OV-10 Bronco, 'Whif-lite'

[Silverfox]

Well, this is my first project to be posted on here. I've been watching for a while, and after getting inspired by the rest of you with your fantastic creations, I got inspired to finally get of my butt and do something myself.

As my resources are limited, and the last thing I built was a terrible V-22 when I was about 14, that I thankfully no longer have, I decided to start slow and easy with a 1/72 Academy Bronco kit I've had sitting in the cupboard for the last few years. I purchased it at an airshow... somewhere, with the full intentions of building it. Due to moves and things though, it sat and gathered dust for a while.

So, I sat down and ran through a few ideas. I like the bronco a lot as it is, but I wanted to give it something 'different'. I've already decided on a splinter cammo pattern, and I also had a Blackhawk kit sitting and awaiting being built - so, I nicked the Hellfires from it, and I'm going to mount them on the Bronco.
I also liked a few ideas I saw popping up in other Bronco whifs on the site - namely, wingtip 'winders and a cannon in one of the sponsons.
Unfortunately, these ideas only came to me a bit after I'd started, but here's some pictures so far:



Here's my work area. Body's has some PSR applied, and I've made and painted the cockpit interior. Hellfires are ready to have their noses tipped with silver.


A closer, but blurry as heck pic of the body. I hadn't decided to mod on the cannon yet, but stay tuned.

Be gentle with me, it's my first time!  

[John Howling Mouse]

Keep it coming, is all I can ask for.  Enjoy the build, knowing that you are producing something truly unique and a subject with a twist that the world would never otherwise see.

[Sauragnmon]

Welcome to the party, Fox.  It's always nice to see another addition to the madhouse speak up and show his colours.

[JayBee]

Welcome to the party!
I found this site about a year ago and it got me back into building again.
I had always had hankerings towards WhIf.
What I love about this site is that there are people out there who understand, and wholeheartedly join in.
So once again, welcome aboard!

JimB

[AeroplaneDriver]

Welcome aboard!!   

This site got me back into modelling also, about 5 years ago, after a modelling break of about a decade. 

I've always loved the Bronco, and cant wait to see what you do with it! 

[Silverfox]

Wow, thanks for all the positive responses already! Nice to be welcomed so warmly, and to have some interest in what I'm doing. Here's some progress from this evening, fuelled by the power of RAWK.



Here's the cannon I added to the right sponson after amputating the M60's. I figure it's a 25mm Bushmaster or something like that. Unfortunately the camera's not exactly ace, so you can't see the vents drilled into the muzzle.



And on the left side, I added a sensory-thingy. In my head it's a FLIR xD
How did I make it? How else - it's the front of a droptank from a tiny Japanese F/A-18 a friend got me from the states.

Just waiting for glue to dry, then I'll start blending in the cannon. The milliput can cure overnight and tomorrow, in time for me to do some more work on it Wednesday after work.

Hope you're all liking it so far!

[chrisonord]

Welcome to the nutjob shop Silverfox
I am looking forward to seeing this Bronco of yours when its done. I hope the sponson with the cannon in will get some reinforcement done to it to counter the recoil. Should cause a mess to what ever is on the receiving end also
Cheers,
Chris

[Silverfox]

I hope the sponson with the cannon in will get some reinforcement done to it to counter the recoil. Should cause a mess to what ever is on the receiving end also

I'll see what I can do about reinforcement - I'll admit I hadn't thought about it! I'm not really sure how I can show it, haha.

The backstory:

Following the economic recession of 2008-9 and the subsequent oil-crash, Humanity struggled to regain control of it's society, and eventually emerged in 2015 with new energy sources, and new hope.
Many government alliances had changed or been reformed, and a new age of peace and prosperity seemed to be around the corner.

However, this all faded when in 2018 the planet was wracked by global catastrophe like that only imagined in the fevered minds of Hollywood film directors. Earthquakes and Tsunami cascaded across the surface of Earth, devastating many countries, and the following fires, landslides, mudslides and floods only added to the catastrophe and devastation.
Hundreds of Millions of lives were lost, as well as much infrastructure destroyed.
But the worst was yet to come - for the catastrophe had heralded the arrival of a new enemy to Earth - an extra-dimensional race of conquerors, who moved from planet to planet, harvesting and harnessing resources for their own uses.

The armed forces of Earth's nations had already been affected by the massive devastation, and had lost much of their manpower and equipment. Much more was engaged in combating the catastrophes. As such, they had little time to react to these new enemies, and were swiftly forced into going to ground in hidden locations, and waging a guerilla war.
As tactics changed, and new equipment was needed to replace what was lost, and to mount an effective defence against the invaders' war machines (and the Earthen ones they had captured and put into service, with collaborators as crew), Older craft were rescued from the boneyards and other such places around the world, and upgraded with whatever parts could be scavenged, built, or adapted.

