Revell 1:48 A-10 Warthog (completed)

That thing is clean as a whistle! Nice reference for Toshi. :)

I've heard that you need at least 3oz. Of nose weight. ':/

How in the world are you supposed to put that much weight in there? I used stickum weights, there led weights used for RC aircraft that have foam sticky tape on them. Anyhow when I saw the recommended weight in the instructions I was incredulous. So I stuck as much of the stickum weights as I could. It will actually balance but a gnat fart will knock it back down.

I did not do any pre or post shading and no weathering. She is fresh off the factory floor! Thats why she is so clean

Although I may still go back and do some weathering on it someday.

Anyhow it was a fun and challenging build at some points. Those mirrors in the cockpit were a nightmare! LOL  I also remember the fit of the engine(s) nacelle was rather sloppy. I did not do much putty work though.

btw Mike I will go check out your figure painting section. I paint minis for table top games sometimes for a diversion.

Just a question for my own edification.....why the OD on the ECM pod?  They were always white with black radomes, least way past my days working on them.

That's the only one they had on hand [:;]

Honestly because I did not know any better.

Thank you for the photos, this is great reference for my build.  I'm excited to build this new A-10.

Toshi

How did you do the dual gray color scheme?  Did you use tape?  Or hand painted the outlines?  Or both?  I really need to know as I'm very confused in the process of painting the A-10 body.

Are there mono colored A-10's, just a plain gray?  I had one hell of a time trying to AB the A-10 as it has all these nooks and crannies all over the place.  It's nothing like AB a WWII aircraft!  LOL!

Toshi

Anyone else that has any input, I'd appreciate it.  Thank you in advance.

Toshi

I used tape for this model with an airbrush. It leaves a very crisp edge. The hard part is getting the curvy lines and symmetry on both sides.

I wish I had used the spaced card trick seen here...

What your looking at is index cards cut roughly to form and spaced slightly from the fusealage using poster putty. It leads to a defined but not 'sharp' edge.

Those of course are the B25 but you get the idea.

Ah, ha!  I knew there was some type of technical operation to this!  Index cards!  LOL!  Thank you, I will definitely make this happen.

Toshi

Looks nice!

Just a couple helpful tips, if I may...

For the balance of the model...sanding a flat spot on the bottom of the wheels will help a lot to keep it standing properly (especially when the balance is so close!). I know, kinda hard now with this one...risk of breaking/damaging something is a bit high!

The other pics...painting...

The poster tac is a great mask, all on its own. I used to paint the same way (cut paper mask, held up with poster tac), but it left a lot of room for a bit of  "under"spray, and I'd always end up with un-even edges. When I mask camo, I'll use tape, just to a point of being close, then roll up a "worm" of poster tac, and press it into place...spray away!!!

I love the A10. This one looks fabulous. I need to put one in the stash for sure.

Nice sharp A-10. Very well done.

Another nice tool for masking lines such as you describe is Silly Putty. The stuff is simply awesome. I use it all the time.

Thank you for sharing your A-10.

Nice A-10.  I second Fermis' suggestion, blue tac (poster putty) makes a great demarcation mask.  It leave nice soft edges.  

Joe

I also love the look of the blurred edges and I use Silly Putty instead of poster tack, only because I can buy it in large amounts (12 eggs) on Amazon for cheap and I can usually get 3-4 kits out of one egg before it dries and is less easy to work with. I've never had it pull paint.

Another benefit to the method of using these for painting, poster tack or putty, is that you can control how  much blur there is when done by simply making the tack thicker or thinner. The thinner you make it the sharper the edge. It's a very cool method. One that I learned here from folks like Joe.

Thanks for sharing this one. I love it.

BK