Flying Tigers' War(t)haw(g)

Historical Background

During the Vietnam War, large numbers of ground attack aircraft were badly damaged, if not shot down by low-level anti-aircraft fire, surface-to-air missiles and even small arms fire, prompting the search for an aircraft able to survive such weapons. In addition, the close-support UH-1 armed Hueys and AH-1 Huey Cobra helicopter gunships were not well-suited for anti-armour operations and the fast jets such as the F-100 Super Sabre, F-4 Phantom II and F-105 Thunderchief were mostly ineffective for close air support because their high speed did not allow pilots enough time to get an accurate fix of targets on the ground, and their thirsty turbojets restricts loiter time. The only effective attack aircraft during the war was the ageing, Korean War-vintage A-1 Skyraider.

In 1966, the USAF formed the Attack, Experimental (A-X) program office and in March 1967, a Request For Information was sent to defence contractors for the A-X. The objective was to create a design study for a low-cost attack aircraft. In 1969, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the aircraft designer, Pierre Sprey to draw up the detailed specifications for the A-X project. Discussions with A-1 pilots and analysis of aircraft then in use for the role indicated that the ideal Close Air Support (CAS) aircraft should have long loiter time, low-speed maneuverability, massive firepower and extreme survivability; or, an aircraft having the best attributes of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, Henschel Hs 129 and the Ilyushin Il-2. In May 1970, the USAF issued a modified and more detailed Request For Proposals (RFP), taking into account the massive Soviet armoured force and all-weather capability. The RFP specified an aircraft with a maximum speed of 400mph, take-off distance of 4,000 feet, external load of 16,000lb and 460km operational radius. It would also be specifically designed around a 30mm cannon, of which a separate RFP was issued. The RFP for the cannon specified a high muzzle velocity and a rate of fire of 4,000 rounds per minute. Six companies submitted theirs with Northrop and Fairchild Republic selected to build the prototypes : the YA-9A and YA-10A with General Electric and Philco-Ford to build the GAU-8 30mm rotary cannon prototypes. The prototype YA-10A first flew 10 May 1972 and after trials and a fly-off against the YA-9A, was selected on 18 January 1973 for production. The first production aircraft flew in October 1975 and delivery to the USAF commenced in March 1976. The A-10 was officially named Thunderbolt II, as Republic's earlier P-47 Thunderbolt was renowned for CAS missions during World War 2. More popular however is the nickname Warthog, or simply Hog.

The A-10 has superb maneuverability at low speeds and altitude because of its large wing area, high wing aspect ratio and large ailerons. The high wing aspect ratio also allows short take-off and landing capability, permitting operations from primitive airfields near the forward edge of the battle area, or damaged runways. It was also designed to be fueled, rearmed and serviced with minimal equipment. Many of the parts were also interchangeable between either side. The leading edge of the wing, together with the flap shrouds, elevators, rudders and sections of the fins were made using honeycomb panel construction, providing strength with minimal weight penalty. The aircraft was also designed to be tough, being able to survive direct hits from AP and HE projectiles up to 23mm. The flight system is of double redundancy hydraulic type with a mechanical back-up (known as manual reversion system) if the hydraulics were totally lost. The aircraft was also designed to fly with one engine, one tail, one elevator with half of one wing missing. The cockpit and parts of the flight control systems was protected with a 'bathtub' of titanium armour ranging from 13 to 38mm thick; total weight of the 'bathtub' was 540 kg. The two General Electric TF-34-GE-100 turbofan engines were mounted high on the fuselage to decrease Foreign Object Damage risk. The high bypass ratio of the engines means low IR signature and their location, directing the exhaust gases over the tailplane helps mask them further from IR-guided missiles.

The main built-in weapon of the A-10 is the General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm Gatling-type cannon. One of the most powerful aircraft cannon, the A-10 was designed around this weapon system. The whole gun system weighs 1,828kg with full ammunition load and measures 5.931 m long from the muzzle to the rearmost point of the ammunition system. The magazine can hold 1,174 rounds although 1,150 was the normal load-out. The standard ammunition mix is a five-to-one mix of PGU-14/B Armour Piercing Incendiary rounds, incorporating a Depleted Uranium core, and PGU-13/B High Explosive Incendiary rounds. The rate of fire originally selectable between 2,100 rpm and 4,200 rpm. Later this was fixed at 3,900 rpm. Other weapons include 'dumb' bombs of the Mk.80 family, cluster munitions and laser-guided bombs, although the last mentioned is uncommonly used. A more commonly used guided munitions is the AGM-65 Maverick missile. During Operation Desert Storm the IR camera of the AGM-65D version was used by A-10 pilots as a poor man's FLIR (Forward Looking Infra Red) as the aircraft was not equipped with dedicated FLIR. ECM pods and AIM-9 Sidewinder AAM were also used for self-defence.  

