A10-C THUNDERBOLT II - Hasegawa 1/72

[desert falcon]

Evening all,

 

This will be me humble contribution to this great GB. 

First impressions of the kit is that it is looking pretty good. 
 

 

Decals are plenty !!

 

 

My hope is to get it to look some thing like this, well used and with the classic Warthog nose 🐗 

 

 

 

 

Still a week to go, so plenty of time to dick out the paints and think about the weathering process. 
 

Will be looking forward to see what everyone is building!

 

Cheers

Johnny b 

[Col.]

The A-10 really is an icon of the Close Air Support role so I'm glad to see you're going with it Johnny. Has the Hasegawa kit been updated to correctly represent the C model?

[arfa1983]

Brrrrrrrttt!

[desert falcon]

11 hours ago, Col. said:

The A-10 really is an icon of the Close Air Support role so I'm glad to see you're going with it Johnny.

Thanks @Col.

 

11 hours ago, Col. said:

Has the Hasegawa kit been updated to correctly represent the C model?

Had to „wikipedia“ that, but the cockpit decals certainly seems to represent the C model with the large LCD screens. 
 

Questions on our resident A-10 experts please:

 

- what external modifications should I look for between an A10-A and an A-10C?

- if I want to build an A-10C as operated in Afghanistan (early or late deployment, doesn‘t matter), should I add or omit the Pave Penny pod installed on the RH FWD fuselage? (I see pictures of both on google)

- what about armament, I guess AIM-9 Sidewinders for self-protection and AGM-65 are always a go, but what is that extra thing marked as item # F6(F34) and F5(F35) in the instructions?

 

There doesn‘t seem to be any recce pods or the like included in the kit, but it does have a 600GAL drop tank.

 

Many thanks in advance for any help or advice !!

 

[desert falcon]

2 hours ago, arfa1983 said:

Brrrrrrrttt!

A flying cannon with some aluminium wrapped around it  

[Col.]

From what I understand the new cockpit displays are one of the few fixed differences between the A model and C as every other external difference was part of an ongoing upgrade program and not necessarily applied fleet-wide. The Pave Penny pod was most likely always carried when laser-guided bombs were being used, those are parts F5/6 and F34/35 by the way, although could be removed when not required. Many C also have the two outlet covers ahead of part E20 removed to expose the vents but again this isn't a feature of the whole fleet.

 

8 hours ago, desert falcon said:

A flying cannon with some aluminium wrapped around it  

..and titanium  

[desert falcon]

23 minutes ago, Col. said:

From what I understand the new cockpit displays are one of the few fixed differences between the A model and C as every other external difference was part of an ongoing upgrade program and not necessarily applied fleet-wide. The Pave Penny pod was most likely always carried when laser-guided bombs were being used, those are parts F5/6 and F34/35 by the way, although could be removed when not required. Many C also have the two outlet covers ahead of part E20 removed to expose the vents but again this isn't a feature of the whole fleet.

 

..and titanium  

Awesome, you just answered all my questions @Col. 👍 

[desert falcon]

While I was pondering over the paints tonight, my dear wife cooked me this lovely meal, which I consumed at my temporary hobby bench in the bedroom. 
 

 

Nothing compared to the Christmas treats @Marlin prepared for us all in the Nordic II GB, but let’s continue the tradition in this GB shall we  

It’s not because I don’t like to eat with the rest of the family but my son and daughter have self isolated in their respective rooms due to catching omikron 😪 and while my wife and I are still negative, we are practicing some social distancing to hopefully not spread it further. But hey, plenty of time for modeling then, once the daily home office is done with !!
 

The kit decals provide for two grey-in-grey options (somebody has to be building the boring grey ones ) , I’ll be going for the TIGER SHARK option because it looks pretty cool with a big cigar in its mouth!

 

 

The instructions calls for a mix of FS36375 as the lighter base color and FS36320 as the darker option for the FWD fuselage, upper wings, etc. The Vallejo paints I have might be a bit to too dark, but then again maybe not after applying varnish, panel wash, decals, weathering, etc … The FS36231 should be the right color for the cockpit as per the instructions. 

