South Pacific Group Build 7 August 2006 to 7 August 2007

Woo-Hoo! I completed the SB2U Vindicator!

First a few WIP pics. I like these becuase they are pre-medical tape:

and the completed bird:

I really enjoyed this kit, especially coming off the Revell B-26 debacle. It's not perfect and wouldn't win any shows, but it sits proud with the rest my Navy. More than just "another notch in my belt", I felt I grew a little with this build. I felt more patient and wasn't in the usual rush down the home stretch to complete this. This was the first "real hair" (thank you, wife) antenna I've used, and I'll stick with it. The antenna has always been my nemesis, but now I'm more confident as I go forward.

Thanks for letting in the build. My next one is a P-40E...does that qualify for the South Pacific group or more Burma/China/India?

What's the website? It would be interesting to see.

The ironic thing is I can create a wreck when I don't intend to, but I'm not skilled enough to intentionally build a wreck.

Hey there all...

Just back from a continuing education class, brain is a bit fried, but on the ride home I was thinking about our little venture and figured to toss out an idea, could be construed as a challenge...

I was using Google to confirm aircraft types and kept coming on this site with crashed aircraft.  Many of them from the selected theatre of operations.  Well how about this...

for some one's submission would you be willing to try a "wreck"?  Some time ago there was an article in FSM of a "wrecked" Zero.  Quite impressive really.

Could we get a wrecked Hayabusa or Betty, or even a pranged Dauntless or Buffalo?

What the heck there is an entire year for completion...I would do it but most of my stuff looks like a wreck even if I try to do one fresh off the line!

Joe

Take it easy and we look forward to your return.

espins1 wrote:

mucker wrote: Here's my first contribution to the post: WIP pics of my 1/48 Accurate Miniatures SB2U Vindicator. So far she's bee a wonderful kit. The only real hurdle so far has been time. One potential issue to deal with is the notorious sink mark around the aft fuselage section. The realy fix is to fill and sand, but with the ribbed fabric effect and my poor sanding skills, I am sure to do more harm than good. One possible solution is to use "medical tape" in this section to cover it up. I've read that medical tape was often wrapped around sections of the fabric to keep it secure. Any of you ever deal with this issue? I have that kit, which is still unbuilt.  Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to take a look and see if mine has the same issue.

espins: It is still a very nice kit. Typical AM, the cockpit is great OOB, the wing-root fit is very tight, the plastic reacts nicely to Tenax, etc.

Dave23 wrote:

mucker wrote: Here's my first contribution to the post: WIP pics of my 1/48 Accurate Miniatures SB2U Vindicator. So far she's bee a wonderful kit. The only real hurdle so far has been time. One potential issue to deal with is the notorious sink mark around the aft fuselage section. The realy fix is to fill and sand, but with the ribbed fabric effect and my poor sanding skills, I am sure to do more harm than good. One possible solution is to use "medical tape" in this section to cover it up. I've read that medical tape was often wrapped around sections of the fabric to keep it secure. Any of you ever deal with this issue? I was thinking about picking one of these up. Where exactly is the sink? Would it be possible to get a shot of it? -dave

Dave:

You can see the sink mark, which circles all the way around the aft fuselage, in my picture. It is about one inch aft the cockpit opening (my matt is in inches, so it should be able to see it quickly). I'll see if I can get a close-up.

mucker wrote:

Here's my first contribution to the post: WIP pics of my 1/48 Accurate Miniatures SB2U Vindicator. So far she's bee a wonderful kit. The only real hurdle so far has been time. One potential issue to deal with is the notorious sink mark around the aft fuselage section. The realy fix is to fill and sand, but with the ribbed fabric effect and my poor sanding skills, I am sure to do more harm than good. One possible solution is to use "medical tape" in this section to cover it up. I've read that medical tape was often wrapped around sections of the fabric to keep it secure. Any of you ever deal with this issue?

