Progress Build of Merit's 1/18 SBD-3 Dauntless (Coral Sea)

[Sharkmouth]

M

 

UI recently purchased Merit's 1/200 U.S.S. Hornet (CV-8), which is a beautiful and impressive kit. Did Merit do the design work on this? I understand Trumpeter is releasing a 1/200 U.S.S. Enterprise (CV-6/1944) later this year. I have even seen where at least one company is taking pre-orders on this kit.

 

Phillip, the carrier kit is one of several models taken from the catalogs of Trumpeter and Hobby Boss.  It is a Trumpeter kit.

 

MIL-61602 - 1:16 M198 155mm Medium towed howitzer was Trumpeter's TU00917 - 1:16 M198 155mm Medium towed howitzer

MIL-61603 - 1:16 German 15cm s.FH.18 field howitzer was Trumpeter's TU00916 - 1:16 German 15cm s.FH.18 field howitzer

MIL-63501 - US M19 Tank Transporter Hard Top was Hobby Boss' 85503 - US M19 Tank Transporter Hard Top

 

As for ships, the Hornet shows up as Trumpeter (who first announced it) anywhere outside the US although the box is marked Merit Productions.  I don't really follow ships but I believe the 48th scale PT Boat and 72nd scale OSA Class Missile Boat were Hobby Boss items.

 

Regards,

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers-This post deals with finishing the cockpit tub assembly.

 

1st Image: The left cockpit sidewall is shown after being painted Zinc Chromate Green. Several of the molded on details (i.e. map case, flair containers, etc.) were masked off and painted the appropriate colors. No weathering or highlighting has been done.

 

2nd Image: Here is the finished sidewall that now includes weathering, scratch built levers, wiring and the remaining kit parts. The “Dauntlessâ€, like every WWII plane, had a lot of electrical wiring, tubing and hoses running along the fuselage floor and sidewalls. It was not practical to try and add them all, so I tried to represent a few of the more noticeable ones. Note the flair pistol is in its “firing†position towards the rear. Flairs were shot through an opening in the fuselage.

 

3rd through 4th Image: Two close-up shots of the sidewall.

 

5th Image: Here is a view of the cockpit after the left sidewall was glued in place. The fit on all the cockpit parts was outstanding.

 

6th through 8th Image: Three close-up shots of the cockpit.

[Phillip1]

continued...

 

9th Image: The radio equipment after painting. A few small decals from my spares box were added to improve the looks.

 

10th Image: The cockpit assembly is shown with the radio equipment and the middle deck section in place.

 

11th through 12th Image: The cockpit is held at a different angle so the radio equipment is more visible. I know I am showing a lot of cockpit photos, but once it gets buttoned up inside the fuselage it will be more difficult to see the details.

 

12th image: Work moves to the right sidewall, with the base color having just been applied. Once again you can see the sidewall detail is very accurate.

 

13th Image: The right sidewall after final painting, weathering and adding some wiring. Two more scratch built levers can be seen. The only items missing are a couple of parts and hoses for the oxygen equipment.

 

15th through 16th Image: The radio operator's seat and machine gun support ring are shown. You can see I added the same simple seat belts used earlier. On the real aircraft there was a leather belt, positioned between the back rest and seat (to provide back support), but I did not include this item.

 

17th Image: The finished cockpit tub is shown.

 

Until next time…

 

Phillip1

[LSP_Kevin]

Very nice work Phillip! And what a monster this kit is.

 

Kev

[Uncarina]

Philip,

 

As huge as this is, your build, painting, and weathering makes it seem like I could actually fly this thing!

 

Cheers, Tom

Edited March 29, 2014 by Uncarina

[shepard]

its huge! and you are doing a fantastic job on it!

 

well done mate!

 

shep

[Iain]

Lovely neat work - must admit the size didn't really register until I saw the pics of the cockpit in your hand!

 

Iain

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers-For this post work focuses on the main fuselage assembly.

