My Next build Tamiya 1/48 A10 thunderbolt

[Docbritofmf]

Forgot this badass one
But of course if I had an all time favorite fighter jet Livery it would be the French Desault Falcon

 

[Docbritofmf]

Best sound ever! Watch the ground boil then the unmistakable BRRRRT sound.
Great aircraft! Nothing will come close to replacing this, nearly indestructible, workhorse.

Of course I thought that about the A-6 Intruder yet here we are...

Nothing like a little Steel Rain to make puddles of bad guys

 

[urumomo]

That 4th from the bottom is a DCS image -- I just think it's a badass camo pattern
The other wild ones are most likely one-offs .

I like this camo pattern on these 2 Swedish Sea Knights :

 

[urumomo]

 

[GaryG64]

And the intruder is another aircraft that was built and out preformed expectations sad they had to replace it I was also a fan of the Prowler nothing like a 4 seat war bird

Any weather day or night flying at treetop level. Dropping presents from 300 to 500 AGL.
Prowler is just as awesome (family sedan)

 

[langy]

Have fun .
I think that might be one of the worst kits Tamiya ever made .
BTW , the plane being designed around the gun is one of those unkillable myths but it's still a myth .

Surely that's gotta be the 1/48 Sea Harrier.. an absolute dog of a kit, the best thing i can remember about it was the pilot.

 

[urumomo]

Ha ha , IDK .
I built a Tamiya Harrier like 40+ years ago but I don't remember it being as bad as that A-10 . ..Not even close .
It's been too long ago though .

 

[Docbritofmf]

Have fun .
I think that might be one of the worst kits Tamiya ever made .
BTW , the plane being designed around the gun is one of those unkillable myths but it's still a myth .

I think the like every rumor, myth, or legend there is a fleck of truth some where in it.. The plane may not have been built for the gun but the plane was designed to carry that gun which was a engineering master piece with in it's self.

CAS close air support was what the military was looking for, they needed a plane that can pack some fire power, loiter (stay in the AO) longer then the average fighter jet, fly lower, and handle combat damage. The A-10 fit all these roles beautifully.

The GAU-6 Avenger cannon weighs in at around 600+ Lbs with out ammo or the feed system which when added brings the total to roughly 4,000+ Lbs. Which combined with the size of the gun and it's components leaves very little space to put it on a airframe capable of filling the CAS role. Size aside weight and balancing for a fully loaded GAU6 can't be just any place on the aircraft it would have to be dead center line and forward to balance the weight of the engines needed to provide the thrust needed to fly the aircraft and it's payload. The pilot pretty much sits on top of it. Imagine that seen from Armageddon we're Steve Buscemi rides the nuke scream about the power between his legs.

And since each round of the ammo for the cannon weighs in at 1.5 lbs and the rate of fire is 2000-3,900 rounds per min means that center of gravity changes rather quickly and the plane needs to be able to compensate for that.

In my small 4 Seat piper warriors I can technically only seat my self and a friend with a full tank of gas and if that friend is heavier he may have to sit in the back instead of the fron or the plane won't fly right the A-10 has to deal with this on a whole different scale.

Then on a totally different front you have to consider the recoil from fireing the gun at a sustained rate which even though doesn't greatly effect the plane does play a small role in the equation.

Around the time this plane came about or maybe just before the air force was looking for a 30mm cannon design and this gun was the winner so yes the plane wasn't built for the gun as the myth goes but it was definitely designed in a manner that had to make it capable of carrying it.

So there always some truth some where in the myths that we hear in the military no matter how big or how small

 

[urumomo]

" ... center of gravity changes rather quickly and the plane needs to be able to compensate for that. "
That's why the spent casings are recovered back into the ammo drum .
And , yes , firing the gun does actually slow the plane .

 

[Docbritofmf]

" ... center of gravity changes rather quickly and the plane needs to be able to compensate for that. "
That's why the spent casings are recovered back into the ammo drum .
And , yes , firing the gun does actually slow the plane .

Imagine being on the ground with it raining hot brass of that caliber down on you that'd be rough. I probably still have a few brass burns around my collar line from other weapons systems

 

[LHC]

long live the A-10!
Big BRRRRRRT fan here, keep us updated!

 

[Docbritofmf]

So I've been thinking about this build, and after hearing a little bit from you guys here about tamiya falling alittle flat with the details in this kit, I started looking for upgrade kits unfortunately I've found a lot of kits for other brand kits and only a few for the Tamiya kit, idk if this was because the other kits out there needed a lot more help to start with but what ever the case the few kits I've found were things like cockpit instrument photo etch which would be nice to keep the cockpit from looking to bland, and some engine detail upgrades which would be nice but where more expensive then the kit.

There was a few photo etch kits but other then saying they were for the 1/48 Tamiya A-10 I have no idea what the parts were for or what they brought detail to .

I want to make this plane look as realistic as possible, I know with armor at least to me weathering brings life and realism if the parts are assembled nicely but I feel on aircraft it's real easy to become toyish.

