Monogram 1/48 A-10- 72cuda?

Hey Reb;
well I'm trying to get some pix on my next topic for all you Hawg spotters, I'll even throw in a few of the one that was hit back in Apr 9 03, by one of our Stingers that was sold to a Arabic Country and smuggled in for the conflict

(Laughing) Naturally! The only KC bird I can find enough pics of to cover all of the markings and it wasn't involved in OIF. Well, I'm not sure now. My options are: build one of the other A/C you listed and try to find pics or build # 605 sans weapons. Unfortunately the latter obviously wouldn't be my OIF A-10. Are the unit markings basically the same for the other A/C (the arrowhead, KC, and lightning bolt on the fin tip) except for the crewchief's town? Thanks for the help on the markings though. I'm glad I made sure before I finished it!

Rebel99,
well unfortionally not, she's one of our OA-10's that was left behind, the tail #'s are 091, 092, 113, 114, 118, 122, 201 (this one is a 1980 year the rest are 1979's) these are the ones that flew out of Kirkuk AB & Tallil AB, 090, 117, 119, 164, 123, where just at Tallil then sent home in May 03
hope this will give you some more info, also our units planes has the town that the crew cheif is from IE Thunderbolt of the 442 FW (this is on a/c 122's nose gear door by the Pave Penny pod) if I could I'd be able to put the nose gear drs on this reply

Found my bird! www.tankkiller.com/squadrons/303/303_side.jpg shows a pic of A/C #605, and that's going to be the airplane I'm going to model. Did 605 serve over in Iraq? I had a little extra time on my hands and managed to find something.

O.K., thanks. I actually think it'll build up into a pretty nice model. BTW- I've been looking for pics of your Kansas City birds, but haven't found any. Does your squad have a web site that would have any?

Hey Rebel99;
well 1/2 of our planes have LARS, and the others are awaiting for the update, during the conflict we didn't use that system because we used the LITENING II pods and we where giving the info to ground troops instead of the vise-versa, it's kinda weird when the air gives the ground info on where to hit a target, and like "Dice" said about the flipper door

rebel99, I can't answer the LARS question on the KC jets but can answer the "hole" question. That hole is covered by what we call the "flipper door" which is removed in the photo in question. This door (really a panel) is flush when the canopy is down but raises up when the canopy is opened allowing the canopy to move backwards and up. I will try to find a good picture of it but , I do know the Monogram kit has this panel molded onto the canopy itself. It's the small square extension, set at an angle, on the back of the canopy itself.

Hmm... just the topic I was looking for. I started work on that Hobbycraft/Esci A-10. I got a Black Box set for the Monogram and used the "spare" plastic cockpit in the Esci, and it fits quite nicely. I do have two additional questions though. #1- Dice's web site shows a photo of an A-10 fitted with the LARS antennas (two additional blade antennas under the cockpit). Do your Kansas City airplanes have these fitted? The caption said that some A/C have them and some don't. #2- there is a large rectangular hole on the top of the cockpit coaming. Is there supposed to be something in there? Thanks again for the help.

hey Chopperfan;
the best kit out is the Revellograms, then Tamiyas, then Ecsi's, Revellograms has the best detail and it's got all of the updated antenna's, and Chaff/Flare stations the others only have a prototype style details, the Esci has a nise gun but that's the only thing going for it, the Tamiyas has nice engine nacelles, and the canopy is operational but it's a long shot off of the mark, the best place to go if you do the Tamiya's or Esci's is "Dice's" website check out OA-10? site on this forum, the Revellogrmas problem is that it's raised panel lines, and has both types of RAW antenna's on the nose & tail and there molded in Euro 1 Green

72cuda.
Is the Monogram kit a better depiction than the Tamiya A-10?
I am really curious. I have been thinking of building an A-10. But, like most of us here, would like to build the best representation with as little mod as possible.
Thanks.

Randie

Wow! thanks 72! Don't worry about taking a while- this is the first time I've been back in a while. Not having home internet sucks. Also, thanks for the info on the Hobbycraft kit. I guess I'll just stick with the Monogram. I also heard that the Tamiya Hog wasn't all that hot.

