Building the 1/72 Scale Italeri's A-10C with a comic twist.
The Project
I’m committed to building almost exclusively Naval Aviation subjects, but I thought the A-10 was a worthy exception to that rule. This was a commission from a friend that I built in 2020, so as of now about two years ago. Where did the time go?
I wanted to make the one that has the Batman slapping Robin meme in the access ladder door, but I had to guess which aircraft it was. Based on the number in the ladder and after reviewing records online I decided it was the A-10C 80-0175 from the 75th. Fighter Squadron. Hope I was right!
Coincidentally this ended up being my second award winning model by getting first place at the “2021 Contest Online - Aerei Ed Elicotteri” organized by Italeri. Also, coincidentally, this was the last model I was able to build without the help of reading glasses or magnifying lenses. Life catches up with us all!
The Model
The Italeri A-10C is still the best A-10 in 1/72 scale out there. It’s not perfect, but it’s actually a very nice kit with a good level of detail. I built it pretty much out of the box, except for adding some Eduard cockpit interior, an Aires seat, Res-Kit wheels, a Master Brass cannon, and Eduard ordnance.
The photos below show some of the initial stages of the build. I just added some rivets by hand in some of the panels. Everything else was just a straight forward build.
The really exciting part about this model was actually all the painting and weathering. I started with black basing and pre-shading, and then moved to apply the two tones of gray. I used MRP 038 – Light Gray FS36375 for the light gray, and MRP 097 – U.S. Dark Ghost Grey FS36320 for the dark one. The photos below show the overall painting process up to the application of both tones.
Once the model was painted, I moved on to use airbrush stencils to simulate stains and paint fading. I used different tones of gray, but you can get very creative with these.
After that was done, I glossed everything with Aqua Gloss and completed a wash pass with Flory Model’s Dark Dirt to put an accent on the panel lines.
With the wash done and with the kit glossed over again, it was time for decals. I printed the Batman Meme at home, and then used a mix of decals from Print Scale and the kit. I didn’t like the shark mouth provided in the Italeri Sheet, so I used one from an old Academy kit that has the proper shape. It took a ton of Micro Set to adapt, but it finally went through.
After decaling I did another airbrush stencil pass with some brownish tones, and a final additional wash with Dark Dirt and Tamiya Weathering Master. All this was in the end sealed with a flat coat with Micro Scale Flat.
As I mentioned earlier, I used Eduard ordnance, except for the rocket pod that I pulled from some old kit. It took me some time and research to figure out the payload, but I think it came out with a very nice mix.
I decided to add some more bits and pieces to it before finishing it. I saw some “personalized” wheel chocks in some photos, so I decided to replicate them. I also had to make the access ladder from scratch since the one with the kit is the old ladder version with square struts. Finally, I thought that some Remove Before Flight tags would look nice. The below photos show the model finished before going on the display base.
For the Display Base I followed my usual process. You can read a tutorial on how I make them here: Easy Steps to Concrete Display Bases
And here is the model fully completed.
I truly had a lot of fun working on this model, and I know it made my friend very happy. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to make it for him, and I hope this article is helpful for anyone wanting to pursue a similar project.
I hope you liked this one, if you have any questions, drop me a line below. Thanks much for reading, and as always, happy modeling!