A-10 LOADER Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Glad I could help Chuck, looking forward to seeing what gets hung on her. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Harold Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 With Steve's load out suggestion, I'm now looking for LAU-131 rocket launchers/pods in 1/32 scale and so far, no luck. I have found M260 launchers for AH-1 Cobra helicopters in 1/32 that look very similar, so what's the difference? For those of you with Neil Dunridge's book, there's an A-10C on page 153 that is flying at Red Flag and is armed to the teeth. Load-out, similar to Steve's suggestion, looks to be as follows, if I don't use any of the kit's crappy ordnance: Stn 1 = ALQ-184 ECM pod- which I have from AMS resin Stn 2 = Empty Stn 3 = AGM-65 Maverick- which I have from North Star Models Stn 4 = LAU-131 Rocket launcher- which I don't have Stn 5 = Looks like a MK 82 dumb bomb- which I have via an Academy F/A-18 kit leftovers Stn 6 = As above Stn 7 = Can't see it, but likely as above Stn 8 = Can't see it either, but I'm thinking of another LAU-131 Rocket launcher Stn 9 = AGM-65 Maverick Stn 10 = AN/AAQ-28 Litening AT pod. I just ordered the Wolfpack version from Sprue Bros. Stn 11 = DRA with AIM-9 on outside and ACMI pod on inside. DRA from Sierra Hotel, Zactomodels for the Sidewinder, Two Mikes for the pod and Two Bobs for the decals (super rare these days!) I also have some CAM resin Mk 20 Rockeye cluster bombs to replace the kit ones, but I'm thinking they are far too old for modern use? Jake's book has CBU-87 and CBU-103 cluster bombs mentioned, but no Mk 20's. They are designated for Stn's 2 and 10 in the kit instructions, so maybe I could stick one on Stn 2 anyway? So what do you guys think? Your input, as always, is appreciated. Thanks guys! Are you still needing the LAU-131? Let me know....I have a mold that I started a few months ago that has them about usable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted May 7, 2014 Author Share Posted May 7, 2014 Are you still needing the LAU-131? Let me know....I have a mold that I started a few months ago that has them about usable. I don't know Harold, you tell me. I have LAU-68D's from CMK that look good enough? I think they're for an Apache or some other chopper, but according to specs, they were real close to LAU-131's when I bought them. If you tell me they are no good and why I might replace them. I have also revised my load-out for about the fifth time as follows: Stn 1 = ALQ-184 ECM pod- which I have from your AMS resin line Stn 2 = LAU-68 or 131 Rocket Launcher from CMK or AMS ?? Stn 3 = AGM-65D/G (Infra-Red, opaque orange/yellow nose) Maverick from North Star Models Stn 4 = Mk 82 AIR bomb from AMS Stn 5 = LMk 82 AIR bomb from AMS Stn 6 = Empty Stn 7 = Mk 82 AIR bomb from AMS Stn 8 = Mk 82 AIR bomb from AMS Stn 9 = AGM-65B (Clear nose with TV camera) Maverick from North Star Models Stn 10 = AN/AAQ-28 Lightening Pod from Wolfpack Stn 11 = Dual Rail Adapter from Sierra Hotel Models with Two AIM-9M missiles from Zactomodels I have a pic in Neil Dunridge's book of an almost identical load-out, so at least I know it's possible, but if somebody knows otherwise, please let me know soon! I've also flip-flopped back to live/lethal ordnance for everything. If I go inert, the rear fins and motor (great detail) on the Mavericks would be deleted and the beautifully crafted rear fins with rollerons on the Zactomodels AIM-9's would have to be replaced with straight fins, so I lose lots of neat detail. Besides, now that I've de-fanged this hog by not going with the Blacksnakes nose, I need something to make it look mean and nasty again! I started on the Mavericks last night and while the detail and craftsmanship of the North Star product is fantastic, it is far from plug and play. I made a few tweaks that make it easier to assemble and cooler to look at, so it will be first in a long line of future "mini-models" that I will document as they are completed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Epic! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Here is an Idaho A-10 with an load: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/A-10A_Idaho_ANG_over_Sawtooth_Range_2009.jpg Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted May 8, 2014 Author Share Posted May 8, 2014 Here is an Idaho A-10 with an load: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/A-10A_Idaho_ANG_over_Sawtooth_Range_2009.jpg Jari Thanks Jari. That's not only very close to what I'm likely to do for a load-out, the pic of the Hog is excellent! It shows that it's fairly clean with a few smudges here and there, the panel lines I darkened are about the same and the nose isn't all banged up due to the refueling boom. Just a little pastel work here and there and I think I'll be done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Here is another view of it: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/A-10A_Idaho_ANG_over_Sawtooth_Range_Feb_2009.jpg it may have been cleaned up for the photo op. :D Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Wow, great job on the gear, always the most painful part of the process imo. Your hydraulic lines are soooo good! Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Harold Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 (edited) I have also revised my load-out for about the fifth time as follows: Stn 1 = ALQ-184 ECM pod- which I have from your AMS resin line Stn 2 = LAU-68 or 131 Rocket Launcher from CMK or AMS ?? Stn 3 = AGM-65D/G (Infra-Red, opaque orange/yellow nose) Maverick from North Star Models Stn 4 = Mk 82 AIR bomb from AMS Stn 5 = LMk 82 AIR bomb from AMS Stn 6 = Empty Stn 7 = Mk 82 AIR bomb from AMS Stn 8 = Mk 82 AIR bomb from AMS Stn 9 = AGM-65B (Clear nose with TV camera) Maverick from North Star Models Stn 10 = AN/AAQ-28 Lightening Pod from Wolfpack Stn 11 = Dual Rail Adapter from Sierra Hotel Models with Two AIM-9M missiles from Zactomodels I have a pic in Neil Dunridge's book of an almost identical load-out, so at least I know it's possible, but if somebody knows otherwise, please let me know soon! I've also flip-flopped back to live/lethal ordnance for everything. If I go inert, the rear fins and motor (great detail) on the Mavericks would be deleted and the beautifully crafted rear fins with rollerons on the Zactomodels AIM-9's would have to be replaced with straight fins, so I lose lots of neat detail. Besides, now that I've de-fanged this hog by not going with the Blacksnakes nose, I need something to make it look mean and nasty again! I started on the Mavericks last night and while the detail and craftsmanship of the North Star product is fantastic, it is far from plug and play. I made a few tweaks that make it easier to assemble and cooler to look at, so it will be first in a long line of future "mini-models" that I will document as they are completed. Those look good to me. The mounting may be different, but otherwise they look fine. Edited May 9, 2014 by Harold Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peterpools Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Chuck Following quietly from the wings but I just have to jump in. Awesome work my friend on the gear - absolutely stellar. Keep 'em coming Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 (edited) Thanks guys! It's great to hear from all of you, even "LSP Peter"! Welcome to the Dark Side of ARC! I was going to apologize for the slow pace of this build but then I thought, why? I'm not in a rush, I have no deadlines and I'm enjoying the gory little details that naturally take a lot of time. It's also finally spring up here in the Great White North, so I now have other interests that are drawing me away from modeling to slow me down even more. Oh well, I'm going to just go with it and if this build takes all summer to complete, so be it! With all the work I've done to this Pig so far, it would be a shame to hang some poorly detailed bombs and missiles on it, so that's why I've gone after-market with everything, as explained above. I started with the AGM-65 Mavericks because if there's one bomb or missile that says "Warthog", the air to ground Maverick is it. I am starting with the excellent North Star Models resin Mavericks made in Latvia. As you can see in the pic below, they come with their own LAU-117 rail launchers with separate hangers and both clear seeker heads or covers for same. They even come with decals, which is a nice treat, but the instructions are terrible. The instructions for the resin indicate that you should cut the blocks off the heads flush, which is fine, but also the seeker heads. Don't do it! I'll show you why later. The missiles are supposed to slide on the outer lip of the LAU-117 rail, just like the real deal, but even with thinning and narrowing the rail lips, I could not get the missiles to slide on without breaking the groove on the top of the missiles. There just isn't enough clearance and even if you get them to slide on, they won't later after a coat of paint. To fix this problem, I cut the lip of the rail where it is hidden and left it where it was exposed at the front and the middle of the missile. These two parts will be glued together later after painting anyway, so sliding it on the rail is not really a big deal. You can see the cut pattern on the rail at the bottom and how it looks installed at the top. I also deepened the slots for the brass fins to fit into the missile with a scriber, because you want a good anchor point for strength. Those frosted lenses need some work...... Using Tamiya polishing compounds, I polished the lens so that it was clear and shiny on the top, then drilled a hole from behind for the little camera lens for a TV or Laser Maverick, using the upper part of the casting block rather than cutting it off the base of the lens. This creates depth which also magnifies everything behind it, including casting and painting flaws. In pics I have of the Laser head, there is a whitish colored collar around the camera lens. Painting it white from behind would result in a magnified