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

[Neo]

4 hours ago, red Dog said:

 

 

Unfortunately I don't have the two Tie fighters on the mission tally, but all the rest for 81-0983 is there

I see that you have a great source for decals! Is there the f-16 and f-22 kill mark on there?

[red Dog]

On 11/29/2023 at 9:53 PM, Neo said:

I see that you have a great source for decals! Is there the f-16 and f-22 kill mark on there?

No, but I can add them very easily

Anyone know the story about these? I'd love to know

[Neo]

21 minutes ago, red Dog said:

No, but I can add them very easily

Anyone know the story about these? I'd love to know

I found an article online, its apparently simulated kills during training, this jet seams to be a show bird

https://www.google.com/amp/s/theaviationgeekclub.com/unique-photo-shows-usaf-a-10-with-f-22-and-f-16-kill-marks/

[red Dog]

Poor reason to have a F-22 and F-16 kill mark if you ask me. I can't believe it - I'm sure that A-10 killed them in BFM training   

 

More work on the weapons this weekend.

 

AGM-65 on Station #3

 

The missile and launcher were donated from the Academy F/A-18C. 

Not particularily detailed, but a thousand times better than the Trumpeter ones.

I just added some Archer rivets

 

I decided against the yellow and brown band in decals and elected to paint them on before the grey. Easier to mask that way:
Did the same on the AIM-9 from the same origin.

 

Some light grey paint and old decals

 

Something had to be done on the seeker head.
I started by painting the background gloww black, then added two cylinders in styrene. One larger than the other. I cut these at an angle to simulate the lens not looking straight forward.

The larger cylinder was painted black, the smaller aluminium and I then added a very small circle of iridescent film. 

The transparent dome will be added after the usual coats of varnishes

 

[red Dog]

GBU-38 Station #4 and #5

 

Both GBU-38 comes from VideoAviation 152732. You get 8 of these and they are very easy to assemble and paint. 

Each bomb comes in two pieces with optional DSU-33 plugs and GPS antenna. And disposable lugs in case you want to display them on a cart or a bomb trolley. 

Decals are also provided

 

Very easy to paint which I did before assembling

 

Paint was done after Mr Surfacer primer with Olive drab H304 and MP-038 for the light grey. The difficult painting on the nose was done by using maskol. 

 

 

Something nice and easy for a change

Thank you @onosendai 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by red Dog

[red Dog]

GBU-31 for Station #7

 

Can't remember if this one comes also from the F/A-18C or the Sufa, but it was easy enough as well.

Same process as the GBU-38 above

 

 

Collars were painted with Mr Colour superMetallic2. The yellow nose band is decal

 

Station #6 is left empty and detailing the lower side paid off.

 

GBU-54 LJDAM Station #8

 

This one comes from Reskit. A little gem and easy to build, harder to paint due to the many details and the collars but very enjoyable.
The fins are separate, very delicate as they are superthin but they insert very strongly in the bomb one piece body.

You get DSU-38 head and GPS antenna as welland different types of connecting kit for USAF or USNavy.

The paint was done with the same references as above.

 

 

 

 

[red Dog]

Station #9 is again a GBU-12 from Eduard, see above

 

Station #10 is the targeting pod AN/AAQ-28
I initially thought I had one of these but I had plenty of AN/AAQ-14 from the F-16 so I sourced this one from Brassin.

 

It comes with the possibility to stow or deploy the optics but not to rotate the head, Since I wanted the TGP to somehow point where the pilot was looking I cut the head from the body to be replaced later.

 

Painting this one was done with MRP Gunship Grey which is really different than Gunship grey from Gunze. That's so far the only MRP reference I do not like. But it might be because I have been using Gunze H305 for so long. Yet I cannot imagine a F-15E using that colour.

 

I sourced Flying leatherneck iridescent windows for this. The sheet is very useful as painting these is very difficult and does not give you a result to par with iridescent films. You get enough for 6 pods and the carrier gives you more 'special use' film for other tiny projects.

 

I love the stuff and the changing colors

Edited December 3, 2023 by red Dog

[red Dog]

Station #11 is the dual launcher for AIM-9 sidewinders.

 

The dual launcher is from Reskit and can be seen above. The missiles are from Academy.

Just some paint, minor detailing and old decals.
I could have loaded one only but finally decided to laod two.

 

 

Well, this took a lot more time than I anticipated

 

Some heavy weathering ahead and the deciding factor about the future of this model

Thanks for looking and sorry for the boring pylons and stores reports. Luckily we are done with these 

 

 

 

 

[JayW]

22 minutes ago, red Dog said:

Thanks for looking and sorry for the boring pylons and stores reports. Luckily we are done with these 

 

Not boring at all.  I am amazed at the loading options that A-10's have, and your modelling is showing that in spades.  Bring back a WW2 P-47 pilot to more modern times and see what ground support has become - he would also be amazed - maybe more so!  

Edited December 3, 2023 by JayW

[A-10LOADER]

Great job on everything so far Oliver and, like Jay said above, not boring at all. All these little details and improvements will make her stand out even more, she's gonna look awesome when completed.

Steve

Edited December 3, 2023 by A-10LOADER

[red Dog]

Time to secure the wings.

 

Lots of preliminary planning ensuring that the final gaps will be kept to a minimum. There will be gaps so you have to accept it

The spar I decided to add earlier will really help the solidity but I'm not taking any risk and I will use two component epoxy to secure the wings to the fuselage anyway

 

 

So masking to protect the paint, and a lot of dry fit before I pour the epoxy glue

 

 

Once the wings are strongly attached the gaps were filled with perfect putty. It's water based so a quick wipe should keep sanding to a minimum.
The rear section presented a larger gap due to the tab modification I did before to ensure the bottom wing had a correct curve and thickness.

 

 

The same procedure is required with the vertical tail as well. Quick water based putty to fill all the thin gaps between the plastic parts

 

I damaged a bit the fuselage at the carbon entry so while fixing it, I added the tail light and the sensors made of PE and a quick drop of white glue. One of these will be painted white, the other black (they can be both black or  both white or a combination)

 

 

 

The in flight stand I built actually proves very useful when working on such a large model. It allows to rotate and tilt the model almost in anyway I want to work on it

 

Weathering has started by masking the bottom fuselage. Very delicate as I don't want the rivets to lift with the masking tape so I deliberately remained next to the rivets or when not possible used just plain paper stripes to mask. The masking is pretty rough - with the treatment coming, there is no need for ultra precision

 

 

[A-10LOADER]

Coming together bud and, looking good.

Steve

[Neo]

Great progress, looks amazing

[red Dog]

Here's the makeup process:

MRP-180 exhaust Soot was used to post shade rather clean areas like the top and bottom outer wings, tail and the engine nacelles.
The larger nacelles doors on the other hand were kept cleaner as you can really see a difference in weathering on the real A-10s. 

 

 

 

 

MRP-180 was used straight from the bottle, it's a transparent paint a bit a la Smoke and the opacity is not too strong which make sit a perfect candidate for post shading. 

 

 

 

[red Dog]

Next came the big one, weathering the belly.

I started by lighting up a candle and making wishes for me not to screw up  

Armed with a lot of faith in my airbrush, I started painting.

 

The whole bottom fuselage and inner wings and inner tails was sprayed with three very thin layers of AK Heavy chipping fluid and let it to dry for a couple hours.

Then I painted with MRP matt black diluted around 50%:

 

The whole fuselage belly from the Gun was covered plus inner wings and inner tail. Inner side of the gear pod as well

Left engine nacelle bottom as well for the APU exhaust

 

 

 

Immediately after that, I brushed the belly in the direction of the tail with a flat wet brush and even a sanding sponge at time. 

Then I removed the masking tape

 

 

Contrast at this time is expected to be too strong. 
A mist of MRP Smoke will tone the contrast down. MRP Smoke is quite opaque compared to Tamiya Smoke, so I usually dilutes it a bit. 

 

 

Here's a detail view of the rear fuselage:

 

 

Happy that the result came out exactly as I had imagined. 

One big step done. Side fuselage next.

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by red Dog