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1:72 Matchbox A-10A - NOT straight from the box!


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On 4/22/2018 at 4:46 AM, bar side said:

Built this one not long after it came out too.  As it models the prototype, isn’t it a 20mm Gatling rather than the production 30mm?  All I can remember is propping up the engines to stop them sinking downwards while the glue dried.  Was best part of 25 years ago though.  Built my first hog since last year in 1/48 & yours looks like it will have more detail!

 

crxwF4O_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&f

 

Thats the 1/48 not the matchbox one

This is really nice!  I love the hangar - it must be HUGE in 1/48!!

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Thanks, everyone for the interest and all the kind comments.  I have to confess that I start a lot of projects that never end up getting finished, but I've set myself a bit of a deadline for this one, which always helps.  May 10 is the anniversary of the first flight of the A-10 prototype, and that might be a bit soon to get it completed, but I'm aiming at that date for some kind of significant milestone, at least.  Maybe getting the construction finished will be realistic.  On the other hand, maybe not!  Two weeks to go, and rather a lot still to do.  But anyway, time for a progress report.

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Scalemates lists the Matchbox kit as a 1978 release and one by Monogram as 1977.  I suppose it might depend on one's location which was sighted first.

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On 4/21/2018 at 1:49 PM, Possibly Apocryphal said:

Next, it's on to the cockpit.  That's all for now!

Did I say cockpit?  That's getting a bit ahead of myself.  Before that, there are some more vents, and drain holes (or whatever!) on the underside of the fuselage.  These ones all have mesh screens (apparently, the ones on the sides do now too, but they didn't back in 1991).  So more hole cutting and Dremeling...

GJhok2q.jpg

 

...followed by some etched steel mesh.  Does anyone remember Trimaster?  Way back when they were around they had a range of accessories under the Tripart name, which included various types of etched steel mesh, and I'm still using them!  It's a bugger to cut though, a hobby knife won't do it.  Anyway, this it what the final result looks like.  Again, the insides where the plastic was thinned have been backfilled with epoxy putty for strength and the interior of the fuselage is looking VERY messy by this stage.  But here's the outside  (the big white bit in the middle is just plastic card to fill the stand slot)...
NYO5ojw.jpg

 

 

Edited by Possibly Apocryphal
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4 minutes ago, RJP said:

Scalemates lists the Matchbox kit as a 1978 release and one by Monogram as 1977.  I suppose it might depend on one's location which was sighted first.

Scalemates are usually pretty reliable, so I'd trust that, but in Australia in the 70s, the availability of any brands other than Airfix and Matchbox was pretty patchy, so this was certainly the first one I was able to get.  And when Airfix released theirs a little later, it was series 4 or 5, so was much more expensive than the Matchox kit

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Yes, I'm in Toronto and Monogram have always been fairly plentiful.  I've had one of theirs in the stash forever. 

 

There must have been some reason I didn't build it back then. but can only recall that it had Monogram's then-standard fine raised panel lines and a very clear canopy, the latter something of an epiphany after years of polishing out Airfix Lancasters and Spitfires.

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9 minutes ago, RJP said:

Yes, I'm in Toronto and Monogram have always been fairly plentiful.  I've had one of theirs in the stash forever. 

 

There must have been some reason I didn't build it back then. but can only recall that it had Monogram's then-standard fine raised panel lines and a very clear canopy, the latter something of an epiphany after years of polishing out Airfix Lancasters and Spitfires.

Oh yes! Airfix did some dreadful canopies!

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So, I've made a start in the cockpit.  It seems that the shape of the combing above the instrument panel is pretty accurate, which is great, because that helps with making the instrument panel itself the right shape.  Also, it's nice and wide, so I'm optimistic about getting all the details to fit in.  There's a pretty tricky relationship I need to sort out between the fuselage sides, the rear cockpit deck and the canopy (which is going to be an adventure in itself, but more of that later).  For now though, its just a basic floor and panel.

mASRZyb.jpg

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3 hours ago, Possibly Apocryphal said:

In the case of panel line filling, I'm actually using the super glue as putty rather than glue.  It's pretty amazing for this, once you sand it smooth, it pretty much becomes one with the plastic, much more so than any other type of filler that I'm familiar with. 

