1/48 Warthogs!

[Lord Riot]

Hi all, I'm looking to build a Bentwaters/Woodbridge Warthog in 1/48, what are my best options?

 

So far I've seen Esci, Monogram, Tamiya and something called 'PMS' which has the same image on the box as the Tamiya kit (plus a Vulcan, of all things, in the background!) 

 

I'm not a rivet counter, but I don't want it to be too inaccurate like the wrong shape or anything. And it needs 81st TFW decals. 

 

Any advice please?

[Red Dot]

The Hobby Boss kit goes together very well

 

Andy

[exdraken]

HobbyBoss, Italeri, Monogram

All good options. You need need an A-10A single seater, not a C model or the two-seater!

Decals I have no idea, probably aftermarket has something

Edit: the Tamiya kit although probably the least desireable kit has decals to the 81st TFS:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/tamiya-61028-fairchild-republic-a-10a-thunderbolt-ii--133896

 

[Evil_Toast_RSA]

13 hours ago, exdraken said:

 

Edit: the Tamiya kit although probably the least desireable kit 

 

May I ask for the reason why? It's the only one I can get easily locally at a reasonable price, and I do want a Hog or two in my display cabinet. 

[Filler]

If I could offer my thoughts on the subject, I'd say that the Tamiya offering is a decent option.

 

HobbyBoss offer a modern and more detailed kit with recessed lines and pose-able flaps etc, but with a much maligned nose/front canopy shape. Perhaps the dearest option too. And no 81st TFW markings in the box.

 

Monogram's kit is widely regarded as the best in terms of shape accuracy, but being an old kit it features raised panel lines and minimal detail. The price is hard to gauge as it is pot luck on eBay, but they definitely don't appear very often at all. Also no 81st TFW markings in the box.

 

Italeri's kit is a good mid-ground, not often found cheap at the moment and definitely gets some accuracy criticism such as the wrong number of fan blades or something (but find me a kit that doesn't have an accuracy issue). One plus for @Lord Riot is that you get decent quality decals that feature an Alconbury based Warthog circa 1990 in one of the boxings.

 

Then there is the Tamiya kit. Ok, it's not super detailed, it also has raised panel lines, a couple of tricky fit issues and Tamiya's decals aren't highly regarded due to being a bit thick. However, you can get them brand new and delivered in the UK for about £24 which is now cheap as chips for a 1/48 scale jet. It comes with markings for a Bentwaters jet of the mid 80's which is perfect for Lord Riot and there are a few aftermarket items available if you wish to improve a few of the key features such as photo-etch for the cockpit and a brass pitot and Avenger gun set.

 

So if an early 1/48 scale A-10A in 81st TFW markings is what you are after, then the Tamiya kit is a good solution. Here's a full build on YouTube and I think that the guys finished model looks pretty good.

 

 

[Lord Riot]

Thanks @Filler, that's a pretty detailed description. Have you made the Tamiya A-10, is the fit ok? I guess the only thing that puts me off that one is the raised panel lines.

 

I could probably live with wrong fan blades in the Italeri kit, no-one will be looking up there really! 😂 Just need the right 'WR' decals. 

 

I'm surprised Hasegawa don't do a 1/48 Warthog, they seem to have all the other US jets. Maybe it's time for Airfix to step up to the plate.

[Filler]

The guy in the YouTube build seemed to tackle the raised lines without too much issue, but I admit it is not a task I relish. Only tried it once (on a Mirage) and it went ok-ish at best. I haven't built the kit myself yet, but I bought one from Jadlam early in the year as I want to to build one and I got it delivered for £23 if memory serves right. I plan on using the kit decals as whilst Tamiya and Hasegawa's decals do get knocked, Gary C on here put a good explanation of the best way to handle them in the Tools and Tips section. Have a look through this thread;

 

 

The Italeri kit would definitely do the job too. There were a set of aftermarket decals for USAFE jets from Xtradecals but they appear to be out of production now. I'm sure I've seen them occasionally pop up on eBay. Here's a link to them on King Kit, but sadly they are not presently available. Maybe put a request in the wanted section in case someone has a partially used sheet?

