US CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD 2013

I have on a few differnt threads here... LOL! I have been working on mine since around 1995 or so... I will go try to find the old pics and post them here just to show all I have done. It's a fun project with a lot of cutting and replacing, but not an obsessive one, thats one reason I am taking so long on it.

Oh and I gotta just put it out there, I got the idea from a couple of builds, one each of the SBD and TBF, that I saw on display in a LHS here. You looked at the fantastic detail and thought are those the new Hasegawa or AM kits? Then I looked closely and saw all those raised rivits and knew the base kits were the  60s vintage Monogram kits. Plus a few other things. And I thought that I want to try that...

Lookin forward to seeing those pics stikpusher. Sounds friggin cool!

OK, I rounded up all the ones that I could find on my PB and put them into a single folder. Now mind you I started this project well before I owned a digital camera so the initial steps are unrecorded. I did not start taking pics until around '08 or so when I pulled it off the sidelines for the "No More Excuses" GB here... this is what it looked like at that point and what I was planning to use and had on hand.

at that point much of the cockpit work was done. I had grafted in components from a Monogram TBD- pilots seat, gunners ring, control stick. Scratch built some other items, added the cowl .50s and radio gear salvaged from other trashed old builds... I had cut away the kit molded in engine and thinned down the cowling to fit a resin KMC engine (which turned out to be the wrong type of 1820 for an SBD-3)

I was still having issues with the rear twin .30s, the engine, and other details...

more to follow in awhile... gotta go pick up my son from school now...

some of the detail work that I did after I pulled it back out- All work was based off information in the Detail & Scale book, a great reference source for the SBD. I replaced the toy type mount for the bomb yoke with a piece of slotted aluminum tube to properly replicate the mount and opened up the oil cooler vent

I scatch built the oil cooler from a piece of sprue cut to size and some bras screen on the end. And I scatch built an instrument panel to fit the kit IP decal from sheet plastic with holes drilled in the appropriate places and a few stretched sprue switches added.

Then I glued the IP in place and replaced the molded on kit telescopic bomb site with a better one salvaged from a old TBD build

as you can see from these pics, I had also previously made the access doors for the cowl guns and the stowage doors for the rear twin mount from this sheet styrene.

My remaining two stumbling blacks were the engine and the twin mount .30s for the rear gunner. So again it sat sidelined due to this, other projects being more interesting, and other reasons. Originally I was going to use a resin KMC Wright 1820 engine so I bought it and built it, as you can see from the post above. But Ilater learned that it was the wrong version, being of a later type than carried by any SBDs. That stalled me for a long time until Quick Boost came along and released the proper type of 1820 for the SBD-3 for both the Hasegawa and AM kits. I  have a few Hasegawa SBDs in my stash ( a -3 and A-24), and figured I would buy the QB engine then pirate the Hasegawa engine into my Monogram kit and do what I needed to make it fit. But on a whim I decided to see if the QB engine would fit my previous work done for the KMC engine. It fit... perfectly! I had already swapped the kit's SBD-4 propeller for one salvaged from that TBD since that looked far closer to the -3 propeller, and a  unneeded spinner takn from a Hobbycraft P-35.

so I proceeded to add the needed push rods from styrene rod (gotta love Evergreen Products) to the QB engine and paint up the whole shebang

and finally the last stumbling block- the rear gunner twin mount .30's. Originally I tried using some guns salvaged from other aircraft kits like I did with the cowl guns, but none looked right. Then I bought a Verlinden 1/48 US aircraft machine gun set and tried scratch building the mount, but the .30s appear a bit overscale, and I was having terrible results scratchbuilding the remaining mount. But once I decided to pirate the engine from the Hasegawa A-24 another idea hit- I plan on building my A-24 as was used early in the New Guinea campaign in 1942. Those aircraft were produced with only the single mount guns, so I decided to pirate that kit's twin .30's for my project here. A test fit showed that they were not overscale like the Verlinden guns

so once this project came off the sidelines for more work again last year, I painted them up too

Then finally, last year as I was working on a new TBD build for the 1942 GB, I decided that since I was painting that one, I amy as well boot myself in the rump and get more done on this too. So with the same Aeromaster Warbird Acrylics (sadly a discontinued paint line), I apinted up the 1942 colors of Light Grey and Blue Gray used on the SBD on the airframe, wheels, etc.. I also stripped off the original paint from the TBD prop using Polly Scale/Testors Easy Lift Off

Then since I had deadlines on other projects for GBs, and then I had to move again since then, this project is sidelined once more. And it sits on a shelf, as is, as this is written...

That's some really nice work, stik! How about adding it to this GB? I want to make it annual, so you could just throw in an update when you want to continue work on it. There won't be any time frame for this one. It's just a suggestion though...

Thank you for the compliments. You are the host. As it has been such a long WIP and never completed under a couple of GBs, I would not ask to have it included here, but... since you asked, I will finish it up under the banner of this GB here. Especially since the finish line is so close for this one apparently. I know that today with all the little tricks that I have learned since this was begun in the 90s I could do the interior better but hey, it will never get finished if I keep sidelining it. I plan on building it in the markings of an aircraft that served on USS Wasp and at Guadalcanal after Wasp was sunk.

