A-10 Warthog 1/48 Monogram

This is the model that got me back into the hobby after a decade long absence, 1/48 Monogram A-10 with a few tweaks. While being fairly well immobilized by a foot injury, I found two Monogram A-10s in my closet. I gave one to my 10 year old son and we had a great time building them together. .

 Finished in the markings of the 57th Fighter Wing based at Nellis AFB, Las Vegas Nevada, the 57th is tasked with developing techniques and procedures and conducting operational test and evaluation on all major aircraft in the USAF inventory.  I was inspired to build this after I was lucky enough to see some of these aircraft fly during a trip to Las Vegas.

As I tend to keep my weathering somewhat subdued, and these aircraft see quite a bit dust and fading from sun, I found it difficult to photograph subtle weathering on the gray camouflage, I hope the effect can be seen in the pics.

The Revell/Monogram A-10 is the arguably the most accurate in 48th scale when it comes down to shape and profile. Yes it's quite dated and has some fit problems, but I think it best captures the true shape of the A-10. Raised panel lines were removed and replaced with scribed. I left as much of the raised rivet detail as I could in prototypical areas. The fit of the kit was a bit of a challenge, shimming, trimming and filling was often required! The only after market part used was a resin seat, much easier than detailing the kit piece. The kit represents an early A-10, the additions and modifications to circa 2005 fitment done with various bits of styrene. With just a little bit of work the venerable Monogram kit can be built into a fairly accurate looking model.

The kit has the speed brakes deployed, not often seen on the ground other than on rollout on landing. Closing them required a bit of styrene as mounting surfaces for the speed brakes to lay flat. The prominent hinges made from styrene bits. The rod which controls the servo tab was made from styrene rod with a rod end bearing carved into the end.

Because the bypass engines have a large opening at the back ,the engine nacelles were detailed with simple hot section housings and support struts. Not perfect but enough to imply there is stuff in there!

The nose and gun needed a lot of work. I replaced the housing and the shroud with aluminum tube. The housing was drilled and styrene rod glued inside to represent the actual barrels of the GAU-8

A load out of inert and test weapons was built up and hung to depict the test, evaluation, and development work done by the 57th FW Here a optically guided Maverick missile (note the lens of the camera in the seeker) is hung on a scratch built rack.

An inert Sidewinder shares a scratch built dual rail adapter with a Telemetry pod.

I must admit to being pretty pleased with this model. It was a nice way to get back into modeling.

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.