Here I’ll be doing the new 1/48th Hobby Boss A-10 “Thunderbolt”. It is a new tool, but it does look like the 1/32 Trumpeter A-10. Merlin's done a first look review of it which can be see here.

As with most aircraft kits you start with the cockpit which is where I stared. The instrument panel is right and it’s detail isn’t that bad. As for the ACES ejection seat, it to is pretty good, only thing missing was the lap belts. I’ll make mine from masking tape.

The cockpit was painted in light ghost gray while the panels were painted in matt black. After the black dried I used my hobby knife and lightly scraped of the black from the knobs to bring out the grays, and scribed in the nicks and marking in the dials. After that Future floor wax was applied in to the dials to represent the glass.



I then scribed in the padding along the cockpit walls and wiped Ten-X to soften the lines up. It was then washed to make the stand out and dirty.





The wings were built pretty straight forward, you will need to dry fit. I knew I would have to fill the wings to the fuselage, but it’s a bit more than I expected.



At this moment I’m not sure which decals I’m going with, but here is my choices.



More in the next day or two.

Joe

Great job on the cockpit, Joe.

As for markings - I would go for the real hogs teeth markings and wrap around forest camouflage. I just seems right for the A-10.

I am looking forward to see more.

Looking good so far Joe. Thats a horrible join on the wingroot.
As for the camo scheme, I agree with Jesper, "Its got to have teeth".
Now I have sorted out my model room, progress should re-start on my NAW A-10 at some point.
Andy

I second that.

Nice work so far. Im looking forward to the rest of the build. Cool idea for the cockpit sidewalls mind if I steal it?

I’m back with a second update, here are the engine nacelles. The openings are miss shaped and thick. I used a pencil and wrapped sand paper around it to get an even and thinner shape.



The top-mounted engine pylons need some putty work inside and out. The gaps were large on the insides, once dried they were sanded.



Two of the side compartment panels open to expose avionics, circuit breakers and control systems. I wanted to make this look a bit more busy.





This is the back of the compartment which hold the components.



Just wanted to get a quick look to see how it's fitting in, more is need to be added.



More to follow,
Joe

Looks like you are doing a great job so far. It looks like you are already running into issues and you have barely gotten started. Hopefully, the fit issues won't be ongoing.

I look forward to seeing more.

Where the heck did you find 48th scale Unistrut?

Looking good Joe. A member on the Norwegian IPMS site posted these A-10 pictures some days ago. I thought you would like to see them. One can never get enough references.

Erik

Thanks guys, Erik great pics...need the one close up of the nose gun. Ok onto the latest up-date.

I decided to leave out the engine nacelles (C8+9) to make painting easier. I did attach the intakes throat (C24) to them. They slide in pretty well once painted.



I noticed that the intakes mouth (C19+20) were a tight fight and would not fit into place.



So I decided to scrape the inner walls using my hobby knife to make a good.



After that I noticed that it didn’t have the proper fitting. The seams didn’t want to match up, so I had to scrape again and cut back some of the fitting ring on parts (C19+20).



Here it is after the corrections, now I’ll disassemble it to get it ready for paint.





Here’s the fuselage dry-fitted to see if any other corrections are needed and where to putty next.



More to follow soon,
Joe

Progressing forward…I decided to build the A-10 after 2000, in doing so some minor changes and scratch building was needed to be done. Here’s a few notes I’d like to point out first.

Early production A-10’s were not fitted with (LASTE) Low Altitude Safety and Targeting Enhancement or GPS. You will need to remove the LASTE sensors from the outsides of the fins and the GPS dome from behind the canopy.

Second phase A-10’s came with LASTE systems, the Hobby Boss comes with the sensors (2 each tail fin) but the kit is missing two from under the stabilizers. There easy enough to make, just follow off the ones from the tail fin.

Lastly the GSP dome mounted on top of the fuselage, the A-10 did not receive them until 1999, so if you decide to build one from the first Gulf War you’ll have to remove it.

The Hobby Boss kit comes with a Radar Warning System which was removed long ago. This kit only has the one, it’s located bottom fuselage in the rear. It’s shaped like a diamond and can be found on the other 1/48th kits.

