The Official 1942 70th Anniversary Group Build

Gunner Chris- By all means, this one is still on. Doesn't end until dec 31, though if someone is still going, negotiations can be made...

Corvette- That is a lot of filling! Best of luck on that!

Today I tidied up the fuse seams which there are still some small divots that need to be addressed, then I installed the wings. More obscene gaps here, I fully expect to have to rescribe most of this aircraft by the end of all this filling.

That's alot of Bondo...Bad as these gaps are believe it or not I've seen worse.

gunner_chris

With all the '43 talk, this one is still on right?

Yep, as far as I know the drop-dead date is still 12-31-12.  I know I'm still planning on dropping in regularly to see how everyone's build is going ...

sub revolution - Thanks!  And I'm in for '43 as well.

corvettemike - Good job on the interior .  Can't wait to see the next set of photos ...

sub revolution

As for 1943, the idea got tossed around near the begining, but I'm glad to see there is good interest here! I appreciate the vote of confidence, in spite of my frequent absense. So if everyone wants, I'll host for another year, or if somebody wants to take over, I will hand over the reigns.

Thanks, Budd

With all the '43 talk, this one is still on right?

Thanks man, and I'm signed up :) I pondered over my stash for a bit reading the internet and found my build. Interesting story on that one posted over in the '43 thread.

Wow, you did all that just OOB? Nice work!!

1943 is up now, so feel free to join!

Here is the finished cockpit. The overall base is MM Acryl RAF interior green with details picked out in MM flat black, silver, aluminum, light ghost gray, and RAF dark earth for the seat. I'm building this one straight OOB so I just worked with what the kit gave me which was really bad. This kit has a low parts count but the fit and castings are really rough to say the least.

Kits decal seatbelts. If I were not building this for the OOB class in a upcoming show I would have made my own from tape and wire.

Kit is missing the crowbar so I just painted a red line to give the impression it's there

Then the fusealige halves were joined. The seam down the center is pretty wicked.

Large wedge shaped gap on the bottom was blugged with CA glue to form a solid base for the putty work to come.

I`d be "in" for a 1943 GB also.

OK I'm under way finally. Got the cockpit sprayed in MM Acryl RAF interior green, letting it dry up then doing the details later on, I'll get pictures up on that late this evening or tomorrow. As for a 1943 GB I'm down, it'll actually be easier than this one since I have tons more to choose from in 1943-45 vehicles than I do in 1942.

Ordie your build is updated on the front page, now that I finally got the photo thing figured out again. Anyone else have trouble with photos ever since the last website change? Very excellent work!

As for 1943, the idea got tossed around near the begining, but I'm glad to see there is good interest here! I appreciate the vote of confidence, in spite of my frequent absense. So if everyone wants, I'll host for another year, or if somebody wants to take over, I will hand over the reigns.

Thanks, Budd

Perhaps sub revolution would like to take us into the new year (1943) ... he's done such a great job with this build, I think he should have first pass at it.  Maybe, if he ultimately decides to take a well deserved rest from running GBs for a while, we can work something out.  Otherwise, I'm prepared to follow him happily into 1943 - Tripoli, Stalingrad, Kasserine, Tunis, Bismarck Sea, New Georgia ... the list goes on and on ... lots to choose from!

Old Ordie

checkmateking02

On a slightly different, but chronologically related topic, might it not be time for someone to sponsor a 1943 group build?

Could very well be ...  Any ideas?

HAHA just when I change my build I realize the reason that kit's been sitting around is because the front end is missing. It's only the beginning of Sept. and my bench is actually clear at the moment so I probably can get that spit done by the deadline. I only have one other build laying around but supplies for it are wrapped up in shipping red tape.

Thanks, Gary!

Old Ordie

 

GAF - I'll write up the build a little, after a bit, and share some of what I did with the kit. And there was more that could have been done. Edit - I gotta confess, I did the radio antenna three times. that's where the big glob of CA on the antenna mast came from, LOL! - end Edit

No rush on a write-up.  Sit back and relax for a bit.  I hardly noticed the glue on the antenna.

And she looks as good in sunlight... probably better as you can imagine a hot Pacific sun beating down.

Gary

checkmateking02

On a slightly different, but chronologically related topic, might it not be time for someone to sponsor a 1943 group build?

Could very well be ...  Any ideas?

On a slightly different, but chronologically related topic, might it not be time for someone to sponsor a 1943 group build?

stikpusher

Me too. On a similar note about EMs, read up the exploits of one Staff Sergeant Harrison Summers of the 101st Airborne on D-Day. His exploits on that day should are the stuff that the MOH is awarded for. But it was decided that only one would be awarded to a Screaming Eagle for D-Day and that would be to an officer.

I'll be checking into SSgt. Summers story, Stik.  I have a serious soft spot for the 101st (personal reasons). Thanks for the suggestion.

Lt. Smash - Participating in this group build was a true pleasure, sir. 

