SBD-3 Dauntless WIP (9/4 - Slow but DONE!)

Thanks, Rick! Glad you're enjoying the build!

Delayed in getting out to the garage last night, so I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. BUT I did manage to get the no-slip walkways knocked out. In case anyone's interested, here's how I did it:

1. Cut out the walkway decals and use them as a masking template. Masked THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' PLANE. Spray paint always gets everywhere, so better safe than sorry. A lot of good Post-it notes sacrificed their lives to save the Dauntless' finish.
2. Spray the stripes. I ended up using some Rustoleum textured black. It's made for spraying wrought iron furniture and the like. I think the can of Valspar terracotta I have is a bit more subtle in texture, but only to a slight degree. And since the Rustoleum was already black, I only had to do a bit of shading. 
3. Shade the stripes. I used Tamiya flat black and flat white to mix up a thin grey that I shot over the walkways in an uneven pattern. I plan to hit them with a lot more abuse in the weathering phase.
4. Cross fingers and remove masking materials. Thankfully they had ZERO effect on the Vallejo.

Here's the stylish masking job.

The painted stripes.

And the final result.

Looks very nice.  You seem to have made that wing root seam disappear.  Rick.

Finished up principal painting last night and FINALLY actually installed the engine and cowl. Starting to really feel like this one's heading into the home stretch.

You are doing a great job sofar Doog. Can't wait to see you dirty her up as a plane like this just screams for it LOL. I love what i see sofar and must say i am impressed with your fearlessness in using PE aftermarket stuff. Something i still need to try out myself... KUDOS there buddy!

Built the AM Avenger (or more specifically, Italeri's reboxing of that kit) a while ago and was very pleasantly surprised with the oob detail on these kits. Your Dauntless seems to be the same. When i'm up for another bigger navy project Accurate miniatures will certainly be my choice.

Richard

kermit

You are doing a great job sofar Doog. Can't wait to see you dirty her up as a plane like this just screams for it LOL. I love what i see sofar and must say i am impressed with your fearlessness in using PE aftermarket stuff. Something i still need to try out myself... KUDOS there buddy!

Built the AM Avenger (or more specifically, Italeri's reboxing of that kit) a while ago and was very pleasantly surprised with the oob detail on these kits. Your Dauntless seems to be the same. When i'm up for another bigger navy project Accurate miniatures will certainly be my choice.

Richard

Thanks, Richard!

I can't wait to dirty it up, myself! This plane went through a lot. Probably months of heavy use and abuse in early 1942, then heavy action at Coral Sea  (where it sank with the Lexington). It flew bombing and fleet defense missions. I'll have to consult the sources again, but I think it shot down something like four or five Japanese aircraft. Probably didn't receive a whole lot of TLC at the time, so I'm taking that as license to beat the tar out of it, LOL!

The PE's been interesting. Honestly, I think the cockpit PE set was a waste of time. Apart from the IP and the belts, not a lick of it is readily visible. Too bad, too, because I thought the gunner's radio station looked pretty great.

Now the dive flaps...wow. Easy to put together, and they just look stunning next to the kit flaps. I'd definitely recommend them for anyone building this kit.

Had one of those nights last night were I got a lot of little things done, but didn't feel like I made much headway.

Installed the pitot tube, radio mast, exhausts, and landing gear save the tires. The starboard tire isn't settling well on the gear strut, so I think some trimming may be needed.

Painted the tailwheel and bomb trapeze bracket, touched up the paint around the cockpit and just forward of the windscreen.

Oh, and I removed the canopy masks, which, to my horror, also removed paint from several frames on the rear canopies. I'm totally blaming the Lifecolor paint for this. Thankfully, the windscreen and pilot's canopy came out fine, and since I'm going with the stacked configuration, I can be a bit more flexible with the touch-ups.

Also, anybody have suggestions for removing tape adhesive from canopies? Trying to find something that will remove it without lifting what I'm assuming is really fragile paint along the frames.

Beautiful work sofar Doog. Pleasure to watch.

As for your paint lifting problem.... It must be getting really old by now on these forums but in this case, future would indeed be your friend.

Personally i have never had any paint lifting problems since i started applying a light coat of future between any paint layer. It does tend to make the model more and more shiny every time you use it but a dull coat once you are finished cures that minor problem

Never worked with lifecolor but i think i heard that it is popular amongst figure painters, as is the vallejo paint? Not sure... I work with revell paints exclusively with some humbrols on occasion...