 

 

Bon appétit and have a good evening! 

 

[Col.]

Mmmm, that looks delicious Johnny, your wife clearly looks after you   Who doesn't like a shark's mouth and even better with a big cigar  Brrrrrrrtt!

[Marlin]

Mmmmm. Wurst und Bratkartoffel.  @desert falcon

 

I really hope this thing called Covid-19 disappears so I can return to Germany for some good sausages.

It'll be fun to follow your A-10 build. 

I've not been doing any US marked Aircraft for  ages, but I think I'll have to add a A-10 to my collection.

Good luck with your build. 

/Bosse  

[desert falcon]

5 hours ago, Col. said:

Mmmm, that looks delicious Johnny, your wife clearly looks after you 

Best wife I ever had 😉 

[desert falcon]

5 hours ago, Marlin said:

Mmmmm. Wurst und Bratkartoffel.  @desert falcon

 

I really hope this thing called Covid-19 disappears so I can return to Germany for some good sausages.

It'll be fun to follow your A-10 build. 

I've not been doing any US marked Aircraft for  ages, but I think I'll have to add a A-10 to my collection.

Good luck with your build. 

/Bosse  

Thanks Bosse!

[Wings unlevel]

On 20/01/2022 at 07:26, desert falcon said:

Bon appétit

Some tasty condiments in the top left hand side of your dinner photo.

[desert falcon]

7 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

Some tasty condiments in the top left hand side of your dinner photo.

I take it you got Ritter Sport down under as well 😉 (Quadratisch. Praktisch. Gut. as we say in Germany) 

 

On our last two family holidays to Australia, LIFESAVERS was the biggest hit when going on long journeys into the outback (think it actually saved our lives a couple of times …) and not to forget; golden gaytime ice cream, the name alone is just hilarious  

 

 

[John Masters]

This will be good.  I enjoyed building mine during the Gulf War GB last year.

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 1/15/2022 at 10:59 PM, desert falcon said:

humble contribution

How can a Hawg be Humble?

[desert falcon]

3 hours ago, John Masters said:

This will be good.  I enjoyed building mine during the Gulf War GB last year.

Thanks John! Yes I remember yours in the Gulf War GB, in fact I had a look at your fine build and the other Warthogs here on BM before deciding to go with the A-10. 

 

1 hour ago, Bertie Psmith said:

How can a Hawg be Humble?

 

Good point Bertie 

[Wings unlevel]

23 hours ago, desert falcon said:

I take it you got Ritter Sport down under as well 😉 (Quadratisch. Praktisch. Gut. as we say in Germany) 

 

On our last two family holidays to Australia, LIFESAVERS was the biggest hit when going on long journeys into the outback (think it actually saved our lives a couple of times …) and not to forget; golden gaytime ice cream, the name alone is just hilarious  

 

 

You sure can! From Lifesavers to Golden Gaytimes, we love our sweet treats!

 

But I was also concerned you may have been sprinkling some FS36375 on your sausages?!

Edited January 22, 2022 by Wings unlevel
Typo

[desert falcon]

5 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

You sure can! From Lifesavers to Golden Gaytimes, we love our sweet treats!

 

But I was also concerned you may have been sprinkling some FS36375 on your sausages?!

Hmmm …. might not be as bad as we think?

 

You know, some people here in the south of Germany are having Weisswurst (white sausage) with sauerkraut for breakfast on Fridays, then to be honest, I‘d rather eat my Frankfurter with Vallejo Light Ghost Grey on it 🤢 

[desert falcon]

Not much progress to report on the A-10 but I did manage to clean some parts over the weekend, while watching youtube videos of Warthogs doing their business in Iraq and Afghanistan (a “quite” weekend so to speak ). 

