Battle of Midway Aircraft Group Build

QUOTE: Originally posted by pingtang I'll second that Hellcat remark there Jules. As you most probably know, I'm also a bit of a sucker for Hellcats (and SBD's.....). I'd like to build another one sooner or later. I'd do a F6F-5 in the overall blue scheme this time. BTW, this midway GB just keeps breeding new GB's doesn't it. We might have to do something about it, because they are all very tempting......

Yeah Pingy i remember you mentioning that you wanted to do Minsi III, and your right this GB does kinda host all of our other GB ideas, maybe we should all switch to 1/144 scale to keep up, at the rate wer'e going in 6 months we'll be planning 2010's Gb's..........
Darren I certainly don't have any objections to including all carrier A/C past or present..........

same here Darren! past to present it is then!! BTW: I almost picked that kit up the other day... would love to see it built up...

Hi guys, I hope you don't mind me coming in here, but I built this F4F for the Naval Fighters Group Build for the period during Midway but never got the pics done in time to show it. It is the Tamiya kit with the thick decals.


Thanks,
Scott

Nice Wildcat Scott-I just picked one up. Planning on building it for the Carrier GB.

Did you add any extras, i.e., PE, resin? Did you alter/cut away the floor?

Thanks

Just an OOB build. I didn't cut away the floor but I did scratch build my own seat and seatbelts.

I wish I got a shot of the underside. I used India Ink for my panel lines, but did it before I applied the Future. Well, the Future caused my panel lines to run which did not become a bad thing. I have worked around radial engines and if you notice, all the oil and hydraulic fluid collects and pools in all the dips and creavasses of the undercarriage and turns a sort of transparent pinkish gunmetal color. This little blunder replicated that effect to the tee.

Scott

Thanks Scott. I've never been that lucky when I do things out of order. Guess it all balances out somewhere....

Nice looking F4F Scott I have the tamiya kit in the stash waiting for the Pearl Harbour GB, still waitin on the Eduard stuff to get here though............

Scott - looks good! I'll have to do one of those one of these days... at least in US colors haha... I am going to try your method on the landing gear as I have a fresh bottle of India ink waiting atop my model desk.... just to clarify, you futured, used the ink, then futured again???

Jules - if you build a second Martlet Wildcat you might find the Ultracast seat is all you need... that F4F cockpit is ALL covered up when you close the fuselage....

Well Tom i was thinking about doing another F4F for the upcoming Battle of the Atlantic GB so i might just get the seat for that one........
BTW whats with the floor, Bob mentioned altering/cutting the floor, is there an inaccuracy in the Tamiya kit

The problem is that the Tamiya kit has a floor. Wildcats didn't have full width floors, there were big cut-out sections on either side of the foot troughs. It was so the pilot could see through those two small windows in the lower fuselage.

I'll send you a better explanation by email when I get something scanned from a Finescale mag soon.

That would be great Daniel In your opinion how hard would it be to alter the floor of the Tamiya kit

I don't think it should be too hard at all Jules. Here's a diagram I scanned from an old Finescale mag:



The text with it said:

QUOTE: The Wildcat's open floor enabled pilots to see out the belly windows. Since Tamiya molded the floor the full width of the fuselage, cut away the floor on either side of the foot troughs. Cut into the sides of the floor just behind the slots for the instrument panel bulkhead, and just ahead of the slots for the seat mounts and headrest. Score along the outer edges of the foot troughs connecting the two cuts. After a few knife passes, the floor will snap off easily. Clean up the cuts with files and sandpaper.

It all sounds too easy doesn't it? And, if it doesn't make sense, don't blame me this time, blame Finescale magazine......

Thanks for the post Daniel-I'll be able to use this info also.

You know, it never occured to me to modify the floor since Tamiya did put the windows in the kit.

Far as the ink foul up, I put the ink on, then Futured only once, and the Future caused the ink to run, then dried before I noticed anything. Looks rather interesting and to scale.

I knew the floors were not solid but hadn't found a good enough reference as to where the cutouts were... thanks Daniel! I'll be cutting the floor on the Martlet for this build!!!

Yeah Daniel Thanks a heap for that mate, it looks fairly simple to cut out but i'll wait until i get the Eduard set for it before i start hacking, just to get a good idea of what PE goes where..........

No worries fellas, glad I could help.

QUOTE: Originally posted by j.s.harrison Yeah Daniel Thanks a heap for that mate, it looks fairly simple to cut out but i'll wait until i get the Eduard set for it before i start hacking, just to get a good idea of what PE goes where..........

Jules, you are probably aware of it, but I stumbled onto a link on the Eduard web site, www.eduard.com, where you can do the detail search, highlight the PE and view or down the instructions as a .pdf

Painted the canopy on the SBD and I'm not terribly happy with it-uneven and not completely covered. Also used masking tape on the interior to prevent seep-thru and it left the dreaded goop. Will pick up a little 'Goo Be Gone' at Walmart this week. Guess I'll tape off the 'uneven' sections and touch-up. Gotta figure using an airbrush in the future will help. Of course, I'm starting to shutter when I think about the Avenger canopy that I just picked up.....

Ok, maybe this thing will be finished NEXT weekend......

