AM SBD-3 Dauntless SOB

[Wayne Little]

Nothing wrong with that!

 

[Airframes]

Agree with all.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[Donivanp]

Well I know I have not posted much of late. Been doing little bits here and there. THe canopy is not glued down but just fitted for photo sake, Got bombs and a little bit more to go on then clear and decal and flat and then canopy.

 

[Wayne Little]

Nearly done!

 

[Wurger]

Agreed...

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far!

 

[Donivanp]

So Wayne Little, been a few years now, but I was a guest to you folks up in Dawin a few times back in the early 80's. No finer group can be found then the Aussies. We went down under once a month for the weekend with our B-52's and tankers and then for two weeks for Pitch Black. Fond memories of the folks.

 

[dneid]

Looking good there, Don! yeah, Darwin was a blast! Loved the Aussies I met there. I made it down right before you PCSed to Andy if I remember correctly.

 

[Wayne Little]

So Wayne Little, been a few years now, but I was a guest to you folks up in Dawin a few times back in the early 80's. No finer group can be found then the Aussies. We went down under once a month for the weekend with our B-52's and tankers and then for two weeks for Pitch Black. Fond memories of the folks.

We do aim to please and leave a GOOD lasting impression..

never been to Darwin myself, although my Brother has been up there many times...Our uncle lived up there back in the 70's during the unfortunate time of Cyclone Tracy which messed the place up a bit....

 

[Donivanp]

Yes eveyone had Tracy T-shirts and spoke of the storm. They loaded us up on a C-7 and flew us out to Bathurst (not sure) Island to see an Aborginal community and the flight out and back were pretty cool. That plane can stop on a dime and lave 9cents change. Lost of fun and then thee is the Beer. Oh damn thet hurt the next morning. Had to hit a bar to make it stop. LOL

 

[Donivanp]

Shot some gloss coat and then stated on the decals. SOB went out the door as the AM decals cracked and fell apart on me. Oled and then they were for a different kit. So I broke ou the Yellow Wings. As the kit was sold to me on ebay as a SDB-3 Midway and what I revived was s SDB-1 with -3 coral sea declares I split the difference and came up with a battle -2. Show me I am wrong. I know the differance but what the hey it my damn plane. So I used markings from my SDB yellow wings and when the small stars did not work from the kit I tore them off and stole from the Hobby boss F4F-3 for the small;l stars. (Have extra decals for that anyway.

 

[fubar57]

Still looks good though.

Geo

 

[Wurger]

 

[javlin]

Looking good Sir!

 

[Wayne Little]

it's your model mate to do how you choose....looks good!

 

[Donivanp]

Shooting flat coat on it now. Looks good. Touch up and a little weathering and be done. I'm thinking for my next trick, Cyber Hobby Bf110D-3. I've been drooling over it for a while. I've had it in the stash for over a year, just ordered there D-1 and a Fujimi C/D (I know it's old school but it's not a bad kit) and an Eduard C-4 so I'm set in the 110 area for a bit. I like this CH a lot, if you have not seen one check out this review. Internet Modeler Cyber-Hobby 1/48 Bf-110D-3

 

[Donivanp]

Fubar57, so as for the kit, I like the AM kits a lot, this one was a bit off due to what I thought I bought and what I really did get. The kits I got were bagged and marked as SBD-3 but in real they were -1s it turns out. Glad I had the -1 already so I could figure out what was up but it took me a bit. The only complaint I have with this kit (I have three), is one of the nice points for the kit. The dive breaks / flaps are warped on all of them. This can be fixed to some extent but seldom all the way. Some of the wrap page is so bad I doubt it can be fully cleaned up. The cockpit is nice with out all the extra help of the added in pe or resin, the gunners turret is in my opinion the worst of it. It is a but fragile and the mount pins on either side are so small the are difficult to align at fuselage mate. The broke under my heavy handed work and I had to glue it in place. I found the decals that came withe the kit to be old and brittle, after markets were by in large used and worked well. Nice kit and a pleasant build over all and a nice representation of an early Dauntless. I used Yellow Wings Dauntless stars for the upper and lower wings, the ones for the kit were too small for the Coral Sea battle I was doing. I tried to used the fuselage star but the red center dot fell apart soaking, so I stole from my Hobby Boss F4F-3 kit for that. The squadron marks are from the kit and should represent a -3, but I am calling it a -2. The main differences between a -1 and a-2 is in the cowl. The upper inlet vent is smaller on the -2 and on. I also made a error on the mating of the forward cowl, between the engine and the fuselage, it set down just a but. Be careful there as well. I liked it and plan to do at least one more in per war color. Enjoy. And thanks for the follow it was fun and I did pick up some inputs. Maybe we can push the envelope on the next build.

Don.

 

[dneid]

Looks good, Don!!!

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!