GWH A-10C 1/48

[Dave Williams]

While I can see GWH doing an A-10A, I’d be a bit surprised if they went all the way back to the pre-LASTE DS era A-10A, mostly because of the cockpit sidewall and rear deck changes.

[Cliff C]

Just received my GWH kit from Sprue Brothers. Looks even better in person. Kit is definitely set up to do an A.  Pave Penny is included. Sprue “O” shows some of the C specific parts. Cockpit side walls are separate pieces. 
 

[boom175]

4 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

While I can see GWH doing an A-10A, I’d be a bit surprised if they went all the way back to the pre-LASTE DS era A-10A, mostly because of the cockpit sidewall and rear deck changes.

The sidewall air vents were changed during the INS upgrade. Not the LASTE mod.

[Mr Matt Foley]

1 minute ago, boom175 said:

The sidewall air vents were changed during the INS upgrade. Not the LASTE mod.

Finally a SME to help!

[Collin]

Thought I saw a post either here or The Book of Face where a HWH A-10A DS was in the works?

 

Cheers

Collin

[Curt B]

I just got mine, in hand finally.  I've  looked through the  instructions and the sprues, and frankly, at first blush, i remain more impressed with the engineering of the Academy kit.  I've not compared the detail of the parts, but the way the kit goes together seems to be, in some ways, inferior to the Academy kit.  But  I suppose it will have to wait until parts are glued together to see if my initial impressions are accurate.

[ESzczesniak]

23 hours ago, Curt B said:

I just got mine, in hand finally.  I've  looked through the  instructions and the sprues, and frankly, at first blush, i remain more impressed with the engineering of the Academy kit.  I've not compared the detail of the parts, but the way the kit goes together seems to be, in some ways, inferior to the Academy kit.  But  I suppose it will have to wait until parts are glued together to see if my initial impressions are accurate.

I’ve personally had the opposite opinion. Academy has some seams in challenging places to deal with and not loose raised detail. GWH has absolutely everything in panel lines. If the fit can be good enough, there won’t be any seam cleanup. Academy couldn’t quite pull it off. The fit was good, but not good enough to not dress some seams.  I’ve only got a couple panels in to the GWH kit, but so far, so good. I think the engines and wing tips will be the real proving points and I’m not there yet. 

Edited May 12, 2024 by ESzczesniak

[Curt B]

2 hours ago, ESzczesniak said:

I’ve personally had the opposite opinion. Academy has some seams in challenging places to deal with and not loose raised detail. GWH has absolutely everything in panel lines. If the fit can be good enough, there won’t be any seam cleanup. Academy couldn’t quite pull it off. The fit was good, but not good enough to not dress some seams.  I’ve only got a couple panels in to the GWH kit, but so far, so good. I think the engines and wing tips will be the real proving points and I’m not there yet. 

As I wrote, my opinion was based on a quick look, and confirmation one way or the other would depend on the actual build.  I'm truly glad that you've found, thus far, that it should be unlikely to have to lose detail due to filling gaps and subsequent cleanup.  My hope had always been that the GWH A-10C was going to improve upon the Academy kit, thus clearly being THE go-to 1/48 scale A-10c.  I will be completely thrilled if it turns out that my desire has actually been met by the GWH kit!

[GeneK]

On 5/11/2024 at 9:17 PM, ESzczesniak said:

I’ve personally had the opposite opinion. Academy has some seams  ... .

I'm with you 100%.

 

The GWH is better fitting and  has more detail, among the other things that have already been pointed out.

 

Gene K

[Curt B]

1 hour ago, GeneK said:

I'm with you 100%.

 

The GWH is better fitting and  has more detail, among the other things that have already been pointed out.

 

Gene K

Glad to hear that the fit is better, though my experience is that there were no issues with the fit of the Academy.  I claim absolutely no expertise on the shapes and details of the A-10, but I thought the large slide molded pieces, like the engines, front and aft fuselage, and empennage of the Academy kit were wonderful, despite the errors pointed out by those very familiar with the airframe.  But again, if the accuracy, details and fit of the GWH plane are improvements, I'm very happy, as that had been my hope when I first heard about another new tooled A-10.  I can't wait to start it.

[ya-gabor]

I don’t know about other kits, but this is a bit of very clever engineering from G.W.H. The compressor blades are made in two parts and when you put them together the end result is very nice piece of a kit!

 

Best regards

Gabor

[RichB63]

1 hour ago, ya-gabor said:

I don’t know about other kits, but this is a bit of very clever engineering from G.W.H. The compressor blades are made in two parts and when you put them together the end result is very nice piece of a kit!

 

Best regards

Gabor

Nice…and as you say clever parts breakdown. Both Revell DE and Zvezda have employed this set up on some of their 1/144 airliner kits.

 

My only quibble, and it’s a minor one, is that, when assembled, the blades appear slightly staggered at the root.

