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

[mustang1989]

Thank you Ira! I've got some more to do in the morning in correcting what I painted in the pictures posted above. I have the entire upper surface painted in dark blue and the bottom of the nose in dark blue also. The reference below shows the vertical fin to be intermediate blue, not dark blue and the edges are soft and blended.

This will be corrected in the morning. Be back then, same bat time, same bat channel!!

[mustang1989]

Ok guys. Back at it again here. The first pic is of the corrected paint job with the sharp demarcation lines between colors:

and the second and third pics close up with the soft/ blended demarcation lines: (the gap at the lower part of the tail plane was fixed right after snapping this pic!

Thats as close as I can get to the reference picture. If there's one thing that I like about these old Monogram aircraft kits , it's the rivet detail on the exterior of the aircraft. The insides and all the other stuff leave a lot to be desired but who and where else puts rivet detail on the outside of an aircraft model anymore. Anyway, I feel a lot better about the accuracy of the paint job now!

Edited October 30, 2013 by mustang1989

[Harry P.]

Looking very good.

[mustang1989]

Thanks Harry! More to come tomorrow morning as I am still in the middle of making adjustments to paint. Until then I got this in the mail yesterday!!!!

This things gonna be ALOT of fun as I haven't attempted a car model in almost 10 years. I've got to finish this build and my Fw190 D-9 and I'll be ready to tackle this one. That'll give me enough time to gather all the goodies for it!

[mustang1989]

.Okeedokee everybody. Having dunked the windscreen back into the future after removing all of the disaster painting from the first go round we now have it painted the second time. Here's that:

......and then there's the gloss coat on the plane to get it ready for decals. Smooth sailing so far!

[mustang1989]

..............and after applying some of the decals. These Hasegawa decals aint no joke........especially at 15 years old (not to mention that the kit box had already been opened when I bought the kit!). They refused to lay down flat against the rivets and had NUMEROUS air bubbles in them which may have been helped by all that raised rivet detail that I was talking back a few posts earlier. However, after about 8 coats of Microsol and piercing all of the bubbles I think I have it under control. One more thing: I had the WRONG decal sheet in the box so I am now waiting on my Yellow Wings squadron letter/ number decal sheet that I just ordered from Hannants on Thursday. The decal sheet in the box was for an SBD-3 . Man you would think that I would have noticed that by now!!! LOL

Anyways on with the pics. Here they are still wet from the Microsol and shriveled up a bit but I'll post more later:

[mustang1989]

Ok fellas. Been a few days since I have been here posting. Been busy with obtaining another job, my sons homework and all the other daily hustle and bustle activities we all have. I am still waiting on my squadron letter/ number decals that should be here any day now I hope. I'm running out of stuff to do to this thing. I think I have managed to work around the decals to the point that I'm at a stoppage.

Here's the best close up shot of what I have on the bird so far. I've been working on the camera settings so they are less grainy.

And here's everything minus the pitot tube and the tire/ wheel assys. I'll get back those two items in the next post!

[mustang1989]

.............waiting on the decals to get going with this thing. Hopefully it's sometime this week! I did manage to apply a gloss coat over what I have and apply a wash. All thats left is decals, a light coat of gloss over those and then it's flat coat time. After that will be the sun bleach effect.

[mustang1989]

Ok everybody. A little update here. I applied a wash several days ago but was not really happy with it overall because it was too heavy. I got up this morning and toned it down a bit and cut out the squadron numbers/ letters from the decal sheet that I received in the mail yesterday.

This thing took a wash application really well with the rivets holding on to a bigger portion than I wanted so this morning I applied wash thinner to lax things up a bit. I'm alot happier with the new results. Heres the latest on that:

and the decals cut and ready for application:

[mustang1989]

.

Well folks I applied the squadron letter/ numbers to the sides. I'm sure somebody here has attempted applying individual decals in a row before and knows how meticulous that is! I looked at this thing from every conceivable angle , looked at it sideways, looked at it mean , looked at it worried , looked at it dismayed and made all kinds of adjustments and finally I just accepted them the way they were. It seemed like every time I looked at them again that one of the letters, numbers or the dashes looked crooked. I think I have it all together now though. Here goes:

[David G.]

Looking Good!

David G.

