A Couple of SBD Dauntlesses (Sort of)

[PFJN]

Hi,
I recently finished up a couple kitbash/group builds and decided I wanted to try something simple for my next build.  Specifically I decided I wanted to do a quick build of an old Monogram 1/48 scale AT-6/SNJ Texan that I picked up at a model show ealrier this year.  Eventhough its an old kit I've read alot of good reviews about it, and started it the other day.  So far its been a very easy build and has gone together really well.  The main thing I wasn't sure of though was what to do for a paint scheme.  The instructions and decals show a silver build with red details, but I've never had much good luck with silver on large surfaces. 

As such I started looking for other ideas, and came across an SNJ-4 called the Bundle Buggy that was painted in an early WWII nonspecular blue over nonspecular gray that I initially mistook for a Midway era SBD Dauntless.  Seeing that the AT-6/SNJ is often used in movies as vizmods for other WWII aircraft I thought that I might do my build as a "simple" SBD vizmod, which would probably only entail a paintjob similar to the "Bundle Buggy" and maybe the fitting of a "dummy centerline bomb and fake bomb crutch.  Fortunately the AT-6 kit comes with optional parts for a cowl mounted machine gun and an aft cockpit mounted weapon.

Along those lines, this afternoon, while at a local hobby store I saw a Revell rebox of their old 1/48 scale SBD Dauntless (the one with the hinged dive flaps retractable wheels, and droppable bomb), and thought that it might be interesting to also get that kit, and remove some of the more toy-like features to make it as close to what an actual SBD might have looked like so that I could display the two builds side by side.

Below are a couple images showing the boxes for the two kits, the main wings and the fuselages, where the AT-6 is molded in silver, has a triangular shaped tail, and has the longer wing span, while the SBD is molded in gray and has the wings with the rounded tips.  Also, in these images the AT-6 is missing all of its engine cowling while the SBD is only missing the forward part of its.







For reference (according to Wikipedia) the main particular of the two planes are more or less as follows;

Length       -  SBD 10.1m / AT-6 8.8m
Wing Span - SBD 12.66m / AT-6 13.0m
Wing Area -  30.2 sq m / 23.6 sq m

In general the AT-6 build won't be anywhere near a perfect match for the SBD, but I am hoping that with a suitable paint job and just a few small tweeks it will look like something that might be a reasonable "vizmod" similar to those used in movies forother aircraft 

PS.

Here is a Wikipedia link to what is meant by Vizmod if anyone isn't familiar with the term

[PFJN]

Ooops, I'm not sure if I posted this to the correct place.  If not please let me know and I will see about getting it moved.

[kerick]

Looks like some fun projects!

[Old Wombat]

Ooops, I'm not sure if I posted this to the correct place.  If not please let me know and I will see about getting it moved.

Theoretically, as its not actually a research project/link, it should be in the Current and Finished Builds - Aircraft sub-forum, but you wouldn't be the first to have a build thread here & all you need to do is ask a Mod (NARSES2 a.k.a. Chris) to move it to the appropriate place, should you feel the need.



PS: Saw a few real life Dauntlesses last night on YouTube, somewhat worse for wear, aboard USS Yorktown, about 16,000' underwater - one still has a live 1,000lb bomb attached. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1RJNcH-D7E

[PFJN]

Thanks, I'll do that.

 

[NARSES2]

Thanks, I'll do that.

 

If you'd like it moved, let me know 

[NARSES2]

Moved as per request 

[PFJN]

Hi.
The Texan build is proceeding very quickly.  I often only get a chance to work on the kits for a short period every day or two.  But that gives me time to paint some small areas and let the paint dry till next time.

Overall I am very surprised and happy about the Texan kit.  Its not the newest kit out there but it goes together surprisingly well and has some nice detail and clever engineering to it.  The only issues that I have had so far are;

• although it has some nice interior detail in way of the cockpits, the paint instructions for this area are limited, so that looking stuff up on the internt is helpful
• I inadvertantly forgot to add the control consoles before going the sides of the cockpit together so I had to do a little trimming to try and fit the pieces in later, which also led to the need to do some repaint
• I may have to do some seam clean up for the piece of the fuselage forward of the cockpit
• there is a little "play" in attaching the wings to the fuselage (ie, there are no distinct connector pins).  As such you need to be careful to make sure that the forward edge of the wing (in way of the landing gear bays) align properly before the glue dries

Overall I've just attached the wings to the fuselage and given the external surfaces an initial coat of primer.  Once I clean tthe seams around the forward fuselage up, and finish touching up the interior/cockpit paint job, I can fit the engine, cowling and landing gear.  Then I need to address the flaps, a few small scratch built pieces, and after that its mostly painting and decaling.

