SPA Modeler

That is awesome Carlos! Thanks for those great stories. It sure made my day reading them. Gotta love the Warthog!

You bet Mark. It’s nice to see that some flyers still know how to do CLOSE air support when the chips are down for the guys on the ground.

Well, I thought I had posted the finished model here back when I completed it, but it appears I was mistaken and negligent in getting this done.

Here are the final pics of the 1/72 scale A-10 Thunderbolt II I completed form Hasegawa. Overall it is an excellent kit with great detail. There is plenty of room for other to detail it out further with aftermarket parts as well. i built this one out of the box warts and all, so anyone can see the issues they would have to deal with.

One issue is the amount of flash seen on the parts. It is easy to clean off, and is not as extensive as some other kits I've seen, but one would think a good company like Hasegawa would be more attentive to their molds.

There were a lot of fit issues as well. I recommend extensive test fitting to insure a good fit for most parts; especially ones that have difficult access to the seams for a sanding implement. For example; the area between the engine nacelles.

The canopy could have fit better as well. Many people might want to pose the canopy open to avoid showing the issues with the canopy.

The decals were thin and in register and went on very well. I had very few issues with any silvering and what did silver was easily fixed with a decal solvent.

I commend Hasegawa for including the ordinance in this model This allows a modeler to load out this plane with max hurt without the additional 'hurt' to the wallet for aftermarket weapons.

I'd rate this kit as an 8 out of 10 for ease of assembly and painting. decaling was a challenge when it came to the smallest of stencils, but overall went on well.

Thanks to Lyle for providing the sample. I appreciate you all looking in and your comments and support.

Now for the pics of the finished model:

Thanks Bruce! I am very happy with it.

Awesome build!! It really looks good. At least Hasegawa got the gun length right. The Revell A-10, the gun sticks out WAY too far.

Thanks Medic. One thing about the gun on this model: it had some kind of angled end which made this very difficult to glue in place. I had to shave it a bit to make it so it would point in the right direction. Otherwise, the barrel as molded would either point too far upwards or too far downwards; not to mention too far to the sides, depending on how you glued it. After some careful shaving and sanding, I finally got it to glue in the correct position.

Sorry I missed this Duke - WOW what a great finish. Thank you for your frank review of this kit. I might well get one.

Nice finish and a great succinct review summation. Concise and clear, as it should be. Not to mention truly honest.

Thanks Stuart! I'm glad you eventually got to see this. I hope it was worth it. I do recommend getting one of these; they are good kits overall.

Thanks Carlos. I figure it is best to let everyone know just what they are getting into. Besides, Any reviewer that fudges details and such won't have too many followers after awhile. I believe in doing it right as much as possible.