red Dog

Hey guys, Is there a formula of some sort to get the length and curvature of yellow bomb lines depending on the shape of the model bomb you want to use? When the weapon is cylindrical that's easy enough But when you want to draw a mask or decals for a bomb head, it's getting a little bit more complicated I'm working on a triple yellow line on a GBU-31 and I'm losing my hairs

Same, can't wait to see it in Putte in 2 weeks We'll have great models as always at BSMC

What you have in mind Alan, I do custom decals and masks

I found some 1/48 drawings of the A-10 which I upscaled to 1/32 Without surprise the side profile seems good enough. Curves are matching. The issue is the vertical profile is really off. It's pretty hard to see on the photograph below because of the perspective issue, but the nose needs to be more pointy/ I printed and cut paper profile to use as guides as I am sanding: Horizontal: Vertical: The difference in shape is very obvious on the above image Using the paper template I am more or less able to see where the sanding should begin (left) and by cheating a bit (right) I can foresee the actual wish for the end result Of with the sanding tools, moment of truth for the future of that kit

Next order of progress is to tackle the blunt nose issue To overcome the coming heavy sanding that's coming it's better to fill the nose with material. That will protect backup in case we need to go through the plastic and even in the case we don't it will provide additional strength for the operation. Many products are suitable for that but I wanted to try baking soda and cyanoacrylate. I poured a few drops of superglue and then sprinkled baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate actually) There's a reaction between the two and the thing turns rock hard in a few second. Not pretty inside but who cares. It is quite solid though.

Thank you for your explanation, having achieved that effect only with airbrush is even more flabbergasting Hat's off !!

Your engine nozzle treatment is just perfect Could you tell us a bit more about how you achieved that result?

To be honest I don't even know if it was ever available. I'm always pushing luck and sending emails The Cutting edge Cockpit kit inserts pretty well into the fuselage halves. No real hassle safe for cutting a few plastic locating lugs. The resin piece is rather large and heavy and I removed as much as casting block as possible to save weight for the in-flight display The seat even slides into its rails The kit's glareshield was cut off and replaced with the A-10C glareshield and Instrument panel Some minor adjustments are needed for fitting the IP and it needs to be sanded thinner but this will be a pleasure to paint.

I didn't get much bench time this weekend, but I was able to inspect the cockpit goodies Aftermarket is sometime a trend rather than a necessity but in this case I can tell you it is not. The kit's cockpit really needs to be replaced. Luckily the A-10A Cutting edge is gorgeous. The IP and Glareshield are not correct for an A-10C and although it is quite easy to convert them, I called AMS to the rescue and Harold was very kind to answer my request. Not only did Harold send what I ordered he was very kind to add extra pieces like the gun muzzle and more importantly (for me) that big T antenna which I was wondering how to scratch (especially since I need an extra 2 for my OV-10G+ project - at least know I have an example to base by scratching on) So many thanks Harold, it is very much appreciated. if you don't have the AMS parts, converting the Cutting Edge A-10A cockpit to A-10C is not overly complicated: - On the Instrument panel, you need to remove the analogue instruments above the 3x4 engine gauges on the right side. This is easily done with plasticard. Top is AMS A-10C, Bottom is CE A-10A As you can see the A-10C needs another square screen on the left side. The A-10A wasn't a MFD so you might also need to add the buttons row The armament panel (below left MFD) has been revised and therefore should be changed on the A-10A IP. The rest is pretty much the same - The stick needs to be replaced with a F-16 stick. That's probably easy enough to steal from somewhere - The glareshield needs to be cut on the side, just outboard of the 3 fire extinguisher handles. Remove the red identified on both sides. The overall angles of the glareshield had to be changed during A-10C conversion and although it's pretty obvious from the comparison picture above, I would leave it as it is on the CE part and omit that detail. - On top of the glareshield centred on the APU fire extinguisher, you need to add a rectangle button box. It is the equivalent of the F-16 UFC. AMS has this part moulded on its glareshield although it seems not wide enough. It seems it's only the left part of the full UFC as depicted below It's a part flight sim fans cherish as it's the main keypad to control inputs into the A-10C system, we have many replicas in the sim builder community: - There are not many differences between the A-10A and A-10C side consoles. The throttle has more switches but that's impossible to see and the UHF panel (not too far from the throttle if I remember right) has been updated. These details are hardly visible so I wouldn't bother changing them. - What is missing is the new DTU unit behind the seat. It's a large box where the pilot inserts its DTC (Data cartridge) that contains all of the data needed for the flight prepared at flight planning. I'll have to add it as well. (image from The Drive) - After A-10C conversion, the avionics of the warthog still have been upgraded. The A-10C can now use APKWS guided rockets and deliver JDAM and Laser JDAMs and loads targeting pod. Except the stores under the wings these changes are mostly invisible as these are avionic black boxes changes mostly. Yet one visible cockpit change is the New Helmet A-10C pilots wear. It's called the HOBIT and is an improved HMCS. It also features a monocle like the Apache helmet. (image from The Drive) This system also features a series of visible dots disposed in a square on the canopy, just over the pilot helmet. (image from Key Military) I am not sure if I can model the HOBIT, I haven't made any research about eventual availability in 1/32 scale for a HMCS looking close enough to that one, but If I do find one, I'll sure investigate a way to add the canopy dots as well.

