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Hi guys n gals, Can anyone of you help me what purpose cylinders C7 in the Trumpeter SBD kits had? https://flic.kr/p/2nD7kg8 It can be found in the SBD-2 in the Museum of Naval Aviation. https://flic.kr/p/2nD12NT The empty brackets are visible in photos of the original manual on both sides of the pilots’ seat backrest. These last three photos are from The Cybermodeler site with details on the SBD. Thanks for your insights!

Evening everyone! With the Corsair complete, it's time to start a new project and to get it rolling (and help keep the pressure on me) by posting a new build thread. Tackling Trumpeter's SBD-5 Dauntless, which thanks to Bill (wmoran), I got a great deal on. I've been scrounging the internet to see what's available aftermarket wise, as well as bugging you folks in the aviation forum. Looks like there use to be quite a few items from Eduard, but all are discontinued. I did find a dive brake set on eBay, but I'm not sure I want to do that work! So far, I've come up with the MasterCasters replacement wheels/tires so I don't need to deal with vinyl from Trumpeter. I've also picked up Master .30 cal barrels for the rear machine gun. I've not looked yet to see if I should do the same for the front .50 cal guns yet, but...it's possible. I have Montex masks for the insignia and major artwork, though I've also ordered a decal sheet from Malcom at Ventura Publications with the same markings (and hopefully, less red Donald Duck!). Thanks again to Bill for suggesting the markings for this as well, I think it'll look sharp. The plan is to go with the tri color scheme and I'll be using AK Real Colors for the outside, MRP Interior Green for the inside and then Tamiya acrylics for all the other bits. Not much progress really, but this should help get me motivated to spend a bit of time during lockdown on building something! So far, just clean up and dry fitting of the cockpit. I've got leftover decals for placards and such from my Corsair/HGW sheet, so hopefully I can use some of those in good taste. Thanks again for reading, definitely feel free to point out suggestions, recommendations, more aftermarket items, etc.

Hi guys well it's that time of the year when I decide on my next project… at Telford several people asked me what I planned to do next. I hinted that I wanted to do a 1/16 aircraft diorama - possibly a Hellcat. I certainly wanted to do a Vietnam War-era diorama of a crashed French aircraft being discovered by an American patrol in the late 1960s. After considering the possibilities, I decided to use the Merit / Trumpeter 1/18 Dauntless. The French used these aircraft in the First Indochina War. The scale is close enough to 1/16 (or 120mm) that I am hoping I can get away with using the large variety of figures available. I also plan to scratch build a lot of my own figures, or at least heavily modify commercially available ones. If necessary I will ‘bulk out' the Dauntless so it is closer to 1/16. I plan to use the same techniques as on the B-17, so a lot of mangled metal and bits falling off. I'm going to skin the whole thing in pewter sheet again. The real test will be depicting 20 years worth of exposure to a dank jungle atmosphere on the airframe and paintwork. The model itself is really massive - nearly the same size as my B-17 (bearing in mind that my Fortress is missing it's tail end). The wingspan is 70mm, which works out at just over 2 feet! I certainly plan to have one wing smashed off, and it's entirely possible I'll have to clip the other one somewhat. I have to bear in mind the size of the base, which looks like it's going to have to be at least 3 x 3 feet in order to get any kind of decent composition for the diorama! This is going to be another long term project, and I'm going to detail the big old bird to within an inch of its life. Oh yes - the finished model will have - wait for it - just a skeleton crew! (sorry I couldn't resist). Seriously though, I'll be using a 120mm skeleton from SOL Models - an item I believed was long OOP, but is in fact still in production, and available from a guy in Korea trading on eBay I'll leave you with some photos. Once I've gathered my references, I'll update the thread….but that could take several weeks TTFN! Rich that's one huge mutha! l'aviateur inconnu…