The first unit to receive the A-10 was the 355th Tactical Training Wing based at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The first mission-capable unit was the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing, then based at Myrtle AFB, South Carolina in 1978. Originally unwelcomed by the fighter community as they traditionally favour speed (not to mention appearance). Furthermore, a number of A-10s were shifted to the role of Forward Air Control (FAC) and designated OA-10. These FAC aircraft however are physically unchanged and remain fully combat capable. The first combat experience for the A-10s came in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. They flew 8,100 sorties and destroying more than 900 Iraqi tanks, 2,000 other vehicles and 1,200 artillery pieces. They also managed to shot down two helicopters using their cannon while losing four of their numbers to SAMs. Another three battle-damaged aircraft managed to get back to base but were written-off. The Warthog were also active in The Balkans, taking part in Operation Deliberate Force and Operation Allied Force. Although not initially involved, the A-10 was active over Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Anaconda. They returned to the Gulf in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom and in 2011 took part in Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya.

The A-10 has received many upgrades over the years. In 1978, the Pave Penny laser spot tracker was fitted, allowing the aircraft to receive reflected laser radiation from laser designators for faster and more accurate target identification. Inertial Navigation System was received in 1980 and the Low Altitude Safety and Targeting Enhancement (LASTE) upgrade provided computerized weapon-aiming procedure, an autopilot and a ground collision warning system. In 2005 the entire A-10 fleet received Precision Engagement upgrades that include an improved fire-control system, ECM and smart bomb targeting with the aircraft receiving the upgrade designated A-10C (A-10B was a one-off night/adverse weather prototype). The Hog's service may be extended to 2028 although there are proposals for earlier retirement.

The Kit

Italeri released a new tool 1/72 scale A-10A in 1997; this was followed in 1998 by the OA-10A. Although I have not personally checked the original A-10A release, I believe the contents of the boxes are the same. After all, physically, the OA-10A is the same with the A-10A. On initial inspection, it looks like Italeri has a winner here. The panel lines are tiny and crisp, the shape and dimension are generally spot on (although some modelers beg to differ). The cockpit, although paled in comparison with aftermarket resin ones, should look good once painted and weathered with one of the best ACES II ejection seat in plastic that I have ever seen. What truly sets it apart from the Hasegawa kit is the ordnance load - Hydra rocket pods, Rockeye CBUs, Maverick ASMs, Sidewinder AAMs and even a large external fuel tank. The gun barrel however need some work, or help from an aftermarket set. The boarding ladder can be posed in the open position and so are the canopy and the ailerons/speedbrakes. The marking options are for two FS36320/36375-painted aircraft; however Italeri marked the darker colour as FS35257. While already a boring scheme, it was further worsened by the choice of decals - both featured rather anonymous aircraft:
1. 81-962, 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem; and
2. 80-258, 110th Fighter Group, Michigan ANG, Kellogg ANGB, Battle Creek, Mich.

Construction

As usual with aircraft models, construction started at the cockpit. As mentioned before, the cockpit is actually good enough out-of-the box as it featured detailed and crisp raised details. The cockpit parts and the fuselage sidewalls were painted Gunze Sangyo Aqueous H317 (FS 36231 Dark Gull Grey), XF-1 Flat Black and XF-2 Flat White where appropriate. The ACES II ejection seat consists of  three parts and has good enough detail that I decided not to use a Neomega resin ACES II seat in my stash, saving it for a more needy kit. The bottom half of the forward fuselage, incorporating the nose wheel well was also assembled, after painting the wheel well XF-2 Flat White. Before the fuselage halves were cemented together, Italeri suggested that 30g of ballast should be placed in the nose area. I ended up filling the whole nose cavity with plasticene and I guess it might weigh more than 30g. The fuselage halves did not align well, but the bottom of the nose/nosewheel assembly was more problematic, needing puttying and sanding in order to get the nosewheel assembly to fit to the fuselage halves. Bypassing the assembly of the wings, I assembled the engine nacelles. According to some modelers, the fan blade count for the Italeri A-10 was wrong...I weren't terribly concerned anyway but the fit is, well, bad. None of the engine nacelle parts fit well and require filling and sanding (and I end up forgetting to sand some of the seams!) . Thankfully the entire engine assembly fit nicely with the fuselage and so did the tail assembly.

Then I turned to the wings. Again, like the the fuselage and the engine nacelles, the fit was bad. The upper and lower wing halves have slight misalignment and rather large gaps at the the joint near the wingtips. Thankfully, the latter was at the bottom of the wing so was not really noticeable. The inboard slats was glued in the deployed position (upon reflection, I should have cut the posts and put them in the lowered position). All the pylons were cemented but I leave the Sidewinder and Maverick launch rails for later The same goes with the airbrakes. Returning to the fuselage, I cemented the nosecap and the cannon barrel. The latter has poor detail and I think best enhanced using aftermarket products, Then it is time to paint.