Hey Rebell;
sorry for not keeping up on this subject I've been running around like a Chicken without my head,
well for our weapons loads for OIF was that we had 1 MK 82 (Fusey) 500lbs GP bomb on station 4, 1 GBU 12 500lbs "smart" bomb on station 8, 1 LITENING II pod on station 9, 1 SUU 17 INVIS Flare Pod on station 2, and SUU 14(?) Flolding Finned Rocket Pod with 7 White Phyosphouis Rockets on station 10 and occasionily a AGM-64G on station 3 when stationed at Kirkuk AB Iraq from May - Nov 03
and 4 MK 82 500lbs (Fusey) GP bombs on stations 4,5,7,8, ECM pod ALQ-134 on station 1, AGM-64G's on station 3, LITENING II Pod on station 9, SUU-14(?) FFR Pod on station 10 when we where at Al Jaber AB & Tillil AB from Mar - Apr 03 (this was the norm for all A-10's in OIF except for the LITENING II Pods only KC & MA planes carried them)
and our tail codes where KC, we had 12 planes in Al Jaber & Tallil (5 was sent home)then went down to 7 planes in Kirkuk
if you need more info email me at fastfish@iland.net
as for the Hobbycraft kit I beleave it's the old ESCI kit because I've seen Hobbycraft re-issuing Ecsi's before, but from my travels the Revellogrm is the best for now until Hasegawa releases it

My bad..I should've paid more attention. I didn't know that different A-10 units all had different missions. That's an interesting bit of info. Thanks!

Rebel, if his sig is the unit he was with during OIF then it's the Kansas City unit (KC Hawgs) out of MO. The unit you deside to model will have a lot to do with the weapons load you use. Different units were tasked with different missions and they carried munitions loads to match the mission.

O.K.. I think for simplicity sake I'll leave them opened. I do have one final question that I forgot to ask: what was the most common OIF weapons loadout on the A-10? Also, I haven't settled on a particular aircraft/unit to paint mine up as so if you tell me what unit you were with I might use those markings. Thanks for answering so many questions. Do any of you know anything about the Hobbycraft 1/48 scale A-10? Is it a re-box of the Monogram kit or is it completely different? I saw it and so did one of my friends and he asked me if it was any good.

72cuda, I guess we have never meet.

rebel99, here's a page on my A-10 site that might interest you...

http://www.warthogpen.com/a_10_walk_around.html

Hey Rebel;
well it's your option, mostly the only time the Brakes are opened are at pre-flight ops checking and when the plane has just taxied in to the parking spot and ground crews inspect the brakes just prior to shut down, but mostly they are closed, however they are opened during Phased Inspection Maintance and/or when they have maintance on them
say Dice;
well I've been with KC for about 4 years now, I came from Pete Field on 130's there and 16's at Buckley,Hahn & Nellis, this was the first unit I've been deployed into a combat zone, most of the time we'd be about 1500 to 2k miles away and not just 4 from combating troops

Hey, thanks for the help! Sorry it took me a while to get back. I dislocated my knee yesterday so since I can't walk around a whole lot I'll get to catch up on some of the models. I was also wondering- should I go to the trouble of closing the speed brakes on the wing tips or just leave them open? Thanks again for the help.

Hi 72cuda, I see you are with the KC Hogs. I'm the HQ/ACC A-10 maintaince Liaison at Hill AFB..have we ever talked or anything?

Hey Rebel;
sorry for the wait, was out of town for a few days and just got back, now for your question, well first it's the best kit in 1/48th scale of the Hawg, but to get her to look like the current one you need to get rid of the home base looking antenna's on the nose & tail cone, leave the ones that look like pimples on the nose & tail, also on the wing tips you need to put on some small pimples on the wing tips and tail cone they will represent the covert formation light assemblies I'll write more about them later when I get a responce back, on the belly there are 2 new antenna's for LASTE system, the cockpit needs some updates on the turtledeck-the ledge behind the seat on the left hand side of the seat there is a new mount for the digital gun cam recorder and some other brackets on the canopy rails for GPS, Night Vis Googles, and other goodies that the Zipper heads use,
all of these mods are easy to do and I'll get more info and presice locations for the new additions if you need to also the engine fans are way to close to the lip they need to go back about a 1/8th to 1/4 inch more to get the right look( the blades are about 20 inches back from the inlet lip)

I'm not up on ths kit (do you have a pic of one built) but the A-10 has had a few external changes in antennas (both removed and added) , lights and small airframe changes.

I remember building that kit years ago... it seemed quite accurate to me. I can't comment on what mods have been made over the past several years... I doubt very many, because the A-10 doesn't have a wide range of electronics that other jets have, but I know some mods have been done.

From what I recal it is a good representation. I was thinking about adding a lot of little details, including perhaps and engine. Verlinden makes a resin detail set for it (I don't know how good it is) if you want to super detail it. THe only thing I remember being a little disapointed with was the gun muzzle. There are dips in the muzzle to represent the coolong ports, but it just doesn't look realistic in 1/48 scale. I was considering making my own gun muzzle, but I never finished the kit...so it just sits somewhere collecting dust... I think it is at my mom's house
Overall I liked it a lot and didn't see any glaring mistakes based off of my resourse. Others who know the plane better may have other oppinions. Good luck!