Eduard ACES II ejection seat The Eduard PE set for the cockpit will go mostly unused thanks to the 3D decals, except for that sweet HUD frame, and their ACES II is unfortunately an older model which I think is no longer used on C model Hogs. I did still get it though for the resin mechanism for the open canopy, which looks fantastic. The actual seat I'll be using is from MCC, and is made for the Academy tooling, which means it's a bit narrow for the GWH cockpit. This isn't a massive issue though and I love the textured sheepskin seat covers, which you see on almost all A-10s. I think the detail in this seat is also nicer compared to the Eduard seat. MCC might be coming out with a GWH-specific seat as well, but I wasn't able to find it yet. Plus the Eduard seat can maybe be used on a future A-10 build, assuming it's not gonna be too wide for those tubs. The pilot figure is also made for the Academy kit but thankfully I can position her nicely on the GWH ladder as well. The difference in ladder size between the two kits is hilarious and I'm finding more and more small shortcomings in the academy kit as I get deeper into the GWH kit. I believe the pilot's likeness is mostly based on Kim "Killer Chick" Campbell, but I won't be building her exact aircraft, as it was an A-model, and in quite rough shape the last I saw it. There's a bit of a snag though... My kit came with a short-shot tail piece and my hobby shop said would take 8-10 weeks for a replacement part -that is, if they're able to get one from the supplier. The things I've heard of GWH's customer support is that they don't seem to have any. At least I won't have to try to deal with them. Thankfully I'm not in a hurry and it'll be fun to try to mend the defective part in the meantime, to see how good looking I can get it with some elbow grease. It's my first fundementally broken piece I've gotten in my over 20 years of building kits, which is an impressive amount of luck. Just a shame it had to happen on this particular kit. Well, at least it'll keep me from building this thing too fast! I started out by attaching most of the PE into the kits exterior and cockpit. The flare dispenders for one are incorrect on the kit and the PE comes in handy here. I'm using AK's ultra glue for the metal parts this time as I'm out of CA glue at the moment. I'm not so sure about the adhesion of this stuff yet, but at least it cleans with water. We'll have to see if any pieces come loose later on in the build. I also cleaned up most of the resin parts. The thin mold gates are quite an upgrade from the blocks of resin I had to saw off from my previous resin pieces. Just a joy to work with and the detail is exquisite. The landing gear upgrade set especially is flawless. The included steel rods ensure a solid stance for the kit. The wheels are also fantastic, not that GWH's wheels were anything to scoff at either. The vent on the port side of the front fuselage was also included in the PE set, but the fit was a bit suspect. To ensure the metal wouldn't sink into the deepened section, I added some thin sheets of styrene to the edges to prop the PE parts flush against the surface. It'll also give some depth to the vent holes once they're eventually attached. I'm also going to spray some black in there first to ensure bare plastic isn't visible on the finished model. Next I sanded down the instrument panel and the side panels in preparation for the eventual 3D decals. It'll be my first time working with them and I can't wait to see the results. The Eduard instructions say to cut off the kit's HUD frame, but use the base for attaching the PE frame. However, the fragile clear piece got cracked while I was cutting the frame off. The piece was quite rough to begin with, so I decided to make my own with some styrene sheets. Three sheets attached together made for an appropriate thickness, and I used circular piece from the spare parts bin for the hole that the kit piece was supposed to go in. I attached the piece at a slight angle, similiar to the real thing and began setting the whole thing up. I'm also going to add some wiring to the front section, much like I did to the aft of the cockpit, which was evident from my references. It's a tricky spot to find photos of, so I got some screenshots from a cockpit video on YouTube. Question for the Hog experts - what's that slot behind and to the left of the HUD assembly? I'm wondering if it's something on all A-10's or if it's something extra and if I should try and recreate it. I'm also playing with the idea of giving our pilot a helmet in her hand. I already carved out a Tamiya F-16 pilot helmet I had, but I doubt it's the exact one used by A-10 pilots. I also have an extra one from the Academy kit but the size of it is once again just laughable. Another option would be to attach the helmet on the seat inside the cockpit but I'm not sure yet. I also attempted to detach the oxygen mask and have it dangle on the side but the lack of detail on it is unfortunate since it was just cut out from the helmet. I'll also use some leftover hoses inside the cockpit to simulate the oxygen lines and the wire for the helmet mounted cueing system I've seen on my references, but that's after I've set up the 3D decals. We'll see how active I am with this kit as I'll definitely take my time with it. Hope you guys enjoy the ride.

