This next commission build is another A-10. I will be using Academy’s 1/48 A-10C “75th FS Flying Tigers” kit. The scheme will be how this aircraft looked in 2014. I will be adding Eduard photo etch detail set, Master Model brass gun, Ares resin ejection seat, and I will be using eight LED’s and some fiber optics to illuminate the aircraft. It will be mounted on a wood base with a hidden battery and switch to turn the lights off and on. The LED’s are from Evan’s Design and are their PICO size LED’s one of which is a flashing red. This will be for the upper and lower lights of the fuselage. The LED will hook to two fiber optic lines so the flashing lights will flash together.
I started off building the nose gear bay. The kit bay is very detailed and very close to the reference photos. The strut itself was modified using the Eduard photo etch set. The nose gear strut has two landing lights mounted on it and the kit has them as separate parts. I drilled out the lens portion. I then cut a small slit along the bottom for the wiring. The PICO size LED’s fit perfectly inside the light housing. These were glued in using acrylic gel and then the clear lens from the kit was attached to the front. The lights were then mounted to the strut and the wiring was then routed up and through the rear bulk head when I installed the strut into the bay. I also added some detail wiring on the strut and the nose wheel.
Next I turned to the cockpit. The Eduard set includes all the panels for the cockpit tub and the instrument panel. I cleaned up the tub and instrument panel then painted and applied the photo etch.
I am working on the Ares resin ejection seat now and then I can assemble the forward section of the fuselage.
You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: 1/48 Academy A-10C
The second week of the A-10C I was able to get the forward fuselage together. I also added a couple of lead weights so the aircraft will sit on the landing gear correctly. Part of the forward fuselage is the lower panel and the upper panel behind the cockpit. Both of these panels have flashing red lights. The kit does not provide clear parts for the light lenses. I trimmed off the plastic of the lenses and used .75mm fiber optic lines to make the lenses. I then made an optical driver for these. This allows both lights to flash in sync.
While the optical driver was drying I looked at the tails. These have two navigation lights. Reviewing reference photos the lights do not shine outward but rather upward to shine across the outside surface of the tails. Instead of using fiber optics I cut odd the molded lights and drilled thru the tail. This allowed me to use PICO LED’s and aim them upward. The light housing was then made out of acrylic gel. With this section painted black and then a top coat of dark ghost grey so the LED only shines upward. The final effect matches the reference photo.
Moving back to the forward fuselage the optical driver for the flashing lights was then mounted inside and the panels were mounted onto the forward fuselage. One of the nice things about this kit is the aft fuselage. It is one piece which makes routing wires easier. I routed all the wires from the front to the open section that the engines will mount to later on.
The next step was to add the wing tip lights. This was the second challenge. The wing tips curve down on the aircraft. Due to angles I could not use fiber optics to illuminate the wingtip lights. Just like the tail lights I cut out the molded lights and installed the red and green wingtip lights into the wingtip and again used acrylic gel to make the lenses. A small channel was filed to route the wires into the wing. I then applied a thin coat of putty to the backside and sanded it flush making the LED and wiring hidden from the inside view. The wiring was routed along the inside of the wing. I then added the power lines through the main gear bays. These wires will look like the hydraulic lines down the landing gear struts and go into the wheels and come out the bottom of the tires which will go to the battery inside the display base later on. I then assembled the wings and added the photo etch details for the CHAFF blocks.
Finally I cut off the aft navigation light and used a .75mm fiber optic line to create the lens. I then used a small diameter styrene tube to make the optical driver and house a PICO LED. I am now working on assembling the wings onto the fuselage and get all the wires routed to one location under the engines. I need to then detail and install the main landing gear and then finish up the wiring then I can start adding the finer details to the aircraft fuselage.
You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: 1/48 Academy A-10C
The third week of the A-10C I installed the wings and tail assembly. Before I get into the work completed this week I few reach backs. First I neglected to add a photo of the cockpit installed into the fuselage showing the ejection seat details. The second was a correction. I originally had red flashing beacon lights on the topside and underside of the fuselage. I had a few fellow modelers and one Veteran who also worked on A-10’s let me know that these lights are actually white lights and they do not flash similar to the rest of the navigation lights. Since these both use fiber optic lines I was able to remove the red flashing LED and replace it with a white LED.
Now for this week’s work, all of the wiring was routed to the section under the engines I then ran wires from the wire bundle thru each wing thru the landing gear bays, down the landing struts, into the wheel hubs, and finally exiting out thru the tires. These will then be routed through the display base and hooked to the power switch and battery. The nose was modified so the brass gun barrels could fit correctly. The brass gun barrels are also more accurately sized for the 1/48 scale. The kit version is a little shorter in length. The nose was then installed along with the main gear struts. The wires for the lighting were attached to the struts replicating the hydraulic lines. I then installed all of the hard points for mounting all of the weapons later.
I am now working on the base coat of paint. I started on the bottom with Light Ghost Grey with a Gunship Grey oval around the nose gear bay. Still have some more detail painting then I can work on the topside Light Ghost Grey and Dark Ghost grey scheme. Once I finish the base coat I will move onto the deals.
You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: 1/48 Academy A-10C
The Forth week of the A-10C the engine nacelle was detailed and installed. I used Vallejo Metal Paint Jet Exhaust for the exhaust and Vallejo Metal Paint Duraluminum for the intake. Having the nacelle assembly in one piece makes it nice not having to worry about seams, however installing the engine assemblies are a little tricky when it comes to gluing the upper support. I used a thin brush to glue the rear section in. I then painted the aircraft using Light Ghost Gray, Dark Ghost Gray, Gunship Gray, and some flat Black.
Next I began applying all the decals. The kit decals are nice and thin. The good news is they lay down and the surface details shows thru just fine. The slightly less good news is the larger decals have a tendency to fold under. Once the shark mouth decals had dried I painted the gun housing black for the mouth. When painting I covered the lights using Microscale’s liquid mask. After I prayed a clear dull coat to seal the decals I removed the masking and performed a light check. All good!
I am now working on the various weapons and pods for the under stores. Once these are finished I will then assemble the canopy and windscreen. It looks like the canopy has a mold seam along the top so I will need to remove it and then polish the canopy. I should have the aircraft completed this upcoming week and then I can start on the display base which will house the battery and a switch to turn the lights off and on.
You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: 1/48 Academy A-10C
The fifth week of the A-10C I worked on cleaning up, painting, and applying decals on the weapons. For the AIM-9 missiles I trimmed the nose off and made the IR sensor using acrylic gel. I painted then nose after trimming using chrome silver and I also painted the nose area on the maverick missiles as well. The acrylic gel was then applied to the nose of the AIM-9’s. I also installed the clear nose to the maverick missiles as well. All of these were then painted with Tamiya smoke to tint them like the nose lens of the missiles.
On the Litening pod I painted the inside of the turret chrome silver then painted the lenses using Tamiya clear yellow and clear blue. On the actual Litening pod there are a couple of screens on the tail. I located some photo etch screens and replicated these.
I then used the photo etch set to install the HUD in the cockpit. The windscreen was detailed, painted and installed. For the canopy what I thought was a seam was actually the molded canopy antenna. I then added the photo etch details and mirrors to the canopy. I will be installing the canopy in the open position so I am going to wait until the aircraft is mounted to the display base before the installation. Finally I installed all the missiles, bombs, rockets, and pods to the underside of the aircraft.
Next I started working on the display base. I positioned the aircraft and then drilled the holes for the wires and the front wheel which will be pinned down. I then made a battery holder which will hold the 9V battery to power the lights. I then needed to figure out where to mount the switch. The display base has a thick ring around the edge. Due to the thickness and height it would be difficult to drill out for the switch. The display base will have an etched nickel nameplate mounted onto it so I decided to create an angled plate to hold the nameplate. The mount will also house the switch on the backside. I used some sheet styrene to make the mount. The nameplate was ordered and should arrive early next week.
Finishing up the display base I painted the edge with gunship gray and the surface was a base coat of gull gray and a mixture of camouflage gray, medium gray, dark earth, and sand yellow to replicate a tarmac in Afghanistan. So for the sixth and final week I will be installing the aircraft to the base and finishing up some minor details of paint and weathering. Then I will complete the wiring and finish this commission build.
You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: 1/48 Academy A-10C
After six weeks the Academy 1/48 A-10C of the “flying Tigers” is finished! The week started off mounting the aircraft to the display base and wiring the lights and switch to the battery. Next I installed the canopy in the open position and the boarding ladder. The nameplate arrived a few days later. This was the final thing to be installed on to the display base.
In review this kit was one of the better A-10C kits I have built. The detail and fit of parts were excellent. The instructions are well done and the decals are very nice. The only parts that were a little difficult were assembling the engines into the engine nacelles. I would say it is worth the trouble to having one piece nacelles. The other was the windscreen to the fuselage. The fuselage side is thinner walled than the windscreen so a little putty was required to fill in the difference. The one piece rear section of the fuselage was a nice feature and it worked well for adding the lighting. Overall I would recommend this kit for someone looking to build an A-10C. Thank you for following along, Happy Modeling!
You can see all the photos, a video, and details from start to finish in the build log at: 1/48 Academy A-10C
