At this stage I decided to gather the ordnance and avionic pod that this particular A-10 will be configured as. At the opening stage of the Gulf war the A-10's were tasked to destroy command and control centers, tanks and armored vehicles. Later tank plinking and Scud hunting with the F-15E's. The A-10 has 11 hardpoints, starting with station 11, the ALQ-119 pod shallow, on station 10 & 2, Mk.20 Rockeye II cluster bomb unit, on station 9,8,4,3, the AGM-65D Maverick,station 1, the Aim 9L Sidewinder on a dual rail launcher. Nothing on stations 5,6,7. Of course the Avenger 30MM cannon in the nose and finally the Pave Penny laser pod mounted on the starboard side of the nose. Neither the Tamiya or Revell kit come with sidewinders, so using a pair from the Hasegawa weapon set 1, also ordering the LAU-114 Dual Rail Adaptor (DRA) from Wolfpack models I then take the spare ALQ-119 pylon, cut it off for station 1 and then attach the DRA launcher to the pylon. Put that aside and work on the sidewinders next. Paint them glossy Lt Ghost Grey 16375 using Xtracrylix which dries glossy. Paint the head section Gunmetal and then decal and also attach some Eduards RBF flags to top it off, now I wish I had the yellow seeker head covers to really enhance them a little more. But this is good for now. Next paint the pylon Euro Green and attach the missiles. Next are the Rockeyes, I used the ones supplied in the kit, only decision to make was to go either white or Olive Drab, at the start of Desert Storm the munitions were in transition, air to air missiles from glossy white to Lt Ghost Grey, cluster bombs from white to OD, even the Mavericks were now being delivered in OD. As both colors were available, as both the Navy/Marines and Air Force were expending the older stock left from the Vietnam era. So I decided to go with the OD, assembled 2 of them and then added the yellow ID strip and painted the nose Black. Next up are the Mavericks. The AGM-65D just coming into service, 4 will be carried. Again using Hasegawa's weapon set 2, much better than what the kit supplies. The A-10 will be configured to carry the Mav's on 4 separate pylons instead of on the TER which would be in pairs. So I had to modify the TER and make into a single launcher and then mount the missile and launcher on the pylon. The TER in the Tam kit are incorrect, the ones provided in the Hase weapons are more accurate and will use them instead. And by using them I will remove 4 launch rails from moulded racks. And attach each launcher rail to each Maverick. The Mavericks are painted OD, lenses installed, using clear blue behind the lenses and then installing them. The rails are painted the Med Green. Finally the ALQ-119 pod, this is the shallow version used on this aircraft, though the deep version was also used. As like the weapons, the pods were also transitioning, as new units were delivered in OD, while those already in use were white. During the war it was not unusual to see one A-10 with a white pod with it's squadron mate loaded up with an OD one in the same flight. Loaded out on Station 11, assembled, the pylon painted Euro Green, with the ends masked off and painted black. Decal applied and with that this process is done. Next we add the final bits on the airframe and get ready for the paint shop.
18 attached images. Click to enlarge.
