Handmade Wood Toy Airplane Modeled After The A-10 Thunderbolt II aka Warthog 1159406785

 

Handmade Wood Toy Airplane Modeled After The A-10 Thunderbolt II aka Warthog

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I made this for my grandson for Christmas. He had asked me to make an A-10 for him for months, and this was the closest I could get. I modified it some, and if I make another one, I have further modifications planned.
I needed to get the canopy defined better. I did a good job cutting the pieces out. They fit back together so well that you can barely see the lines.

I did not install the wing guns as the plans required. A-10s don't have guns in the wings.

I didn't use dowels for the engine nacelles. I planned a flat spot on them and glued them on. I am still trying to figure out how to drill the holes precisely. John, the designer, should make a video showing how you did it if he built one. I have discovered that many of the people out there selling these toy plans do not create them. In my opinion, test builds are necessary. They should give one to some of their customers. Let them develop prototypes and proof the plans.

I did not drill the engines to the depth called for in the plans; I didn't think they needed to be that deep. I had a hell of a time getting the holes centered. The bit always tried to follow the end grain, even clamped down in a heavy drill press vise. Next time, use the lathe or Shopsmith. I forgot I had a drill chuck arbor for it.

In a real Thunderbolt II, the GAU-8 (gun) is offset to one side of the center. I wanted to do that but needed more time to test my idea. I used a dowel of a different size for the gun mount than the plan because I did not have the size I needed. The dowel the plan calls for needs to be bigger for the gun. In reality, the GAU-8 dominates the nose of the aircraft. The GAU-8 has an airplane, not the other way around. Burrrrrrrrt.