Ok, UM.

I got that.  Now on to more sanding and more sanding!  LOL!

Thanks for guiding me through these last two builds.

Toshi

Thank you DevilDawg!

You don't even have to put the full load out. In fact you shouldn't.

For instance I only put 4 mavs and a ecm on. No aux tank. A short ranged precision target(s) primary, secondary probably with air defense. or... tank buster / shrug (but mav's are too expesive for that task)

By the way that reminds me. For whatever reason there are only enough decals for 4 mavs but there are six mavs in the kit. A full load out is six on the trees but thats a hellua lot of money$$$ So I just left two off, light load. Boom and zoom. One should do the job but stuff happens.

You can probably research typical loadouts, and I'm sure some folks will weigh in on it.

Yea take your time on things. I take months sometimes to finish a model. Hour here, hour there, But by all means work at your own pace and enjoy. Just don't burn out

Woo Hoo! Boy, you are just honkin' along with that A-10 Toshi. You're doing a fantastic job with it so far, that's for sure. I certainly appreciate your enthusiasm and fortitude. it's really great to see. And it definitely does my heart good to see the overwhelming positive effect it is having on you. What I admire in you is your "glass is half full" atitude in light of your circumstances. Your doing great and your skills and techniques are improving immensely. Good stuff. Simply good stuff.

You're A-10 is coming along nicely, Toshi. Extra fun for me to watch as I may be starting one soon. Maybe.

Add me to the list of fans who are getting a kick out of watching you have some fun.

To JOE RIX,

Thank you for your kind words and especially for the support.  I am having so much fun, this current build has me seriously thinking of my next steps unlike a WWII plane.  

What do I paint next?

What goes together?

Do I paint and glue or glue and paint?

And on and on and on!

LOL!

It definitely is a challenge on this build, more so than the Tamiya 1:32 kits I built.  I know it sounds crazy but that's how I feel.  I think I'm leaning more towards the camo version of the A-10 instead of the usual gray.  Again, thank you sir.

Toshi

To Greg,

You've always have been on the list!  LOL!  I hope to see your WIP A-10 soon as well.  Thank you sir for the read and reply.

Toshi

OOOOOOO  that visable B-17 is a honey.  I'm drooling over that one and I'm  looking forward to see what you do with it ,since your skills are improving exponentially.

I am also enjoying your posts on the A-10 and I am learning much as you progress on this one.

I admire your fortitude especially in light of your injury. I only wish I could get even half the amount of work done as you do at the bench .

To Jay Jay,

I'm thinking a complete PE interior set in regards to the B-17.  I don't think I'll do a exterior set at least not now, but you know how model builders can change their mind on a dime.  LOL!  I'm also thinking of painting the B-17 with some type of high gloss chrome silver, Alclad?  The box pictorial has the B-17 in a OD rendition.  If the interior is green zinc chromate, it won't stand out as much as a silver GZC combination.

As for the work, my hats off to you sir!  You have so much detail invested in your B-26 cockpit, that's something I am unable to do at this time.  I am in awe of your work.  I might complete my kits much faster but, it will not be as detailed as your builds and forum members builds.

Thank you for always following my threads.  I enjoy so much the comunicae with you.  Thank you for the read and reply.

Toshi

Mr Toshi,

A PE set for that 17 would be very nice, one would be able to see all the work involved.

One word of advice though, once you start building with PE, you'll never want to go back. Also you building speed will decrease measurably, but your abilities will increase by the same measure.

Steve

Hey Toshi, she's lookin' good and you're moving right along!

If you don't want to do all the munitions now I suppose you could build the plane and then add them later. Though if you're anything like me when I'm done I'm done. When I'm finished I'm ready to move to the next thing and hate to go back and fiddle with something that's 'finished'.

As to aluminum I think Alclad is probably the easiest and most fool-proof. Though I'd pick up a cheap kit, maybe a P-47, P-51, F-86 etc and practice on it before moving to something like a B-17.

