PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

It took four days, but I got the last of the decals on.  Some glare from the lighting obstructs some of the markings, but you can see the number "4" on the topside of the wings on one of them.

The canopy masks are still in place, too, at this point.

From the combat report, VS-6 and VB-6 each had 18 planes, plus the Enterprise air group commander.  Three aircraft from VB-6 were not flying on 4 June, 1942 (B-4; B-10; and B-17) and one from VS-6 (S-13).  However S-9 encountered mechanical problems after the launch and returned to Enterprise.

So those are the numbers from the decal sheet I applied to these planes.  I made up the sixth plane for the Enterprise group commander (designator was "GC").

What's left now is to apply the final clear coat, add the landing gear and then attempt the propellers.  These I've learned from previous Trumpeter planes are pretty fragile and I've consistently broken them, but I'll give it another go!

Good information, Dave.  I'd forgotten the VMI connection.

I love the South and would like to move back some day--maybe after retirement!  

Sounds like you've been around a bit there, Checkmate!  Didn't think that I'd see the "Field of Lost Shoes" in an FSM forum post!!!!  While a young Virginia Military Institute Cadet, I too also re-enacted the Battle of New Market as a VMI Cadet.  The 'Keydets' were called up by CSA General Breckenridge to fill a  major gap in the Confederate lines.  Ten cadets were killed during the battle.... For those that didn't know it already, General Stonewall Jackson was an instructor at VMI prior to the war, and also taught Cadets how to employ artillery.  The guns of the Cadet Battery, "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John still watch over the VMI parade field...

.Good to know that there are a few History Majors here on the boards....That figures!!!  Great work on the SBDs, they are coming along nicely!!.

Rob--and I thought we had it bad here!  There's usually someone who has it worse.  My daughter's fiancé lives in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, so when she comes home from visiting, I get some sense of Canadian conditions.  I've only been to Canada in the summer, when it's been pretty pleasant.

Josiah--I think I read that book on the 20th Maine years ago; Joshua Chamberlain?  A notable regiment for defending the Round Tops (or one of them) at Gettysburg.  Two college friends and I went visiting the battlefields just after graduation years ago.  We were all three history majors with BSEd degrees.  Fredericksburg was one of our stops.  I remember Marye's Heights; very bad news for the Federals!

I used to do ACW re-enactments/living history in the dim and distant past--on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.  Was with the 30th Georgia Volunteer Infantry when I lived near Atlanta; moved to North Carolina where they were short on Yankees, so found a group calling themselves the 2nd Wisconsin.  While I lived in the South, we tended to call it "the War Between the States."

It was a living history that took me to the Shenandoah; did a re-enactment of something called "the field of Lost Shoes" near New Market--where gooey mud sucked the shoes off some CSA cadets.  

Memory lane!  Better get busy with the SBD's tonight.

We've had MAYBE 20 inches total accumulation, probably less than that...

It's funny you mention the Civil War though...I live near Fredericksburg, and for my American Military class I read "The Twentieth Maine" and in it the author mentions letters home where the soldiers talk about how weird the weather is, one day it it would be as cold as maine, the next there'd be unbearable heat....

Another source, though I have yet to check the validity, claims that many got frostbite in one week, and sunburnt the next

I feel your pain checkmate - I live near Ottawa up here in the Great White North.  Total accumulation so far this winter is 163.2 cm (about 64.3") and we've had the coldest winter on record for the past 20 years.  Once the wind chill takes you to minus 40 as it has here, it doesn't matter if it is Celsius or Fahrenheit anymore!

Josiah:

Virginia is a good looking state--very scenic, although I haven't been there since the '80's.  Visited the Civil War battlefields as far as Petersburg, and been through the Shenandoah Valley a couple of times, and to Virginia Beach..

Never ran into any snow, though!

Here in Wisconsin, we've had a total accumulation of 64.1 inches since winter started; records broken for cold weather (as low as -30's with windchill), and not much relief in sight.

I'd like a couple of days in the 70's right about now.

Still looking good checkmate.

