Phillip1 Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 Fellow Modelers-I am very close to finishing the model, so this will be the last construction post. 1st Image: The landing gear cover is shown attached. A small diameter support rod was substituted place of the thick kit part. I had to cut off approximately 3/16†of the top of the gear cover to get it to the correct length. The gear cover on a real SBD has a noticeable lean forward when viewed from the side. The kit landing gear came with a molded on brake line, but I did not like it and cut it off. In its place I used small diameter insulated wire that was painted black (not added yet). 2nd Image: A front view of the cowling and engine. 3rd Image: On December 21, 1941 the U.S. Navy adopted the U.S. Army Air Corps practice of painting aircraft rudders with seven red and six white horizontal stripes alternately spaced and of equal size. To include this feature this first thing I did was to paint the entire rudder with five coats of Testors flat white, and set it aside to dry for five days. 4th Image: The second step was to measure the stripe width. After the width was determined, strips of masking tape were cut and carefully placed on the rudder. 5th Image: This photo shows the rudder after the red was applied and the masking tape removed. 6th Image: After dark gray pastel powder was added to the rudder hinge line recesses, it was glued in place. Dauntless elevators and ailerons were covered with fabric. Sun exposure faded paint on fabric faster than on metal surfaces. To reproduce this I lightened the blue-gray base color by adding a 25% mix of white paint. To simulate even more fading, Model Master camouflage gray was dry-brushed over the raised rib detail. Finally, dark gray pastel powder was used in the hinge recesses for lubricant staining. 7th Image: The interior of the dive brakes was painted Model Master insignia red, even though very little of the interior will be seen. 8th Image: This photo shows all of the lower dive brakes glued into place. Only one dive brake required a little cutting and sanding to fit properly. Just about every other part on the model has been a near perfect fit. 9th Image: The propeller required a good bit masking since it has tri-color tips. I had some good looking propeller logo decals to add, but half of my Dauntless reference photos showed the blades without any markings so I saved some time and left them off. shepard and Uncarina 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip1 Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 continued... 10th Image: The composite fairing cone that attached to the SBD's propeller hub was usually painted black, but VS-2 painted theirs red. 11th Image: The radio operator's .30 caliber machine gun is shown assembled and glued in place. I painted the gun parts Testors flat black, brushed on ground up pencil lead (for a shiny gun metal look) and then dry-brushed the parts with Model Master dark ghost gray. The side and bottom containers were painted Model Master aluminum, then black pastel powder was brushed on them to greatly tone down the finish. The gun-sight at the end of the barrel was made from stretched sprue. The kit gun includes a “flash suppressor†on the end of the barrel. In many photos this is usually seen with a natural metal finish, but I painted it to match the rest of the gun. 12th Image: Work moves to the canopy pieces. The kit parts are outstanding. They are crystal clear, thin and the raised framework is detailed and crisp. 13th Image: The only downer about painting the canopy frames was not having an Eduard's masking set specifically made for this kit. I used bit and pieces from leftover masking sets and masking tape. This turned out to be a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be, requiring an entire afternoon. 14th Image: Four of the five canopy pieces are shown in this photo. Zinc Chromate Green was applied first (for the interior framing), then the exterior blue-gray was added. Final detailing was added with some dark gray pastel powder and dry-brushing with Model Master dark ghost gray. 15th Image: Positioning the canopy parts begins. The absolute best thing the Merit's canopy is that the parts were made to movable like on the real plane. The means some parts are smaller than others so they can be stacked and still have clearance. I was actually able to “snap†the four main pieces in place without having to use any glue, truly an airplane modeler's dream! 16th through 17th Image: These two photos show the third and fourth canopy parts after being put in place. Until next time… Phillip1 shepard and Uncarina 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Really awesome work Phillip! Every bit a museum piece I reckon. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip1 Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 Kevin-Thanks for the compliment. Fellow Modeler-After a total of 263 construction hours my model is done! Here are a few finished photos of my version of Leppla's Coral Sea SBD-3. I give Merit's kit a big thumbs up in all aspects. This is the biggest model airplane kit I have built, and it was a joy all the way through. The only misstep was the wing to fuselage fit. After much reflection, I have decided to throw Merit “under the bus†on this issue. I think the sub-assembly interference was unavoidable by having too many mating pegs, slots and sidewalls that ALL had to line up perfectly. I was as careful as I could be and still wound up doing a lot of cutting. Aside from that, the engineering, fit up and detail was stunning. Probably the single, biggest trick to bringing the model to life is doing a good job with the painting. Anyone who followed this progress build knows I only added small tweaks and upgrades-but nothing major because it wasn't required. In other words the kit holds well up even under close inspection. I hope it is a big seller that allows Merit/Trumpeter to issue more models in this scale. My honest opinion is that will not happen for the following reasons: >the size is “too big†for most modelers (and just not very popular)- >more work is required than with smaller scales- >there are already some very good SBD-3 models available in smaller scales- >there are no aftermarket parts to support it- I sincerely hope this information helps anyone who wants to build this model. Thanks to everyone who followed along and encouraged me. It was greatly appreciated. I will post additional finished photos on another thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip1 Posted June 8, 2014 Author Share Posted June 8, 2014 continued... Until next time... Phillip1 shepard, Sparzanza and Uncarina 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Phillip, I hope next time is soon. Your work is outstanding !..........Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Terrific result Phillip! An impressive model no doubt, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your photos. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncarina Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Philip, Your work and build log is truly professional-grade. I admire what you've done, and really appreciate your time and effort in sharing it! Sincerely, Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitali Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Beautiful work and very impressive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 wow, that is so cool. I am really getting turned on to the idea of 1/18 kits. This also equals 90mm in figure terms, so there is some scope for a nice diorama. I understand there's a 1/18 Huey which I'd be very interested in.. thanks for sharing your build, it looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGB Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Hello, Very nice model splendid work!! Cheers Boris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javlin1 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 A beautiful rendition Sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Very well done Sir, I like your approach, keep it fun and simple, keep the great work. JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip1 Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 John B, javlin, BGB, richdic, Vitali, Uncarina, LSP_Kevin and Harvey-Thanks for the compliments. They are appreciated. Phillip1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepard Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 hey Boris! how about to go back to collecting stamps?? Philipp this work is simply stunning mate! i love this scheme, and you get a real, sharp and clean results! inspiring! what else can i say? shep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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