I don't know the quality here other than the Revell kit but the price is right for a practice model: 

Hobbyboss P-47

Revell P-47

To modelcrazy,

I have a surprise!  Check out my new thread, for Fathers Day, my daughter and her boyfriend purchased a Corsair, Mustang, and a Lancaster completely made of PE.  This will be a really great platform for me to jump from these three PE builds and into the B-17G build.

They are produced by a company called Metal Earth.  My first experience with PE was with my Widow build.  That sir was fun, exciting, new, and frustrating all at once.  LOL!  Thank you for following my builds, I really appreciate this.

Toshi

To Gamera,

Thank you for your insight, it's very helpful and something I need to follow through with.  I can use all the practice in the world just to be a quarter as good as all of you and forum members.  LOL!  Seriously, I can use as much practice as possible.  

As for the munitions, yes, I'm just like you.  When I complete any project, I must complete it 100% to the best of my abilities before I move forward.  With making that statement, I went ahead and hand painted each and every weapon so I very much want to display them all even if it's not true to the actual A-10.  It just looks so cool.  

Most WWII aircraft have a drop tank and or a couple of bombs at best.  This is a unique build for me.  Thank you Gamera, I appreciate it when you continue to support and follow my builds.

Toshi

Mr Toshi,

One idea I just had, is if you display the A10 on a base, you can lay the ordnance out in front of the plane. Like you see when a planes carrying capacity is displayed where all the bombs, missles and pods are laid out nice and even. That way you can build the ordnance and not attach them.

Kinda like this

Or this

Just a thought.

I am really jealous of the 1/32 Zero. I would love to get my hands on one of those. Maybe Christmas.

Steve

To my fellow forum members,

Since becoming a new member on the FSM forum, I've learned so much in regards to model builds as well as life in general.  All of these new techniques at least for me, was unheard of.  Some? I recall in childhood, I so much wanted to build these expensive kits and sit there with an AB in hand.  

Now, after 40 years, I have fulfilled a childhood dream!  A wish that was answered, wow, that's a long time.  It is at the most difficult times that generate fond memories, one can recall the hardships yet know that it took everything to overcome this obstacle.  I try to always remember to have fun doing this or anything else that comes to mind.  Difficult and or easy.  

In retrospect, I couldn't figure out on what paint scheme I wanted my A-10 to be.  Will it be the three toned gray?  Or the camoflouge motif?  In the end, I figured on the camoflouge motif.  Why?  I've seen several builds (Even a pink one) of the A-10 that are the standard grey.  They are the dominant factor color to the A-10.

I also wanted to try to AB the camoflouge without any masking, just a simple free hand.  I got as close as I could to the schematic build sheet.  It is definitely not perfect, but I am extremely pleased with the outcome.  I chose to do it by free hand as I watched many artists do so.  I thought to myself; "If I screw this up, I can always shoot the A-10 into the standard grey".  The obstacles here was the humidity, rain with a "Tornado Warning", and high winds.  I waited for the right moment to get outside and AB the A-10.  A race against time?  No, a race against Mother Nature.  Luckily, I won this round.  Who knows what's right around the corner?  

Yeah, no seams or it seems like it!  Pun intended.  LOL!

To modelcrazy,

That is amazing and so cool, I'm beginning to really consider in adding modern fighter jets to my collection.  

As for the Zero, I've heard of a special zero being produced in honor of Miyazaki, the academy award winning director.  Although he is know for his anime productions his last movie was about the designer of the Zero and how he became inspired by life in general.  I think it's a Tamiya product, so I've heard.  

Toshi

Hey Toshi, I hadn't heard about the special Zero, that does sound cool.

I did find this crazy special edition Zero recently, it has lights, a motorized prop, and a sound effects system for the engine sounds. It also has a price of $512.00- it's cool but not five hundred bucks cool! 

Btw: Hang on to the extra weapons, some jets don't come with anything to hang off them and tell you go buy a thirty dollar weapons set. Well if you have some in the parts box you can save some time and money there! 

