Hog's firepower display - A-10C - Full makeup

[themongoose]

You have the best fix there for that issue EVER. GREAT use of the silhouette! 

[red Dog]

Engine nacelles work is completed.

That was a lot more work than I thought. I used almost half a sheet of Quinta's 1/24 black rivets, that's a lot of them.

 

I coated the whole with Mr Surfacer

 

I must say I'm pretty happy with how the Quinta rivets turned out.

The film is barely visible after three or four applications of Daco strong decal solution.

That missing row was visible before paint (original trumpeter rivet's) but after paint they disappeared. I will add a line of Quinta's  

 

 

The fuselage sides were also populated with a bit more rivets, on the APU exhaust plate and on the wing fairing which are totally devoid of details.

 

The APU intake on the back between the two engines has been worked on as well:

- Thinned from the inside

- Riveted (I learned that curving rivet decal is not as easy as it sounds  )

- Added some aluminium plastic strips after the intake was glued in place.

 

One annoying fitting issue is is that the nacelle seems not to match the fuselage on the left side. The right side is good.
I decided to add a 0.5mm strip on the left fuselage side before gluing the nacelle. This should not crook the nacelle on the side.
That will prevent a lot of sanding on the top of the fuselage

 

The notches for the adjustment tabs of the nacelles were cut out of the strip.

 

 

Fit is much better with that 0.5mm strip, the rear does not suffer from it either. The added rivets on the APU intake really add to the model

 

 

Just a bit more work on the top rear end of the beast and I will have the rear fuselage assembly completed. Then I can start the dreaded wings

Thanks for following

 

 

 

[Stokey Pete]

Dude! That’s looking sweet! 
The rivets look brilliant, and the silhouette made hinges even more so. 
Kudos. 

[jmel]

man that is a lot of work but so worth it.  I look forward to more progress!

 

Jake

[A-10LOADER]

Looks really good especially with the primer coat applied, nice !

Steve

[Squizzy 78]

Looks amazing, and on a far from perfect kit, great work! 

[red Dog]

Rear fuselage is complete.

I still have a few things to do but there's no point adding rivets that may be damaged when I will join the two fuselage section together. 

I also left the vertical tails out for now.

 

I was lucky to snatch a pair of remaining Archer rivets in circle sheet from an European shop and I was wondering how I was going to define which size to use but when I opened the pouch I realized Woody had us covered by supplying a clear acetate sheet to help us chose which one to use.

 

 

Pretty awesome thinking @Woody V

 

 

A few panel lines and recessed rivets need correcting on the tail the forward panel line is misplaced and should be more or less aligned with the horizontal tail panel line where identified by the thin red line. The original panel line and its triple rivet line were filled with the water based putty which can be wiped away without sanding.

The tail cone which is articulated has a double panel line where a single one should be sufficient. It was filled in the same way.

I also sanded the white tube alongside the fuselage contour.  This is where the support rod will enter the model.

 

 

Then applied different positive rivets. I also cut the Eduard formation lights at the same length of the ones below. I think I understand why Eduard made the mistake. They probably scaled their formation light between the panel lines. But since the forward one is misplaced ended up with too long formation lights. 
No grudge on Eduard as mine are still a bit too long. Nevertheless this is looking much better and the reason why I went the extra mile to displace that bad panel line.  

 

 

Some minor rivet work on the fuselage side:

Not how the circle rivets stand out perfectly. I'm so glad I didn't have to bend a rivet line to achieve this. 

The single rivets (Armor 1/35) from Quinta are also very handy. they are a bit more tedious to place and I always secure them with a drop of Tamiya ultra thin cement.

 

 

Before gluing the massive engine nacelles on the back of the rear fuselage, I gave a quick coat of paint to the fuselage sides under the nacelles as this area will be harder to get to later on. Rough pre-shading in black followed by MRP-038 for FS36375

 

 

The APU plate was also quickly painted  in steel with some hues of burnt metal. I will add the deflective cover later on.