 

Here's an auction ending soon for the kit. (not mine I stress!) It's going to cost £25 and there's a couple of hours to go. So with decals it will cost you more than a Tamiya kit.

 

Incidentally, I agree with you about the fan blade thing, not a massive issue really. Although to be fair to those that do point it out, they are pretty visible on the A-10. The daft thing is that Quickboost did a replacement resin set, but apparently they were wrong too!

 

 

[Lord Riot]

@Filler thanks for the heads up on that eBay Italeri one mate, I only went and won it for under £30! 

[bentwaters81tfw]

Panel lines are a feature of the Hog. The further aft from the cockpit, the more they show, and the bumpier the airframe gets. Dome head rivets are a feature, especially aft of the engines..

You can see how things show up. This was taken a week after we finished painting it. I hope you can zoom in on it well enough.

There are rivets all over the pylons as well. The third shot shows the Wing Commander's a/c before it closed down.

 

[Lord Riot]

That's a beautiful 'Hog! 

 

Can I assume the Bentwaters Museum is still closed?

[bentwaters81tfw]

3 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

That's a beautiful 'Hog! 

 

Can I assume the Bentwaters Museum is still closed?

At present, yes. We can't allow visitors inside the building, because the layout precludes a one way system, there is only one door as it's a hardened control bunker. The Hog is visible clearly through the compound fence though. Sadly the zoom is not as good as I hoped, the originals show much more detail. This thing was never built for speed so drag was never a consideration.

[Lord Riot]

No worries, completely understandable. We go to East Anglia every year to see my mum so we can try next time, hopefully all back to normal by then.

 

It's a good photo, and a beautifully restored A-10, outstanding work. 

[bentwaters81tfw]

Tons of shots in the Walkaround section. Really good detail on the grey ones near the end of the section.

 

[Julien]

Having worked on that Hog yes it has raised panel lines, and quite big dome head rivets on the back end. 

 

I have the Tamyia kit and it looks OK to me, the old monogram kit is also very good, im sure someone did new resin closed airbrakes for it, but cant remember who.

 

If you want a modern hog then the Italeri kit is the one I would use.

 

[exdraken]

On 7/27/2020 at 12:47 PM, Evil_Toast_RSA said:

May I ask for the reason why? It's the only one I can get easily locally at a reasonable price, and I do want a Hog or two in my display cabinet. 

Can't add more tgan was said above already!

I suggest buy it and build it!

 

Be careful with weapons ... not sure from the top of my head what is included...

[Evil_Toast_RSA]

1 hour ago, exdraken said:

Can't add more tgan was said above already!

I suggest buy it and build it!

 

Be careful with weapons ... not sure from the top of my head what is included...

I read his post, raised panel lines make me sad. Looks like I have to wait and see if an Italeri or Hobbyboss one falls out a tree somewhere here. 

[Pappy]

G'day,

 

I agree with everything filler has said. The Revell kit is the most accurate for a pre-LASTE mod A-10. Apart form raised panel lines, it has some very average fit in places like the wing to fuselage joint and filling and sanding will likley  obliterate the details in this area.

 

The Tamiya kit is okay shapewise but it lacks the wingtip and wheel nacelle chaff/flare dispensers which are quite prominent. I am not 100% sure but it alse may have the ESCAPAC ejection seat fitted to early build aircraft instead, most of which were retrofitted with the ACES II seat. Later production were fitted with ACES II as standard 

 

 

Italeri is okay, it goes together well and looks like an A-10 although I think the nose is also a little wide. If you want a post-LASTE jet then the HB kit is the better option, it includes heaps of weapons and the details are nice. It has been criticised for the nose shape but it is not as if someone would mistake it for another aircraft, but be your own judge as to how bad the shape is,

 

 

cheers

 

Pappy

Edited July 29, 2020 by Pappy

[Julien]

11 hours ago, Evil_Toast_RSA said:

I read his post, raised panel lines make me sad.