Hi 👋 A few pics of my 1/48 Monogram A-10A Thundersbolt II. I got this kit a few years ago from a childhood friend. I am still impressed how good the Monogram kits are, the details are really nice. A Warthog more or less OOB. Just added a ResKit pylon, som weapons from the spare box, a Master pitot, a pilot from Def.Model and Print Scale decals. Thanks for looking 😀 Cheers! /Fred

I'm planning on building a JAWS A-10 in 1/48th. I'm thinking of using the Revell kit, since it seems to be a nice baseline and it's been a while since I built the Revell kit, and one did pop up in my LHS. Definitely going to ask how they got one since I haven't seen one in ages. Out of production or something? Maybe that's just Europe. Now, I know the Tamiya kit is technically the best for an early A-10, but I'm wondering how accurate their depiction of the lack of countermeasures dispensers are. If you don't have the kit, the areas are molded much more skinnier than all the other kits. You might ask, why not just build the Tamiya kit? Simply because I find the lack of detail too much and it just wasn't a pleasant build because of that. Anyways, my question is, how accurate is Tamiya's molding when it comes to these areas? Am I going to need to thin down the dispensers on the Revell kit, or will it be enough to just cover/fill them up? I know I'm splitting hairs here & most people won't notice but I strive for realism, especially when it's almost a one-off subject. Might be a long shot but if someone can find reference pictures of the areas where the dispensers would be, or just early A-10s in general, I'd be grateful... other than the common JAWS pictures.

My hog is finally done. Most interested topic "fitting", good, but not as great as TAMIYA's F-35 standard. About fitting around the raised rivets areas, no putty and sanding needed or very minium sanding needed. I made magnets for all the pylons and ordnances, so I could switch GBU-31 to GBU-39, LAU-68 to LAU-131, AGM-65 to GBU-38, LITNING pod to SNIPER XR. I also planed to have MJ-1C and ground staffs on the base to make a little diroma, so the kit is officially not finished yet. M.C.C 3D printed "ACES II" ejection seat D.W. 3D printed "A-10" landing gears for G.W.H kit, slightly different from for Academy kit. Eduard resin ordnances Twobobs "Blacksnake" decals Galaxy aircraft parking base Thank you~

I've not been too active modelling wise the last 18 months given work commitments with the Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Gaza conflicts plus BAU - alos not many of the GBs matched my stash if I am honest... But I do have this below, no box, pics of sprues later - I am sure I bought it via this group! With the NATO 75th anniversary today, I think its fair to say the A-10s of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge in Suffolk, UK, were front and centre of the NATO commitment against the Soviet hordes during the Cold War - serving in the UK Army myself from 1985 I too trained against this threat amongst other 'out of area' commitments which were my units primary role, plus I used to visit the bases being a Lakenheath child...the old Warthog also saved my bacon a time of 2 in Helmand later on in 2006 - so lots of good reasons to build this model... https://www.caracalmodels.com/cd48192.html I did build a Tamiya version back in 2020 for the 80s NATO v Warsaw Pact GB so hopefully painting will be ok...

Thanks Stephen ! 👍 Rumour: there's a new tooling 1/48th Fairchild Republic A-10C Thunderbolt II in the pipe line. Candidates: Wolfpack Design (too big kit for such a small producer IMO), Academy (dubious as not mentionned in the catalogue 2021, but in 2022 as the rumour source is M. Gustav Jung from Wolfpack Design who has close ties with Academy), Great Wall Hobby (is supposed working on a new tool 1/48th F-14 family, but considering the numerous new tool kits from the Tomcat... So why not a A-10), AFV-Club (after the 1/48th U-2...), Meng (after the 1/48th F/A-18E...), Kinetic (a surprise kit like the 1/48th (T)F-104, Wolfpack Design - so M. Jung - being the Kinetic distributor in Korea). All bets are off. Source: Reid Air Publications Facebook page. If you go to the link about the new A-10C decal sheet, there's a comment from Gustav Jung (aka Mr. Wolfpack Design - link) about a new tool 1/48th Thunderbolt II kit - see herebelow. https://www.facebook.com/177633712268219/posts/4024256017605950/ V.P.

