jmel Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Wow, Chuck, great work on that nose gear. Very impressive. Jake Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 (edited) Thanks Gents- now another small update from tonight, mostly because I won't be doing much modeling for the next several days and I want to make sure I get this important stage documented properly. As GEH737 reminded me, this model requires lots of weight in the front to hold down the nose. The resin cockpit is fairly heavy already and with no support on the bottom, keeping it secure dangling within the fuselage could be a problem. To help keep the weight up and to create some support, I left the casting block on the bottom and then just trimmed the starboard side edge so that it fit snugly against the front gear well assembly. Here's how it should look dry fitted. The front of the cockpit is resting on the dry fitted gear well, allowing you to retain almost all of the casting block. From the side, the CE cockpit fits perfectly against the fuselage halves, EXCEPT the instrument panel, which is too wide. Rather than trim the sides of the IP and lose some detail, I just cut some notches in the fuselage halves at the right angle to accommodate the IP, which is tilted ever so slightly backward. These notches were carefully cut after the temporary installation of the glare shield (coaming), just to make sure everything lined up properly. With the fuselage halves glued together, I don't think I'll need to glue the IP or the glare shield to the fuselage, because everything is now held in place like a jigsaw puzzle... The glare shield, HUD display and a few hinge parts for the canopy were painted flat black, along with the sills of the fuselage halves, in preparation for final assembly. It's alot easier to paint this stuff now, rather than worry about masking off the cockpit later. Weight. Apparently I need lots of it, even with the resin cockpit, because I have totally deleted the internal gun parts because they will never be seen. I have never built a tail sitter before, but I have watched lots of builds where modelers threw all sorts of crap in the front fuselage to add weight. The use of fishing weights is fairly common, but I wanted something that could be installed easily and the total weight adjusted fairly accurately. Hunting around in my local sporting goods department for weights, I found THIS! "Pencil Lead", which is a coiled rope of lead about the width of a pencil. It is easy to cut with wire cutters and can be configured in just about any way required by a modeler. Starting at the very front of the fuselage, there is a fairly obvious place to stick a bit of this lead rope in the depression for the air intake to the gun. I cut the front of the lead at an angle and cemented it in with a good bead of thick CA glue on both sides. After the glue dries, I'll paint everything flat black, so with the slope of the front of the lead, you won't see an abrupt obstacle if you peer into the front of the gun vent. I could have added more weight here, but I didn't want too much weight on a part that still needs to be glued to the fuselage sides. Note all the hydraulic lines for the gear well were cemented on the outside to make sure they didn't fall out later. For the front fuselage sides, I cut two 4 inch pieces and glued them in the same way on either side, tilting the kit parts so that the thick CA glue didn't run off where I don't want it as it dried. This is the same area the kit instructions ask for two helpings of 80 grams of weight (160 grams total) within the gun shell drum and along the fuselage bottom, so the location should be good. Between the heavy resin cockpit and the three strands of lead, I think this will be enough weight, but I'll take GEH737's tip and leave the front fuel door off on the nose until I'm sure (Thanks for the tips sir!). This gives me the option to add more weight later on top of the gun vent, which should be very easy using this new (to me) "Pencil Lead" product. I hope this update was of some use! I'm just dying to get the fuselage halves together permanently, because dry fitting everything together really looks good. Cheers, Chuck Edited May 28, 2013 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
boom175 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Hey Chuck, just a FYI that silver container is a reservoir for the windshield wash system. The four blue dots are sight glasses with a little ball in each glass so its easy to tell how much fluid is in the reservoir. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 "Putting Lipstick on a Pig Kit" Chuck....it looks like you're done with the lipstick and have moved on to the eye shadow and stuff........ B) :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Aah, the cockpit just look so real! beautiful work! Also admire your work on the front well.... very clean scratchbuilding there. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Budman Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 Chuck, With what we have seen of this kit so far, you would have been better off if the kit had furnished solid blocks of plastic so you could just carve an A-10 out of them!! To say this kit is total junk would be to compliment it. You are one of a very few that can end up with a beautiful build with such a kit. I look forward to watching you ply your many skills and talents to this shoddy kit. Bud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted May 30, 2013 Author Share Posted May 30, 2013 (edited) Thanks guys- and thank you Bud for stopping by! Yes Bud, this kit is, as Jake Melampy once described it to me, a DOG. If Tamiya or Academy made at Warthog in 1/32, I'd throw this kit in the garbage and start over. Just about every panel line is wobbly, in the wrong place at least half the time, the parts are crudely molded with poor detail and the mating surface fit from part to part is really bad. The cockpit is a joke, the resin engines may as well come from the Starship Enterprise for accuracy and the nose and front windscreen are poorly shaped. I think because of this, there aren't a lot of builds of this kit well documented on the 'net compared to other popular kits. Sure there's a bunch of builds where every pic is from about 2 feet away so you can't see details and there is the odd really good representation out there, but most of them look fairly so-so, because the kit is so tough to begin with. For those interested in how other's have done with this kit, check out this Scalemates link to many A-10's in 1/32. Christian Gerard's (about 17 down from the top) is particularly impressive- and he made this way back in 2004! I hope mine turns out half as good: A-10 Builds There is a silver lining to the difficulty of getting this build to look half decent. First and foremost, there is no alternate in 1/32 if you want to build an A-10 and all these problems can be fixed with a little effort. Second, there is after-market help out there, most of which I'm using and third, I'm now finally starting to really like the challenge of the kit. Notwithstanding my complaints above, I'm (almost) over whining about them and at every new step, I now think, "How can I fix that and make it look better?", rather than "OMG, now what!". :o/> I got the front fuselage halves together last night and now I'm working on the big seam gaps, but I'm not complaining! I think you guys will really like the looks of the cockpit parked in the fuselage with the glare shield and HUD in place, so I should have pics up soon. Edited June 2, 2013 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