Great tips!  Just out of curiosity, how long do you wait after applying  super glue onto the panel lines before you start sanding and rescribing the panel lines?  I tried it once and left the glue on for 2 days. It became rock hard and was impossible to either sand or rescribe :(

 

3 hours ago, Possibly Apocryphal said:

 

 

Edited by Jackman
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Thanks for clarifying PA, makes so much more sense to me now, I use stuporgoo for line filling too these days although I took ages to give it a crack

For that I like it very much, just used on the wing joints on my Frogski Buccaneer

Jackman I am quite crude when attacking it at first, often within half an hour if it has activated itself

Usually using a flat faced needle file to crack the outer layer, then I find that car bodywork repairs 'Production Paper' abrasive work nicely

You do need to get the residual dust off the model later as it contains silicones which are a bad thing, for paint

 

PA I really love the way you are insisting on accuracy taking over the Matchbox plastic, really classic model making

 

I'm really loving this

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9 hours ago, Thud4444 said:

This is insane. But I can't look away.

Remember, insane is considered good, nay obligatory, on BM. This build has got off to a wonderful start on both the quality and bonkers fronts.

 

Martian

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5 hours ago, JamesP said:

I hate to see what you'd do if you "accurately" detailed a wheel well! :D

Seem to remember the wheels themselves were a little, er, what’s the word?

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On 4/24/2018 at 3:13 PM, Jackman said:

Great tips!  Just out of curiosity, how long do you wait after applying  super glue onto the panel lines before you start sanding and rescribing the panel lines?  I tried it once and left the glue on for 2 days. It became rock hard and was impossible to either sand or rescribe :(

 

 

I haven't had it set so hard I couldn't sand it, but it does set pretty hard, so I initially use a fairly coarse paper, and then a finer one (or more often actually an older one - coarse(ish), but worn) to smooth it off.  I usually leave it at least overnight, because if some of it pools into blobs, they take some time before you can sand them.

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On 4/24/2018 at 11:44 PM, Martian Hale said:

Remember, insane is considered good, nay obligatory, on BM. This build has got off to a wonderful start on both the quality and bonkers fronts.

 

Martian

Exactly, Martian!  If we were sane and normal, we'd all be doing something else with our time.

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So not much in the way of physical progress since the last update, but I have figured out how to approach the cockpit and canopy.  Because the canopy framing at the bottom is so substantial, and changes the contour quite abruptly from the transparency to the fuselage proper, I realized I need to make that before I can do anything else in that area, because you can't just sit the canopy on top of the fuselage.  Well, Matchbox did exactly that, but it's not how Fairchild did it.

 

This whole can o' worms here is what I mean.  You can see how it splays out from the base of the transparency to the bottom edge, and also how the extension at the back engages with a slot in the fuselage where it hinges, and that sort of defines the form of a lot of the adjacent surfaces.

0LtMGor.jpg

 

Incidentally, if anyone knows of an available vac-formed canopy, now would be a good time to tell me.  No joy from Pavla or Rob Taurus, who would have been the most likely candidates.  I do have a plan A and a plan B, for the canopy, but this is one detail I'm happy to go the aftermarket route for if that's an option.

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3 hours ago, Possibly Apocryphal said:

Exactly, Martian!  If we were sane and normal, we'd all be doing something else with our time.

And then we really would be mad!

 

Martian

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Well there's been quite a lot of not modelling going on at my place over the last week or so, but I have made a little progress.  Got the bottom of the canopy frame cut out and fairly close to the final shape, and started fitting it into/onto the fuselage.  It's been a bit tricky, but I think I've just about got it sorted now.

 

xCagtjn.jpg

 

QLYzmSn.jpg

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry for the long interval between updates.  My attention span is rubbish these days, but I have been slowly plugging away, and I'm happy to say the driver now has somewhere to park his bum.

 

9PzzOzA.jpg

nPBJW2M.jpg

 

And here, featuring the legendary Matchbox jet jockey:

HmAeLQH.jpg

 

I need to clean up the pitot horns on the headrest, they look a bit crude.  And the belts and harnesses still need to be added.  Might get them done tonight.

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