I'm in virginia...I love snow, especially during hunting season and when I can get classes cancelled. It is not hunting season, and my college has a really early spring break, so I'm just SOL hahaha. They were calling 8-10 and I took a ruler and it was an average of 8....I drove down the road a mile though and it only looked like 4-5 inches....maybe when it was windy all the snow blew off the trees? I dunno, VA weather is weird though....last week it was in close to 70 for a couple days LMAO

Where are you living, Josiah!?  We've had snow and lots of it--but not 8 inches in one sitting!!!

Maybe it is caused by the "seasonality" of winter, but my building is slower, too.

Anyhow, I've got the upper surfaces of the SBD's painted.  First, I used strips of masking tape to cover the lower wings and stabilizers, then used ticky-tack on the fuselage bottom.

I stuck the whole thing onto a bottle cap to make handling easier, and proceeded to paint.

When everything was dry, I applied a black acrylic pin wash to the panel lines, and painted the front of the engine cowling black to represent the engine. 

Next up will be decaling.  This will take a couple of days to finish, and I probably won't get back to it till Thursday or Friday.

Looking good checkmate....corsair is stalled...had midterms and a bunch of papers due this past week...I planned on doing a bunch of painting done this week (spring break) but alas...just got about 8 inches dumped on us.

Josiah and bvallot:  the little planes are not nearly the trouble I'm having with the PE railings that go on the ship itself.  I don't know why I do it!?

How's the Corsair coming, Josiah?

Rob H:  very nice-looking cockpit.  I admire your work with the PE.

For a small update, here are my SBD's with WEM's US Navy Light Gray on the bottom.

It appears Trumpeter had some molding issues with the bottom of the plane, as I mentioned before--huge sinkholes under the cockpit and some gnarly little issues around the wing edges.  They show up even better under a coat of light gray paint!

While I mask and paint the upper surfaces, I'll also paint the little tire/wheels with an acrylic black and a brush.   

Looks like I missed quite a bit when I was skimming through between classes and work....thanks for the heads up on the assembly Joe.

Got some progress ish on the corsair...my airbrush is being all wickety wack and I dunno how the finished paint job is going to look on the corsair.

I brush painted some blue on so when I put on the airbrush coat it'll have a kind of shading effect...we'll see if that actually works though ha.

Looking good guys...Joe I forgot to tell you I'm using Model Master Acrylic for the green zinc chromate....dunno if it's right or not but I didn't feel like buying another bottle and I've seen numerous british hellcats in the zinc chromate...though I guess that's like using wikipedia as a source in an essay ;)

Well I finally have some progress to report.  I've managed to finish most of the cockpit and install it into the airframe.  The PE version of the instrument panel is too large for the cockpit and so it was a bear to jam in.  However I managed to coerce it in without destroying anything.  I was also able to start working on the engine.  I still want to add the PE for the wiring harness.  Any advice on wether it is easier to paint it first then install it or paint it after?  My concern is the paint flaking off the PE as I bend it to fit the engine.

And now the obligitory pics...

Clemens, the cowling is split on the top and bottom. It's important to note that you need to maintain the seam on the top as that is a panel joint. The bottom seam on the other hand needs to be smoothed out.

Looking good, mate!

How exactly is the cowl split up on the 72nd kit? The 48th one is split into 2 halves and the cowl ring (with some fit issues).

I built one of the profipacks some time ago, but I wasn't happy with the results at all, so It went into the trash before the painting stage. I jsut felt like I didn't do the kit justice, but I learned some important lessons while building it. Then I picked up the royal class at Hannants (it was 1/3rd off too) and those 2 Hellcats should be very enjoyable builds for me.

Sounds good Josiah. Eduards weekend edition kits are indeed very nice OOB. Should you ever consider venturing into the PE/Resin realm the Eduard Profipack kits are a bargain when you consider cost with what extra is included.

Here is a pic of the test fit of major components. The cowling comes in 2 halves and are thusly glued together and the front intake PE grill is installed. I have almost finished sanding down the tail plane mounting tabs to where I am able to fully close the fuselage halves. I regret that I forgot to take some before pics of this issue. I'l try and get some of the completed effort.

