Douglas Dauntless target tug

The Rat · June 18, 2019, 05:26:15 PM

No back story yet, maybe never, don't know. Just glad to get one finished. The venerable old Airfix 1/72nd scale Douglas Dauntless, as a target tug, which of course it never was. This is, after all, a 'What if?' board.

No serious modifications, but a lot of stuff left off, like 3 bombs, the center-line bomb slinger thingy, machine gun(s) and mount. Stretched sprue aerial, and gear doors were replaced with plastic card. Scaled up, the original doors would have cause enough drag that dive brakes would be unnecessary.

All hand-painted with hairy sticks. Principle paints were Tamiya; XF-18 Medium Blue, XF-3 Yellow, and XF-7 Red. Aerial attachment on vertical tailplane was a chopped down piece of the gun mount. Open cockpit because the piece was missing. Prop decals are just dabs of the XF-3. Might do something about the decal silvering later, for now I just want to move on, there are several others on the bench that are close. (Translation: mere hours in Dizzyfugu's world, probably weeks in mine

)

Pictures were taken with my Samsung S5 Neo, some at 400 ASA and some at 800. The 400 setting looks pretty good, the 800 has noticeable grain. A few were post-processed with IrfanView to autocorrect colours.

zenrat · June 19, 2019, 03:52:49 AM

She looks great in those colours.
Good job.

TomZ · June 19, 2019, 05:35:48 AM

Nice!

Looks very good!

TomZ

comrade harps · June 19, 2019, 05:58:09 AM

Yellow with the hairy stick can be difficult and you've done a nice even job of it there: I dips me lid!

Dizzyfugu · June 19, 2019, 06:03:42 AM

That's nice, works very well.

b29r · June 19, 2019, 06:10:53 AM

Very nice, Ratty! Love the concept and the build, much respect for that yellow paint work

Best,
Kem

NARSES2 · June 19, 2019, 06:19:46 AM

That's come out really well Ratty.

It's almost a pre-War Yellow Wings scheme

Old Wombat · June 19, 2019, 08:05:18 AM

Doug K · June 19, 2019, 11:21:02 AM

Very nice and a good idea

The Rat · June 19, 2019, 02:56:27 PM

Thank you, gentlemen! There are other possible contenders for this scheme, the Devastator comes to mind.

Glenn Gilbertson · June 19, 2019, 03:12:12 PM

That looks very smart!

Captain Canada · June 19, 2019, 09:03:28 PM

Oh yeah. Perfect Davey ! That looks right eh ?!

The Rat · June 19, 2019, 09:17:07 PM

Quote from: Captain Canada on June 19, 2019, 09:03:28 PM
Oh yeah. Perfect Davey ! That looks right eh ?!

Thanks! As usual it looks rougher up close, but I like those colours. I must pick up more of that medium blue, it's just a lovely shade.