HobbyBoss is to release a 1/48th Fairchild-Republic A-10C Thunderbolt II kit - ref. 81796 A new variant from its original A-10 kit with a new sprue - ref. 80323 - link Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=207&l=en V.P.

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

Hi all. Here is my latest finished model: Hobbyboss' beautiful 1/48 A-10A Thunderbolt. Several aftermarket sets were used: Eduard pe exterior, Master gun and pitot tube, Aires cockpit and Maverick missiles and Print Scale decals. I painted the model with MrHobby acrylics over Alclad black primer. Weathering was done with Abteilung 502 oilpaint. Thank you for watching. René van der Hart

A-10A Thunderbolt II Interior 3D Decal (QD32008 - For Trumpeter Kit) 1:32 Qunita Studio When Quinta’s innovative products first came to our attention a few months ago they caused quite a stir, as well they should. The replacement Instrument Panels and internal details are mind-boggling to look at, because we’re used to seeing simplified styrene instrument panels, or Photo-Etch Brass panels with either two layers of etch, or laminated parts that can be tricky to glue together, even though they are pre-painted for your ease. But decals? These aren’t your run-of-the-mill decals though, they’re 3D printed in many layers and colours on a flat carrier film, having as much in the way of elevation as is needed to complete a realistic panel printed in the correct colours, complete with shiny dial faces, lustrous MFD screens and metallic-effect hardware, and often including cushions and seat belts in the set. Each set arrives in a ziplok bag with a folded instruction booklet protecting the decals, which are also separately bagged, so they should reach you in good condition. The pictorial instructions are printed on glossy paper, and are shown in full colour as befits the awesomeness of the sets, showing exactly where each part should go on the actual model, so there’s no confusion due to the “pictures speak a thousand words” maxim. Additional hints and instructions are also included, marking out parts needing bases, kit parts and other useful tips. The technical instructions in the text-based sheet gives additional tips to the new user about maximising adhesion and preventing lift at the edges by wicking in super glue. This set for the Large scale Trumpeter kit supplies the instrument panel, side consoles and additional instruments on the A-10's front screen frame. Also included are the cockpit anti-spalling side pads, ejection seat pads, seat belts, seat handles and seat placards, as well as RBF tags. Conclusion They’re still a highly impressive product and look to be very useful, even more so to those who are not fans of PE (Like myself). Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Greetings This is my Monogram kit built as an A-10C with some antennas scratch-built and Eduard photo-etched interior. I used a Black Box resin Interior for some of the upgrade such as the seat and the canopy raising components. The Decals were from reidairpublishing and they were really good. No silvering ,handled great and settled down really well. Stripes, as on all D-Day markings, were a bit of a challenge. Gunze Olive drab and Vallejo Grey, Clear coated with GX 100 and Semi-Gloss final with decanted Mr. Hobby Semi-Gloss. 43 Grams (Yes metric for an American) nose weight for correct stance. Master nose gun and Pitot were absolutely stunning. Thanks for Looking Comments Always Welcome Cheers Bill

Warthogs of the 356th Tac Fighter Squadron, 354th Tac Fighter Wing out of Myrtle Beach AFB at Nellis AFB for Green flag 81-3, March 1981. 76-0538, an early arrival on the Nellis transient ramp 76-0554 78-0654 78-0675, wing CO's aircraft Thanks for looking, Sven

After a popular vote - well who can resist requests by such esteemed BM'ers such as @JOCKNEY and @Enzo Matrix the A-10 will be the victim of this blitzbuild. Not sure of start time yet but there is a back-story to why this kit stayed in my stash. In June 1977 I set myself the challenge of walking across the North York's Moors - not by the more usual west-east route but north to south from Whitby to Pickering. Staying in Youth Hostels along the way it was only a two day walk. I think it was on the first day that I was at the top of hill looking for viewpoints to get my bearings when an A-10 came over my head at what felt like extremely low level. It is always those chance encounters with aircraft that remain in my memory rather than having seen them at air shows. This will be an OOB build

