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1/32 Trumpeter SBD-5 Dauntless


DoogsATX

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So close to being able to lock away all the cockpit detail in the fuselage...flat coated last night.

 

SBD-5%20Dauntless%20041316-2-X3.jpg

 

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Still need to finish off the backrest for the turret seat - that's literally the only thing holding me back from closing up the fuselage at this point. 

 

Also went back and addressed the cold air vent at the bottom of the instrument panel. Trumpeter put a weird bump there, so I drilled it out and tossed in a disc of acetate as the valve.

 

SBD-5%20Dauntless%20041316-7-X3.jpg

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And then the fuselage was closed. Despite the hassle of getting all the side-load elements in the cockpit to align, once I did, everything closed up very well. Even the firewall and the paneling around the accessory area aft of the cowl fit well.

 

SBD-5%20Dauntless%20041516-1-X3.jpg

 

SBD-5%20Dauntless%20041516-2-X3.jpg

 

Now I have to deal with the wingroot gaps...

 

SBD-5%20Dauntless%20041516-3-X3.jpg

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Time to sort the wings!

 

First, I decided to glue the upper wings the fuselage. Both the upper wings and fuselage have some nice vertical slabs to ensure dihedral, and there's an "up and under" tab things to lock the wings in close to the right position. Using these plus a few strips of styrene sanded to the right thinness, I was able to solvent weld the wings where they needed to be and keep the gaps to a minimum.

 

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Not perfect, but way, way easier to clean up.

 

Next - the lower wing. I'm glad I thought about the PE flaps before I glued it down, since the whole center flap portion needed to be cut away. Hello JLC saw! This also gave me room to use a piece of sprue to wedge the lower fuselage at the proper angle for welding shut.

 

IMG_20160418_012626-X3.jpg

 

The rest was a cinch. Starting at the outside and getting the wingtips aligned, the more central portions toward the wingroot fell into place, though the fit on the port side took some, uh, persuasion. I've got some leading edge overbite to clean up, but it's nothing too bad.

 

IMG_20160418_013048-X3.jpg

 

IMG_20160418_013009-X3.jpg

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Looking nice. Does this kit provide folding wings option? Since it was USN a/c during WW2 I would think it had to have folding wings.

 

It doesn't provide the option, no. I'm not sure that any Dauntless kit does out of the box.

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IIRC, the SBD was one of the few monoplane naval aircrafts that did not have any folding wing provision (with the Buffalo, the Skyhawk and the Harrier )

 

Hubert

 

Yep - how about that - in all these years I've never stopped to think on it, but sure enough, no wingfold. Makes sense - that wing needed to be beefy for the divebombing duties.

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Thanks for the info Matt. I don't have this kit so sure do appreciate it. I had a wild idea to get this kit and put it next to another WW2 USN a/c as a hanger deck dio...all folded up and stored away. Well, there are plenty of other subjects to do such ;)

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