 

Rich

 

Edited May 16, 2024 by RichB63

[ESzczesniak]

On 5/14/2024 at 2:06 PM, Curt B said:

Glad to hear that the fit is better, though my experience is that there were no issues with the fit of the Academy.  I claim absolutely no expertise on the shapes and details of the A-10, but I thought the large slide molded pieces, like the engines, front and aft fuselage, and empennage of the Academy kit were wonderful, despite the errors pointed out by those very familiar with the airframe.  But again, if the accuracy, details and fit of the GWH plane are improvements, I'm very happy, as that had been my hope when I first heard about another new tooled A-10.  I can't wait to start it.

On my building, the fit was good, but not so good the joint disappeared. 
 

On the engine nacelles, the contour didn’t quite match in at the rear. The joint was at a panel line, but the pod section sat maybe about 0.2 mm higher than the aft fuselage at the peak. And because the contours didn’t match, no amount of sanding fully fixed it. On the forward section, the joint line running in the fore-aft direction didn’t run along a panel line and needed to be disappeared. Fit was very good, but not disappear without sanding good. And there were a bunch of raised rivets. 
 

And the forward fuselage joint was similar. Fit was very good, but left small fraction of a mm steps at the panel lines. It looks pretty good under paint, but just isn’t quite right. 
 

So far on the GWH kit, the end fit I’m getting is actually Tamiya like. There’s not quite as positive “click” in to place, but still excellent end results. 
 

I’d compare the fitment so far about the level of Tamiya’s F-14. It’s better than their F-16 which has some “step” issues like the Academy A-10 I mentioned above. But Tamiya hit a whole new level on the F-4/P-38/F-35 that this isn’t quite at. 

Edited May 17, 2024 by ESzczesniak

[RichB63]

27 minutes ago, ESzczesniak said:

On my building, the fit was good, but not so good the joint disappeared. 
 

On the engine nacelles, the contour didn’t quite match in at the rear. The joint was at a panel line, but the pod section sat maybe about 0.2 mm higher than the aft fuselage at the peak. And because the contours didn’t match, no amount of sanding fully fixed it. On the forward section, the joint line running in the fore-aft direction didn’t run along a panel line and needed to be disappeared. Fit was very good, but not disappear without sanding good. And there were a bunch of raised rivets. 
 

And the forward fuselage joint was similar. Fit was very good, but left small fraction of a mm steps at the panel lines. It looks pretty good under paint, but just isn’t quite right. 
 

So far on the GWH kit, the end fit I’m getting is actually Tamiya like. There’s not quite as positive “click” in to place, but still excellent end results. 
 

I’d compare the fitment so far about the level of Tamiya’s F-14. It’s better than their F-16 which has some “step” issues like the Academy A-10 I mentioned above. But Tamiya hit a whole new level on the F-4/P-38/F-35 that this isn’t quite at. 

Very helpful assessment, thanks!

[ESzczesniak]

10 hours ago, RichB63 said:

Very helpful assessment, thanks!

You’re welcome!  Just to clarify, the first couple paragraphs are referring to the Academy kit. The references to Tamiya fit are referring to the GWH kit though. I’m only part way through the fuselage and just starting the wings on the latter though. 

[viperbite]

I'm currently doing my GWH A-10C project. In my opinion, the fitting is good, but not as tremendous good as TAMIYA F-35, but still good enough to avoid big sanding works.

 

Here is my in-progress post:

 

[RedCrown]

Can you make an A model out of this kit?

[Mr Matt Foley]

32 minutes ago, RedCrown said:

Can you make an A model out of this kit?

 

Someday.

[Hrvoje]

On 6/2/2024 at 9:35 PM, RedCrown said:

Can you make an A model out of this kit?

 

Edited August 4, 2024 by Hrvoje

[taggor]

Any other info to share about this release other than the box art?

 

Really happy to see a new tool of the A.

[Scooby]

On 8/4/2024 at 8:23 AM, taggor said:

Any other info to share about this release other than the box art?

 

Really happy to see a new tool of the A.

Decal schemes are up on Britmodeler.

[taggor]

Thank you!

[GeneK]

12 hours ago, Scooby said:

[A-10A] Decal schemes are up on Britmodeler.

The kit can be pre-ordered at Lucky Model for $73USD.  Shipping by air (14-21 days) to US is "only" $66USD. 

Shipping by "Lucky Air" is a more reasonable $38USD ... but this "14-21" day delivery was a frustrating 42 days on my last order.  Lucky Model acknowledged they've had shipping problems, but maybe I'll get lucky on this order.

 

Gene K

[legend1]

On 8/4/2024 at 5:27 AM, Hrvoje said:

 

but this is an A version !!! so.......

[Whiskey]

4 hours ago, GeneK said:

The kit can be pre-ordered at Lucky Model for $73USD.  Shipping by air (14-21 days) to US is "only" $66USD. 

Shipping by "Lucky Air" is a more reasonable $38USD ... but this "14-21" day delivery was a frustrating 42 days on my last order.  Lucky Model acknowledged they've had shipping problems, but maybe I'll get lucky on this order.

 

Gene K

Probably in my best interest to just wait and see with those shipping prices.