I am currently working on a 1/48 Monogram A-10 Thunderbolt II. Being an older kit, it needs a bit of seam cleanup and in doing so I will be losing some detail, specifically raised rivet detail.
What I some techniques I can use? Has anyone used the Archer rivet detail? It looks like a viable option, especially some of the round patterns, but I am not sure the actual rivets will be fine/small enough.
I’ve used Archer rivets and their appearance is very subtle. Easy enough to remove if you don’t like the result you get.
Archer recently released several aircraft rivet decals. Don’t be afraid to mix and match - a 1/72 sheet may provide you with what you need. I have used their product and can say they are excellent. The rivets are printed on single carrier clear decal film, so I found to get the best results trim as close to the rivets as possible, but do not cut through the paper backing sheet. Cut away from the rivets to remove the ones you want to use to avoid creasing at the cut lines. HTH
There are two types of rivets used on aircraft, raised head and flush. As years went on, more modern aircraft used more flush rivets on the exterior. When the aircraft is painted, flush rivets become invisible except under very close inspection. On NMF aircraft flush rivets are still pretty hard to see at any distance (like scale viewing distance).
I had a chance to see and touch a real A-10, and the aft fuselage surprisingly was covered with raised rivets, like a helicopter.
In the case of a model, the goal is representation, not replication. So I think it’s OK to restore the lost rivets.
True enough. The A-10 has some areas that have some pretty pronounced raised rivets, though.
I think I am going to give the Archer stuff a go.
Yes, indeed many airplanes do have raised rivets, especially towards the rear. The boundary layer has gone turbulent by then, so the advantage of flush rivets disappears. Something like a P-51 that was developed to take advantage of laminar flow airfoils will be mostly flush, but if a plane is a truck, where top speed or long range are not the big thing, there may be lots of raised rivets. I think those decal rivets or dry transfer ones are great, because the molded-in ones on many older kits are often quite oversized. But where there are flush rivets on a painted aircraft, one does not need to duplicate them. The problem is knowing which rivets are which. Dots on a three-view don’t help much 