karl h Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 dont you think having just tamiya kits would be boring? bad kit challenge us to use all our abilities (or at least learn somthing) i enjoy watching you build this dog more than a perfect kit (i got the A-10 too with all the CE/CAM aftermarket and am taking notes all along) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
galfa Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 (edited) dont you think having just tamiya kits would be boring? bad kit challenge us to use all our abilities (or at least learn somthing) i enjoy watching you build this dog more than a perfect kit (i got the A-10 too with all the CE/CAM aftermarket and am taking notes all along) Honestly, I think that having just Tamiya quality kits would make us happier and our hobby way more popular. Why? Just because it is a hobby. As a hobby, scale modelling should be fun and rewarding. If building a scale model turns to be a frustrating experience and the final result does not match expectations, there is not reason not to disengage and start thinking about something else. Edited May 31, 2013 by galfa Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ghatherly Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Hi Chuck, Keep your spirits up as you are doing a fantastic job. I feel your frustration with having to fix so much in working on the two Revell Phantoms. I found a fatal error in the RF-4C build it ended up int he trash. The Geasel I am build in from your gift is on hold as I needed a break from scratch building for a while, So I am working on my Tamiya F-15C. The reward will be worth it when you are done. I remember modeling as a kid( 1970's) and there was none of the neat accessories like there is today, or the easy access to references and experts to help out. Back then I never had the bucks to have the tools to do it right in the scratch department and lost interest. After picking it up again, I really like not only the accessories, but the amount of raw materials and computer tools to make the builds really what we want in terms of details. Don't mean to get side tracked, just want to offer you my encouragement and keep up the good work. Oh, Thanks for the advice on the Iwata Airbrush. I got one a couple of months ago and the 15C will be the first kit I paint with it, after taking time to get the details worked out for painting with such a fantastic tool. Keep plugging away as it looks great!!!!! Take Care, Gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 (edited) Thanks Guys. Don't mean to get side tracked, just want to offer you my encouragement and keep up the good work. Oh, Thanks for the advice on the Iwata Airbrush. I got one a couple of months ago and the 15C will be the first kit I paint with it, after taking time to get the details worked out for painting with such a fantastic tool. Keep plugging away as it looks great!!!!! Take Care, Gary Thanks for the words of encouragement Gary! I have two Iwata airbushes (HP-C Plus and CM-C Plus) and I just love them, so I'm sure you'll love yours too once you get the hang of it. With the front gear well detailed, the cockpit finished and weight added to the front fuselage, it was now time to glue everything together. The bottom gear well doesn't fit very well, mostly because I sanded down the front sides so much earlier. An easy fix with a little more sanding and I still need to tweak some of those new panel lines so they are less jagged. The bottom fit, however, is all Trumpeter with big gaps, because I sanded nothing down here. Harder to fix, but very doable. Because the mating surfaces are so rough between fuselage halves, I really laid on the glue to sort of weld everything together. The front antenna is still way too thick, but I'm going to leave it that way as as sturdy front peg for the fuselage to rest on until I get the landing gear on, then I'll sand it down much thinner. This part should never have been molded on in the first place. Those gear well ribs look pretty good from this angle.... With some tweaks to the front glare shield and front IP notched into the fuselage, everything fits together very, very, well. The HUD, which still needs glass work, is not cemented in yet and the paint colors of the cockpit sills still need more painting later... I added decal detail to the front of the glare shield and camera on the HUD to sort of replicate what I see on the real deal. Not perfect, but better than nothing there. For the big square screen on the right, I painted it black first, then laid in a thick coat of Future mixed with acrylic clear green paint. Excuse the sanding dust... Before I work on filling the gaps on the bottom, I'm going to use the same trick I used on my Mustang build to protect the cockpit. The seat sits higher than the sills of the cockpit, so it will be damaged if you just flip it over, so I use ordinary foam pipe wrap to protect it. If you do this, make sure you get pipe wrap with a glued tape edge, so that it will stick to the sides of the fuselage and not slip. The front fueling door panel will remain off until I'm sure I don't need any more weight up front, which can easily be slipped in with more lead later if required. Before I glued the fuselage sides together, I worked on the gun. Here are the front gun offerings from Trumpeter, Verlinden and Cutting edge respectively from left to right, with the CE one as a two piece part so that you can drill out the circular cooling vents. Not only is the Trumpeter part in two halves, the circular vents are the wrong size. Gee, which one should I use? To get the CE gun front to fit, you need to really thin the gun shroud, which is OK because the real deal is very thin as well. Be careful to sand the interior of the shroud symmetrically, or you'll sand through one side. The two antennae on the nose will also be left off until the end to avoid breakage. Those marks you see are the filled in holes of where the kit parts were supposed to go, which are the wrong shape and in the wrong place. That's it for now boys- and thanks for checking in. Edited June 2, 2013 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zaxos345 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Amazing work there Chuck!!! John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nimrod77 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Amazing work Chuck :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Beautiful job Chuck,but this's an ordinary thing from you! Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jester292 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Very nice. Are you going to replicate all the denting in the nose from the refueling boom? Looking forward to more, as is everyone else! Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caudleryan Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I think this guy is your long lost brother. http://www.arcair.com/Gal5/4901-5000/gal4947_A-10_Lorusso/00.shtm RYAN. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 Thank you gentlemen! Progress on the front fuselage has been very slow and I'm re-doing a number of panel lines to make them more accurate and, in some cases, a bit straighter than my first attempts. For example, the nose cone panel line is a bit too wobbly, so I filled it in and re-scribed it. I am also re-doing every panel line and rivet and I will be adding a bunch of new raised rivets that are missing as well. There are still lots of big gaps to fill, so I'm taking my time with the hopes of doing a good job. Hopefully all this tedious work will all be worth it in the end. Nothing to show right now and there won't be for about 2 weeks. My wife just retired as a Dental Hygienist and as a reward for putting her hands in dirty mouths for 36 years, I'm taking her to Paris for a getaway. This should get me several points for future modeling time at her expense, so it's not all for her! I've been to Paris before and seen the usual museums and of course the Eiffel Tower, but are there any military or aeronautical museums to save me from non stop shopping? Your guidance would be appreciated. BTW, I'm going to be too early for the Paris Air Show, which starts on the 17th while I return on the 14th. Now THAT would have been fun! I think this guy is your long lost brother. http://www.arcair.com/Gal5/4901-5000/gal4947_A-10_Lorusso/00.shtm RYAN. Yes, that build is incredible and I even have a full pdf article on that how Girolamo Lorusso put it together. I don't know where I got it, but it is titled "AIR44-Trumpeter 1-32nd A-10A", if somebody wants to look it up. I don't have the skill or patience to do all that scratch building of the many panels, so my focus will be on the overall finish. We all have our modeling strengths and weaknesses, so I'll stick to my one strength! FYI, this build isn't accurate either, with many post LASTE features while others are missing. I'm not being critical, because you can't make this kit totally "correct" anyway, so you may as well build what you want and not worry about too many details. THAT, in a nutshell, is my overall plan for this build as well. See you for now and thanks for your continued interest in this challenging project. Chuck Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nikosmeta Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Frilly great job. I can't wait to see more. Greetings from Greece Nick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Wolstenholme Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 (edited) Hi Chuck, coming along very nicely indeed. I'd throw this kit in the garbage and start over. Just about every panel line is wobbly, the parts are crudely molded with poor detail and the mating surface fit from part to part is really bad. I'm now finally starting to really like the challenge of the kit. Don’t remember these sorts of problem with the kits I bought back in 2001. Could this be due (in part) to worn moulds? Guess it didn’t take to the end of the build to think differently! Who knows you may even do another Trumpeter kit. Remember if it isn't modified..... Regards John Edited June 5, 2013 by John Wolstenholme Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Chuck, still cannot get over how good that cockpit looks! The cannon muzzle is already looking nasty, nice. Something else: I noticed you leave on the blade aerial underneath the nose, it kinda jumps out at me as being on the thick side? Cheers, Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 Don’t remember these sorts of problem with the kits I bought back in 2001. Could this be due (in part) to worn molds? Guess it didn’t take to the end of the build to think differently! Who knows you may even do another Trumpeter kit. Remember if it isn't modified..... Regards John I don't know John, but it's likely a combination of the Trumpeter molds getting worse while the Tamiya offerings got better. Yeah, I know, I should like all the flaws because it does give me a chance to modify things, but I just wasn't prepared to modify EVERYTHING! :o Something else: I noticed you leave on the blade aerial underneath the nose, it kinda jumps out at me as being on the thick side? Cheers, Marcel The front antenna is still way too thick, but I'm going to leave it that way as as sturdy front peg for the fuselage to rest on until I get the landing gear on, then I'll sand it down much thinner. This part should never have been molded on in the first place. Somebody hasn't been reading every word in my build! That's OK Buddy, I don't read yours either! :lol: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Somebody hasn't been reading every word in my build! That's OK Buddy, I don't read yours either! Woah there Chuck, if you're not reading my build threads, who is? In all seriousness though, your rate of posting exceeds my ability to keep up at times... plus I know I can always read all about it in hardcopy, as in FSM Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Four Corners Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 This is a fascinating build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 Hi Chuck, here is a pic that the Judges may deduct points from. Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
black_widow Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 Hi Chuck, here is a pic that the Judges may deduct points from. Jari Very nice pic Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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