Richard

you can also,, with a fresh blade, trace the outline of your masks with the blade to seperate the paint from the mask. Paint likes to stick to itself, so if you cut a line around the mask, pulling up the mask shouldn't lift your paint, also try pulling it at 90 degree angle to the seam...

Thanks guys. The frustrating thing is that I did trace the masks and the paint still lifted. Halfway through the second canopy I switched to the scalpel and I think that's what did the trick in saving the windscreen and main canopy.

I also did apply Future, though, alas, not between coats. However, I'm using Future to thin the Vallejo paint, which I imagine should count for something.

The reason I'm blaming the Lifecolor is that I've masked several other areas of the Dauntless along the way, and had zero problems with paint lift-off. But I don't know that Lifecolor has a much, if any, bite, especially on unprimed, clear plastic. Maybe next time around I'll go back to Model Master for the interior colors.

What about removing adhesive residue? There's not much from the masks, but there's definitely some from the Tamiya tape I was using to cover the insides of the canopies.

Doogs, she looks great buddy you have some fine skills....We have a prodct here called goo gone that removes residue but i don't know if it's available in the States, but you have to be carefull with it as it will remove paint as well....

Lookin great .

Ass for the adhesive residue from the tape inside the canopy, sometimes I have used a fresh piece of tape and stick down over the residue, and immediately lift right back off. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 times to get it all, but this often does the trick too.

Thanks guys! We've got Goo Gone over here (I've actually got some elsewhere in the garage) too, I'm just hesitant to use it for fear of messing up the canopies that came out okay.

I'll definitely try the tape method when I get out to the bench later tonight! I also snuck a few minutes in the garage after I got home from work, and a toothpick appears to lift the adhesive residue. Think maybe that plus the tape pick-up might be the way to go.

Hopefully tonight I can finally get it Futured and ready for decals.

Decals went on last night. Overall, felt like another really thick decal sheet. I clearly need to invest in some Solvaset, since the Micro-sol just seemed to bounce off the bigger decals like the insignias. As of this morning, though, it looks like they're laying down well enough.

Also...no pictures of it...but I managed to get the canopies cleaned up to a reasonable degree. Toothpick + blue-tac took off the adhesive, and I brush-painted the areas where the frames got stripped away. 

Very nice! I'm thinking more and more of picking one of these up now. I did not like the revell or monogram one?

ww2psycho

Very nice! I'm thinking more and more of picking one of these up now. I did not like the revell or monogram one?

Go for it, man! The Accurate Miniatures kit is certainly one involved build, but most things fit together nicely and it comes out pretty great looking.

I know a lot of people have a soft spot for the R/M Dauntless, but I'm with you. Just couldn't bring myself to like it.

Lots of little progress last night. Got the .30 cal, pilot's headrest, DF loop and such painted. Got the 1000lb bomb painted. Installed the lower dive flaps. Pretty much anything I could do while waiting for the coat of Future I laid over the decals to cure.

Then disaster struck. Well, mini-disaster, but still.

There I was gluing the lower port dive flap to the actuators using medium thickness CA with a long CA tip. Everything was going great until I saw a little flash of movement out the corner of my eye. The nozzle of the CA bottle is a bit gunked...I thought I scraped it pretty clean, but I guess not, because the CA didn't just come out of the small tip, but out the back as well.

And dripped onto the Dauntless on the leading edge of the starboard stabilizer right where it joins the fuselage.

I managed to wipe a decent amount away before it dried like shown above, then hit it with fine sandpaper and a scribing tool. Finally put a bit of paint on top of it.

It's still noticeable if you look really close, but it's very, very subtle, and trying to remove it would risk a lot more damage than it's already done. Guess I'm going to have to hope the weathering helps cover it up a bit more. Otherwise, ugh.

Got the dive flaps installed and made a good start on the weathering last night. I never really got the hang of weathering in my past modeling life, and I'm determined to change that with my return to the hobby. 

I kicked things off by lightly overspraying the decals on the upper surfaces with a highly diluted mix of the base blue grey to give them a faded look, then moved along to a post-shading mix of Tamiya Flat Brown and Flat Black, thinned 90% with isopropyl and denatured alcohol. Traced the panel lines, then sprayed randomly with the direction of airflow. 

Overall, I'm digging the effect, but I think I might overspray with the base blue grey or a slightly lightened mix to mute the contrast a blend everything together a bit more. Then it's time to add the exhaust and gun stains and weather the cockpit deck.

I like the weathering, personally. I think you did a great job on it. May be a little harsh for some people's tastes, but not mine! Sorry about your glue snafu, but judging by the pics, looks like you took care of it nicely! Overall, the Dauntless is looking very good, keep it up!