Painting and Finishing

Post-1990s, the colour of the A-10 fleet was rather boring. Apart from a few airframes painted in experimental paint schemes, the rest of the Hogs were painted two-tone greys : Light Ghost Grey FS 36375 and Dark Ghost Grey FS 36320. Rather than using the kit decals however, I used TwoBobs' "Shark Bait" decal sheet, featuring three aircraft from the 74th and 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The painting scheme is the same with all other Hogs and I used Gunze Sangyo Aqueous paints. For the false canopy underneath the nose, I painted it FS 36118 freehand...yeah, I should have made the masking for it, but laziness had struck me; besides, it was underneath the plane, so it was most likely out of view and I have no intention to enter my models for any competition! The gun barrel was painted XF-1 Flat Black and later on graphite powder was rubbed onto it.

The Twobobs decal sheet featured three aircraft : callsign 'KC', 'Virga' and 'Tweeder'. After reading the background information, I chose 'KC' for my Hog (plus it was the most vibrant). KC or 'Killer Chick' was the call-sign of Captain (now LTC) Kim Nichole Reed-Campbell of the 74th FS, 23rd FG. On 7 August 2003, while flying A-10A s/n 81-987, she took heavy anti-aircraft fire damage over Baghdad while supporting the troops on the ground. The aircraft lost all hydraulics and started to roll left towards the ground. She tried several procedures to get the aircraft back under control; none of which worked. She eventually put the aircraft in the aforementioned manual reversion mode, after which the aircraft responded well. Landing was tricky however, as without hydraulics, there were no airbrakes, brakes and steering. After landing, it was found that the aircraft had suffered damage to the engine and the hydraulic system. Hundreds of holes peppered the airframe and large sections of the aileron were missing. For this action, Cpt. Campbell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The Twobobs decals are nicely thin and have good register. The Flying Tiger insignia and the Air Combat Command shield decals have separate white backings to ensure no colour bleed-through. However I still use the kit decals for the IFR probe as it looked like they are nicer than the Twobobs' offering. All the decals responded well to decal softening solutions. The model was then subjected to a combination of sludge wash and 2B pencil for enhancing the details.

Finishing

The final assembly started with the landing gear parts. They are assembled, painted Tamiya XF-2 Flat White and weathered, this time with a thin application of Tamiya X-19 Smoke. Like the rest of the kit, they have nice details and suitably 'pop up' with the wash. I did however lost one part of the main landing gear doors to the Carpet Monster....anyway, unlike many other kits, there weren't many aerials to fit onto the aircraft, as they were already moulded in-situ (and thankfully, they are rather large and quite able to withstand the odd knockings). For the weapons, the TwoBobs instruction sheet includes an arming suggestion, based on a typical A-10 load for CAS missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom:
(Port-to-Starboard)
Station 1: AIM-9M Sidewinder on twin rail launcher
Station 2: LAU-68 7-tube rocket launcher pod
Station 3: AGM-65 Maverick
Station 4-8 : Mk 82 500-lb bomb (Station 5 empty)
Station 9: AGM-65 Maverick
Station 10: LAU-68 7-tube rocket launcher pod
Station 11: AN/ALQ-184 ECM pod (long)

I used the kit's Sidewinders as I have run out of the 'L' (the 'M' has the same physical shape) version in my stash. While the missiles are OK, the twin launcher looks too wide. I tried to use Hasegawa's twin launchers but the one in the Air-To-Air Weapons Set are for the Phantom, furthermore, while dimensionally correct (I guess), the shape was wrong for the A-10's launcher rail. The LAU-68s were also from the kit as Hasegawa's weapon set only have the LAU-3 and LAU-10 pods. The Mavericks are also from the kit, as Italeri moulded the seeker head separately using clear styrene. The Mk.82s came from Hasegawa's Weapon Set I and the ECM pod is from Hasegawa's Weapon Set VII. The AN/ALQ-184 pod however is of the 'short' version. As mentioned before, the airbrakes can be posed in the opened position. In reality however, the airbrakes are hardly left in that position on the ground unless for maintenance. The kit airbrakes however are meant to be in that position only as the instructions did not show the steps to assemble them in the closed position. I tried anyway by simply dry-fitting the halves....they didn't fit well at all. I then tried swapping the lower halves and they have better fit. The fit of the airbrakes to the wing however left a lot to be desired though. I am tired of the kit by this time and left them as they were. Finally, the canopy was fitted in the open position.

Conclusion

Is Italeri's 1/72 Warthog a nice kit? Yes I believe so, with good detail overall. However, the assembly was far from easy, and I ended up having seam lines at the badly-fitting parts (especially at the engine nacelles and the spine of the aircraft); definitely my worst work. As an excuse (ha!), this build actually took place several years ago, when I was at my (extended) Padawan stage and given a second chance, I believe I can make better model out of Italeri's 1/72 A-10s.