Fairchild Republic A-10B N/AW Thunderbolt II by bdgiantman2 - Trumpeter - 1:32 scale

[bdgiantman2]

I apologize in advance that didn't start this blog sooner of this project. 

 

While I continue doing research around my work schedule as well as cutting pieces at a pace slower than evolution to make the laminate frames for Brig Eagle,  I am undertaking a fighter-jet kit of interest I found online. This jet is the N/AW A-10B Warthog by Trumpeter, the experimental two-seat model that enabled the warthog to excel in night aviation attacks as well as adverse weather. This plane was launched in 1979, the same year that I was born. I have largely found in my personal opinions that the two-seat models of many American fighters are way more attractive than the single-seat usually in service in the military. Unfortunately only one model of this aircraft ever came off of the assembly line and never saw squadron service.

 

Overall, my opinion of this kit is good quality of parts except for cockpit details considering that this kit was made in China. There are these lame decals suggested that don't even resemble the real planes cockpits at all. For a kit of this scale I have come to expect better details especially of cockpits. Thankfully, after conducting research, I was able to come across quality photo-etch brass detailing of front cockpit and will kit-bash the back-seat. Also purchasable are fuselage detail pieces as well as a kit for detailing the weapons. Included are two pictures that someone took of the back-seat of real jet when it got downgraded from test aircraft at Edwards Airforce Base to museum exhibit status. The instruction manual has good illustrations of the construction and even included a short history of real plane with some pictures.  Also of interest with this kit are metal landing gears  as well as two high-detail resin engines.

 

Again, even though the real jet never saw active service in any squadrons,  I plan to take artistic license and display her with a squadron. The chosen group is Eielson's Ice Hawgs stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. Fully armed, this plane is definitely a bad-*** bird wouldn't want to mess around with. 

 

The wing, tail assembly, and engine casings are not currently glued to the fuselage, I just have them placed to show how big this kit is.

[lmagna]

Can't say much in regards to the two seat version but the A10 is possibly my favoritist modern jet! Looking forward to your rendition.

[bdgiantman2]

Hello friends, I have been making some progress on this model aircraft.  Having to use superglue to apply photo-etch brass to plastic is always interesting, and yes, I have come close a few times to gluing fingers together or even to the plane.  Even the weapons are getting pieces of brass installed. I am at the stage now where I will have to make the cockpits in order to proceed further with the construction of this plane.  Yay me, I get to learn how to do weathering and applying color washes!!  😃

[ah100m]

This a Fairchild Republic aircraft, not Grumman.  Right Island ("Long"), wrong company!

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, ah100m said:

This a Fairchild Republic aircraft, not Grumman.

 

Fixed!

[mtaylor]

I moved this to the "non-nautical" model area.

[Oldsalt1950]

The A-10 both versions single and dual seat all weather were developed on Fairchild - Republics money. The dual seat version came about because the Air Force needed a trainer for prospective A-10 pilots. Fairchild lost the trainer plane contract to Cessna which was really a shame since Fairchild's was willing to convert single seat versions of the a-10 to dual seat all weather aircraft for the cost of 6 million dollars to refit the planes doing both the structural and avionics changes in that price. The turn around time would have been 3 months in blocks of 100. I should know because i worked for Fairchild at the time as an aircraft finishing painter.

[Egilman]

That is a massive aircraft in 1/32 scale.... I"m in...

[bdgiantman2]

1 hour ago, Egilman said:

That is a massive aircraft in 1/32 scale....

This is also the heaviest aircraft model I think that I have ever constructed. Not sure what final weight will be of the scale model, but it will not be hanging from ceiling for sure.

[Canute]

Used to love listening to the Hog's gun when they strafed APCs at our range back in Jersey. I pulled duty as Range Control officer at Warren Grove. Very distinctive sound. And they chewed up the APC's armor. Our targets looked like Swiss cheese after a few weeks. You may want to hang some AGM-65 Maverick missiles on the wings, instead of those iron bombs or fuel tanks you showed in post #3. As a two seater, this would allow them to operate with more standoff weapons, such as the Mavericks.

[bdgiantman2]

I am planning to arm her with both the Mavericks and the MK-82 cluster bombs.  Will be using the Triple Ejector Racks for both weapons on either side of main gear pylons. I have been considering too having the external fuel tank on center rack just to give her some extra range abilities. 

