Academy Douglas SBD-2 Accurate Miniatures 1/48

[Silver wings1]

I started on an Academy Douglas SBD-1 Accurate Miniatures kit and it is one huge challenge . Because the molds are very old the flash on delicate details is unreal. It took one hour to try to remove flash from a delicate interior fuselage part, but it could not be removed entirely. Fortunately I have another Accurate Miniatures SBD-1 which I can consult and rebuild the parts needed, but the time that this kit is going to take to correct is mind boggling. I would suggest that if anyone wants an Accurate Miniatures model buy the original one on Ebay. If this continues I will seriously consider abandoning the project and go for another kit.

 

[Crimea_River]

I have the original AM kit in my stash but thanks for sharing your observations. Hang in there, as with a little patience you'll be able to produce a nice model.

 

[Wurger]

So is that the Academy kit or the Accurate Minatures one?

 

[Silver wings1]

So is that the Academy kit or the Accurate Minatures one?

That is the academy kit but using the old Accurate Miniatures molds, which is what they are doing with all of the Accurate Miniatures kits they bought out. On the box they show an Accurate Miniatures logo. So be aware.

 

[Wurger]

Grasped. THX.

 

[Silver wings1]

BTW, The instruction sheets are very bad, no explanation as to the parts and poor painting instruction,i.e they show a drawing of J111 (a clear instrument panel for the gunner.) It stipulates painting it black, but beside it they show 3 black dots,duh!. If you didn't have the original instruction sheet you would end up with a totally black piece. The Accurate miniatures identifies the part and suggests flat black paint with clear dials.
Give me a break. The good part about the original instruction sheets for the SBD-1,SBD-2,SBD-3 are that they are all the same using the same sprues.

 

[Wurger]

Could you scan or take a pic of the instruction and post here?

 

[Silver wings1]

Yes I'll try tomorrow. They also included pictures of both sides of the cockpit, but they are so black, you can barely pick out the details.it reminds me of the old hand cranked ones , and I forget the name of this method. Thank you all for the nice comments on my work. Crimea -River, I will continue.

Cheers

 

[parsifal]

must be disappointing. some months ago I built a 1/32 academy sopwith camel, and found it a very good kit. ive also built their 1/72 PBY and also found it a good build as well.

Just shows that you cant always rely on reputation

 

[Silver wings1]

Comparing the 2 instruction sheets,Accurate Miniatures and Academy, instead of posting information from memory I find that the 3 dots accompanied by a D in a square is on the Accurate Miniatures kit not the Academy. The Academy one only shows a copy of the gunner's instrument panel and painting in black. The 3 dots and the D in a square refers to a decal to be used in back of the panel after painting around the instruments in black. There is no decal for this panel on the Academy decal sheet and no reference to it. I will say though that the decal sheet is superb by Cartograph. By the way the name of the process I was searching for is the mimeograph process.
Here is a copy, sorry that it is upside down. BTW a lot of the parts have heavy flash, it will just take that much work to deal with it, but I love the challenge.

 

[Wurger]

I see. THX for posting.

BTW I have rotated the pic.

 

[Silver wings1]

Moving right along. All the parts for the A1 left fuselage have been cleaned and are attached to it.

 

[Silver wings1]

Here is an update on the progress. Parts are attached and the fuselage is ready to be assembled. I discovered some interesting information on Zinc chromate colors. There was no special color specified like the RLM colors in Germany. So the manufacturers mixed whatever was handy. The colors were also different based on the surface that they were applied to, so, I painted the inner fuselage with Model master interior green. and the floor area Humbrol interior green. That is another quirk, Zinc chromate which was a protectant began to be called interior green or interior yellow or salmon. The seat and pilot bulkhead was painted bronze green. I also bought an Accurate miniatures SBD-3 and in error bought Eduard Photo etched details for it. It would be a waste of time to add all these details since they would not be seen when the fuselage was closed. I bid $11.50 on the SBD-3 and won. This now gives me all the the SBD's from Accurate Miniatures, Another SBD-1, the SBD-2 that I am working on, an SBD-3, SBD-4 Australian and an SBD-5. In addition I am also building a Revell PT-17 which I will publish separately here. I went to the Eduard site and ordered 3 photo etch SBD-3 details which would be fine for all the versions except for SBD-5 which I also ordered. Fortunately a glitch caused the ordering to fail, and I sure am glad of that. Picture is enclosed.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far!

 

[SANCER]

It is interesting what you mention at the beginning of the thread, regarding the model itself.
I think I have a model like that in my stash; so I went running to check it ... mine is an SBD-5 Eduard Dauntless uff!

But I agree with Andy, with a little patience, we are sure that you will make a beautiful aircraft and spend pleasant moments overcoming challenges.
And surely you will not be alone.

It is a great advance so far, I will be attentive to follow up.

Saludos hasta NY

Luis Carlos

 

[Silver wings1]

Thank you, all. I am enjoying it

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[JKim]

Looks like a very detailed cockpit. Well worth the cleanup effort!

 

[Crimea_River]

Looking good.