 

 

The nacelles could then be mated to the fuselage. the forward and back edges were puttied and the engraved lines were matched.

 

Lots of rivets were lost in the operation. The forward ones will be remade once the front and aft fuselages are glued together but the rear ones were added.

 

 

Forward and aft fuselage mates pretty well and pretty strongly without glue so I couldn't resist trying the support rod in carbon.

Happy to see it does not bend with the current weight.

 

It starts to look like and A-10.
Let's now start the dreaded wings 

 

Thanks for getting your weekly dose of A-10 modeling

Edited April 16, 2023 by red Dog

[Stokey Pete]

Wow!

You’re hitting a home run with this one. Each update continues to impress me, given my experiences with the kit. Loving the progress. 

 

[A-10LOADER]

Excellent work and attention to detail so far, loving this so much.

Steve

[crobinsonh]

Fabulous work showing (along with Chuck) how to make a big 1/32nd HOG out of the Trumpy kit.

[red Dog]

Thank you gents.

 

Here's my plan for the wings:

 

- Major issue is the sponson shape. I don't know yet how to correct this but clearly it will be lots of styrene and elbow grease for sanding

 

- Close all gear doors. This is surprisingly easy

 

- Find a way to secure the wheels up. I will use the Cutting edge resin wheels.

Did you know that the way the gear is designed, the warthog can land gear up and the wheels actually turn and do their job even in the wells.

 

- Cut the aileron away and secure them to the wings. That is to provide more depth. 

 

- Detail the dispensers - the sponson dispenser are undersized and will be replaced by the Cutting Edge parts. The wingtips dispensers will be detailed with CE resin and Eduard PE.
 

- Not sure I will keep the possibility to lower flaps. Beside the way Trumpeter planned this is only one notch of flaps. They can't go full flaps without further modification.
In flight, these should be up anyway - it is not like the A-10 needs to lower flaps to fly slow enough for refuelling. (It's rather the refueler that needs to pops the flaps and gears and spoilers
 

- Detail the wingtips with ALR-69 and MWLS sensors

 

- Update the wing fence with the CE part. The slat is no true aerodynamic slat but a device to ensure the engines get good (not contaminated & not turbulent) airflow

It deploys when the gun is fired to avoid gun gazes to be injested into the engines and it deploys at high AOA to keep the airflow  getting into those giant intakes as less turbulent as possible. They are also deployed on the ground when the engine is out but since I'm doing an in-flight they should not be deployed.

 

 

-Add the small Stall Detection Tab - it's the same system that on the aircrfat I fly  

It's visible on the picture above, between the sponson and the outboard pylon

 

- I noticed on some pictures again that some A-10 have a sort of tape on the leading edge of the wings and tails. (See picture above on the right) 
 do not know the purpose of that tape. If you have any idea I'm interested to know. I thought it was some sort of anti-ice protection system but it seems more like reflective tape. I'd love to know.

 

-Dunno if I will make a stronger spar that go through the fuselage to better secure the wing. I will assess that as I progress

 

- Detail all pylons with more rivets

 

- And of course detail and correct the panel lines and rivets where necessary.

[Talon]

Nice work to date. Looking spectacular.

 

I did add spars, not just to strengthen the wings, but I also lowered the wings as they sit too high on the fuselage, and the new spars helped to get the position right

[red Dog]

interesting Talon.

I inquired the same about the position of the wing. Mostly due to the strake issue.

but I came to the conclusion that the wings were not too high, the strakes are just undersized.

When you look at the fuselage pylon and the wing position related to them, the position of the wing seems correct.

 

I'd be interested to know your development and how you came to that conclusion, as It not too late for me to correct if that's indeed the case . 

[A-10LOADER]

The tape on the wings and tails is to protect them from nicks / chips caused by stones and gravel, if I remember correctly.

Steve

[red Dog]

Thanks Steve. 

I think I'll add them with self adhesive aluminium foil