 

1st Image: This photo shows the cockpit tub has been put in place and the two fuselage halves glued together. Before this was done I painted the fuselage cockpit lip with the exterior color (Model Master U.S. Navy Blue/Gray). This was done so masking the cockpit would be easier when it is time to do the final exterior painting. The fit between the fuselage halves was very good, and sanding out the seam line was no more difficult than expected.

 

2nd through 5th Image: Here are several close up photos showing the cockpit tub inside the fuselage. It fit inside the fuselage very well and made a nearly “seamless†connection.

 

6th Image: Side-view of the front fuselage.

 

7th Image: Underside-view of the front fuselage. The vertical bar on the bomb displacement assembly was molded to the fuselage halves, but I cut if off (i.e. hole just ahead of where the wing front goes). It was a bad design idea not to have this as a separate piece, since it makes cleanup and painting more difficult.

 

8th Image: Here is a photo of the lower fuselage showing how well the recessed panel lines matched up when the two halves were put together. The hole beside the identification lights is for a large antenna supplied in the kit, but research confirmed this was not correct so the hole was filled and sanded smooth.

 

9th Image: This tail section view shows rivet and panel line detail that is typical for the entire model. When I compared the location of the kit's panel lines/rivets/access panels to drawings in Bert Kinzey's book, they matched up almost perfectly.

[Phillip1]

continued...

 

10th Image: The kit provides two forward firing .50 caliber machine guns that are very basic, but accurate in shape. The machine guns and front fuselage section are shown painted and assembled before being glued in place.

 

11th Image: The tips of the .50 caliber machine gun barrels extend outside the fuselage. The area under them was painted blue/gray, so it would be easier to mask the barrels during final painting.

 

12th Image: Here is an extreme close-up of the cockpit, showing how prominent the back of the .50 caliber machine guns (and silver charging handles) are.

 

13th Image: The aircraft hoist cable is shown in place behind the pilot's seat. This equipment stayed in the aircraft at all times.

 

14th Image: The rear gun tunnel doors are shown glued in place (finally). The door pieces, out of the box, were too narrow so styrene was added to correct the width. A good amount of precision sanding and cutting was required to get a good fit between the doors and the opening. Finally, 5-minute epoxy was used to fill any tiny gaps. So far, this has been the worst fitting area of the model and too much work was required to make it look right.

 

15th Image: Overhead shot of the cockpit-100% complete!

 

16th through 17th Image: Work moves to the engine. There are no “progress†photos because there wasn't much to do here. It was built nearly straight from the box (only 29 pieces), with the sole modification being the addition of small diameter wire to connect the ignition ring to the cylinders. Super-detailers will want to do more, but I am happy with the way it looks.

[Phillip1]

continued...

 

18th Image: The finished engine assembly is glued to the fuselage.

 

19th Image: The interior of the cowling was painted (Zinc Chromate Green) and glued in place. Having the cowling in place really makes it look like a “Dauntlessâ€!

 

Until next time…

 

Phillip1

[LSP_Kevin]

Great progress Phillip!

 

Kev

[Uncarina]

Absolutely sensational build! I love the quality of your photos as well, and appreciate the tips about prepainting the exterior color.

 

Cheers, Tom

[Phillip1]

LSP_Kevin, Shepard, Uncarina, lain (32SIG),

 

Thanks very much for the kind words and interest in this thread. It is greatly appreciated.

 

Phillip1

[Phillip1]

Fellow Modelers-For this post work focuses attaching the wing assembly to the fuselage. Before I get into that, I want to comment on a couple of things about the kit. First, the instructions are a little frustrating because there are omissions. A couple of parts used in the cockpit are not called out in the instructions, but are shown in later assembly step illustrations. The instructions list the single .30 caliber machine gun in the parts layout, but do not show how the parts are assembled. Also, two parts were left off the kit. They are the circular top wing lights (one per wing). The top wing parts have recessed holes in the correct location where the lights should be, but no clear lights are provided. I will probably use 5-minute epoxy mixed with a couple of paint drops.