I have that kit, which is still unbuilt.  Thanks for the heads up, I'll have to take a look and see if mine has the same issue.

mucker wrote:

Here's my first contribution to the post: WIP pics of my 1/48 Accurate Miniatures SB2U Vindicator. So far she's bee a wonderful kit. The only real hurdle so far has been time. One potential issue to deal with is the notorious sink mark around the aft fuselage section. The realy fix is to fill and sand, but with the ribbed fabric effect and my poor sanding skills, I am sure to do more harm than good. One possible solution is to use "medical tape" in this section to cover it up. I've read that medical tape was often wrapped around sections of the fabric to keep it secure. Any of you ever deal with this issue?

I was thinking about picking one of these up. Where exactly is the sink? Would it be possible to get a shot of it?

-dave

tho9900 wrote:

.. imagine the terror!!!

Well either the pucker factor was strong enough to bite a hole through the deck or there was a hella mess all over before that thing hit! Talk about ruining your day

-dave

Here's my first contribution to the post: WIP pics of my 1/48 Accurate Miniatures SB2U Vindicator. So far she's bee a wonderful kit. The only real hurdle so far has been time. One potential issue to deal with is the notorious sink mark around the aft fuselage section. The realy fix is to fill and sand, but with the ribbed fabric effect and my poor sanding skills, I am sure to do more harm than good. One possible solution is to use "medical tape" in this section to cover it up. I've read that medical tape was often wrapped around sections of the fabric to keep it secure.

Any of you ever deal with this issue?

Got my 1/72nd PBY-5A this past weekend.  Will do some research on it to make it one of the Black Cat Raiders.  While they didn't win alot of press, they did provide the Japs with a good night-time headache.  Not to mention their search-rescue missions that many another aircrew are in debt to.

Try to post photos of progress after I start (probably after my build for the Memorial GB is done).

ok time for some period/location shots... these are pics of several B-25 Bomb Groups doing what they do best.  they were shot in Leyte and New Guinea and include shots from my great uncles BG.  I really like the one of the skip bombing of the Japanese destroyer... especially the one enlargement where one of the 500lbrs caught a wave and was thrown up over the destroyer deck... you can see one of the guncrew staring striaght at it right above his head.. imagine the terror!!!

Without further adieu:

http://www.grafixnpix.com/wwii/5thaafp2.htm

JerrynFrog wrote:

Tom- Thanks much for fixing my typo on the URL and creating a link.........That must be exciting researching your uncle's career in WWII and trying to build one of the planes that he flew.

Jerry - it's indescribable... almost every day I come up with something new, either leading me closer to finding out his entire WWII experience, or hinting at what I will find in the future. (like flying in B-29's and very high possibility of moving on to B-36's)   so far it has been hit and miss with most of the leads coming out of the local newspaper where he lived at the time leading me to an online or print resource.  For not hearing anything of his service growing up, to find out he was in the thick of it in the S. Pacific for 16 months from Guadalcanal to the final months at Truk and Rabaul... almost like watching a good war movie!

I just wish I had known him and could have asked him more myself... he died before I was born and his wife burned all his military stuff...

here's a short history of what I am 95% sure is his unit.  I'll know more when I get the microfilm for the group from the AF historical research library...

http://www.web-birds.com/13th/42/75th%20BS%20History.htm

Good choice Joe!

-dave

bobbaily wrote:

Jerry-nice work on the badges.  They all look great. Tom-is your new avitar related to the B-25 your uncle flew on?

Bob - yeah it is the 75th BS, 42nd BG insignia... I've gotten a little more info which almost surely places him in the 75th BS.  My next step is to get the microfil of unit records from the late war period and look to see if I can find his name in mission reports etc... it's getting pretty exciting now that I have a sure trail to track!

Jerry-nice work on the badges.  They all look great.

Tom-is your new avitar related to the B-25 your uncle flew on?

I like the middle one of the SBD taking off from the jungle runway, it looks a lot like some of the pics I have come across in looking up my uncles unit in the S. Pacific...

Oh, and something happened to your URL, I found the album here though:

http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j158/JerrynFrog/

Good work on the badges!!!