I am making progress on my build of this kit slowly but surely. For those of you thinking about it, I would give it a serious look. It is a challenging build, but not frustrating. Kit part quality and fit is excellent.

I decided to document construction as I go, as there are no instructions with the kit. The first part, which covers flaps, ailerons and the main gear pods and doors can be downloaded from http://homepage.mac.com/pilot114

For those of you who have built the gen 4 kit and have other thoughts to add, let me know.

The next installment will cover the nose gear, wing mounting and final air systems. Should be done with this part in a few weeks.

Hey Keith, I built the gen 3, no instructions, mixed parts bags, etc. I'm sure you have discovered all of that. How far along are you? I can give you info on things as you go if you need, just advise. I made mine in the colors of the 47th FS out of Barksdale. What a deal I have with them! Reply to me directly [email protected] and I will send you a couple of pics that will make you smile. The only A-10 match up in the world! Don

I completed one of the gen 4 kits. There were a number of outline improvements over the previous generation, and the front hatch system makes access much easier. Let me know if you have any questions I can help with.
Mike

Hey Mike, David Searles from California asked about bomb dropping design.
You are the only one that I have witnessed dropping bombs so we were wondering what design/mechanism you used? Roger

http://www.route66jets.com/

Hi Roger,
I modified a couple of standard size Futaba 3151 servos into linear motion servos and imbedded them in the pylons. With a little reworking and shaving things down here and there they just fit. The conversion kit is inexpensive and is available from Tower or EMS.The bottom of the pylon has two small tabs that mate against matching tabs from the bomb. Each tab has an inline hole to accomodate a music wire being pushed through. The servo arm pushes the music wire through the tabs to hold the bomb, and pulls it to drop the bombs. The bombs are snugged up against the sway braces to stop them banging around.
Regards
Mike

Hey Mike, do you have any pics of your dropping set up? I have the gen 3 and was thinking about such a thing. Are you using the bombs in the arms package? Thanks tons, Don, Houston.

Hi Don,
I will try to shoot a couple photos of the pylons with the servo and pin installed. The bombs are mk82 snake eyes, I did my own mold for these as the size and ballasting was more convenient, and less draggy then the ordinance in the kit. You also need to keep in mind that on the average you only get one toss per bomb, they don't hold up well. So whatever you use, I recommend you have multiples of it.
Mike

The attached photos show the second inboard pylon. This is flared just enough to allow a servo to be mounted inside. It needs a bit of grinding to do this. The bottom of the pylon is covered with a G-10 frame, as are the two holes for mounting the pylon on the wing. The linear motion servo drives a pin which has to be bent and offset. You can see the mount tabs on the pylon as well as on the bomb.
Hope this helps.
Mike

Mike,

Thanks for taking the time to share that. That is a very slick setup!

Joe

I have updated the growing instruction set with a section on the nose gear and nose gear door installations. I have also made a few updates to the original instructions based on input from several folks. You can download the files from http://homepage.mac.com/pilot114 in pdf format. File is about 2 meg. Mounting of the wings and completion of the air installations are next.