1/48 Accurate Miniatures SBD-2 Dauntless VMSB-241 "Midway" (Finished)

Very nice as usual LD.  That engine looks the business!

Mopar Madness

Very nice as usual LD.  That engine looks the business!

 

Thanks Mopar

Hey Joe,

Please don’t tell us that was a night’s worth of work! Haha. Don’t know what else I could say that hasn’t been said before, so I’ll stick with “great work!”

You’re right about the artwork AM used to provide, it really was great. I wish they were still around. 

Nice tribute to a local hero, by the way. 

RadMax8

Hey Joe,

Please don’t tell us that was a night’s worth of work! Haha. Don’t know what else I could say that hasn’t been said before, so I’ll stick with “great work!”

You’re right about the artwork AM used to provide, it really was great. I wish they were still around. 

Nice tribute to a local hero, by the way. 

 

Actually two nights so far.....lol. Thanks Max. Haven’t heard from you in awhile. I hope your doing well. 

moving along beauitfuly 

Another one that is off to a great start. I think we have similar tastes in kits as I have this one in the stash as well. I'll be using this as a reference when I do mine. Definately watching this one.

BK

BrandonK

Another one that is off to a great start. I think we have similar tastes in kits as I have this one in the stash as well. I'll be using this as a reference when I do mine. Definately watching this one.

BK

 

Thanks Brandon, yes indeed we do. We seem to build the same stuff. Thanks for dropping by. 

Off to a great start Joe.  Your interior detail painting is always so precise that it looks airbrushed.  You have the engines down to a science.  Looking forward to following along.

crown r n7

moving along beauitfuly 

 

Thanks Nick

Jay Jay

As many times as I have heard the story of the Battle of Midway I never knew the first pilot to spot the Japanese fleet was from Lorain , Ohio. I am formerly from Elyria, Ohio, the next town over, and have relatives still residing in Lorain. I thank you for this amazing information and now I have a great inspiration to build this kit . And of course I will use your valuable WIP as a guide.

 

Yep, my wife works in Lorain and she said the Henderson Bridge is quite large and impressive.  I will always pay tribute to local heroes if I can.  Don Blakeslee of 4th FG was from Fairport Harbor.  I'll build one of his planes eventually.  Thanks for stopping by and your kind words Jay.  

Greatmaker

Off to a great start Joe.  Your interior detail painting is always so precise that it looks airbrushed.  You have the engines down to a science.  Looking forward to following along.

 

Thanks Robert, your kind words are appreciated.

Murphy's Law

Joe, I’m always in awe of your builds and the story that goes along with each one. You have such good pictures and lighting. Would you mind telling what setup for pictures you have? Camera, type of lighting, camera settings, etc..

 

Thanks Murphy.  Try not to laugh, but it's pretty primitive.  I use my I-phone, which takes better pictures that my Nikon ever did.  I edit them as needed right on the phone.  I have a light blue piece of post board I use as the backdrop. Here's a pic of my bench and current light setup. 

I got in some painting last night.  After I preshaded the panel lines, I started with the insignias.  It's my understanding that these turkeys originally had the striped tails and red dots inside the stars (I think they all did at one point), but they were paint over once on Midway Island. I sought to simulate this.  I started by spraying red down then making red "dots" out of Tamiya tape using a circle template.  The tough part was getting the dots in the correct spot. This took a while.  Next I sprayed XF-2 white.  I then removed the tape dots and I had a nice red dot in the middle of the white. Then I went back wih more white and sprayed the red until it was almost gone, leaving a ghost of it behind. I was going barely visible as can be seen on the starboard wing.

Finished effect...

Underside too..

Next I added the Montex mask "stars" then sprayed the blue (XF-8 with touch of black added).  Then I added the pie pieces to the star.  These are easy to use.  I also sprayed and taped the wing walks too. Time for paint.  

As I said, these were based on Midway Island so they were probably faded and a bit grungy.  I wanted to simulate this without overdoing it.  I mixed XF-19 Sky Grey with varying degrees of white for a splotchy effect.  A reverse black basing technique? I faded the control surfaces too.  

Next I sprayed a faded Intermediate Blue by using XF-18 Medium Blue with some white.  I added a touch of XF-9 Sky Grey in there too.  

All masking removed.  Montex worked great. Decals? We don't need no stinkin' decals! I truly love these.  

I added some more fading and post shading. 

I sought to simulate exhaust heat staining.  I used XF-19 lightened with white and streaked it.  Then I used some diluted XF-69 NATO black to simulate some sooting.  I was trying not to overdo it. 

I dirtied the underside too.

