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1/48 Monogram SBD Dauntless -------Finished--------


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Thanks David! I'm working on my diorama skills. I do have a couple of Navy pilots that I may paint up and do something with. I've been gearing up for figure painting/ diorama stuff for the last few months. I still have a little way to go on my paint/ weathering skills with aircraft but I'm getting more comfortable by the build! I feel pretty good about this build even though I didn't fill seams or sand off some of the Monogram signiture markings like part numbers in the middle of the dive flaps or the copyright date on the elevators! Total accuracy wasn't as much a part of this build as having fun was.

Today will see the approximate 95% completion of the plane as I will rig the aerial antenna. Still waiting on my ammo belts for the flex gun to make it 100%.

Edited by mustang1989
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Thanks Ira! You know in having fun with this build and not worrying about gaps and filling seams I've concentrated more on painting and weathering here than I have in all my builds. This started out to be a "no frills" build in the way of level of detail. I mean sure I robbed some parts from another kit and used a few PE parts in the name of detail but I wanted to use this build for painting/ weathering improvement.I'm going to be building a Tamiya Fw190 D-9 here as a WIP as well and you can bet I'm going to use alot of what I learned with this build.

Edited by mustang1989
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Well here's another view and one more step in the finishing direction. Got the aerial antenna installed today. I also got my ammo belts in the mail for the flex gun. Thats pretty much going to be it when I finish the flex gun up. Here's the latest picture which also shows the Yagi radar antenna under the wing:

SBD-4Almosttherefrontview_zps6ce73e69.jp

Edited by mustang1989
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Well folks you can stick a fork in this thing because this thing is now done! Just had to install the PE gun belts and that wrapped her up! The following pics were taken this morning and I shot the first pic or two with the pilots sliding canopy installed and then opted to shoot the remaining pics without it. In about a month I will procure a vacuform canopy and replace the kit supplied part with a more accurate scale thickness piece.

Here goes:

MonogramSBDDauntlesscompleted002_zpsbe33

MonogramSBDDauntlesscompleted004_zpsa3f1

MonogramSBDDauntlesscompleted006_zps201a

MonogramSBDDauntlesscompleted003_zpsca50

a small comment about the next picture. I took this one with the purpose of showing the model/ replication of 22-C-14 after it was first loaded onto the carrier Independence. I tried to get the paint scheme as close to this bird as possible so I'll have this pic and then following that the actual pic of the plane(which you all have seen here already but not right next to one another). The now so obvious thing that sticks out to me like a sore thumb is the fact that there is actually only one roundel on the upper wing surface on the port wing. I aint going to worry about it now. If this would have been a build for extreme accuracy I wouln't have been very happy. Pictures offer great help in modeling I continue to find out.

MonogramSBDDauntlesscompleted007_zpsca02

CorrectedpaintSBD002_zps1c591ed2.jpg

and then finally the cockpit with most of the upgrades from Hasegawa's SBD-4 kit, Toms Modelworks and PE ammo belts for the rear flex gun:

MonogramSBDDauntlesscompleted005_zps59e3

All in all this was a fun build for me. Accuracy was really only there in the paint and there are flaws throughout the build that I would normally take care of. With fun in mind I mixed accuracy with original Monogram intent,however, none of the features that I wanted to work in the beginning of the build work in the name of getting things to fit right and proper so I left alot of Monogram signatures on the aircraft such as the copyright year on the elevators, part numbers in the middle inside portion of the dive flaps and the incorrect centerline bomb and bomb strut. I would like to thank all of you have encouraged me and looked in on this WIP throughout. I'm going to be taking the month of December off from building for the most part and in the meantime will catch you all up to speed on my Fw190 D-9 and then take off full speed ahead in January on that. That build will be for accuracy! Thanks again guys, Joe

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David:Thanks Dave! There are certainly flaws but overall I'm happy with it. Expense was low on this one consisting of $5 for the Monogram kit, $10 for the Hasegawa kit, about $7 for the PE stuff, $12 for the squadron letter/ number decals and the ammo belts were free. I think I did manage to spend about 12 bucks on Vallejo acrylic paints for it too. Everything but the paint was bought about 15 years ago. The ammo belts came from a fellow modeler from another forum as a gift. Even the EZ line that I rigged the aerial antenna with was a free sample from Bobe's Hobbies in Pensacola, Florida. All things said I got off light at around $46 or so total. I usually spend anywhere's from 70- 300 bucks building a kit so this was a break from the usual. I had to lean on the paint job pretty hard due to the fact that I didn't open any body panels.

Mark:Thanks Mark! I built one of these when I was 12 and I'm with you. On that kit I didn't paint the upper surfaces as they were molded in blue. I didn't paint the prop, wheels or rear gun again due to the fact that they were molded in black. The bottom I painted some makeshift enamel grey with a worn out Testors hand brush. I literally swabbed the paint on and used gasoline as thinner!! I was as happy as a lark though. It was the first of many Monogram builds that I built as a kid.

Thanks for the kind words buddy.

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I got the itch to build another Pacific Theater warplane in the future off of this build. I have an Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bomber in 48th scale in the stash but have also considered Eduards Hellcat Profipak in 1/48 scale. Hek I think they have that in Royal Class too. I dunno what it's gonna be but it will be one of these two for sure! :D

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My vote is for the Val.

Mark

Ok .........you win. It wont be until the latter part of this next year or possibly in 15 but it's on the drawing board. I have some Black Magic canopy/ wheel masks for it and some PE. I've had this kit for almost 15 years now.

HasegwawaAichiD3A1_zps6d0a7fec.jpg

Edited by mustang1989
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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks Jim! Alot of the detail was robbed from the Hasegawa SBD-4 kit I had in the stash. Monogram certainly didn't go to any length to offer any detail in the cockpit area thats for sure but, hey, aint that what kit bashing is all about? I'm just glad I had a decent kit to "go to " for the extra detail.

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  • 11 months later...

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