Just finished the 1/48 A-10 Thunderbolt from Italeri, my first jet build. Had a lot of fun, learned a lot and there is enough room for improvement (just have a quick look at the canopy). I painted the model using spray cans. Starting with a white primer, Tamiya AS-28 and finishing with a matte varnish from Vallejo. The model has been weathered using some panel liner and a wash from Vallejo. For future projects I’m interested in buying an airbrush, tips are more than welcome.

This is my first entry for this gb: an Italeri's 48th scale A-10. I will build it in old camo scheme. The box some bits to detail my model ciao Ale

A great place, highly recommended if you ever get the chance to visit: thumbnail_IMG_1676 by tony_inkster, on Flickr thumbnail_IMG_1633 by tony_inkster, on Flickr thumbnail_IMG_1640 by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-100A 'Super Sabre' by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-4D 'Phantom II' by tony_inkster, on Flickr CH-54B (S-64) 'Tarhe' (Skycrane) by tony_inkster, on Flickr A-4D1 'Skyhawk' by tony_inkster, on Flickr HH-43F 'Huskie' by tony_inkster, on Flickr UH-1B 'Iroquois' (Huey) by tony_inkster, on Flickr P-47D Norma by tony_inkster, on Flickr IMG_6825 by tony_inkster, on Flickr IMG_6823 by tony_inkster, on Flickr IMG_6817 by tony_inkster, on Flickr IMG_6822 by tony_inkster, on Flickr

Most of these are USAF images recovered during the A-10 Combined Test Force shut down Wish I had dates for the USAF images. Apparently you can build this jet with production or modified vertical tails... Those pods (below) are precursors to the LANTIRN system used on the F-16 and F-15E... Those pods again... Taller tails... The museum piece on display at the 1988 Edwards Open House. No seats, no engines. Waiting for the Flight Test Museum to be built... Thanks for looking, Sven

Does anyone know if it's possible to get any 1/72 decals for an 81st TFW Warthog from the late 80's at Bentwaters or Woodbridge? I've searched eBay, Hannants and Google and can't find any. Did anybody ever make them?

My attempt at building a WR tail code A-10 in euro one camo. I don’t live to far from the twin bases of Woodbridge and Bentwaters and already had my HAS diorama, so an A-10 was always a logical choice. I remember going along to a Bentwaters airshow as a kid and frequently seeing the ‘hunting pairs’ of Warthogs flying over. Inspiration also from the new acquisition at the Bentwaters Cold War Museum. Lovely to see one back there. This is an old Revell kit from eBay with a nice resin seat thanks to @RMP2. Thanks for looking.

Right. Thats it decided. Im going with Tamyas A-10 in 48th and the grey colours (MASK-10A I think they called it, no FS numbers assigned apparently, so its best guess). Almost OOB this one, just some nicer Mavericks to use, Hasegawa Rockeyes look pretty much identical to the kit bits, but see how they go. Load will be a simple and realistic one with the ALQ-119 a pair of single rail AGM-65s (1xTV and 1xIIR) and a pair or two of Mk20s, but that may change as I keep searching for photos. Ive read that they performed better with pylons 2 and 10 removed and were often used that way in Iraq/Gulf, so I think Id be safe in leaving them off for this too as its a combat configuration, so they say, and looks that little bit different which I like. Decals are a bit pants and many should be in grey rather than black, so thatll need sorting along with deciding on Humbrol enamels to throw at it. Any advice re these would be most excellent. Intake covers have been considered, but see how it works out. How hard can it be? Ghost Greys? Compass Greys? I know next to nothing about US colours!! Thats my first plea for help!! Why an A-10..? Well........ And with stations 2 and 10 removed - Good luck everyone!

Old school photos are mine; More modern photos from Graham James

The new set to upgrade "old" 1/48 A-10 models to modern standards and improve overall accuracy of them. The set is shown here on Hobby Boss model. Pics have high level of magnification.