Italeri 1/48 A-10 Thunderbolt II

[adampolo13]

Good evening all. So, while I'm in the midst of finishing up my B-17, (First aircraft build ever) I'm taking Bomber Boy's advice and starting on another build. I was going to build the AV-8B next, but I bought PE set from Eduard and I have never used PE before. The project looks a little daunting right now. I'm pretty sure that this kit is going to be a good inbetween build between the B-17 and the Harrier. My wife got me this kit for xmas and she was kind enough to buy the Italeri Detail set for it to. So I'll get to practice with the PE.

Progress as of the end of tonight:

First attempt at PE: (I love it)

Unpainted landing Gear area. (I forget the actual name.)

I laid down some primer:

Thanks for looking!

 

[Bomber Boy]

Uh Oh, you're pickin up on my habits!!! Multiple model builds and all !!! They (aircraft) get under your skin don't they.

Good luck on the A-10 with the practice you've been getting on The B-17.

James

 

[Glorfindel]

I'm halfway through the HobbyBoss A-10 and am glad to see your jumping into finishing off the wheel bays first. A practice I didn't exactly conform to. Your a smarter man then I am. That PE is going to make this pig fly! ;D

 

[adampolo13]

Hey Glorfindel, this is my second aircraft build, I'm starting to realize I'm going to learn something new on every build. How do you like the Hobby Boss build? Did you start a thread on the forum here? I would love to see some pics of the cockpit.

This is where I'm at now:

There areas where the paint pealed back, I'm not too worried because it wont be seen once the ejection seat is in. I'm loving the PE!!!

 

[Myke]

NICE! Love the A-10. That PE is really sticking out and looking sharp.

 

[adampolo13]

Okay everybody. I had about 30 minutes today to work on the A-10. (I've been neglecting my B-17 and she needs some attention tonight) Here's where I'm at now.

I dryfit the main wings before gluing the two fues halves together. I wanted to make sure the gaps weren't too bad. It looks like nothing is too bad.

Bottom View:

Cockpit Tub:

I went ahead and glued the two halves together which included gluing in the cockpit tub, Instrument Panel, and wheel bay. Because of the way everything went together I had to glue the landing gear area into the right half first, then glue the left half. Because there is so much access to the inside of the fueselage I glued it from the inside using CA glue. I really enjoyed the process of using CA glue, it came out very clean.

 

[Glorfindel]

adampolo13 your cockpit looks 1K times better then mine. Your wife hooked you up with the PE because that cockpit of yours looks sick. The office in the HobbyBoss kit is lacking to say the least. I have to tell you though I'm wishing I picked up that Eduard PE and customized it to fit the HB kit. The decent thing in the HB kit is the ejection seats...their pretty well detailed for plastic.
No I didn't post picks of my build though tonight I just re-preshaded and applied another top coat because I didn't like the way the first attempt came out. I might have to whip out the AB and make some minor touch ups due to some pre-shading showing a bit strong through the top coat.
I'll be keeping an eye on your build. Keep up the good work.

 

[adampolo13]

Glorfindel, thank you! I'm pretty excited about the cockpit, the kit has the option of leaving the canopy open which I'm defiantly going to attempt! Im going to spend the next few days finishing up my B-17, but I'm sure before the end of the week I'll have an update on this bird.

 

[adampolo13]

I know I said I wouldn't work on her till later this week. Well, I couldn't sleep last night....
I started on the seam lines. I went at it with CA glue and baking soda. So far so good. I decided to rescribe lines and put rivets back in as I go.

First seam:

After re-scribiing and rivets:

Seam under cockpit (I'm not sure if you can tell, but there was a pretty large seam, now filled with CA)

Thanks!

 

[adampolo13]

Now that I'm done with the B-17 I can get right along with my A-10 (without feeling like I'm neglecting something) I've noticed I get very attached to my little ladies. Does anybody else experience the same thing?

Anyways, here is where I'm at:

I had glued the bottom of the wings to the fues before I put the wings together. I also glued the rear stab and the fins together seperate.

I attached the tops of the wings and tapped them up TIGHT. I used Tamiya extra thin cement to glue the wings in place. Same process with the rear stab.

I sure am glad I did it this way!

I dryfit the fins and took some pics. She has such a sweet profile!!!

Thanks again for watching!

 

[glennonrp]

Adam, are you familiar with other solvents? I got some Tenax 7R and some Plastic-Weld and I wonder if it would make setting wings easier or more difficult than the extra thin you used. Also, how did you find the angle that the wings were supposed to be at? I am looking forward to seeing this build.

 

[Myke]

ohh, progress...., I like it. Keep it up man. Love your spray booth too!

 

[wyoroy]

Great progress. So do you plan to add a full load of weapons ;D

 

[adampolo13]

Glennorp, I have tried some other solvents and haven't be satisfied with the results. I acutally did not look at reference pics until after the wings were glued. Opps.

Myke, thanks for the commplement on the spray booth. Nothing like a trip to home depot with a $10 bill.

Wyoroy, I am goning to load this bad girl up!

Okay, so here is some progress. I have never worked with resin before so I wanted to try it out, plus I'm getting close to having to put the engine in.

 

[wyoroy]

Good to hear your loading her up. Nothing worse than an A-10 with no weapons, unless it's after a mission ;D

The gun is looking sweet.

 

[Quaralane]

Definitely some excellent work going on here

 

[Myke]

Nice work with the resin. Gun is going to look beastly.
10 bucks? what extractor fan did you purchase? Does it work pretty well? It's the only thing I'm still shopping around for.

 

[adampolo13]

Myke,
It's not the right way to do it, but I used an old fan I had lying around the house. I made the booth out of cardboard and a clothes dryer vent as the exhaust tube. As far as it goes as a booth it's okay but it does keep the fumes out of the house (which is all my wife wanted). I plan on building a proper booth with a better fan and filter system but I need to finish our bathroom first. (it's been gutted to the studs)

 

[JMac]

That's a big built Adampolo13, nice start. I like the idea of displaying the gun on the trolley.

 

[adampolo13]

JMac, thank you for the complement! The gun and the trolley came with the super detail kit. The gun kit itself did not fit well at all and it took a look of patience to get it all together. I'm heading out of town for a few days so I wont have any updates for a little while.