Yes I know Thierry, I hesitated. But having the CE exhaust already, I'm not ready to invest in 50$ + the 25 euros it's going to cost me at Bpost imports I know they're great. But price and new import rules really doesn't make it cost effective

Thanks Chuck, seems about the same depth That SH fan is so much better than the kit's I really need to find something to address that cone. I wish SH were still available. I even went to Ben's Viking WIP to see how he managed the TF34 fans

Thanks Steve. I won't load station 6 and certainly won't use the huge bags. No way I'm modelling a jet during a ferry flight back to the states (although that would validate the huge mission marks they painted just before coming back from deployment)

Some further findings: If I place the fan just at the forward edge of the engine support transparent parts (as the tweak list suggest) I am about the same location as when I insert the fan in Q5 and slide it to the 1st stage line, which kinda confirms my first intuition. The black mark is my reference point to place the fan, what I called the 1st stage line That places the fan 7-8mm further aft than Trumpeter instructs. With the inlet being 14mm deep, that gives me a distance of 22mm from the front edge of the inlet Which is indeed the distance I had initially when sliding the fan from behind part Q5 and placing it at the black mark So 22mm in 1/32 that's 704mm real size 2.31 feet Unless I get contradicted by anyone of you checking a 1/48 or 1/32 kit with correct fan position, I'll stick to that. It seems good enough seeing some real life pictures

I started to inquire about the engine fan issue. We all know that the innards of the Trumpeter engines are completely wrong, I don't intent to have it displayed so most of it will be discarded. What matters to me is only the engine fans and the rear nozzle. The rear nozzle is easy they are included in the Cutting Edge set. So that's what i'll use. They insert into the locating tabs in the Trumpeter's plastic, so easy enough A large casting block will be removed, although not necessary I prefer to save weight anywhere I can due to the inflight pose. Having the nozzles sorted, I am reluctant to invest 50$ in a full engine set available commercially. The kit's fan's are not that great but they are not that bad either. the centre cone is not correct and that's pretty noticeable on the finished model. I'll see what I can do with that later. For now I am trying to assess the reported issue of the fans being placed too forward as per Trump instructions. Here's what the LSP tweak list says The description is a little bit confusing to me because I don't really find a mounting step on nacelle halves. And it calls to place the fan on the Q3/Q4 transparent parts which I will not use, So I kinda lose the reference point. I was wondering if anyone has hard data about how deep the fan are supposed to be from the inlet? Here's what I intend to do: The Q1 fan is supposed to be placed on top of Q5 but it actually slides quite fine from the back of Q5 part and you basically can place the fan anywhere you want inside the Q5 part. There are 2 noticeable stages lines on Q5 and I made some test with what appears to be the more logical position: the forward stage line. Problem is that's a guess, I'd rather prefer to have hard data but I wasn't not able to find the correct deepness yet. Here's the default Trumpeter fan's location (Q1 on top of Q5 as per instructions - and reported too far forward) Here's the other engine with the fan deeper (Q1 inserted in the back end of Q5) but the actual deepness still need to be decided It seems to deep when using the first stage line on Q5. I'll keep looking for hard data (or maybe try to better understand what the tweak list meant) and report back I might need to prime these transparent parts because seeing details is really difficult In the meantime gents, let me know what you think or share the data you might have. Many thanks for looking

Thank you Jari, Your pictures are always a great gift. It makes sense that the 3 centre stations can't be used all together. clearance is very tight. That probably explains why the 2000 pounds GBU31 is offset in most pictures, so another weapon can be loaded.