Bob - on the ones I built Tamiya or Model MAster masking tape worked great. the trick was to use a toothpic and burnish it down into the corners (or your thumbnail or such) ... then with the magnifier on I would use a fresh blade and carefully fit it as close to the frame as I could get it and run it along the raised frame.

Another thing I have been trying that was introduced to me by Tweety is using Bare Metal Foil on the canopy. It is a very thin foil with an adhesive on the back. You can get this stuff on so tight that you can't even tell it's there at all except for the silver color. And when you cut it there's no lifting at the edges like with tape sometimes. It leaves a bit of residue but normal liquid handsoap has taken it off for me once the paint is dry... Model master also makes an equivalent called Khrome or something like that that is identical. It's about $6.00 a sheet but I've used less than 1/3 of one and masked about 4 canopies so far, definitely a lot cheaper than the custom masks...

hmm speaking of masks... yours didnt come with a set? My dash-2 did...

Tom, actually the -2 did come with masks and I used them. For some reason (user error?) I didn't get complete coverage. Again, I used a brush-should have thinned the paint out a bit and used multiple coats. I really think once I get the airbrush up and running, I'll have better success. I will definatly look at the BMF techinique-saw that one in a FSM article some while ago. Ended up 're-masking' select sections last night-will pull the tape later today. Only major task left is to paint the prop (tri-stripes), install the canopy & exhaust and then some exaust weathering. Hopefully will be done by the end of the week. Then on to North Africia...and the Pacific GB...and the P-40 GB....one at a time, right?

Bob, Mate i know that site realy well, you can spend a lot of coins on that site very quickly

Bob just be careful with Goo Gone because it makes a really effective paint remover as well as goo remover and is not fussed by either enamel or acrylic paint.
On the other hand, if you make a little boob with the paint Goo Gone can be your best friend.

Cheers
Darren

- Edit-
Oops I included an update for the wrong GB

Darren-thanks for the heads-up. Good to know.

Darren - that's ok I do it all the time (post updates int he wrong GB) and I don't think anyone notices.. as we are all together in the same group builds it kind of gets the lines blurred for all of us!!

Bob - They were a little tricky for me to get to lay in the right places, and I burnished them down with a pointed dowel.. (hmm.. suddenly the pointed stick self defense training episode from MP came to mind "What if he comes at you with a pointed stick???")

Did the second coat of Future on the Zero and after drying it has some grainy type dust looking stuff on it so I am going to have to windex it. I just hope the acrylic underneath is going to stick!!! Will keep you posted.

Oh (for Darrens sake) the Martlet Mk.III got started, I primed the interior bits and am ready to cut out the floor pan per Pingy's scans he posted. Hope to get most of the interior done this week.

QUOTE: "What if he comes at you with a pointed stick???"

You pretend to throw a banana at him, and then pull out a gun and shoot him???

hahah thats one reason I like hanging at you guys... not many people understand the things that make me laugh here...

(What???? a mock Frog? We serve no artifical ingredients or colorings of any kind!)

What about a pineapple?? come at me with that pineapple... that's right boy-o!! Do your worst!

okokokok... I have to stop....

...and now for something completely different...BUMP

actually, a bit of an update. the prop tips on the SBD have been painted yellow, which is the middle color. with one piece of tape, I can cover the yellow and be masked for the red & blue (maybe this pm). wash applied to the landing gear, canopy 'touched-up' (just needs the tape goop cleaned from the inside). exhaust attached-just needs some weathering from said exhausts. should have pics by weekend.

btw, Accurate Miniatures has added (reinstated) the on-line build info to their website, which will be a life-saver for the Avenger project. wahoo!

Cool Bob!!! Looking forward to seeing it! Interesting approach to those prop tips I haven't tried yet... might give that a whirl on my next dash-2.

I'll try to find some pics very quickly for you, but the exhaust left little black on the plane... just immediately around the exaust tip itself. Over the wing it faded more to a whitish grey and it was very light at that. I'll bug out of here and see what I can find in a hurry, hopefully I still have them in photobucket!!!


---edit---

I'm having trouble finding them, but you might find these wartime shots helpful.

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/NARG/dauntless.html


There is almost no exhaust streaking... I have seen pics with it but I am still on the path for them now.. more later

non-wartime but decent shot of exhaust:

http://fotodj.com/pages/reading/Wb048d.htm

It's wierd but the wartime shots don't show that much streaking. I'll keep looking...
!!

ok happened on this for all you who were going to build a VT-6 AC... here's them lining up on June 4,1942 for the attack

http://www.daveswarbirds.com/navalwar/ac_pics/tbdcrowd.jpg

ok Bob - here you can see the direction of the exhaust... it blew directly at the wing root forming a sort of triangle from the exhaust the the wing:

http://www.cloud9photography.us/bp/BP15_Douglas_SBD_Dauntless_ProducerPeterJMancus.jpg

ok here we go... there were lots more when I researched this... but in fact here is actual pics of the Battle of Midway. Note the color above the wings... on better pics it was not so noticable but you get the idea for the black, and now the whitish grey I was talking about... the white/grey was VERY faint in the other clear pics I saw... it seemed to get a little more noticable right over the longitudinal axis of the wing... will post more if I find it...

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g10000/g17054.jpg

a better pic:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/achtungindianer/Photo%20Files/US%20Aircraft/SBD%20Dauntless/VB-5/SBD-5VB-55-6Oct43001b.jpg