All -  Thanks again for all the positive comments.  They are much appreciated.

Old Ordie

Stik -

Santa Cruz was a female dog ...

Yes it was! The last "even" carrier battle and both sides paid heavily.

Old Ordie

Stik - Yep, that's a great story about Leppla/Liska's SBD.  It sure saw a lot of history in a short time.  That'd be a great build.  John Leppla was a natural born fighter pilot, like Swede Vejtasa.  John Liska is one of the few rear gunners to get his name in the popular histories of the PTO (I always pull for the enlisted guys).

Me too. On a similar note about EMs, read up the exploits of one Staff Sergeant Harrison Summers of the 101st Airborne on D-Day. His exploits on that day should are the stuff that the MOH is awarded for. But it was decided that only one would be awarded to a Screaming Eagle for D-Day and that would be to an officer.

Ordie, I'm just getting caught up on the thread.  I'm truly impressed with your buiild and the story behind it is fantastic.  Thanks for sharing and participating.

Stik - Yep, that's a great story about Leppla/Liska's SBD.  It sure saw a lot of history in a short time.  That'd be a great build.  John Leppla was a natural born fighter pilot, like Swede Vejtasa.  John Liska is one of the few rear gunners to get his name in the popular histories of the PTO (I always pull for the enlisted guys).

Santa Cruz was a female dog ...

stikpusher

 

OK, sounds good to me. I was thinking of going with Dark Gull Gray on mine, just to get some contrast. Hard to tell from this B&W photo

I  guessed fhe bomb to be the same color as the underside of the plane because there'd be no reason to paint it over, except to match the plane (same as painting the inside of the wheel wells).  After the Helldiver and the TBF started to arrive in the fleet, there was less reason to paint the bombs, as they both have internal bomb bays.  What I see here that I did wrong is the steel band around the bomb - I painted it light grey, too, and it is obviously much darker (you can't even see mine in the photo of the bottom of the plane, but it's there, made from a narrow strip of masking tape).  If I were to do over, I'd paint it something darker (maybe an OD green?).

That's a great photo of ordies at work.  I thought we had cramped workspace under the good old Spook ...  Imagine loading a 1,000 pound bomb on an SBD by hand (Navy standard loading equipment, LOL).  It's not a far lift, but there's no room under there to get your back and legs into it at all.  No, sir, wouldn't like it (unless the pivot mechanism can be used to lift it hydraulically or something, but I'm not sure how that thing worked, exactly).  Something else that's different from my day - we would have placed the nose fuse AFTER getting the bomb secured to the rack, and used the fuse cavity to screw in a hernia bar (that's what we called 'em, anyway) to gain leverage.  Frankly, what they're doing doesn't look entirely safe to me.  (Tail fuses were placed while the bomb was still in the magazine, before the fins were attached, but we did all the nose jobs on the flight deck, after the bomb was on the plane.)

Ordie

Looks pretty good to me Ordie. For another site last nite I was doing research on Liska/Leppla's SBD-3, Bu. No. 4547. A very interesting history on those two Aviators and that SBD. Liska would also join Fighting 10 like Vejtasa, but he would perish at Santa Cruz. But their SBD had a heroic history. It flew against the Shoho on May 7 to help sink her. Then would fly CAP over USS Lexington during the May 8 air battles. After which she recovered on USS Yorktown and was taken on the rolls of Bombing 5, which became Scouting 3 at Midway. She would fly again there and end up recovering aboard USS Enterprise, probably after the afternoon search mission flown on June 4. She would somehow then end up on Hornet in the Solomons and be written off with Scouting 8 on 12/31/42 in "SOPAC". Now there was one well travelled SBD.

Still looking good, Ordie.  If there are "boo boos," I can't see them.  And I still really like the paint colors.

Here are the promised sunshine photos.  All the boo boos stand out, LOL!

Thanks again for all the kind words.  This is only my fifth build (fourth plane) since returning to the hobby after a 49 year or so hiatus (when I was a kid, I didn't paint them ...).

Ordie

I'm going to change my bird, Instead of the Savoia Marchetti I am going to enter with a Hasegawa 1/48 Ki-27 Nate which was used during 1942 with the 204th Air Combat Regiment,
2nd Company in Kyushu as Home Island Defence.

With regards, Ninetalis.

Ordie great finished Dauntless  waiting for outdood pictures, i prefer too finished models under the sun 

Old Ordie

Stik - Don't have a reference for the color, other than 'light grey'.   Was reading about it on a website, how the Navy painted their bombs into at least early 1943, and 'light grey' was the color.  I used Navy logic on it, and decided to go with the under-color of the aircraft, which is US Light Grey (Vallejo). (All the iron bombs I ever saw were green, the real ones, I mean,  LOL!)  http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2010/01/us-navy-bombs-up-through-wwii.html

OK, sounds good to me. I was thinking of going with Dark Gull Gray on mine, just to get some contrast. Hard to tell from this B&W photo