I added it to the list. What version of the SBD is it? An SBD-3?

Yes, it will be an SBD-3. And I will still be building that A-4E as well here.

I remember this now. I saw it on another forum we were both on last year. Man you are knocking this thing WAY out of the park pal!!!

I think that I may have posted it over on the dear departed original SP&R. Thanks for the kind words. I see all the flaws in my work and dont see it as THAT good... just better than the original ;-)

If it makes you feel any better 1) we'll just stick with departed on "that other place" and 2) I feel the same way about the "better than original" on mine. LOL

Thank you, but I don't see it as "that good". I see all my flaws, and know I could have done better on the older work nowadays. I just know that it is now better than the original kit.

Well folks I was going to get up this morning and work on the landing gear/ lower wing area and the dang power went off line at around 2 this morning and came back on (wouldn't you know) at about the time I am wrapping things up at the bench normally at 6 am. Oh well. Progress report tomorrow.

Stik, I'm confused (a normal state for me). Why was the airframe exterior a dark blue and why did you have to strip it? Nice strip and repaint job, btw. I thought you started out with a new kit, same as you built all those years ago?

Looks like a fun project and trip down memory lane.

I like very much like your Evergreen styrene rod push rods, btw.

Greg, this is a new build kit, not a rebuild of an old kit for me. The dark blue is the color that the plastic originally came in. Yes, I bought this release (Monogram's Confederate Air Force Ghost Squadron boxing) at a LHS in the early 90s.

My previous early 1970s build of this same kit (I remembre building that one with my dad sitting on the living room floor) was disposed of when I came off active duty in the Army and I got out all my stuff that my other had put in storage.

When I finally decided to build this kit, I bought the Detail and Scale book, and decided to use components salvaged from a Monogram TBD to improve the cockpit. As they were both Douglas aircraft and photos in books showed many of those components to be very similar, if not identical. But as the build went along, the D&S book showed more and more areas needing correction/alteration. Of course, in the meantime, first the Hasegawa, and then the Accurate Miniature SBD kits were released...

But yes it is a fun project, and a nice trip down memory lane as well. Thank you for the kind words.

You know stikpusher I have the Confederate Air Force Ghost kit as well and I have the Detail in Scale book on it. Ha ha!! Not only the same Monogram stuff but also the same boxing and the same reference.

Oh this is getting Twilight Zone now... ;-) Whats funny is that when I started this project, there was an early AM resin/white metal set from a company called Medallion Models out there that had the cockpit parts, engine, etc. Unfortunately I could never lay my hands on one (pre internet days). They also did sets for the Monogram TBF and F4F kits ( I did get the two F4F sets to correct & detail the Monogram kit engine cockpit & landing gear, and the second set to make it into an F4F-3). So beyond the parts I could not scratch for this SBD, it was an old teenage build of a TBD that I chose to sacrifice to salvage parts from for this project.

I think I got it straight now, Stik. :)

That dark blue styrene threw me off. :)

Well folks I got up this morning and was able to weather the landing gear and gloss over the lower wing. I re-painted the windscreen which still needs some touch up but I think its gonna be ok. I was going to go further but was interrupted by my 15 year old dachshund takin a crap in the floor!!!!! She's getting to be a full time job lemme tell ya!! You gotta love her though. She's a sweet old girl! lol

Pictures please! After dog mine removal of course ;-)

Pictures of the floor or the bird? lol.....I should have some photos tomorrow or Monday depending on how much I get done tomorrow morning.

Poor dog, she didn't do it on purpose. You already know that.

mustang1989

Pictures of the floor or the bird? lol.....I should have some photos tomorrow or Monday depending on how much I get done tomorrow morning.

the bird, man, the bird!

Greg

Poor dog, she didn't do it on purpose. You already know that.

Here we go fellas. I got up this morning and was actually able to get some stuff done. For those of you who were (and still are) on the Butcher Bird GB with me you will recall that I had warp issues. Well..........guess what? Going through it again! I would like to take this opportunity to tell all of you who don't know to get your stash OUT OF THE GARAGE if you live in Texas! Particularly South Texas. Mine is indoors now! Anyhow the first two pictures are of the dive flap before and after straightening and the third is an update on the lower wing. A little unorthodox way of building I know but I've got a plan in place...............

Before making tea

..........and after making tea. I notice a small warp or twist. Gonna have to make another batch of tea! I do like taking pics of progress. It makes me notice imperfections BEFORE I install the parts!

and the lower wing. Man these Hasegawa decals gave me a lot of trouble wanting to break free of the backing. I was finally able to force them to move after about 15 minutes in warm water! They literally "broke free" !

How does one go about straightening such a thing, Joe? I wouldn't have thought any structure would get hot enough to warp styrene. Wow, live and learn.

Do you attribute the stubborn decals to the heat as well? 15 min soak is very long, didn't know that could happen either.