DONE @p.3 +++ TAM-1 "გველგესლას (Viper)", a Georgian, A-10-esque Frogfoot

Dizzyfugu · December 07, 2021, 11:29:17 PM

The next construction site were the new landing gear attachment points. This had caused some serious headaches – where do you place and stow it? With new, low wings settled, the wings were the only logical place. But the wings were too thin to suitably take the retracted wheels, and, following the idea of a retrofitted existing design, I decided to adopt the A-10's solution of nacelles into which the landing gear retracts forward, with the wheels still partly showing. This layout option appears quite plausible, since it would be a "graft-on" solution, and it also has the benefit of leaving lots of space for underwing stores, since the hardpoints' position had to be modified now, too.
I was lucky to have a pair of A-10 landing gear nacelles at hand, left over from a wrecked Matchbox model from childhood time (the parts are probably 35 years old!). They were simply cut out, glued to the Su-25 wings and PSRed into shape. The result looks really good!

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Dizzyfugu · December 08, 2021, 07:00:37 AM

More progress... At this point I had to decide the model's overall layout: where to place the wings, the tail and also the new engine nacelles...

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The latter were not 1:72 A-10 transplants – I actually had some spare pods from the aforementioned Matchbox wreck, but these looked too toylike for my taste, and they were rather bulky on the Su-25, which is markedly smaller than an A-10. As alternative I had procured many moons ago a set of 1:144 resin PS-90A engines from a Russian company called "A.M.U.R. Reaver", normally intended for a Tu-204 airliner or an Il-76 transport aircraft. These not only look very much like A-10 turbofan nacelles, just a bit smaller and more elegant, they are among the best resin aftermarket parts I have ever encountered. Almost no flash, crisp molding, no bubbles, and perfect fit of the parts – WOW!

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Dizzyfugu · December 08, 2021, 08:28:49 AM

As a side note: the ART Model Su-25 apparently also comes with separate engine nacelles - but it is quite expensive for being sliced up and "re-arranged"...

Appears to be a very good Frogfoot model, though.

Dizzyfugu · December 08, 2021, 11:16:31 PM

With these three elements at hand I was able to define the wings' position, based on the tail, and from that the nacelles' location, relative to the wings and the fin.
The next challenge: how to attach the new engines to the fuselage? The PS-90A engines came without pylons, so I had to improvise. I eventually found suitable pylons in the form of parts from F-14A underwing missile pylons, left over from an Italeri kit. Some major tailoring was necessary to find a proper position on the nacelles and on the fuselage, and PSRing these parts turned out to be quite difficult because of the tight and labyrinthine space.

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

su27rules · December 09, 2021, 01:07:36 AM

Dizzyfugu · December 09, 2021, 05:43:47 AM

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

When the engines were in place, work shifted towards the model's underside. The landing gear was fully replaced. I initially wanted to retain the front wheel leg and the main wheels but found that the low wings would not allow a good ground clearance for underwing stores and re-arming the aircraft, a slightly taller solution was necessary. I eventually found a complete landing gear set in the scrap box, even though I am not certain to which aircraft it once belonged? I guess that the front wheel came from a Hasegawa RA-5C Vigilante, while the main gear and the wheels once belonged to an Italeri F-14A, alle struts were slightly shortened. The resulting stance is still a bit stalky, but an A-10 is also quite tall – this is just not so obvious because of the aircraft's sheer size.

Due to the low wings and the landing gear pods, the Su-25's hardpoints had to be re-arranged, and this eventually led to a layout very similar to the A-10. I gave the aircraft a pair of pylons inside of the pods, plus three hardpoints under the fuselage, even though all of these would only be used when slim ordnance was carried. I just fitted the outer pair. Outside of the pods there would have been enough space for the Frogfoot's original outer for pylons, but I found this to be a little too much, so I gave it three, with more space between them.

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

DogfighterZen · December 09, 2021, 10:33:36 AM

jcf · December 09, 2021, 04:14:30 PM

Bispro is Stéphane Beaumort aka Stargazer2006 on this forum and others.

kerick · December 09, 2021, 09:40:24 PM

Those engines look just right!
The engine layout and T tail give it a little of a Skyfox look, a very nice thing.

Dizzyfugu · December 09, 2021, 11:05:55 PM

After adding some blade antennae, painting started. I considered some more "exotic" options, but eventually settled for a "conservative" Soviet/Russian-style four-tone tactical camouflage, something that "normal" Su-25s would carry, too.
The disruptive pattern was adapted from a Macedonian Frogfoot but underwent some changes due to the T-tail and the engine nacelles. The basic tones were Humbrol 119 (RAF Light Earth), 150 (Forest Green), 195 (Chrome Oxide Green, RAL 6020) and 98 (Chocolate) on the upper surfaces and RLM78 from Modelmaster (#2087).

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The landing gear and the lower areas of the cockpit were painted in light grey (Humbrol 64), while the upper cockpit sections were painted with bright turquoise (Modelmaster #2135). The wheel hubs were painted in bright green (Humbrol 101) while some di-electric fairings received a slightly less bright tone (Humbrol 2), and a few of these flat fairings on the hull were created with green decal sheet material (TL Modellbau).

Flyer · December 10, 2021, 12:09:49 AM

That is looking awesome!

Dizzyfugu · December 10, 2021, 01:16:22 AM

Thank you. It adds a certain Caucasian flavor to this A-10ish creation.

su27rules · December 10, 2021, 01:32:26 AM

zenrat · December 10, 2021, 02:50:18 AM

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on December 08, 2021, 08:28:49 AM
As a side note: the ART Model Su-25 apparently also comes with separate engine nacelles - but it is quite expensive for being sliced up and "re-arranged"... Appears to be a very good Frogfoot model, though.

I checked my stash and my completed builds instruction box. In addition to the Hobbycraft Grach the following 1/72 kits have the engine nacelles moulded separately from the fuselage; Zvezda (Italeri), Cooperativa two seater (UNDA, Modellhobby, MSZ Moldova, Kopro, Maquette, MSD), and KP (Aeroteam, Kopro-Mastercraft, Mastercraft, Mistercraft, Kopro, SMER).
The ACE (Revell, Tsukuda, Kangam) kit has the nacelles moulded integrally with the fuselage split horizontally.

Zvezda kit has the best looking weapons.

Dizzyfugu · December 10, 2021, 05:32:27 AM

As usual, the model received a light black ink washing and some post-shading – especially on the hull and on the fin, where many details had either disappeared under PSR or were simply not there at all.

The landing gear and the lower areas of the cockpit were painted in light grey (Humbrol 64), while the upper cockpit sections were painted with bright turquoise (Modelmaster #2135). The wheel hubs were painted in bright green (Humbrol 101) while some di-electric fairings received a slightly less bright green tone (Humbrol 2), and a few of these flat fairings on the hull were created with green decal sheet material (from TL Modellbau).

1:72 Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 ,,გველგესლას (Gvelgeslas/Viper)", aircraft ,,Blue 07" of the Georgian Aviation and Air Defence Command of the Defence Forces; Alekseevka air base (Tbilisi), 2021 (What-if/modified Hobbycraft kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr