Revell A-10 Thunderbolt WIP #2

Over the last couple of days, some more progress has been done to the A-10. I have concentrated on finishing the small fins, grills and other items on the exterior of the fuselage. These will be fiddly in a larger scale like 1/48th, but in 1/72nd they have caused me to mutter a few naughty words! So here are a few more photos of these small, annoying pieces.

These are the replacement grills that are located on the end of the wings. The grills just glue over the moulded grills on the wing undersides.

Behind he cockpit are two etched fins that replace the moulded plastic ones in the kit. Each fin is made up from two pieces of etch. Further along are two etched gravity fuel filler caps.

The main undercarriage bays have etched panels fitted inside what would be a bare opening. Inside there is also an etch lever mechanism consisting of two pieces of etch, one with four bends in it. At the bottom is the etched grill which is glued over the crude moulded grill. 

 In this photo, you can see three more etched fins, of which two are not even moulded in the kit. The extra etched detail inside the front undercarriage bay which include replacement side panels and ribs. There is also an etched gun barrel to be made up and fitted in the round opening in the nose.

Onto the rear fuselage section. The two large fins are the moulded plastic that came with the kit. Behind them are two small fins and two round panels on the tailplane's. To the front there is two more grills, one round and the other rectangular. Next to the large fins is the fuel jettison pipe which was made from a piece of shaped etch that gets rolled into a tube. I realised straight away that this would not be ideal for fitting to the fuselage surface, so I wrapped it around a piece of 1mm plastic rod to a; keep the shape of the pipe and b; make a larger surface for gluing it to the fuselage.

I am almost finished adding the etched detail to the fuselage now, there is just a few small items to add inside an opened panel and behind the cockpit. After that is done, the undercarriage needs assembly and have the etch added to it, cockpit canopy needs detailing and the bombs need their etched fins added. So now I need to get the fuselage finished by adding the last few bits of etch, the pylons and other pieces of the kit before masking and priming.