It's been a busy year and I haven't had much time to work on my models. However Christmas is near and I do want to create at least one children's toy for the holidays. As usual will need to beef up the wings and tail sections while keeping the fuselage true to form. I think I'll do a little experimenting on the build technique and finishing compared to the other toys which I have made. The scale will be 1:48. The Fuselage layout will incorporate my standard tang for clamping while shaping.

After I finish the toy, I'll post the plans under this root message for those who may be interested in building one.

Will have to start beavering away to meet the gift deadline. Tick Tock .....

Copy of plans have been added below for those who may be interested.

Looking forward to the A-10 project.

Lou

Engine nacelles bored. Engine pylon slots were created on side of nacelles by drilling to the appropriate depth followed by chiseling the side of the holes to form the appropriately sized mortise. Vertical stabilizers had mortises cut using a laminate trimmer with a 1/4" bit. However, these could also have been carved out using chisels. Due to the construction of the tail assembly, I want to apply a belt and braces approach to the joint between the horizontal and vertical stabilizers by creating a shallow tight fitting mortise and tenon joint which will also be doweled.

Key components have been rough shaped. A generous amount of excess material was left on the vertical stabilizers for later sanding in order to compensate for any discrepancies in the angle of the routed mortises.

An A-10 is visible in the parts. Nice going Ken.

Lou

Thanks Lou;

I can see it will be a little more challenging than I thought due to the non symmetrical cross sections at the front and drilling the slots for the pylons at the rear. But with a little patience I should be able to handle these.

Since the model will have a natural finish for most parts thought I'd add a little character by wood burning the outlines of some of the major control surfaces. Have sanded and rounded the tail sections and added the control surface outlines.

Nicely done.

Lou

Nice work Ken, regards Paul J.

Thanks Paul and Lou for the positive feedback. Not sure how the burned lines will show off with the natural finish over time as it mellows and yellows. But in the near term, the dark brown should hopefully be a good contrast to the varnish finish and add a little interest.

Work is progressing slowly. Fuselage was placed in the vice clamp to facilitate shaping the rear of the fuselage. The angle of the engine pylons had me worried a little, so thought I'd start there in case things didn't go well. After shaping using the 10" file, it was off to the drill press to drill the pilot holes for the mortise. I struggled a little on hold to create the appropriate angle and then remembered the adjustable drill press vice I had picked up from "Busy Bee" when it was on sale a couple of years ago. This was the first time I used it and it worked great.

The fuselage was held in the vice at the appropriate angle and undersized holes were drilled for the mortise. The mortise was cleaned out and widened using chisels. A few years ago, I took a 1/4" chisel and ground the sides down on the disk sander, keeping the chisel cool so as not to change the metallurgy. It's certainly come in handy when working with mortises at this scale.

Final picture is of the two pylons dry fitted in the fuselage and looking reasonably symmetrical. One hurdle down. Now onto shaping the rest of the fuselage.

Excellent work Ken, that adjustable drill press looks a handy bit of kit.Regards Paul J.

Thanks Paul. Yes the tilting drill press vice is certainly handy. And it was relatively cheap at "Busy Bee".

Had to restart the nacelles. The mortise as a little sloppy at the bottom, so I threw the originals away and started fresh, paying particular attention to the exhaust end. After chiselling the square cross section to a round one, I used tape to define the point where the exhaust portion of the nacelle started to taper. This worked great for both chiselling and rough sanding. When the nacelles were fitting to the pylons, the pylons extended a little beyond the nacelles. A couple of deft strokes with the Xacto knife blended the pylon tenon into the nacelle mortise.

Tail assembly was dry fitted to the fuselage. Back part of the plane is now shaped, fitted and rough sanded. Next it's on to the wings.

Well done !Ken. Excellent work.

Gordon

Looks like an A-10 to me. Nice going.

Lou

Thanks for the feedback Gordon and Lou. Still plodding along with the hopes of finishing for end of year. Looks like I may not have it finished in time for a Christmas gift for this year.

Finished roughing out the wing. Since it's a children's toy, I don't worry too much about the airfoil shape as I like to keep the wing thick and strong. As long as the outline is correct, I try and "cheat the eyes" with respect to the foil shape.

Fuselage has kefs cut in it for the dado. I use the bandsaw, but any hand saw will do. Cutting the kerfs reduces the chiseling and lets me focus on creating a smooth and straight root for the dado.

All material for the dado has been removed and the root chiseled smooth in order to accept the wing.

Wing has been fitted. I"ll finish off the final shaping, once the wing is glued in place.

Ken,

Love your work.

Gordon

Thanks Gordon. I still have a long way to go to match your skills and the skills of all the other members!! But maybe one day I'll get there.

Started to shape the back end of the fuselage. The tang at the front is held in the clamping vice to facilitate carving and shaping. Most of the shaping was performed using a trusty file.

Top of fuselage rough shaped and canopy outline penciled in.

Side of canopy shaved back using a chisel.

Canopy shape roughed out using a chisel, file and a little rough sandpaper.