Any source for external/wing bomb racks for the A-20G?

[ChuckD]

Hi, all.  Subject pretty much says it all, but for specificity, I'm looking for external bomb racks as would be used in this picture.  

 

 

I don't pretend to be an expert on external bomb racks for A-20s, and I understand that there may have been a couple different types used, so I'm not sure which would be correct, but I'm guessing it's of this variety:

 

 

Does anyone know of a source for these in 1/32 scale?  If not, does anyone have drawings for these so that I can try to fab them up from styrene?

[BiggTim]

I don't know of any, but I'd be interested to find out more as well, maybe for future product development.

[LSP_Ray]

That looks really close to this:

 

Bren Gun US Bomb Rack.

 

Looks like it is meant to be used on a pylon, though. Does the kit come with pylons?

[Dennis7423]

1 hour ago, LSP_Ray said:

Looks like it is meant to be used on a pylon, though. Does the kit come with pylons?

 

Nope, the kit does not come with any sort of underwing pylons. For many of the Pacific options many of us want to build, provisions for bombs and rocket tubes are a must.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

[Uncarina]

Would these be a field modification or produced at the factory?  Does the Pacific Profiles book have better images?

 

Cheers,  Tom

[denders]

The new A-20 book from squadron has a couple of nice photos. I’m not at home. If no one has posted ‘til I get back, I’ll post them. 

[Dennis7423]

45 minutes ago, Uncarina said:

Would these be a field modification or produced at the factory?  Does the Pacific Profiles book have better images?

 

Cheers,  Tom

 

I just thumbed through it, and it doesn't have any clear images to show them.

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

[LSP_Ray]

From what little you can see from the above photo, it does appear there is a pylon. The bomb is too far below the wing for it to just be the metal rack.

 I would think any pylons would be of a more or less standard type? But we definitely need some better photos to determine which variant. 

[LSP_Ray]

Found one:

[LSP_Ray]

Hmmm, maybe there are alternatives?:

This is a pic of the A-20G #42-86786 currently residing at the RAAF Amberley Heritage Centre.

Could be this rack would hold smaller bombs, but you need the pylon for the larger ones?

[LSP_Ray]

Oooh, like this one:

"Close-up view of T30 rocket launchers mounted under the wing of an A-20 Havoc aircraft of 90th Attack Squadron, US 3rd Attack Group, Hollandia, New Guinea, mid-1944"
 

[LSP_Ray]

Looks like a 500lb'er on a rack on pylon again:

[LSP_Ray]

CMK has it in 1/72nd; maybe someone will do it in 1/32nd:

[Dennis7423]

From what I can tell, there is some variation here. There were the longer pylons, as shown above on several examples, and then what appears to be just the shackle essentially on the wing (likely a field mod, shown above). From what I can tell, the longer ones had some bracing between them, while the short shackle type did not. Here's a photo of Bub's Brother, showing the short, shackle-type under the wing (it's dark, but you can see it there). For what it's worth, Bub was one of the first A-20G's field-moded (emphasis on field mod) to carry rocket tubes, so I imagine the wing bomb racks were a field mod in general, not a mod to carry rockets specifically:

 

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA

Edited July 31, 2023 by Dennis7423

[Dennis7423]

Okay, here's what I have found out through some quick Google research:

 

In terms of model stuff, I think we have four variations:

 

Single, shackle-type field mod on each wing, also shown above on the restored example in the RAAF museum:

 

 

Single, long pylon under each wing:

 

Dual, long pylons under each wing:

 

Dual, long pylons under each wing, likely with the fairings removed to save weight:

 

- Dennis S.

   Mount Juliet, TN USA