Aircraft in the gallery...

- Hasegawa AV-8B II PLUS 1:48
- Hobby Boss A-10 Thunderbolt II 1:48
- Hasegawa F/A-18F 1:48
- Tamiya P-47D 'Bubble-top' 1:48
- Academy F/A-18A Hornet with Cutting Edge set 1:32


Hasegawa AV-8B II PLUS
Here are some pics of this past project - now all I need to do is make the RAF version!



Generally the parts fit quite well: main components and the level of detail is good, several stores options - especially the AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, probably the best I've seen in this scale. The canopy wasn't clear though (odd for Hasegawa)and the kit does have other shortcomings: the complex breakdown of the wing components I found just didn't want to go together at all well. The canopy can't slide fully back as it snags on the two small air scoops behind and to the rear of the canopy.

Overall though a pretty up to date harrier II


The mould seam needs to be removed from the canopy. I'm using a nail polished here (see techniques section of this site)






















Hobby Boss A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog" 1:48
After the complex Eduard Bf 110E Ijust had to get back to 'heavy metal'! And what better way than to finally tackle a real favourite of mine, the A-10 Warthog. This kit is very good, straight from the box. The fit is universally very good, with no need for filler. Detail is excellent too with a box full of weapons and optional dropped flaps and open canopy. The seat is very neatly detailed.

The undercarriage bays are probably the weakest area, with just flat plates to locate the main landing gear units, but there is some detail inside the front of each pod. As you can't see this on the model I didn't get too excited about this issue. Perhaps the most irritating area is the engine fan blade assembly. The blades are superb, with accurate gaps between each each, but yet again (as with the big Trumpeter offering in 1:32 scale), the blades are too near the front of the engine intakes. I've left them visible here so you can judge for yourself whether to add FOD covers? I think, on balance, that they are just acceptable as they are.

Look out for a full feature build article in Tamiya Model Magazine International(TMMI) soon.











Hobby Boss A-10A "Warthog" 1:48 scale


I've just finished and what a lot of fun this project has been! Really nice kit and mine is pretty much out of the box except for: Seat lap straps, hydraulic line on nose gear and some scratched mirrors for the canopy If you want to see some of the build up pics look further down below.

here are some finished pics hot off the press!




















This is an excellent kit, and, to be honest a real tonic after the long, drawn-out Eduard Bf 110E experience...

A full review should appear in Tamiya Mag (TMMI)in due course, but here are a few new images to get you in the mood.


Nice box art, but sadly, the Euro-One 'green' scheme is all that's on offer in the box. This is probably why It's been so hard to track down the sharkmouth scheme for a grey A-10. Still looking if anyone has any leads!!!??


The small Kagero mini guides are excellent and although this one covers most of what you need, some areas are frustratingly incomplete - like the cockpit detail. Overall a must though, so get one while you can - inexpensive and all-colour...can't be bad.

And some other good references...








Some lovely fan blade detail here - very impressive.

The fit overall has been excellent and construction straightforward.


The Hobby Boss A-10A is a big model, even in 1:48 scale as you can see here...


The engines need a blanking-off plate to avoid a slight see-through effect.


The kit cockpit tub and seat are impressive - especially the ACES II seat. It just needs some lap belts to finish it off.




The rotary cannon is well detailed, the only problem is I didn't realise that you can't see any of it when the model is finished. You may choose to start opening up extra panels, but I decided not to.

APU starter exhaust outlet...
This is missing from the starboard side of the fuselage underneath the engine nacelle. The hole is easily drilled out with a bit in a hand-held pin vice drill. It's not easy to replicare the tear-shaped shape around it so that will probably be omitted.


Here you can see the port detail moulded into the kit part.

And here's the hole I have drilled out in the opposite side...






Hasegawa F/A-18F




This is one of my favourites....the kit is very well tooled and there aren't really any problems to fix! Can't be bad..can it?

I wanted to focus on getting a good paint finish - featuring those all too common touched up painted areas, typical of US Navy carrier aircraft. The paint patches are just lightened tones of the base colour. Xtracolor gloss enamels were used throughout.

The cockpit...

Kit tub and instrument panels, plus some nice resin Black Box seats...












Fuselage...

Tamiya tape holds the intakes assemblies in place while they dry




Pencil graphite is worked into the flare chutes to replicate the natural metal look of the real items.


Painting...




Pastel chalk dust is used to recreate the hydraulic fluid stains on the underside - browns, oranges and greys work well...




Tamiya Smoke (X-19) is great for weathering wheel wells. I thin it about 50-50 with Tamiya thinner and it runs into all the recesses....



And now it's finished..















Tamiya P-47D 'Bubble top' 1:48 scale
This was one of the most enjoyable builds I've completed for a long time. There is so much in the box, it will keep you very busy for a long time - just what great scale modelling is all about! The basic 'silver' colour is Alclad II Polished Aluminium and thereafter, different shades like Pale Burnt Metal and others were ghosted (misted) on to achieve a, hopefully, realistic weathered finish. Citadel Colour Brown and Rust inks were run into some of the panel lines, again, to create the weathered look. The decals are from Cutting Edge.



















Academy F/A-18A Hornet - converted back to an 'A' using the superb Cutting Edge resin set




I've included some of the build up images here and hope you find them useful to see the kind of detail I like to add. Most of the additional detail is included in the excellent Cutting Edge set that fits perfectly. The scheme is apparently designed to make the aircraft look like a MiG 29 in flight and the blue/white scheme also used intended to resemble the Su 27 Flanker. Both are available from Two Bobs on their sheet.












Here's a few images of the real aircraft at NSAWC in the US (note the scheme isn't exactly the same, but similar). Thanks to Ian Sayer for these images.











My aim is to add new projects here over the months... keep an eye out!