I can honestly say I feel the parietal and occipital lobes of my brain seizing as I try to come to grips with how I would venture into such tiny scales.  =P

I definitely have more patience to learn.

Thanks guys...checkmate, holy crap those are small, I don't think i'd be able to do that even with all those magnifying thingys!

Joe....it's the weekend edition, so not extras and only one marking for a plane. I'm ok with that though, can't really afford all the extras and I've never done PE or resin. The plastic is quite detailed anyways. Thanks for the head's up too.

Thanks Rob, Clemens, and Joe!  I appreciate your comments.

At my age, too, if I didn't have reading glasses and a 10X Optivisor, I'd never be able to do anything with these 1/700 types!

I applied interior green from Testors MM to both sides of the SBD's.  Since the pieces are molded in clear plastic, some things aren't easy to see until the paint goes on--like the huge divots/sinkholes on the bottom.  I'm not going to do anything about them, since these particular planes will end up on the hanger deck.  And anyway, sitting on their landing gear should conceal the flaw.

When the green dries, I'll apply the light gray undersurface color.

Josiah: Thank You for the pics. Everything is looking excellent. Curious, is your Hellcat Mk.II a Profipack kit in that comes with PE and canopy masks? Also, what brand of paint are you using for the chromate green in your Hellcat cockpit?

Checkmate: Very impressive indeed. I have to say that it is really fun watching you paint up the 1/700 aircraft. Someday I'll get my feet wet building a ship model. I've got a few in my stash including USS Hornet and Ticonderoga so your techniques on the aircraft are being duly noted.

I'm currently getting everything test fitted on my Hellcat. I must say that this here little Ediuard kit is Sweet! They did a fabulous thing on this kit in the way that the wings and tail planes mount affords you the ability to paint them separately and install them afterwards. Nice. Although, I have encountered an issue with the tail plane mounting tabs. They are slightly too long and when they meet inside the fuselage the planes stick out too far. Thus, some sanding surgery will be required. Clemens and Josiah, I'm not sure if this translates over to the 1/48 scales. You might want to check that out. I'll get some pics up of the test fitting right soon.

Josiah: Looking very good!

Checkmate: I saw you building those Wilcats already, but your great work in that tiny scale keeps impressing me every time. Major kudos to you!

Checkmate

I am impressed at the level of attention you give to such micro-scale planes.  I have a hard enough time at my age with 1/48 scale.

Nice paintwork on the interior of your SBD, Johan!

Good looking Corsair, Josiah!

I finished masking the canopies on the Trumpeter Dauntlesses.  It's kind of fussy work, but not too hard.  I used thin strips of ordinary low tap masking tape, and positioned it around the canopies' base, then I used MicroMask to fill in. 

Next step is painting the interior color--which can be visible through the canopy even in this small scale. 

JOE RIX

Hey Josiah, There's no such thing as an unworthy pic here. We love them regardless. So, put 'em up.

Alright fine, here ya go, the corsair:

and the hellcat cockpit

I agree mustang1989!!  I'm getting "ants in the pants" over here...  I'm looking forward to my Dauntless. =]

Hey Josiah, There's no such thing as an unworthy pic here. We love them regardless. So, put 'em up.

I got some progress done on both the hellcat and the corsair....we still have snow on the ground from the  storm that passed through almost a week ago...but it's 70 degrees haha. Don't have to work, got all my papers for class finished so I airbrushed the underside grey of the corsair today. I have the cockpit done on the hellcat. Neither are worthy of taking any pictures at the moment. I have a long day of classes tommorrow, hopefully if it's still warm out I'll be able to put the blue on.

Man all of this blue color is enough to make anybody want to build a Pacific theatre plane!! Good stuff going on in here. Joe Rix, can't wait to see you get started on that Hellcat!

Nice work on the SBD interior color Johan.  Good shade on the 71!! Well worn in Zinc Chromate color.