History

Developed in parallel with the AX program which eventually led to the A-10 Thunderbolt II the General Electric GAU-8 "Avenger" was designed as a tank killer. The seven-barrel 30 mm cannon can fire over 3000 rounds a minute. When coupled with depleted uranium cored ammunition this weapon can penetrate most known armor. During my time in the USAF I was posted with the 23rd TAC who flew the shark mouthed A-10s of Flying Tiger fame. Part of my duties required maintenance visits to the firing range where I got to see these weapons awesome power first hand. A number of model companies have produced the A-10 in 1/48 scale and while the airframes are very good in most cases the gun is a solid piece without hollow barrels. Scratch building a GAU-8 is certainly possible but not necessary with this masterpiece of an aftermarket set.

The Set

This is a simple but effective rendition of the GAU-8. You get a cooling jacket cut from brass tube sparing you the dreaded rolling flat brass into a cylinder. Seven brass barrels, a center post and two flat brass predrilled end caps complete the gun. It might appear a bit daunting as to how this all goes together but if you follow the instruction sequence, it's really very simple. The photos I found online showed the barrels aligned with the cooling jacket holes. I used thin super glue and had the gun assembled in about 30 minutes. The kit I choose to grace with this set is the Tamiya boxing since it has 23rd TAC decals. The tricky part will be mating the gun with whatever kit you choose. The gun is worth the price of this set on its own but you also get a beautiful turned brass pitot tube to replace the kit part. In conclusion I don’t know how you can build an A-10 in 1/48 scale without this set. The gun is the focal point of the Warthog and this set will insure its worth looking at. This should be a doable modification for anyone with some aftermarket part experience. Thank you to Master Model for providing a sample of this incredible product and IPMS for sending it my way.