I've been considering some scratch building potentially like frame work for the inner hulls and or maybe hoses and lines ECT..

Idk maybe I'm over thinking it, I won't get my hands back on the kit untill tomorrow night so I'm getting the cravings

 

[LHC]

Don't know if it could help, but Italeri has a GAU-6 cannon resin and photoetch set. I have it on my stash and can say it's very nice. There's also some 3d decals that, with a bit of work, you can fit on Tamiya's Hog.

 

[Docbritofmf]

Don't know if it could help, but Italeri has a GAU-6 cannon resin and photoetch set. I have it on my stash and can say it's very nice. There's also some 3d decals that, with a bit of work, you can fit on Tamiya's Hog.

I'll have to look I haven't seen that stuff yet the cockpit decals were 3d photo etch painted

 

[urumomo]

Probably the bulk of the aftermarket upgrades are for Italeri and Hobby Boss ?
They will " maybe " work on the Tamiya . You might need to do some adjusting . Some might fit no problem .
Like I said , I wouldn't put any money into that thing -- just build it OOB and get a better kit .
The Italeri one or wait for the new tool release from Academy .
Put your efforts into a cool paint scheme on that Tamiya .

 

[Docbritofmf]

Probably the bulk of the aftermarket upgrades are for Italeri and Hobby Boss ?
They will " maybe " work on the Tamiya . You might need to do some adjusting . Some might fit no problem .
Like I said , I wouldn't put any money into that thing -- just build it OOB and get a better kit .
The Italeri one or wait for the new tool release from Academy .
Put your efforts into a cool paint scheme on that Tamiya .

Ya most are hobby boss and italeri I saw a few things that would be cool to use but they are all shipping from Ukraine, Poland, china ect and I don't want to wait for that sorta crazy shipping to many times in the past have I waited months for stuff over seas

 

[urumomo]

That Tamiya kit isn't worth the added expense .
Here's what Italeri's latest A-10 offering is ,, scroll about a third of the way down this page :
https://www.themodellingnews.com/2021/05/the-no-show-show-preview-of-new-items.html

I posted this link above here back in May of last year --> https://www.scalemodeladdict.com/threads/preview-of-new-items-from-shizuoka-hobby-show-2021.13868/

 

[Docbritofmf]

That Tamiya kit isn't worth the added expense .
Here's what Italeri's latest A-10 offering is ,, scroll about a third of the way down this page :
https://www.themodellingnews.com/2021/05/the-no-show-show-preview-of-new-items.html

I posted this link above here back in May of last year --> https://www.scalemodeladdict.com/threads/preview-of-new-items-from-shizuoka-hobby-show-2021.13868/

Now that's a thing of beauty.
So I forgot to share a little scale modeling war story that occured about a month ago when I was finishing up the USS Missouri.

So I have these very tiny harbor freight micro drill bits, they come in this nice plastic case and when you open it they stand straight up pointy side up in nice neat color codes rows.

I'm talking really tiny very fine point size bits like needle thin.. well I was packing up and rushing about to clean up when I smacked my hand into the set of drill bits.. this happened so fast and at first I didn't think any thing of it..

A few moments go by and I have this strange feeling in one of my finger joints .. like it's locked up and I can't articulate the finger. I look at my hand and I don't see much of anything it wasn't swollen or bruised but there was this tiny microscopic drop of blood on my knuckle like if you weren't looking for it you'd never notice it.

Then it hits me the drill bits.. I most have poked my self with one which isn't hard to do an I have done it in the past the smallest ones are basically like insulin needles but usually it's just a prick nothing like what I was currently feeling.
.
So I check my drill bit set and sure enough the last bit in the row is broken and half the bit is missing.

It dawn's on me the bit broke off into my finger.. but not like a splinter this bit broke off vertical and buried itself directly in my knuckle joint or even worse my bone.

I debated self surgery but this bit was tiny and thin and I could barely find the entrance wound so fishing around with a scalpel in my hand wasn't gonna be an option. Even though I do have anesthetic and all the surgical supplies right at home.

Off to the hospital I went

 

[urumomo]

Dang , dude .
If I was the doctor I would have amputated your whole hand . better safe than sorry .
Plus more $$$ for my employer - and me !

Maybe you can get a purple heart from Harbor Freight . lol

 

[Docbritofmf]

Dang , dude .
If I was the doctor I would have amputated your whole hand . better safe than sorry .
Plus more $$$ for my employer - and me !

Maybe you can get a purple heart from Harbor Freight . lol

Lol it was weird watching the doc cut into and fish around in my finger joint, because that drill bit was so tiny you couldn't see it with all the meaty bits and blood he had to basically just grasp around and keep checking they wound up getting it by magnetizing the forceps.

For reference I guess the best dimensions of this broke but was that it was roughly just under a half inch in length and the thickness of a insulin needle which I think is 32g.

I woulda left it in if it was horizontal, my body would have eventually pushed it out like a splinter but it was vertical and I couldn't tell were exactly it was.

Come to think of it I gotta by replacement bits now they came in handy for modeling