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Hobby Boss 1/48 A-10A nose issue?


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I built that kit a while back, after building lots of Monogram A-10's.  In my opinion, the nose shape is, as you mentioned, not quite right; I think the curvature, particularly on the bottom portion, was off and made for an overall too rounded, blunt nose.  I know that's not a great description, but I'll see if I can find some pics to explain better.  I used Milliput on mine to reshape the nose.  

 

Other issues that come to mind (it was 10 years ago) were incorrect shape/paneling of the windscreen, boxy MLG sponsons, undersized Pave Penny pylon, landing gear too tall... and the overall look is just slightly off.  For what it's worth, I think the Monogram kit is 100% dead-on in shape and profile; its just an old mold and has some fit issues.  But it's the most accurate representation of a Hog airframe out there, in any scale.  The Italeri kit is worse than the Hobbyboss; I think it looks more like a toy than a representation of an aircraft.

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On 2/18/2019 at 12:00 PM, Guard Hog said:

I built that kit a while back, after building lots of Monogram A-10's.  In my opinion, the nose shape is, as you mentioned, not quite right; I think the curvature, particularly on the bottom portion, was off and made for an overall too rounded, blunt nose.  I know that's not a great description, but I'll see if I can find some pics to explain better.  I used Milliput on mine to reshape the nose.  

 

Other issues that come to mind (it was 10 years ago) were incorrect shape/paneling of the windscreen, boxy MLG sponsons, undersized Pave Penny pylon, landing gear too tall... and the overall look is just slightly off.  For what it's worth, I think the Monogram kit is 100% dead-on in shape and profile; its just an old mold and has some fit issues.  But it's the most accurate representation of a Hog airframe out there, in any scale.  The Italeri kit is worse than the Hobbyboss; I think it looks more like a toy than a representation of an aircraft.

I believe the HB A-10 is a shrink down of the 1/32 Trumpeter A-10. There were very noticeable concerns with the canopy shape with that kit and those issues were transferred down to the 1/48 kit.

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On 2/23/2019 at 7:40 AM, jpk said:

I believe the HB A-10 is a shrink down of the 1/32 Trumpeter A-10. There were very noticeable concerns with the canopy shape with that kit and those issues were transferred down to the 1/48 kit.

 

I think you're right on about that.

 

Once again I say "The A-10 Warthog gets NO RESPECT from the manufacturers" And we need a NEW TOOL 1/48 Warthog............ Not another bf109 or (cover your eyes) another Tomcat!

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1 hour ago, Mr Matt Foley said:

 

I think you're right on about that.

 

Once again I say "The A-10 Warthog gets NO RESPECT from the manufacturers" And we need a NEW TOOL 1/48 Warthog............ Not another bf109 or (cover your eyes) another Tomcat!

Word!

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On 2/23/2019 at 8:40 AM, jpk said:

I believe the HB A-10 is a shrink down of the 1/32 Trumpeter A-10. There were very noticeable concerns with the canopy shape with that kit and those issues were transferred down to the 1/48 kit.

 

Also the nose is a little off on the Trumpeter 1/32 kit.  Honestly, I’d be very surprised if the HB kit wasn’t a scaledown of the bigger Trumpeter kit, without any fixes.  The companies are related and have a history of upscaling/downscaling each other’s kits, like the F-14 for example.

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10 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

 

Also the nose is a little off on the Trumpeter 1/32 kit.  Honestly, I’d be very surprised if the HB kit wasn’t a scaledown of the bigger Trumpeter kit, without any fixes.  The companies are related and have a history of upscaling/downscaling each other’s kits, like the F-14 for example.

 

I have a Trumpy A-10 sitting on the shelf of Doom that I started in March of 2003 during the opening stages of Iraqi Freedom. I want to finish it, but just haven't found the Mojo. My my cockpit is the Black Box one and I am having a tough time with the darn instrument panel and coaming fitting right after assembling the fuselage halves. I lost patience a long time ago with this one.........Paul Fisher's nose correction will energize me but it's gonna be a while for that as well.

Edited by Mr Matt Foley
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It seems to me that IF the Revellogram A-10 is the most correct in terms of nose shape and MLG sponsons et al, there is a simple answer! Why not kitbash the two? One could replace the Trumpy forward fuselage (from the cockpit forward) with the Revellogram (this will also have two advantages, one being using the Revellogram canopy & two, allowing one to use resin 'pits made specifically for that kit (True Details & others)). Also, if the MLG sponsons are off, use the Revellogram, this will have the added advantage of allowing one to have the correct gear height. This option will require some re-scribing, but it wouldn't entail re-scribing the entire kit. Also, if you do not currently own the Revellogram kit, one can be had on evilBay for $20 or less, which is a great deal less than a resin correction set could be had for, if one were available!

 

Another option would be to either cast your own, or get in touch with one of the garage resin guys (109Ace/HofnerBassman is one suggestion) and see if they will knock you off a copy of the needed Revellogram parts. Then you wouldn't even need to cannibalize your Revellogram kit. This method would be more expensive, but would allow the option of re-selling the Revellogram kit to recoup some of your expenses. Both methods would require some elbow grease, but most of us are modelers and not just assemblers.

Edited by madmanrick
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On 2/23/2019 at 8:40 AM, jpk said:

I believe the HB A-10 is a shrink down of the 1/32 Trumpeter A-10. There were very noticeable concerns with the canopy shape with that kit and those issues were transferred down to the 1/48 kit.

 

To a level I disagree, the canopy edge has the forward rake that was missing from the 1/32 kit.  The obvious difference being that the fuselage isn't split into a forward and rear section like the big one.  There are some differences with the engine internals too. 

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I don't have and never had either kit. I do recall when the Trumpeter 1/32 A-10's were released there were issues with the shape of the canopy. When I saw photos of the build up,(1/32) I did see the problem with mainly the windscreen shape. I just assumed that since Trumpeter usually does a scale down of some of their kits to 1/48 that the original issues were carried over. If they corrected the windscreen then good on Trumpy/HB. 

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The Biggest issue with the forward fuselage of the Trumpy 32nd scale A-10 is that the windshield is a scale 6" too wide. Measuring the kit windshield center pane it came out to be 18 scale inches wide, where as the real one would have been 12" wide, give or take. so it looks lie the designers kept that too wide windshield  dimensions and carried it through the nose are around the URASSI and gun fairing. If I  remember correctly. its been awhile since I looked at the kit. 

P.S. I don't have a HB kit so I can't comment as to whether those errors actually did get carried forward.

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On 3/2/2019 at 9:24 AM, madmanrick said:

It seems to me that IF the Revellogram A-10 is the most correct in terms of nose shape and MLG sponsons et al, there is a simple answer! Why not kitbash the two? One could replace the Trumpy forward fuselage (from the cockpit forward) with the Revellogram (this will also have two advantages, one being using the Revellogram canopy & two, allowing one to use resin 'pits made specifically for that kit (True Details & others)). Also, if the MLG sponsons are off, use the Revellogram, this will have the added advantage of allowing one to have the correct gear height. This option will require some re-scribing, but it wouldn't entail re-scribing the entire kit. Also, if you do not currently own the Revellogram kit, one can be had on evilBay for $20 or less, which is a great deal less than a resin correction set could be had for, if one were available!

 

Another option would be to either cast your own, or get in touch with one of the garage resin guys (109Ace/HofnerBassman is one suggestion) and see if they will knock you off a copy of the needed Revellogram parts. Then you wouldn't even need to cannibalize your Revellogram kit. This method would be more expensive, but would allow the option of re-selling the Revellogram kit to recoup some of your expenses. Both methods would require some elbow grease, but most of us are modelers and not just assemblers.

 

Or, for an even SIMPLER answer, you could just build the Monogram kit.

 

Eric

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On 3/2/2019 at 3:24 PM, madmanrick said:

It seems to me that IF the Revellogram A-10 is the most correct in terms of nose shape and MLG sponsons et al, there is a simple answer! Why not kitbash the two? One could replace the Trumpy forward fuselage (from the cockpit forward) with the Revellogram (this will also have two advantages, one being using the Revellogram canopy & two, allowing one to use resin 'pits made specifically for that kit (True Details & others)). Also, if the MLG sponsons are off, use the Revellogram, this will have the added advantage of allowing one to have the correct gear height. This option will require some re-scribing, but it wouldn't entail re-scribing the entire kit. Also, if you do not currently own the Revellogram kit, one can be had on evilBay for $20 or less, which is a great deal less than a resin correction set could be had for, if one were available!

 

 

I'm thinking of taking this approach and will start looking out for a very cheap Revell/Monogram A-10. Has anyone compared fuselage cross sections around the cockpit area?

 

I've no interest in building an entire Monogram A-10. Rescribing is a PITA.

 

Jon

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