mess, no matter how well I masked it off, so I used a thin band of white decal film instead, then placed some flat black paint inside the drilled hole for the camera lens. I then dipped the lens in Future and painted it gloss black from behind after this pic was taken.... For variety, I am going to make a Laser Maverick "L" using the head above and painted Light Ghost Grey and an Infra-red Maverick "G", painted Olive Drab- and all ordnance will be live. That way I can keep details like the rear fins on this and the AIM-9M missiles I'm making later. Here is a long list of AGM-65 types I stole from the 'net. No wonder I was so confused on types and colors, especially when seeker heads and bodies of different colors are often mixed! AGM65A - 1972 - 57kg warhead - USAF/US Army AGM65B - 1978 - Added optical zooming to lock onto small or distant targets - USAF/US Army AGM65C - 1978 - 113kg warhead - Semi-active laser-guided - Canceled after a few built - USMC AGM65D - 1986 - Imaging infrared (IRR) seeker - USAF/US Army AGM65E - 1985 - 136kg warhead - Laser designator guidance - USMC AGM65F - 1989 - 136kg warhead - IRR seeker - US Navy (optimized for maritime stikes) AGM65G - 1988 - 136kg warhead - IRR seeker - USAF (especially designed for use against hardened tactical targets) AGM65H - 2007 - Rebuilt AGM65B/D - Charge-coupled device (CCD) seeker (optimised for desert operations) - USAF/US Army AGM65J - 2007 - Rebuilt AGM65F - CCD seeker - US Navy (optimized for maritime stikes) AGM65K - 2007 - Rebuilt AGM65G - Electro-optical television guidance system - USAF AGM65L - 2012 - 136kg warhead -Laser-guided - USAF - USMC/US Navy designation AGM65E2 The live IRR Mavericks have a Yellow/Greenish head that is shiny, but still fairly opaque. To retain the entire clear resin head, you need to drill a hole at the top of the missile and to retain color saturation, I painted the inside of both missiles yellow and black as required..... Here's the two missiles fully assembled. You won't need the launcher anchor points mounted on the jet and you don't need the lens covers, unless you want to hide the heads.... A closer look with an unaltered clear resin head from another kit. Pretty dramatic improvement if I do say so myself! FYI, for an inert IRR missile, the lens is quite frosted, so you could just go with painting the lens from behind. A super duper close-up pic, which shows a few tiny flaws. These will be lightly sanded smooth and resprayed with Future after painting, to prepare the missiles for many decals. The IRR head on the right is too clear and a bit too bright, so I will spray a bit more clear Smoke on it as well to make it more opaque and darken the color. The rear of these resin Mavericks are also very nicely detailed to show the "guts" of the motor. These have been painted gloss black followed by Alclad Dark Aluminum, which will also be sprayed with more Future so that I can hand paint tiny details without fear of making a mess if I get paint on the wrong parts. Using enamel paints, they can be cleaned up with solvent without dissolving the paint if the parts are sealed. Although it doesn't show very well on this pic, make sure you get CA glue along the entire brass to missile join, then clean up with CA glue debonder with a Q-tip. So that's it for now boys. Next up will be fully painted and detailed Mavericks! Edited May 13, 2014 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 WOW Chuck those Mavericks look great, lots of nice detail on them. Awesome job on the seeker heads as well. Having the LAU-117's as a seperate piece is a nice touch too. These sound alot like the real rails, we would get some from time to time that were a bad girl to slide onto the missle. Looking forward to seeing these finished up. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
agelos2005 Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Great work mate Did u use super glue for the fins? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted May 15, 2014 Author Share Posted May 15, 2014 Great work mate Did u use super glue for the fins? Yes, I should have mentioned it. I used Extra Thin CA glue so that capillary action sucked the glue along the entire brass to resin join, which also filled the slot I deepened for the anchor point of the fin, and then I used CA glue debonder to remove any excess glue. After painting, the join looks nice and clean and it's quite strong. I wish I could say the same thing about the rear fins, which are resin. I have broken 3 off already, all due to user error, so be careful with them. The clear seeker heads were "glued" to the resin using just Future. You don't need much of a bond and it provides a clear filler for tiny gaps with no glue cleanup required. BTW, is it just me or is this forum really dead lately (last 4 months or so)? I'm not referring to my thread as much as the general activity in this forum appears to be way down from a year ago. As we go into summer, it should drop some more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnS Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 ... BTW, is it just me or is this forum really dead lately (last 4 months or so)? I'm not referring to my thread as much as the general activity in this forum appears to be way down from a year ago. As we go into summer, it should drop some more. Yes, I've noticed that too Chuck. I guess I'm part of the problem. Although I've been lurking, my last In-progress post was March 7. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skyhawk174 Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Hey Chuck That is some very nice work there on the Mavericks. However, I was wondering if the fins are really too thin for this scale. I understand why they did it as it is probably easier to produce than resin but to me I think they look too thin or maybe it is the pictures. Just a thought. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted May 15, 2014 Author Share Posted May 15, 2014 Hey Chuck That is some very nice work there on the Mavericks. However, I was wondering if the fins are really too thin for this scale. I understand why they did it as it is probably easier to produce than resin but to me I think they look too thin or maybe it is the pictures. Just a thought. I sort of thought the same thing for awhile, but when you check out pics from the front and back of a real Maverick, I think they are pretty close to scale. Here's an example: Laser AGM-65 Also, with the contrasting yellow brass to grey resin contrast, they look a bit thinner than they really are. After painting, they look a tiny bit "fatter" and after a coat of Future, fatter still, which I will show in due course. One other thought, is that so much of scale modeling is too wide and fat due to the limitations of plastic injection, that too thin is more pleasing to the eye than too thick, so if you have to er one way or the other, I'll take too skinny! Cheers, Chuck Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 (edited) Chuck, Thought that it was about time that I posted something on your build. I've been lurking throughout the entire build simply because I know next to nothing about most jets including the A-10, as my main modeling interests has always been USAAF & Naval WW11 aircraft, although I have a current F-4B build blog running for the past few months. The level of your modeling skills which you have attained is just simply amazing. I've seen some of the very best IPMS contest modelers work from as far back as the mid 70's, and your work is equal to, if not superior to just about all of them. Every update has been truly worth the wait. Not only has your build been a joy to follow, but your explanations, detailed pictures, and your tutorials have solved several issues I've had. I taken notes, and I've taken the liberty to copy all your tutorials for future reference. Joel Edited May 15, 2014 by Joel_W Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Great attention to detail as always. Looks like the finish line is near. Can't wait to see her all loaded up. Congrats on another fine build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 (edited) Chuck, here are some back end views of the Maverick: AGM-65 http://www.mawdecals.com/creightonsmodels/HornetsNest/Ordnance/AGM65/AGM-65E_001.jpg http://sistemasdearmas.com.br/pgm/maverickp3.jpg Jari Edited May 16, 2014 by Finn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
agelos2005 Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Chuck did you use ca to glue the pe fins on the body? How did you manage and there is no excess!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 hi! Wow! those MAverick are piece of Art!! excellent job! thanks for sharing this anthologic build! Cheers! Romain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kagemusha Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 Great work on the Mavericks Chuck, pity they don't just slide in to the rail. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted May 18, 2014 Author Share Posted May 18, 2014 Thank you very much Gents! I'm taking a few days off from modelling and won't have an update for at least another week. To answer the question about how I glued the brass fins without making a mess, I did make a mess!- but then removed the excess glue with CA glue debonder on a microbrush. After painting, the brass to resin join looks nice and smooth without gaps, just like it should. The ability to remove CA glue with a debonder is probably the best modelling trick I've learned in the past couple of years. Gluing photo etch parts used to be something I dreaded due to fear of leaving excess glue at any join. Now it's a no-brainer and I just slop on the glue knowing I can remove it later with debonder, even after it dries. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 Chuck, the Mavericks looks great, very clean work as usual. Keen to see how the yellow seeker will end up looking, the flattish finish of the real deal may be tricky to replicate. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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