I also relocated the UHF antenna (see pic) and will add on 005mm strips for the formation lights. She is now ready to paint which I'm hoping to do so tonight.







I forgot to mention that modern A-10’s have two vent tubes behind the formation lights on top of the fuselage, they were made from 0.04mm round rod. More to follow.

Joe

The Hawg is one of my favorites, and I know this one is going to turn out as a masterpiece!

Looking forward to the next update. Great work so far.

Hi Joe

This build is coming along very nicely. Thanks for the very good updates with very clear explanations on how to improve the kit.

Thanks for your time and effort - Looking forward to see more

Paint update,
I finished painting the A-10 today, I went with a more modern paint scheme. Also I just could not bring myself to do another cammo scheme. I first did a pre-shade using a dark gray along the panel lines. For the base colors, Model Masters Lt. Ghost Gray #1728, FS36375 and Dk. Ghost Gray #1741, FS36320.

I first applied a thin coat of the Lt. Ghost Gray (first pic) then followed by a normal coat. Then it was masked off for the Dk. Ghost Gray. I haven't painted the false canopy under the fuselage yet as I'm not sure if I will or not. Not all A-10's are painted with it on. If I do decide to do so, it will be painted in Model Masters Gunship Gray #1723, FS36118

I'm now ready to spray on the Future gloss for the oil wash and decals. I'll be using Paynes Gray and Lamp Black oils for the wash. I'm going for the well used used and dirty look...not that dirty though but well used. I hate seeing a out of factory just painted look on scale aircraft.

I forgot to mention that after I glued and filled the fuselage together I lost some minor detail. So to fix that I re-scribed the panel lines and used a .014 drill bit to make up for the lost recessed rivets.















More to folllow,
Joe

Well here she is it's oil wash, Paynes Gray and Lamp Black with a touch of Burnt Sienna. Testors dull coat was sprayed on to tone it down. I will next use a very thinned light gray (10% to 90%) for a bleached look. Now it's time for the weapons











More to follow,
Joe

Hi Joe!

Looks great so far! I like how you always achieve to make those grey paintschemes look interesting.

I'm looking forward to the end result.

Jean-Luc

Hi Joe

It looks very good. You are making a great job on this one.

The shading looks really good. I am building an all grey Seaharrier now. I will try to dublicate your shading effect.

It is a joy to follow your build - thanks for your time and effort

Joe,
Do you have finished pics of your build? I got the kit a few weeks ago, and plan to build it when I am in Iraq, so I am taking your thread with me!

Thanks,

Michael

Hey Mike,
Yes I did finish it, I needed to get some dull coat on before posting pics. The only problem is that the one hobby shop here did not have any in stock the last two weeks. I was able to get one can yesterday so I will be posting pics later this afternoon.

Joe

Joe,

I eagerly await the pictures. I am finishing up the early 1990's Tamiya A-10. I was going to hang it from my seven-year-old daughter's ceiling, as she is a big Kim Campbell fan, but I think the weight of all of the putty would pull my roof into my house.

Michael

Well here she is, and I have to say it was one of the best A-10’s I’ve done in sometime. I was really surprised at the amount of putty needed…very very little, about a nickels worth. I wanted to point out earlier that the A-10’s are tail sitters. Before I start the building process I tape up the main components and add clay to the nose till it sit right. Then I take the clay and add it into the nose fuselage just before I close it up.

I do wish I paid more attention to the rear cockpit canopy before I finished it. There is some gaping and it sit about 1mm high. One thing is that you’ll have to be careful with the canopies, they are fragile and I cracked the front piece during masking.

Overall I recommend it…it’s a bit pricey but I’m sure the cost will go down over time. Any question or comments please feel free to ask.

Joe



























Joe

You are good Joe, really, really good! That Warthog looks amazing. Congrats on yet another excellent build.

Cheers
Erik

Hi Joe!

Excellent job!

I'm almost tempted to do an A-10 myself!

Jean-Luc

Looks darn good to me also.Good job.
Have you tried the Tamiya One Joe?

Joe - that is a tremendous job, mate - superb! I am just about to start a Tamiya 1:72 A10, and I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks for the tips during your build - I'll need to remember the one about the A10 being a "tail sitter". Good stuff dude. Cheers