A little more grunging....

The Accurate Miniatures profile picture I referenced earlier showed a lighter painted patch on the fuselage.  I'm guessing AM believed there was another number there that was painted over and "white 1" was added on Midway Island.  I like the idea and followed suit with more white added to the base paint. I also painted on Henderson's White 1.  

From a distance...

You can see the red dot sort of.  I may have covered it too much. Oh well.

To simulate the painted rudder, I first sprayed it XF-24 Dark Grey then taped off ever other stripe.  Then I sprayed the paint scheme.  I'm pretty happy with it. 

Time to start on the other stuff.   

lawdog114

 

 

Murphy's Law

Joe, I’m always in awe of your builds and the story that goes along with each one. You have such good pictures and lighting. Would you mind telling what setup for pictures you have? Camera, type of lighting, camera settings, etc..

 

 

 

 

Thanks Murphy.  Try not to laugh, but it's pretty primitive.  I use my I-phone, which takes better pictures that my Nikon ever did.  I edit them as needed right on the phone.  I have a light blue piece of post board I use as the backdrop. Here's a pic of my bench and current light setup. 

   

 

Very nice build.

Very nice looking build. The paint job is outstanding.

Fantastic as always Joe really like how you faded the blue and the subtle exhaust weathering. 

Murphy's Law

 

 

lawdog114

 

 

Murphy's Law

Joe, I’m always in awe of your builds and the story that goes along with each one. You have such good pictures and lighting. Would you mind telling what setup for pictures you have? Camera, type of lighting, camera settings, etc..

 

 

 

 

Thanks Murphy.  Try not to laugh, but it's pretty primitive.  I use my I-phone, which takes better pictures that my Nikon ever did.  I edit them as needed right on the phone.  I have a light blue piece of post board I use as the backdrop. Here's a pic of my bench and current light setup. 

   

 

 

 

 

I like it... no need to get complicated when simple works, thanks for the info.

 

 

Thanks Murph. Indeed, it works for me. 

Tickmagnet

Very nice build.

 

Thanks Tick

JohnnyK

Very nice looking build. The paint job is outstanding.

 

Thanks Johnny

Greatmaker

Fantastic as always Joe really like how you faded the blue and the subtle exhaust weathering. 

 

Thanks Robert

Looks awesome, Joe. As the others have said, as always.

The quality of work you turn out is one thing, how you manage to do it so quickly baffles me.

Finally, you're lucky to have the AM Dauntless kit. Having built the Academy roboxed TBM Avenger, I can only imagine. I sometimes wish I'd gotten back in the hobby while AM was still around, but alas.....

I was fortunate to have an original Accurate Miniatures TBM gifted to me some years back. I'm saving it for a super-special build one day. I wonder if I'll manage to get that turret installed right twice in one lifetime???

Greg

Looks awesome, Joe. As the others have said, as always.

The quality of work you turn out is one thing, how you manage to do it so quickly baffles me.

Finally, you're lucky to have the AM Dauntless kit. Having built the Academy roboxed TBM Avenger, I can only imagine. I sometimes wish I'd gotten back in the hobby while AM was still around, but alas.....

I was fortunate to have an original Accurate Miniatures TBM gifted to me some years back. I'm saving it for a super-special build one day. I wonder if I'll manage to get that turret installed right twice in one lifetime???

 

Thanks Greg.  Indeed, AM cranked out some sweet kits.  I've done a couple of the Dauntless and B-25 kits so far and was pleased with the results.  Actually their SBD-1 in a plain carboard box was the second kit I built when I returned to the hobby.  I couldn't believe how far the technology had come since I was a kid.  I also have their Avenger I'm saving for the right subject. I got it at Hobby Lobby back in the day when they carried the good stuff.    

Excellent paint work, Joe. I think the red showing through is just right, any stronger and it would look kinda funny. Very nice.

BK

Excellent work, LD.  The Marines received hand-me-down -2's from the fleet when they got new -3's.  Here is a photo of the only Midway survivor here today, back on Midway with VMSB-241:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SBD-2_VMSB-241_Midway_June_1942.jpg

Excellent work, LD.  The Marines received hand-me-down -2's from the fleet when they got new -3's.  Here is a photo of the only Midway survivor here today, back on Midway with VMSB-241:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SBD-2_VMSB-241_Midway_June_1942.jpg

http://hsfeatures.com/features04/marinesatmidwaypart1jl_1.htm

These have to be my all time favorite Pacific theater warbird. Something about the lines of it really give it a "Cadillac" look. I'll be watching this one from here on out with great interest Joe.