The A-10 N/AW two-seater was a one-off version of the A-10.
According to the Mini In Action A-10 Warthog (pg.20), the Air Force A-10 System Specification stated that "the design shall allow for ease of growth to a two-place version for training (with combat capability) and night/adverse weather attack", so it was up to Fairchild to prove that this was indeed the case.
In March 1979, after the evaluation phase of the A-10 pre-production aircraft (serials 73-1664 to 73-1669) was completed, Fairchild converted the first pre-production A-10 (serial 73-1664) to two-seater configuration, which was subsequently designated A-10 N/AW (Night/Adverse Weather).
Between 23 October 1979 and 4 December 1979, the A-10 N/AW was evaluated with positive results. USAF was interested in buying some two-seater A-10s without N/AW capability (which would have been designated A-10B) but was not able to convince Congress of its need for A-10Bs.
In the end the LANTIRN system, the AN/AAQ-28 Litening pod and the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper pod ended up providing similar capabilities without the need for a second crew member.
The A-10 N/AW airframe (gun, stores, engines and ejection seats were removed) is currently part of the collection of the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards AFB.
The pre-production A-10 airframes, on which the A-10 N/AW was based, differed in a number of details from production A-10 airframes.
Some of these differences are relevant to modellers:
As part of its conversion the A-10 N/AW was fitted with ACES II seats, a 20.5in (3.62mm at 1/144) extension was added to the vertical tail fins and an additional air probe was fitted to the port side of the nose.
To make room for the rear cockpit some equipment was relocated to the raised spine behind the canopy and the ammunition drum for the gun was reduced in size to hold 750 rounds instead of the usual 1350.
The canopy was changed from a single rear-hinged one to a pair of separate (starboard-)side-hinged canopies, one for each cockpit, with a fixed center section inbetween (similar to a TF-104G). Both front and rear canopies are based on a single molding, the radius is constant and identical to that of the rear frame of the windshield.
The front cockpit is identical to that of a single-seater, the rear cockpit is based on the single-seater but has an extra row of instruments on top of the main instrument panel and the HUD was replaced by a display screen.
During the flight testing phase, the vertical fin extensions were changed from 20.5in to 8.5in (1.54mm at 1/144) and wing flap travel was limited to 20° (flap mechanism was not modified, so the flap guides still protruded).
During some tests no gun was carried, leaving just the empty cooling sleeve (which looks much like the gun, see this picture) and sometimes the ammo loading door fitted on the port side was an early one without slots.
The A-10 N/AW was fitted with three stores that provided night and adverse weather capability, these were all unique to the N/AW:
Pictures can be found of the A-10 N/AW in various configurations.
During flight testing a full complement of pylons was fitted, including the Pave Penny pylon on the side of the nose.
The dedicated N/AW stores were not yet fitted, instead a Pave Penny pod was fitted and combinations of regular stores, such as three 600 gallon external tanks fitted to stations 4,6 and 8.
Stations count from 1 at the outermost location on the port wing, the Pave Penny pylon on the nose has no station number.
Once flight testing was completed, the pylons at stations 2,5,7 and 10 were removed and the WX-50 and AN/AAR-42 pods (and sometimes the LLTV pod) were fitted. These pods were permanently fitted during the evaluation, the pylon on station 4 was modified to fit and connect the WX-50 pod.
| Phase | test boom | nose art | pylons | Stores | Tail fin | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flight Test, Early | yes | no | all 11 fitted | various combinations | 20.5in | |
| Flight Test, Late | yes | yes | all 11 fitted | various combinations | 8.5in | |
| N/AW Eval | no | yes | 1,3,4,6,8,9 and 11 fitted | WX-50,AN/AAR-42 and LLTV pod, plus weapons | 8.5in | Gun often removed |
There are four manufacturers that made 1/144 scale kits of the A-10: LS (now ARII/MicroAce), Korean Ace Corp. (now Academy, also sold by Revell and Matchbox), Dragon/DML and Heller.
The LS kit is the oldest and represents an early A-10 version, the Ace Corp version is a poor copycat of the LS kit, the Dragon kit and the Heller kit both represent a later version.
A Dragon kit could also be used, but it takes quite a bit of work to make the main parts fit properly and a lot of details for the later version need to be removed.
Sofar I have not seen the Heller A-10 kit up close, but with this kit all details for the later version also need to be changed.
Nowadays the easiest way to convert an 1/144 A-10 kit to N/AW specs is to get the RetroWings Conversion Set,
which includes an entire 2-seater fuselage, vacform canopy, cockpit details, tail fins with 20.5in extension and a WX-50 and a AN/AAR-42 pod, both with pylon included.
The RetroWings set was designed to be used with an ARII/MicroAce/LS A-10 kit.
I have built an LS A-10 kit before.