With regards to the flaps I thinking that since the actual SBD had perforated dive flaps, both on the top and bottom of the wings, but the Texan only has regular flaps on the bottom of the wings I may;

• try and paint a thin dark gray or black line inboard the ailerons on the upper wing surface to try and make it look like ther is a hinged flap there
• try and paint dark circles on the flaps to try and make it look like they are "perforated" like the actual SBD flaps (at least when viewed from a distance)

Other than that the scratch build parts that I am going to try and mock up include a centerline bomb along with its bomb "crutch", an arrestor hook, and a telescopic site.

Regards

Pat

[Rick Lowe]

Sounds good and good progress so far.

I think it's a cool idea for a Movie Vismod, and as such, maybe transfers of the 'spots' would be the go, especially as you'll be needing a lot.

[PFJN]

Sounds good and good progress so far.

I think it's a cool idea for a Movie Vismod, and as such, maybe transfers of the 'spots' would be the go, especially as you'll be needing a lot.

Hi,
That's a good suggestion about the transfers.   I'll have to look around to see what I can find 

[PFJN]

Hi,
The builds are coming along fairly well.  The Texan/vizmod SBD is mostly built, and just lacking its landing gear, flaps, and cowling/engine installation, which all may wait until after I do the main painting.

For the actual SBD though, I drillled out the dive flaps and added one wing.  But one of the landing gear got detached from the sprue and I currentlu cannot locate it, so I haven't attached the left upper wing yet.  Other than that there is a bit of clean up needed on both models, but once I find that missing landing gear and close up the SBD wings I'm hopeing to start the main paiting.

Regards

Pat

[Rick Lowe]

 

[PFJN]

Hi,
Sorry I haven't posted lately.  I've just been slowly working on the builds.  They are coming together nicely and I have an initial coat of paint on.  Infortunately the blue I used is a little darker than I was hoping for, but I still like the color.  Maybe I can play around with some washes or something.

They only real issues that I've had are;

a) Since I drilled out the holes in the SBD dive flaps, I've had to redrill/clean them up after every coat of paint since they are so small and get easily closed by the paint. 

b) Because I lost the left landing gear on the SBD, I didn't initially attach the upper left wing until I could find a replacement for the landing gear.  But now when I try and glue it, I'm having a little bit of trouble, so I've taken to gluding the front edge first and then will try and glues the trailing edge after the front edge sets.

c) Although I was hoping to add some dots to the Texan wing/flaps to give the impression of the plane having "perforated" dive flaps, I have been able to find any suitable decals and the dots appear to be too small for me to try and make a mask to try and paint them.  In general, according to something I saw on the internet, the holes in the SBD dive flaps are about 3" in diameter, which works out to 1/16" for a 1/48 scale model.  And I would need at least about 188 dots.  So for now I may have to leave them off till I can maybe figure something out.

Other than that I hope to have the base build done soon, though I will have to wait a week or so for the decals that I have ordered.

 



PS. The upper right hand SBD dive flap is currently not yet installed just because I'm clearing up the paint job on it and the lower right hand flap as well.

[Rick Lowe]

Progress is progress. 

[PFJN]

Thanks. 

Last nite at the local hobby stor I picked up a Pegasus 1/48 A6M2 snap kit for about $13-14 dollars, since I thought it might make for a good comparison to the T-6 (seeing that some T-6's have been converted to look like A6M's for movies).  Overall I am kind of surprised by the kit.  Although it wasn't expensive and is meant to be simple to build, they actually managed to put some amount of detail in the cockpit and the fit seems to be pretty good, though the landing gear is done kind of simply.

Other than that the SBD and T-6 build are coming along nicely, and I just got a notice from eBay that my new decals should be here next Monday, so hoepfully I may have most everything done sometime next week