These 'Phoenixes' were dubbed with derivations of their original names, often by their principal contractor, Silverfox Heavy Industries, and launched into battle to cover the ongoing war of surgical strikes, hit-and-runs, ambushes, and more.

The remaining military forces banded together under the moniker 'Unifed Combat Forces', or UCF for short. Formed of military men and women from all services and around the globe, and equipped with whatever they could find, they swung into battle against the mysterious extra-dimensional enemy, and those who had chosen to side with them.

OV-10E "Bucking Bronco"

Used as an observation aircraft, a Special Forces transport, and a Close-Air-Support aircraft for infantry operations, the OV-10E is an upgrade of the OV-10D Bronco, many examples of which were still found to be airworthy.
An aircraft with a favourable reputation among troops who had served with it, and aircrew who had worked on it or piloted it, the Bronco was one of the first planes out of the Boneyards and civilian hands, and quickly modified by Silverfox Heavy Industries.

In order to give it the punch it needed against X-D forces and Collabs, it was decided to equip the Bronco with heavier cannon armament. A 25mm weapon was chosen in order to give it some effect against armoured vehicles, and still be more than effective for infantry. A FLIR was added to the other sponson to aid in night-flying, observation, and close-support accuracy, and after upgrading the engines with new materials, the resulting savings in weight and increases in efficiency allowed the carriage of additional Sidewinders on the wingtips for defence against X-D 'Vespid' Gunships and 'Stag' Transports and Collab light aircraft and helicopters.
Hellfires were finally cleared for launch and use on the Bronco as well, and the aircraft was put into service, with many conversions following.

After use in combat, the OV-10E was quickly nicknamed the 'Bucking' Bronco by it's pilots, due to the recoil from the 25mm cannon in the right sponson. However, it was found within acceptable limits, and all pilots protested the removal of it, finding the firepower it gave them extremly useful.
This was no more apparent than in the battle for the Midlands, where OV-10E's were often the first to spot convoys of APC's moving down motorways, and were able to engage them from low altitude with surprise, ripping the convoys apart with 25mm shells, Hellfires, bombs and rockets.

The Splinter camouflage was also chosen as it is suitable for most environments, and was adopted as standard camouflage for all UCF aircraft. It also seems to have the effect of blinding or confusing the sensors of some X-D craft and drones - the reason behind this is as yet not apparent.
---------------------

So yeah, hope you like the background, hehe. Very sci-fi... but what can I say, I'm a sci-fi kinda guy, and I love writing!

[ChernayaAkula]

Welcome! 

Both Bronco and backstory are pretty cool and have loads of potential!  Hope we'll get some more story bits in the course of the build.

Do you have some bigger pics, though? 

[Shasper]

First off, welcome to this little slice of modelling insanity

While the original short-nose Bronc's never really did it for me, I'm seriously digging the Bushmaster & FLIR additions , I'm guessing theres a laser designator with the FLIR? Cant wait to see what else you've got planned mate so far its looking killer!!!

[Silverfox]

Well, I finally did some more work on this, and got around to posting again too. Here's some more WIP



Assembled the body and the wings, now my mods are done. I relocated the Radome to the left wingtip, like on the Sea Bronco I saw elsewhere on the site, since i loved how that had been done. I also added a chopped-down Litening pod to the left sponson, off of an Italeri 1/72 F-15E I had. The enlarged cooling intake on top of the body was an afterthought, added from a 1/144 Gundam kit. The wingtip pylons are from the F-15 too.



You can see from above how it looks. I severely messed up the canopy when glueing it into place originally, so bit the bullet, and I'm going to paint it 'blacked out'. Still, it's a lesson learned for my next model. Shame too, because I'd worked hard on the interior!
The cannon looks neat too - I'll see if I can get a pic of it as well, now I've PSR'd it into shape.

I'll be hitting it more over the weekend, since I have a mostly free one, so expect more pics then. Looking forward to seeing if it turns out as well as i hope!

[Sauragnmon]

I think your Bronco's coming along quite well, Fox - she'll be a beastly hitter when she gets finished that's for sure.

[Silverfox]

Thanks mate! I've got some ordnance racked up on my desk ready to hang off of her, and to receive a lick of paint. She'll be tooled up all nice.

Anyone got any idea where i can find references for camo patterns? I've got some colours in mind... it's the pattern I need.

[Shasper]

The profile section here would be a good start, and you could try googling Don Color for some 3-D stuff.

[Captain Canada]

Looking good so far ! Nothing better than an a/c with plenty of lumps and bumps....

My only suggestion would be to try turning on a few more lights when you take the pics, that might help !