Review Summary
The reviews highlight a generally positive reception of the kit, noting its impressive detail, especially on the exterior, and a wide array of included ordinance, though some pieces like bombs and missiles often have noticeable defects such as sink marks or pinholes. Fit and assembly can be challenging, with frequent mentions of tricky fuselage and cockpit alignment, the need for significant nose weight to prevent tail-sitting, and occasional issues with mold quality and finicky decals. While the instructions are mostly clear, some inconsistencies and the lack of options like an open canopy or retracted landing gear are points of criticism among builders.
It Ain't Pretty!
The A-10 Warthog isn't pretty, but it's arguably the best ground attack plane ever. It was literally designed around its massive 30 mm rotary canon and can carry an armament load that is jaw dropping to say the least! Add to that, in can loiter over the enemy for a long, long time while it rains down brutal destruction that would seem almost biblical in scope. I chose to model Capt. (now Colonel) Kim Campbell's A-10A that she flew over Baghdad when she earned the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross for her incredible piloting skills and bravery under fire. Academy did a great job on this kit and detail, scale fidelity, and recessed panel lines are top notch. Pay particular attention to the cockpit assembly when you are ready to mate it to the fuselage halves. First, be sure to add as much ballast weight as you can fit in the areas noted so as to avoid this plane being a tail sitter. Second, be sure to have the necessary clamps, rubber bands and/or tape you'll need to hold it all together at the ready. I practiced this procedure a couple of times before I committed to glue and was glad I did. I had to use a little putty at the forward third of the wing roots and on the sides of the engine housings. Academy supplies an impressive array of bombs and rockets in this kit and I spent a little extra time detailing them. Included are (12) Mk82 bombs, (2) Mk84s, (2) GBU-10 smart bombs, and (6) Maverick missiles. The only thing I would try to improve in this kit are the decals. I used them as is but had to finesse them to get a satisfactory outcome. The adhesive seemed a bit light and I ended up using a little diluted white glue in a few places to get them to stick. The shark mouth decals required some strategic cuts to get them to lay flat. I also had to apply Micro-Sol a number of times to get them to settle to an acceptable degree. The shark mouth also ended up with a missing tooth in the front. It might have been due to a slight misalignment on my part, but I ended up hand painting a new tooth in that area and it turned out okay. All in all, this was a fun kit to build and I'm thrilled to have it in my display case.
Fun but finicky
This isn’t a bad kit. There is some pretty good detail, but the quality of the mold leaves much to be desired. There were lots of minor mold lines, and a few major ones (the tires for example were pretty bad). There are lots of really noticeable pinholes, especially on the ordinance (two per dumb bomb, and there’s 12 of those!). The directions are mostly clear, but in one or two cases they reference details or holes that don’t exist. The interior detail is pretty sparse, which is a pity since it’s very visible even through the closed canopy. There’s no option in the instructions for the canopy to be open, but the canopy comes in 2 pieces, and I think it would be pretty easy to wing it. My biggest complaint for the canopy is that the raised detail is on the inside. The fit for the model was in most cases terrible and extremely finicky. The cockpit, for example, has to be balanced perfectly on a single piece with no supports in order to attach it to a portion of the bottom of the fuselage. It is really difficult to get it right. In addition, that whole assembly has to be weighted heavily, but you have to be careful where you place the weights (not included in the kit) or the cockpit won’t fit inside the fuselage halves at all. And seriously, be sure you use a lot of weight. I used four, ¼ in lead bullet fishing weights and it’s barely enough to keep the nose on the ground! There are two paint/decal options, one for Kim Campbell, and another for the 81st FS in Germany. I had expected the decals to be garbage since it’s an Academy kit, but not so! The decals were great. They are thin, yet easy to work with. If you use a good decal setter/softener, they won’t silver or look raised, and they have no problem sinking into crevices and molding around raised detail. I was super surprised by the excellent quality of decals. Overall, this is a fun kit. I would recommend it to intermediate modelers and up. Because of the issues with fit and finishing, it makes a tough model for beginners.
