Scratchbuilt A-10 Modifications

The Beginning...

As soon as I saw the A-10 videos, I knew I had to build one.  However, I did not want to buy a kit but rather wanted to build one from parts I had or could buy at the local Dollar Tree store.  I wanted landing gear based on the runway where I fly and I wanted it to be swappable.  I did not have any plywood or the tools necessary to cut the duct formers so I would need to come up with a way to build those.

The End Result...

Flight video of the end result can be found below.  I have also attached any modifications to the plans that I used at the bottom of this article.  Flight Video

Goals...

• Landing gear
• Swappable smaller FT style power pods
• Ducts without plywood formers

The Build...

I started with the wing build and followed the build video.  Since landing gear was a goal, I decided to try and mimic how Josh/Josh did it in the Kraken build video.  I added some pieces of paint stick on either side of where the spar was located on the bottom of the center wing section.  At this point I wasn't sure if the gear would face forward or backward so I put pieces on both sides.  Really only the rearward piece is necessary.

I then moved on to what I thought was going to be the challenging part but actually turned out relatively simple, the ducts. Leveraging a technique by DamoRC on the FT Forms I started in Inkscape and took the measurements from the FT plans and made a rectangle that was evenly divisible into rectangular segments.  This was printed and foam was cut where each segment was score cut and then run through with the large end of a bbq skewer several times.  Gorilla glue was applied to each score cut and hot glue was used for the end seams.  I also designed a former for each end to hold the shape while the glue set.  The regular duct ends from the FT plans were then glued on.

Once dry the gorilla glue makes the ducts quite strong.  At this point, I continued with the fuse build and the only modifications I made were to not cut the spots for the plywood for the ducts supplied in the FT kit but rather just mark the location on the foam in pencil.  On the inside section of the fuse where the pencil marks were located, I did put an extra layer of foam.

Moving on the the attachment of the duct to the fuse, I came up with a relative simple, double foam layered piece using two popsicle sticks for attachment.  The tip of the glue gun was used to melt a little foam and let the popsicle sticks sit flush but really nothing fancy.  The picture with the duct was the first version, the popsicle sticks were left as long as shown in the first two pics on the final build.  To ensure enough "bite" for the glue I did put a small rectangle of foam on the inside of the duct that the top portion of the connection piece glued to.

The ducts were then mounted to the fuse using some "that looks about right" techniques.  I used the pencil marks of where the plywood would have gone and then just choose a spot lower on the fuse.  I used the sharp end of the popsicle stick to pierce the two layers of fuse foam and hot glued everything in place.

For the power pods, I use the same plans as the full size FT pod, I just cut the pod off at the first set of tabs.I used the dimensions of this smaller tab to modify the double layer nacelle build from the FT plans into a simplified holder.  It became taller to enable me to have room to slip the pod into the holder.  Unfortunately I don't have any pics of building the pod but here is a snippet from the plans used.

The power pod holders were glued on in the same spot on the wing as in the FT build video and all wires run as normal.  I used a little longer "Y" power cable that when run is long enough to extend outside the front of the nacelle.  This allows me to attach it to my pod and then insert the pod into the holder using two bbq skewers up front and a single skewer through the pod itself.  The picture below shows the top skewers and space beneath the installed pod.

Last up was the landing gear.  I made a bad assumption that they needed to be more forward based on my prior experiences with warbirds.  While that is certainly the case with tail draggers it is not the case for a plane with nose gear.  In order for the a-10 to not tip over, I had to bend the gear backwards.  That is why I said earlier I would use only the rearmost paint stick support in the wing build.

I notched out the foam next to the power pod holder, used a generous amount of hot glue and glued the gear to the bottom of the wing.  I then put a piece of paint stick on top for reinforcement.  Then like the Kraken build I use a rubber band around the gear and the bbq skewer holding the power pod to give the gear some "spring".  Nose gear followed the same process.  I glued an old gift card and some extra foam to the floor of the nose and then notched out the foam, hot glued the wire and covered with a piece of paint stick.

I hope this may give you some ideas on modifications to your builds.  Plans attached below.  Happy flying!

duct.pdf