The plastic used for this kit is on the thicker side but other than a couple of sink marks and some cleaning of excess plastic, nothing major to report so far. If you are looking at getting this kit, it might be good to know that Hasegawa is using a strange mix of raised and “normal” (non-raised) panel lines on the fuselage and the wings. Not that it bother me to much and in any case, I don’t have the skills to sand down and rescribe the panel lines. 
 

As @Col. mentioned above, the outlet covers forward of the cockpit ladder seem to be have been removed on many A-10C, so I will omit these on mine (item J4 below) and also not install the Pave Penny pod on the opposite side of the fuselage, as I prefer it clean. 
 

As can be seen above in the instructions, you have a choice of building it with or without the cockpit ladder installed and also with open or closed canopy. I will likely build it canopy closed and no ladder, as I hope to find time to do a simple air base diorama with her parked on the tarmac. 
 

The rest of the week will be busy at work, so no further updates before the coming weekend, where the plan is to dust off the airbrush and hopefully get the cockpit and engines done.

 

Thanks for looking! 

 

Johnny b 

[desert falcon]

Evening all,

 

Time for an update on the Warthog.

 

So the internals of the engines have been done.

 

 

The engine cowlings on the real thing are hinged at the top at 0 dg and locked at the bottom at 180 dg, meaning that I will have to get rid of the seams at 90 dg and 270 dg respectively. 
 

 

What  advice would you guys give to a complete amateur on removing such a seam to achieve a 100% smooth surface of the engine cowlings? 

I’m thinking of running some Tamiya extra thin cement in the seam and then let my beloved Vallejo plastic putty and some sanding take care of the rest? The gap in the photo might appear worse than it actually is, due to the black paint showing through. 
 

Also finished the cockpit, pictures are a bit crappy but it was difficult to get a proper close-up with the iPad. Might redo the seatbelts, it’s my first attempt on doing seatbelts from masking tape and also on weathering the cockpit in general (will try to improve, promise!). 
 

 

 

Strangely there is a decal for the main instrument panel included too, but no panel with a flat surface to apply on. As sanding down the rather nice and detailed main instrument panel included in the kit wasn’t my idea of some weekend fun, I gave the panel some paint instead. 
 

And finally for the footies among us, yesterday we had a rather nice “German style” Raclette dinner (to much cheese in Swiss Raclette for my taste) for which  we enjoyed a perfectly chilled glas of ……. well tap water  

 

 

A new working week is threatening, so next opportunity for some modelling will likely not be before Thursday afternoon post home office. Next up will be the bigger parts like stabilizers and wing and fuselage halves, which hopefully should be less time consuming. 
 

Cheers 

 

Johnny b 

[81-er]

Nice progress and nice food. As a recent returner to the hobby in the last 12 months, I've discovered Perfect Plastic Putty thanks to this site. Not sure what the availability is like over there, but well worth it if you can find some. You can clean the majority off with a damp cotton bud after it's set, then just sand the final bit to get the shape you want.

 

James

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good afternoon Desert Falcon

I use Perfect Plastic Putty too and I recommend it whenever you want to remove a seam  ..

Best Regards  

 Patrice 

[desert falcon]

8 hours ago, 81-er said:

Nice progress and nice food. As a recent returner to the hobby in the last 12 months, I've discovered Perfect Plastic Putty thanks to this site. Not sure what the availability is like over there, but well worth it if you can find some. You can clean the majority off with a damp cotton bud after it's set, then just sand the final bit to get the shape you want.

 

James

 

7 hours ago, TEMPESTMK5 said:

Good afternoon Desert Falcon

I use Perfect Plastic Putty too and I recommend it whenever you want to remove a seam  ..

Best Regards  

 Patrice 

Thank you gents! Did a quick search for PPP and the first hit was a tube on Amazon for ~12€ with free 3 days delivery, so think I will have to give it a try. 
 

Thanks again 🙏 

 

[Col.]

Nice paintwork on the instrument panel Johnny. For the engine pods seams I'd give them a light rub down to see the extent of work required then go with either filler or building up the area with some spare plastic if it's really bad.