Why when the real aircraft has raised detail?

 

[Evil_Toast_RSA]

3 hours ago, Julien said:

Why when the real aircraft has raised detail?

 

Personal choice? Off the cuff, what percentage is raised would you guess? 

[Julien]

6 hours ago, Evil_Toast_RSA said:

Personal choice? Off the cuff, what percentage is raised would you guess? 

The whole aircraft is very agricultural, from the wing back is where it gets lumpy and bumpy mainly and the pylons.

 

I really cant understand why people hate raised panel lines so much, they are as a accurate visualisation as recessed ones are, because in the main the gaps are very small, or in same cases not even there. 

 

Take another aircraft I know well, the Meteor. A lot of panel lines you see on the kits are infact lap joints on the aircraft. 

[Pappy]

14 hours ago, Julien said:

The whole aircraft is very agricultural, from the wing back is where it gets lumpy and bumpy mainly and the pylons.

 

I really cant understand why people hate raised panel lines so much, they are as a accurate visualisation as recessed ones are, because in the main the gaps are very small, or in same cases not even there. 

 

Take another aircraft I know well, the Meteor. A lot of panel lines you see on the kits are infact lap joints on the aircraft. 

I feel this is starting to drift away from the intent of the original post, but I also dislike raised panel lines, but not for aesthetic reasons.

 

My issue is that when you fill and sand seams on kits with raised panel details, you will inevitably end up losing some of these raised details. It then looks a little odd when there is a bare patch right where a seam would be, whilst it is considerably easier to restore most recessd panel lines.

 

As for accuracy, I totally take Julien's point. Whilst some aircraft panel joins may be visible from a distance, most would not, and scaled up they would porbably equate to unrealistically massive gaps. You would likely be better off with most of the panel lines filled or sanded off and simply draw them on in pencil, but then we come back to personal preference, also, a model is just a representation.  Whilst there are some very talented individuals whose work could pass for real, the reality is that for most of us, this is not the case and the panel representation (raised or recessed) will be just that, a representation

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

Edited July 30, 2020 by Pappy

[Lord Riot]

Concerning A-10 colours for the 81st TFW era, the Italeri kit recommends these:

 

FS34102 - Medium green

FS34092 -European green

FS36118 - Gunship gray

 

Now I already have the ones below, I know AS-14 equates to FS34102, but would my AS-13 (FS34079) be close enough to 'European green' and AS-27 good enough for the grey areas?

 

If not, does anyone know the Tamiya rattle can AS numbers for FS34092 and FS36118?

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

The Hog at Bentwaters was painted with colours matched to Xtracolour - I kid you not. In the past 3 years it has faded, as do all airframes. The grey is actually a stock Mercedes colour. Also the T.O. 1.1.4 did not correspond to various real life photos.

You could probably get away with what you have, though I would want to see AS14 on a surface before saying yes.

The whole airframe should be sprayed grey first, then mask for AS13, finally mask for the light green. This is how the USAF paint, and we did the same. I mixed and thinned quite a lot of paint for that machine.

[Lord Riot]

Thanks @bentwaters81tfw, I was wondering about how to mask it, the little areas of colour look smaller than doing say an RAF Tornado for example. I'll do the grey first then dark green, as you say; if that's good enough for the USAF it's good enough for me! 😂

 

I'll test out that AS-14 on some spare parts first too. We'll be near Bentwaters/Woodbridge next week, so I may feel inspired, even though there's nothing to see at the moment. I still remember the pairs of Hogs low over Snape and Dunwich Heath. 

[bentwaters81tfw]

You can get on the Base and view the airframe through the fence. There may be staff around, although it has now been confirmed we will not re open to the public until 2021. There is an excellent Diner next door, but closed Sundays and late afternoons.