 

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTT

[lmagna]

You may want to look at adding some nose weight as well. I think the A-10 in model form tends to be a tail dragger.

 

Ken

I think I fell in love with them all. The Vulcan, Specter/Puff, and later the A-10. After seeing and hearing my first A-10 in real life though I always thought they should have been nicknamed the Dragon instead of Warthog. They have the looks of a dragon and certainly the sound of breathing fire, to say nothing of what happens to the impact zone. 

 

I almost wish we could send all 280+ into the Ukraine along with the proper pilots and support systems. Putin could not say that we were sending in modern "State of the art" weapons. As 50 year old weapons () they are certainly older than the Hypersonic missiles he fired. I wonder what the battlefield map would look like after a week or two?

Edited July 19, 2022 by lmagna

[bdgiantman2]

10 minutes ago, lmagna said:

You may want to look at adding some nose weight as well. I think the A-10 in model form tends to be a tail dragger.

The instructions said to place weights into the ammunition drum for the nose cannon, which I have done. Its pretty heavy for the size of it. I have considered the possibility of adding so additional weights around the cockpits if space allows for it. 

[lmagna]

You may consider the inside of any of the larger wing mounted weapons as additional weight locations.

Edited July 19, 2022 by lmagna

[bdgiantman2]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

 And they chewed up the APC's armor. Our targets looked like Swiss cheese after a few weeks. 

58 minutes ago, lmagna said:

I almost wish we could send all 280+ into the Ukraine along with the proper pilots and support systems. Putin could not say that we were sending in modern "State of the art" weapons. 

 

When Zelenskyy was first asking America and the NATO forces about supplying his country with additional aircraft, and the first pictures afterwards starting coming out of destroyed lines of Russian ground vehicles,  I thought someone had sent over some A-10s to Ukraine.  The miles long line of Russian tanks and attack vehicles looked like Swiss Cheese with all the bullet holes in the vehicles. 

[lmagna]

That was possibly the SU-25 Frogfoot. It was designed to be a contemporary to the A-10.  Both the Ukrainians and Russians had them at the beginning of the war, but as far as I can tell almost, or all of the Ukrainian planes have been lost since the war started. Russian reported losses are much less reliable, plus as usual I believe they have/had more of them. Without going into a long comparison I think the A-10 is a much superior weapon for it's intended use than the SU-25 even though on paper they seem more equally matched. But that is paper.

[mtaylor]

They have made excellent use of drones against tanks, trucks, etc.  The drones have been a "game changer" as they say.

[lmagna]

Do you know what weapons they are using on the drones Mark? I thought they were mostly bombs and missiles. I was also under the understanding that at first they were highly effective but as the Russians have increased their air defense and EW presence they are being shot down much more often and losses are compounding.

 

It is my understanding that the newer A-10s have a much better stand off ability. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by lmagna

[mtaylor]

The drones have different weapons depending the make and model.  Some can carry everything, others it's a matter of mission and weapon  loadout.  I'm not sure about loses. There's too much smoke and mirrors coming from both sides as propaganda to be sure what the real numbers are.  There's lot of videos showing the drones doing their thing but there's some questions about when the vids were made, etc.   A couple have been debunked as coming from a video game.

 

I've heard that also about the A-10's along with better range and accuracy.

[lmagna]

The A-10 firing 50-75 rounds per second can place 80% of them into an area the size of a tank from about 2.5 miles away. (4000 yards) The missiles of course are from much further. Only ballistic bombs would be considered close up and personal depending on what they were going in against. I think we would task something to take out the radar or SAM ability just before a strike if possible if we had a proper deployment of US forces and equipment. The biggest problem facing the Ukraine as far as I see is that they never built a force that was intended to take on an army like the Russians It was intended for internal or possible border issues that would not require nearly the resources.  

[CDW]

On 7/20/2022 at 8:11 PM, lmagna said:

The biggest problem facing the Ukraine as far as I see is that they never built a force that was intended to take on an army like the Russians It was intended for internal or possible border issues that would not require nearly the resources.  

The biggest problem facing Ukraine is a decimated army with no replacements. Have you seen the video and photos of the older, middle-aged civilians they are putting out there to face the advancing Russian army? It's very sad to see. They have suffered heavy losses of their young men in this conflict.