John F Smith Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 Beautiful work, Matt! The 'pit and engine are stunning! Looking forward to more. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogsATX Posted April 21, 2016 Author Share Posted April 21, 2016 These beauties showed up yesterday I'm planning to solder them - but I haven't soldered anything in, oh, fifteen years, and back then it was wiring. So gathered some supplies and did some practice runs on scrap PE. Want to get a bit cleaner than this, but it feels about 85% of the way there. Now the fun part is going to be figuring out how to solder the main flap panels, which fold over on each other. Things at angles don't really freak me out, but that flat-on-flat... tomv87, DirkE, Zero77 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clunkmeister Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 This is one awesome build, Matt. The cockpit is spectacular, and nice save on the wing gap issues, it looks spot on. It's amazing how small the Dauntless actually is, and if you've ever seen a real one, they look almost miniature, like a 2/3 scale replica. I have this kit as well, and I'm following along with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogsATX Posted April 21, 2016 Author Share Posted April 21, 2016 This is one awesome build, Matt. The cockpit is spectacular, and nice save on the wing gap issues, it looks spot on. It's amazing how small the Dauntless actually is, and if you've ever seen a real one, they look almost miniature, like a 2/3 scale replica. I have this kit as well, and I'm following along with interest. Thanks! The Dauntless is one of those where I think maybe its proportions throw it off - believe it or not it actually has a greater wingspan than the P-47! But it certainly feels like a much more compact aircraft than that. Think the thick wing and how far forward the nose extends from the wing might have something to do with it. Zero77 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clunkmeister Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 That and the short stubby landing gear also. But if you park a Dauntless next to an Avenger or Helldiver, the Dauntless certainly looks lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theseeker Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Excellent! Are those Eduard? Bravo52 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogsATX Posted April 21, 2016 Author Share Posted April 21, 2016 Excellent! Are those Eduard? Yep! Used the 48th set years ago, so these were a no-brainer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 What great work, I've always liked the Dauntless but have never gotten around to building one. Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Smith Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 The Eduard flaps on this are going to be gorgeous!! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The1971Show Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 I used to hate soldering until I was shown a technique using a butane pen torch instead of an iron, and it's far easier (well, at least for me) and a lot cleaner too. It may well be a solution for your flat-on-flat if you haven't already got through that part. Darren Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amurray Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 I am very late to this party but saw your earlier comments about the difficulty of replicating seatbelt fabric. Various medical/surgical tapes have a fine textured finish to them and work well for fabric seat belts.Your Dauntless is looking very good! I especially like the subtle weathering in the cockpit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kvlazer22 Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Beautiful pit! (After joining last week I have learned to call a cockpit a "pit") Love the quality of the pictures too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkE Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Following this thread makes me want to build also a Dauntless. Great work Matt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero77 Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 These beauties showed up yesterday I'm planning to solder them - but I haven't soldered anything in, oh, fifteen years, and back then it was wiring. So gathered some supplies and did some practice runs on scrap PE. Want to get a bit cleaner than this, but it feels about 85% of the way there. Now the fun part is going to be figuring out how to solder the main flap panels, which fold over on each other. Things at angles don't really freak me out, but that flat-on-flat... It looks good and clean ! You can sand the excess tin quite easily (it's softer than brass, so almost only the tin will be sanded). I like soldering as it is incredibly stronger than gluing, and it looks so good. But i always burn my finger and i often find my work a bit messy. My experience is limited to PE seats, though. A large assembly like airbrakes must be a nice adventure ! The flat on flat is not a problem as long as both parts are really flat. You only need to heat the whole area, and the tin will flow between the parts in a very thin coat by capilarity. It's a very strong assembly. Many rifles had their iron sights assembled by tin soldering, sometimes with additional screws, sometimes not. (usually not for the front sight). I will follow this with interest ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogsATX Posted June 5, 2016 Author Share Posted June 5, 2016 Dauntless has been in a bit of a holding pattern lately - but we're back on the go again! First up - Eduard PE for the wing bomb racks - a bit fussy but really pretty cool! Lots of work has also gone into fitting the upper-center dive brake housing to the Dauntless. Ugh. Next time I do a Dauntless, I think I'll leave that portion in plastic. Now that it's installed (ain't pretty...don't have pics yet), I've been working on the rest of the brakes. The actuators are tedious! Thankfully Eduard provides way more than the 30 needed. The brakes themselves fold over onto themselves. So one side has outside texture, the other side has interior texture. I decided to fix these with epoxy, but needed a way to keep them flat while they cured. Clamps etc weren't working, so... I sandwiched them between two sheets of glass And added bricks for good measure. Moving on the the details of the flaps...Eduard would have you fold these long strips of PE...but strip styrene does the job just as well. Center flap more or less done. Fitting and gluing the supports takes a lot of small alignment and thin CA work. Up next...rest of the flaps and getting closer and closer to paint. CANicoll, Uncarina, Rdrunner and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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