Thanks oddmanrush! Glad you're liking it!

I'm actually going for harsh, since I'm trying to depict this Dauntless toward the tail end of Coral Sea. Outside of the already natural wear from operating in the South Pacific, I imagine the priority during those few days in early May would have been refueling, rearming, and the barest amount of maintenance required to keep the planes flying. Still think I'm going to try to blend some of the heavier weathering back in a bit, though.

Nice recovery on the CA mishap, there, Doogs!  Actually, from the pic, it looks like flaked-off paint on a 1:1 Dauntless.

I like your weathering job, too.  It looks like many of the pics we see of USN aircraft in 1942, with the effects of sun, salt air, moisture and general wear 'n' tear.  And for early to mid-1942, you can also get a little creative with markings, to represent some of the changes that were implemented--paint-outs, paint-overs, resized roundels, for example.

Great progress!

Best regards,

Brad

I agree i like the weathering as well but i think a final mist coat would make it look even better...

Don't you hate those mishaps Doogs, i was doing those invasion stripes the other day and touched the white while it was still wet, left a fingerfrint.....I not so silently cursed myself for having 20 years experience and still making a mistakes like that......

Very nice weathering job!  When I build a warbird, my motto is, The Dirtier, The Better.  This has led me to over-doing it on occasion perhaps, but I like 'em dirty.  The Dauntless should look battered and beaten down by the sun, salt water and such as those are the major environmental factors in which it served.

Gah! So angry right now I could spit!

After giving the Dauntless two coats of Testors flat (spray) last night and this morning, I went in to really finish things off with some PollyS flat. Mixed exactly according to the directions. 4 parts flat finish to 1 part distilled water. And what did it do? Spit little white flecks all over the place. White flecks that, at least two hours later, are drying white, not going clear. 

I tried dabbing over a few with the idea that it could look like touch-ups done on the carrier. It doesn't. The Dauntless isn't ruined, but it's sure as hell not as good looking as it was before the Polly flat.

F'n Polly flat

Hopefully you can overcome the issue, this thing is awesome.

Here's the spotting.

Unfortunately the rear stab where I tried to go for paint touch-ups just looks ridiculous. I think I took a problem and just made it worse back there.

After last night, so ready to be done with this thing. Feels like it fought me every single step of the way. There was the Polly flat. There was the fit issues with the assembled tires and the landing gear. I also had the distinct joy of dealing with every teensy clear bit being about a millimeter too thick. Not a big problem with the landing light and such, but a few of those pieces are so small you can't get a hold on them to file them down in the first place. And trying to do so, at least last night, sent them falling into the garage floor of oblivion, never to be seen again.

humm.. big bummer on the specs,,!!

i have an idea.. that might save you... you mentioned that the flecs were over 2 coats of Testors flat ??.. ( I forgot to double ck what ,before I started posting).. but if the Polly flecs are over 2 coats of another clear, you can lightly wetsand them off useing ,,, try 800g, or 1000g, or 1200g sandpaper.. depending on how thick your Polly coat is , is how heavy a grit you want to start with, but your 2 coats of flat before the Polly clear will protect your color coats.. Just be carefull around edges, and raised lines as sanding here will take off clear in the high spots quicker, exposing your color.. do it lightly, use lots of fresh water, ck your progress frequently.. with some patience, and time.. you can make those flecs disapear and save your build.

BTW.. love it so far!!

p38jl - thanks for the suggestion, man! I think I might give it a test run tonight and see how it goes. Have to admit though, I'm terrified to try it since the flecks are kind of all over the place. Not everywhere, thank god, but probably a good third of the upper surface. Sanding one or two spots would be one thing, but that much of the surface...I mean my wife could barely see anything amiss when I showed her the Dauntless this morning...so at this point I'm all about minimizing the damage.

Also, the Polly flat is now residing in the trash. Guess I'm sticking with spray coats.

you should be able to pull it off.. be patient.. keep the paper wet and go easy.. ck your progress often... don't use a sanding stick or backing pad, just your fingers... the pads or sticks will hit the high spots first and take it down to the color before you get the specs out on the surrounding area...

you can do it dude...

DoogsATX sorry you're wrestling the Dauntless. I hate coming across a model that I would just like to get over with. Kills the enjoyment in the hobby. At least you can rely on your wife for an objective eye. My wife usually gives me the same answer for each model I show her.

<hey hon, what do you think? Look good?>

<Mmm hmmm.>

<But....you weren't even looking....>

Any way, good luck with finishing! Keep a stiff upper lip.