 

1st Image: Test fitting the three wing parts (one lower and two upper) to the fuselage revealed there were problems with the fit, especially at the front wing roots. After MUCH debate and thought, I decided the easiest assembly sequence was to install the lower wing first, then add the upper wing panels. My reasoning was it would be easier to modify each upper wing panel to fit the lower wing/fuselage assembly, instead of modifying the large, single piece lower wing to fit the upper wing/fuselage assembly. Another modeler may take a totally different approach. The first challenge was trying to get the front of the wing to sit flush against the fuselage. There was about a 1/16†off-set, although I am not sure what caused it. I ended up doing some serious sanding and cutting on lower fuselage before I got the flush fit shown in the photo. As a result of the sanding and cutting to the lower fuselage, I decided to paint the inside of the lower wing observation window flat black. It is not a big deal since it was difficult to see through the window even before it was painted.

 

2nd Image: This photo shows the engine oil cooler inside the air scoop. These parts are accurately reproduced.

 

3rd Image: Once the lower wing was set in the correct position, a substantial amount glue was used to connect it to the fuselage.

 

4th Image: The kit's wing and fuselage assembly is based on using a large number of slots, tabs and locator pin connections to join the larger pieces. I believe this is a hold-over from the original display model design, which would have been “snapped†together at the factory. I removed all of these attachment points from the upper wing panels so they could be moved around and repositioned. This photo shows the two upper wing panels. The one on the right has had all of the wing root connecting points removed, and the one on the left is as it appears out of the box. This method allowed me to control two things: 1) lining up the upper/lower wing rivets/panel lines 2) eliminating any offset between the fuselage and wing at the wing-root. Once again, a good bit of sanding/cutting and repeated test fitting was required to get an acceptable fit.

 

5th Image: Since the internal supports were removed from the upper wing panels, a ledge was added to each side of the fuselage for the upper wing panels to rest on. I used 1/ 8†X 1/8†styrene strips. The strips were very carefully located to make sure no offset was created.

 

6th through 8th Image: Finally, both wing top panels are glued in place, the seam lines sanded out and all the small gaps have been filled with 5-minute epoxy (Whew)! The stabilizers were added without any problems. Attaching the wings to the fuselage has been (by far) the most difficult part of this build, and it was definitely not fun to work through. I measured the wing tip height to the ground, on both ends, and there is less than a 1/16†difference. I consider that very impressive for a model that has a 28†wingspan! I credit most of this to the larger parts being very thick plastic. Many modelers do not like working with thick parts, but in this case it prevented warping and made the entire assembly very strong. I still have a long way to go, but believe the most difficult part of the project is behind me (I hope).

[Phillip1]

continued...

 

9th Image: This photo shows the nice kit detail on the lower wing center section.

 

10th Image: Here is a close up view of the retractable landing light located under the left wing. It was painted aluminum and put in place before the top wing panel was added. The locating hole near the top of the photo is for the YAGI Antenna (one per wing) and will have to be filled, since this equipment was not used on any SBD-3 aircraft.

 

11th Image: An elevator is shown being test fitted for attachment later. The kit's recessed hinge lines do not wrap all the way around the elevators/ailerons/rudder. However, this turned out not to be an issue, as almost all the static SBD photos I have show the elevators and ailerons in a neutral position (i.e. no drooping or angles).

 

12th Image: This photo shows a vertical part that covers the wing gap in the dive brake flap area. I do not know if this part is accurate, since on the real plane all you see are the individual flap actuators and main connecting rods. I do not plan on adding those details, and all of the dive brakes on my model will be in the closed position.

 

13th Image: This photo shows two of the five dive brakes with the metal hinges glued into place. Small, thin pieces of styrene were added on the inside to fill the extra spaces between the metal hinges and hinge slots.

 

14th Image: An upper dive brake flap is being test fitted. The kit's metal hinges will be used to attach the dive brakes to the wings.

 

Until next time...

 

Phillip1