Steve: Now that's a cool idea! 

To my fellow forum members,

Boy, I'm slacking!  I really am slowing down!  LOL!  

I should have been done with the A-10 by now.  Well, as this is my first ever modern day jet plane, I definitely had some issues of where things go, what to paint or glue first, and overall WHAT?  

I have started on the payload two days ago, and finally found out how I can display them all.  I know this is incorrect as far as accuracy goes, but I could not resist the presentation of a fully loaded A-10.  On the side of the box, the display showed most, if not all the weapons displayed under each wing in the camouflage motif.  This is what inspired me to go in this direction, plus the "Playboy Bunny" symbol.  Ah, the excess of the '70s and '80s!  So in retrospect, the excess in munitions was accordingly accurate.  LOL!

My next step is taking care that everything to the best of my abilities are completed as far as the aircraft is concerned.  Lights, markings, minor detail.  I hope my next post will be the completed A-10, nay, it will be the completed A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog"!  Although it my take me a few more days to complete.  LOL!

Thank you forum members for your support in my builds, it is extremely appreciated!

That's a nice looking hog Mr Toshi. It's ready to bring the pain down on someone.

To Gamera,

Yes, I know and seen the $500.00 Zero, as soon as Mrs. Toshi wins the lottery, that will be on my list of things to buy in excess.  LOL!  Thanks for hang'in there for me on my threads.

Toshi

Wouldn't want to look up and see that fully-loaded Warthog mad at me and headed my way. :)

There's nothing better than a fully loaded A-10 for ruining someone's day. Its looking nice and men Toshi. And don't worry about not meeting your deadlines. I found trying to do that is the best way to ruin a build. Keep up the great work.

To modelcrazy,

LOL!  Yes, it will definitely ruin one's day!  Thanks modelcrazy, you're always there for me on my threads.

Toshi

To Greg,

At least not in our lifetime.  LOL!  Thank you sir.

Toshi

About 30 years ago, I was stationed in Kodiak Alaska aboard the CG Cutter Storis. We were part of a joint training operation in which we were teams with the Air Force and Marines. The Navy, with their SEAL's, were on the other team. If you have ever seen Kodiak and "Old Woman Bay", the moorings were close to a tree line. Well I was standing my watch on the deck at around 0600 and all of a sudden WHOOSH! this A10 comes over the trees and flies right over me not more than 75 feet. I didn't even here it coming in the quiet morning, let alone see it. If it were real and I was a bad guy, I never would have known what hit me.

To Bish,

Yes, it is menacing.  I do not have a deadline per se.  I've only noticed that my builds are normally a few days to a couple of weeks.  I was just poking fun at myself.  LOL!  It's all good sir.  As for seriously setting up a time frame on any hobby let alone a model kit build, would be horrible at best.  I am in complete agreement with you in this regards.  Then it comes to a job as oppose to a hobby.  Unless, one is getting a substantial financial gain as a proffesional model builder.  

Thank you Bish, it's always a pleasure to hear from you sir!

Toshi

To modelcrazy,

That is a awesome story, I am shocked that the A-10 could not be heard until it flew close to you.  I agree in that I wouldn't want to be the bad guy in a situation as such.  I used to visit Hickam Air Force Base with my dad, we used to see all types of aircraft taking off or landing.  

Thank you modelcrazy for sharing that amazing story.

Toshi

A10's can be very quite from the front when the pilot decides to be.

Toshi - This one turned out just GREAT ! The others were very nicely done as well, but the finish and details on the -10 show just how much your skills have advanced. I'll bet you enjoy the hobby all the more now, when you can see for yourself just how far you've come in model building abilities.

Well done Sir, we all enjoy watching this journey that you're on, your're quite an accomplished modeler now and in such a short time. Please keep them coming, I always look forward to your next project.

Patrick  

Thank you for the info, I can't imagine that with the A-10, absolutely cool!

Toshi