For this conversion I decided to use a Revell Germany release of the Ace Corp kit, in hindsight this was a bad decision, I should have used an LS/ARII kit instead.
Biggest problem with the Revell/Ace kit is that the landing gear is grossly inaccurate: the legs are too tall and the nose wheel is too large.
Apart from that the fuselage part below the horizontal tail is simply missing from the kit, the wing does not fit to the fuselage properly, the slots for most wing pylons are in wrong locations, all raised details are missing from the fuselage and wings, the engine exhausts are molded shut...
This page describes converting an early A-10 kit to the A-10 N/AW version from scratch.
Any text in green describes things done to correct or improve the Revell/Ace kit (i.e. not required for an LS kit).
General assembly sequence with either LS or Revell/Ace kit is: join fuselage halves (sides only), fit engine pods to fuselage, fit wings to fuselage, fit tail assembly.
Join the fuselage halves (LS parts C12, C16 , Revell/Ace parts 1,2) without fitting the cockpit interior (LS part C3, Revell/Ace part 8) or the fuselage underside (LS part C14, Revell/Ace part 18).
Cut a piece of 0.5mm plasticard to 10.0mm by 10.0mm, this will be the rear bulkhead for the rear canopy and the front of the new spine.
To fit the bulkhead, make a side-to-side sawcut behind the cockpit at 37.0mm from the tip of the nose, 6mm deep (to the horizontal panel line) and 10° off vertical. Widen the sawcut to 0.5mm.
Now cut an opening for the rear cockpit bay 5.0mm wide and extending 7.0mm in front of the new bulkhead.
Cut two strips of 0.5mm plasticard to 7.0mm by 3.0mm and fit these to the sides of the cockpit bay, extending 2.0mm above the edge of the bay.
Cut the top of the strips to match the angle of the sides of the front cockpit bay (9°).
To create the spine, take one half of a 600 Gal fuel tank without fins (LS part D4, Revell/Ace part 30) and make an 85° cut at 20mm behind the nose tip, then make a cut at Xmm (Revell/Ace 9.0mm) from the tail tip at a shallow 25° angle.
Apply putty on the outsides of the rear fuselage and over the join lines between the spine and the fuselage to build up the fuselage shape.
If a solvent-based putty is used, then apply the putty in thin layers and let each layer cure for about a week to keep the plasticard strips from melting.
Sand the fuselage into shape.
Add instrument panels (scratch) to both cockpits; add details to the front cockpit interior and make a rear seat and cockpit floor and interior from scratch. Paint the cockpit parts.
Insert the cockpit interior assemblies from below into the fuselage.
Finally fit the lower fuselage underside (LS part C14, Revell/Ace part 18).
For a Revell/Ace kit first open the exhaust holes in the exhaust cones parts 22.
Trap the exhaust cones between the upper and lower engine pod halves, making sure the cones are centered and pointing upwards.
Glue the engine intake faces to the intake lips, then glue the intake lips to the pods.
For a Revell/Ace kit add a rectangular heat exchanger (size 8.0mm long by 1.0mm wide and 1.0mm tall) from scratch on top of the fuselage between the engine pods, 5.0mm behind the front edge of the fuselage part of the engine assembly.
Drill the intake and exhaust of the rectangular heat exchanger open and use a pointy knife blade to make the holes square.
Fit the engine assembly to the fuselage, making sure the engines are level.
Sand the trailing edges of the engine mounts to a thin sharp edge.
The A-10 N/AW was painted FS.36118 overall (just as it was before when it was a single-seater).
FS.36118 is known to fade and the sunny Californian weather over Edwards AFB caused the paint to fade to a much lighter shade.
During initial flight testing a test boom was fitted to the nose, replacing the in-flight refueling receptacle.
The test boom was similar to the one fitted when it was a preproduction single seater, but this time the boom was painted grey instead of a red/yellow candy stripe (links point to images in the collection of Keith Svendsen).
During initial flight testing a cartoon was drawn on the port side of the nose, depicting an owl clutching a gun and holding an umbrella. The cartoon appears to have been drawn using colored chalk, so it faded fast. Later some glossy sealant was applied over the cartoon, resulting in a glossy patch on an otherwise flat finish.
When the aircraft got a respray at the Edwards museum, the cartoon was painted over.
A clear picture of the owl cartoon can be found in the image collection of Keith Svendsen.
A set of red engine intake covers was painted with yellow eyes and black pupils (vertical slits), see this and this image in the collection of Keith Svendsen.
| Paints (to be) used | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| fuselage, overall | FS.36118 Gunship Grey | Polly-S PCA822 | |
| cockpit interior | FS.36231 Dark Gull Grey | Humbrol Authentic HU25 Dark Gull Grey | |
| main wheels, main gear legs | silver | Humbrol 11 | |
| wheel bays, nose gear | White | Tamiya Acrylic XF-2 Flat White | |