AX 365 Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Never participated in a group build before and I thought I might take this opportunity to start. I have the a/m kit that I just opened today. Will post photos of unstarted kit later. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 Here's what I'm starting with... Pardon the shadows but I just put the box on the floor to use the sunlight through the window... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 Well, the cursing has started. The horizontal and vertical stabs went together extremely well. Very nicely engineered. Too bad I can't say the same thing for the engine nacelles. With the last few kits I've completed being Tamiya and Hasegawa offerings, I've been a little spoiled. There will be much dryfitting, sanding / filing, dryfitting, fitting, puttying, and sanding (with the occasional expletive thrown in for good measure within those steps! :) ) undertaken to get the nacelles and engines to look ok. Let the games begin... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ahaley Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Well, the cursing has started. The horizontal and vertical stabs went together extremely well. Very nicely engineered. Too bad I can't say the same thing for the engine nacelles. With the last few kits I've completed being Tamiya and Hasegawa offerings, I've been a little spoiled. There will be much dryfitting, sanding / filing, dryfitting, fitting, puttying, and sanding (with the occasional expletive thrown in for good measure within those steps! ) undertaken to get the nacelles and engines to look ok.Let the games begin... I just assembled my nacelles (same kit) last night, and the fit wasn't perfect, but not too bad either. My cursing will come when having to restore the raised detail that was destroyed when sanding!! I've never undertaken a re-scribing project before. I see the fuse on mine will have some of the same fit issues Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted March 26, 2008 Share Posted March 26, 2008 Hope there won't be too much trouble on this build for you. What marking are you planning to use on your A-10? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 Update #2: Got the engine pylons pretty well completed with the help of some Tamiya putty and a little elbow grease. They turned out OK but I'll work on them a bit more. Some rescribing (something I've never done) will be required and hopefully I don't hoop that too much. Patience will be the key... Cockpit assembly was pretty good also and it fit into the right fuselage half quite nicely. Will post some pics later. It's going to need a bunch of weight in the nose to keep its keester off the ground. When I dryfit everything prior to assembly, I taped 4 x 3/8 oz steel sinkers into the nose an I think that pretty well took care of everything. I might add a couple of smaller weights as well but not too many so that I splay the landing gear. As for markings, I'm going to play it simple....boxtop paint scheme and markings. Decals look relatively good so I think it'll turn out ok in the end. R.S. and ahaley...thanks for looking and your input. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 As promised, here are a few photos of what's been done so far. Pardon the quality of the pics. I'm using a brick that doubles for a Kodak DC3400... Fuselage... Wings... Tails... Engine Pylons... A few other things have been glued together (centre line fuel tank, rockets, ECM pod, wheels, etc) Will post more details later. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
53 Marine Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Nice work so far - looking forward to seeing more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 More progress made...wings, tails and engine pylons attached to fuselage. A bit of filler was required at front and rear joints where pylons attach to fuselage. Wings and horizontal stabilizers attached quite nicely. No filler required. Some filler and sanding required around front gear and cannon fairings but not too bad. Some painting started a few moments ago - centreline fuel tank, ECM pod and A6M-65D Mavericks painted Olive Drab. This should be a bit of a contrast to the overall colour scheme of grey over grey. I'm also going to try something different with the wheels and landing gear. I can't remember where I heard it - maybe Tools & Tips section - but I'm going to spray the landing gear legs and wheel hubs black and then give them ever so fine mist coats of white. Hopefully this will negate the need for post completion dirtying up of the landing gear. We'll see. Anyhow...a few progress photos... Left rear 3/4 view Left side view Engine pylons attached to fuselage Rear view Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Good to see the progress pics. Your A-10 is turning out great! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 Thanks, RS Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ahaley Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Thanks, RS Good progress! Yours looks a lot cleaner than mine did at this stage in the game Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted May 29, 2008 Author Share Posted May 29, 2008 (edited) Life has been busy. I had the first opportunity today to work on the build in a month. I just finished shooting the first coat of light grey over the entire model. No pics. Hopefully it'll only take one more coat before I'm able to do the dark grey. The painting the landing gear trick didn't work out quite as I expected but it doesn't look too bad on the wheels. A little more practice, I guess. Mike p.s. - thanks for the feedback "a" Edited May 31, 2008 by AX 365 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted June 6, 2008 Author Share Posted June 6, 2008 Just shot the dark grey over the light grey. Will see what it looks like after I take off some of the tape. No pics yet. Maybe Sunday... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Looking forward to seeing the pics AX. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted June 12, 2008 Author Share Posted June 12, 2008 As promised, here are a few shots. I suspect that the colour call outs on the instruction sheet are not the most accurate. Now, having said that, I couldn't find FS36559 (lt grey with a greenish hue) so I attempted my own concoction. I don't think there's enough green...although it is subtle. The dark grey is FS36270 (neutral grey). From looking at photos of a real aircraft, the colour contrast on a line jet is nowhere near as distinct as is on my representation. The hard demarcation lines will be softened up with a fine tip. The ECM pod, centreline fuel tank and the Mavericks all turned out ok. OD with a coat of Future for decal adhesion. Here goes nuthin'... Thoughts and comments always welcome. Thanks for looking. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jmel Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 I suspect that the colour call outs on the instruction sheet are not the most accurate. I suspect you're right. The colors should be light/dark ghost grey (FS 36375 and 36320, respectively). Did the kit instructions call for the colors you used? Nevertheless, it isn't that bad, and I'd imagine you can tone it down a bit once you begin to weather it. Jake Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 (edited) I suspect you're right. The colors should be light/dark ghost grey (FS 36375 and 36320, respectively). Did the kit instructions call for the colors you used?Nevertheless, it isn't that bad, and I'd imagine you can tone it down a bit once you begin to weather it. Jake Jake: Thanks so much for your insight. I'm starting my annual leave tomorrow so I'll have some time to repaint. I have 2 weeks to get this done before the deadline so I think I'll be ok. Will keep everyone posted on the revised painting next week. And to answer your query, I did use the colours suggested on the instruction sheet. Mike Edited June 16, 2008 by AX 365 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted June 18, 2008 Author Share Posted June 18, 2008 Well I repainted the thing dark ghost grey over light ghost grey yesterday and I can hardly make out the demarcation lines because the colours are so close. Oh well... I've also added the white to the vertical stabs as depicted on the boxtop art. I'll let the paint dry until tomorrow (Thursday) and I'll then give it a coat of Future for decal adhesion. Will probably start applying decals on Sunday. With any luck, the Future will have cured and then I can give it another light coat of Future to seal the decals on Monday. Let that cure for a few days and then touch ups and final assembly by the end of next week. Keep you advised. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 Future applied and curing. Have a list of chores for tomorrow and a golf tournament on Saturday. I'll start with the "stickys" (as my wife refers to the decals) on Sunday. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aarzee Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Anxious to see how she turns out with the decals applied ! Looks great so far ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Well...things have taken a bit of a turn for the worse I let the Future cure until this morning. After I sprayed the model with a coat of Future (not a mist coat and not slathered in it either) I noted that there was some pooling and there's a very bad case of cracked paint and Future on the right wing root. It had something to do with the Future because the paint was unblemished prior to my shooting the coat of Future. AGAIN!!! I've never had this problem spraying Future before but then again, I've never sprayed it over MM flat enamels either. It was always applied over Alclad or gloss enamels. Oh well. This one will be a three footer, for sure. Most of the decals have been applied and a couple of finishing touches have been made. No pictures today but probably tomorrow; depending on what the Queen Bee has planned for the worker bee tomorrow. Still on schedule for the June 30th completion. Whew... Thanks for your support, guys. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 (edited) Sorry to hear about the problems you recently encountered, but sounds like they'll be rectified. Looking forward to seeing the progress you've mentioned of this good looking Warthog. Edited June 24, 2008 by Raptor Supporter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 Thanks for the confidence boost RS. Unfortunately this kit is destined to go across the street to a young lad who likes airplanes. It would appear that I miscalculated the weight required to keep this model from being a tail dragger. I'm going to have to use the clear support strut supplied with the kit. I'm not very happy with this build. I will finish it and post a couple of pics to prove that I did finish it but I've let myself down. It's frustrating to build such a stinker when I know I'm capable of so much better. Oh well...a learning experience it's been. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 To be honest, I can't see what it is about your Warthog that would disappoint you. Of course, the last set of pics you posted shows an outstanding build to me, but this is before the problems you said you encountered. I'm still convinced the end result will look great and if you don't believe me, ask the kid you're going to eventually give it to. He's going to be beaming with joy once you put it in his hands. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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