[Jantrix]

Looks great. I don't envy you with those decals. I have enough trouble putting them on smooth surfaces.

[mustang1989]

Thanks David and Rob! This has been a fun project that's taking me back 30+ years to when I first built this kit. The answer to irregular surfaces and decals..............Microsol, Microsol and more Microsol. The letter/number decals were ALOT easer to get to lay down due to the fact that they are Microscale decals from Yellow Wings. All the other decals were the Hasegawa offering and those SUCKED! They were thick, prone to lots of bubbles and refused to suck down to the rivet detail with out 8+ coats of Microsol. These Microscale decals took only one or two applications of Microsol and I had not one bubble form under the decals.

Looks like its off to a gloss coat and then a dullcoat with a little grey mixed in for that sun bleached effect. Then I'm going to try something I've never tried before but have seen good results and shoot a light, and I mean LIGHT coat of 70% isopropyl alcohol over the whole top side of the bird for that dead flat look.

Edited November 16, 2013 by mustang1989

[mustang1989]

Todays update is my adding the bleached effect to the paint. Man , What a difference. Just to recap here's an earlier pic with just paint and decals from a similar angle:

and one after the dull coat/ light grey mix for the bleached effect:

Looks like its off to the subtle isopropyl alcohol application, painting and installing some of the final details and we are off to unmasking all of that hidden detail!!

[SMBC]

Great job so far!

[mustang1989]

Thanks Chris! Nearing the end I think!

[mustang1989]

Ok everybody. I'm not done but the finish is now in sight. All of the things you see on this thing now I have had done for quite some time now while waiting on decals, paint, washes and all of the clear coats to dry out. I still have to weather the exhausts ALOT, install all of the guns and ammo belts for the rear, finish up fitting the canopy pieces, install the elevator/ stabilizers , install the tail hook, install the pitot tube, top dive brakes and rig the aerial antenna. All in all that aint much. Any ways here's the latest,

[Mooneyzs]

This is one beautiful bird. The paint looks great. Nice job

[mustang1989]

Thanks Chris. I tried to make the paint the highlight of this build in addition to the cockpit upgrade. Most of my aircraft get completely opened up but opted not to do that on this one for sentiment sake. I built this same kit when I was 12 and tried not to go too wild with it.

[Davewilly]

Nice job!

[mustang1989]

Thanks Dave! I'm hoping to finish this thing up by November 31st. Today I installed the upper dive flaps, weathered the exhaust and applied some exhaust soot to the sides of the fuselage just behind the exhaust pipes, and installed the tail hook. Although not a truly authentic Dauntless build, I also tried to keep it's 1960's Monogram signature toy look. I look forward to building an Accurate Miniatures SBD-4 for the double throw down in authenticity.

[Belugawrx]

Very nice weathering on that fuselage. Looks awesome

[mustang1989]

Thanks alot Bruce! When I first started out with the wash I applied it too heavily and was not satisfied at all. I use acrylic paints so I used an enamel based MIG Productions dark wash. I just applied a coat of MIG Productions wash thinner to the sides to tone it down a notch. The aircraft that I am building is a replication of 22-C-14 which arrived onto the carrier U.S.S. Independence in the spring of 43. The paint scheme was incorrect at the time of it's arrival as it should have the dark blue down the sides of the fuselage at the wing area. My point being is that it wasn't too worn yet and being a carrier based aircraft it didn't see a whole lot of dirt.

As for today's update: I weathered the exhaust pipes, applied a light exhaust soot to the sides of the fuselage just behind the exhaust pipes, installed the tail hook and installed the upper dive flaps. I'm not that fired up about the pilots sliding canopy section. Seems to sit too high up on the fixed canopy piece. I see a vacuform canopy in the works. Here's the update pic:

Edited November 22, 2013 by mustang1989

[mustang1989]

Ok fellas! This thing is finally taking some real shape here! I now just have the aerial antenna to rig and the ammo belts for the flexible .30 cals to install. I'm going to go ahead and display the aircraft with the plastic canopy piece when I submit a final photo in a few days but am going to order a vacuform canopy so that the pilots sliding canopy piece doesn't appear "piggy backed onto the fixed canopy section. This is where I'm at right now:

[David G.]

Beautiful build! It needs to be in a good diorama.

David G.