1/32 Trumpeter SBD-5 Dauntless

[doogsatx/]

Jun 6, 2016 5:17:29 GMT -5 Rick said:

Glad to see you back on this one again. I knew there was a reason I avoided PE flaps and I think I've just seen it. No doubt these will be beautiful when their done Doogs.

Rick

Heh - generally I avoid drastic PE work because it's just the worst. Well, no, a poor-fitting resin conversion that requires extensive kit surgery is the worst. But PE is a close second.

But these brakes are so prominent and bring so much more to the table than the kit brakes that it's really hard to turn aside.

Although, my mind's not made up on whether or not to use the PE for the actuators. That's a level of fiddly I don't know that I'm willing to tackle. In fact, I almost certainly won't on the center brake, because they'll be all but invisible.

[doogsatx/]

Upper brakes are mostly done. Still need to go back and add a few details to the internal structure and maybe beef up the main spars so the actuators hit better. But they fit well and look pretty.

[doogsatx/]

More PE. Light's at the end of the tunnel now, but I still have a ways to go. Got the lower brakes epoxied and stuffed under glass and bricks, and then moved on to dealing with this bit of fun.



Removing the hump from the plastic.

This is a PITA. I don't really see any better way around it. And it's not necessarily difficult. It's just...a PITA.

So...lay out a sheet of sandpaper, and start dragging the flap across it over and over and over and over until the surrounding plastic is literally worn away. Then mild cleanup and glue it in place.



Test-fit with the stock actuators. I'm still not sure if I want to take on the PE-and-rod replacement.

[dupes]

Oh yeah...those flaps look good. I need to figure out soldering. Sure would fix a lot of my pe + super glue issues.

[wbill76]

I can see why you would be reluctant to undergo the PE actuator replacements. The hump transplant looks to have been a success for sure!

[doogsatx/]

Getting closer and closer to paint.

First up, getting the Master .50 barrels sorted out. These will (sadly) be almost invisible, but I had them on hand and the muzzle (only part that will show) looks really nice.



Also got the PE (mostly) done. Still have a bit more to do on that central brake housing. I have come to hate that thing - added weeks to the build with negligible visual impact. Definitely doesn't cross the Impact vs. Effort threshold in my book. But I love the brakes themselves.





I had to prime some things last night, so while I had the airbrush out I decided to prime some more things.

Oh, and I've installed the main gear legs since 1) the actuators for the center dive brake need some protection and 2) the legs and gearbays will be white anyway, so why not?







Work will move on to some details and the IP coaming/gun cover tonight. After that gets sorted and the wingroots get some love, it should be time to hide this sucker away for paintwork.

[wbill76]

Well at least you can check that item off your list of 'did it once, never again' type of efforts! I'm sure you're glad it's behind you so it can pick up steam and move on to more rewarding progress.

[doogsatx/]

Getting there. Still have a few elements to sort out on the fuselage before I can get this puppy primed up. After that, it'll be going dark for the painting.





Dive brakes were pre-primed with Gunze Mr. Metal Primer, which should, fingers crossed, keep any lifting to a minimum.

[doogsatx/]

I'm to that stage in the Dauntless where priming always seems just two or three days away, and then I always find more things that need attention.

The latest example? The gun camera window on the port wing.

Manufacturers seem to stuff these up more often than not, and Trumpeter's no exception here. Alignment is slightly off and the edges appear to be very slightly short shot at the join. Into this mess is supposed to go a small square of clear plastic.

Yeah, no.



Instead, after adding a bit of paint and a bit of detail (colored the back panel with a black sharpie, glued in a clear circle left over from my Sea King to represent a camera lens), I turned to Bondic.

As a test, I first tried Bondic's filling abilities on an old Fw 190 I use as a paint mule. It "flows" like thick CA, but doesn't cure until you hit it with UV light, so it's plenty workable. And it can be sanded.



It worked a treat on the 190, so on to the Dauntless!



Cured perfectly clear!

I see a lot of uses for this stuff in the future. Maybe not for main construction, but for filling in lenses, for securing canopies that need more hold than white glue (the stacked canopies of the Dauntless for example!)...lots of possibilities to explore.

[nicely11b]

Seems like the Bondic may be useful for IP glass as well?

[doogsatx/]

So the Dauntless has a little box attached to the upper windscreen. Took me way longer than I would have liked to find a good picture of the thing. It's a compass.



The kit part actually looks pretty close, only with a little sink mark right in the middle of the compass window.

After painting it a few different tones of black, I added a decal from an Airscale placards set that looks vaguely compass-like, then dropped on a tiny rectangle of acetate. Pretty happy with how it came out, even if the background is totally blown out because my phone's camera just can't cope with that kind of dynamic range.

[Deleted]

Hey I know that Stewart Bailey! He was in our club for quite a few years.

[Rick]

Progress looks great Doogs. Appreciate you sharing the areas of frustration for those who will follow. Correcting or overcoming these issues result in another beauty in the end result.

Rick

[doogsatx/]

So a combination of travel, summer heat, procrastination and doing a build review of Kinetic's new F/A-18 have kept me from spending as much time with the Dauntless as I'd have liked.

But I'm back at it now.

First thing...figuring out how to both install the windscreen (with compass) and mask it off (tape doesn't fit well up in there).

I ultimately realized I had an elegant solution in the box - the closed canopy parts:



Before committing to this route, I went ahead masked and sprayed the windscreen framing.



Then installed the rest of the "masking".



After that it was on to installing the wingtip lights, masking them, doing some final cleanup and smoothing where needed, and then priming everything in Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1500. Now - it's time to take the Dauntless dark, since the paint job is going to be the subject of an upcoming article. WIP will return once it comes out the other side.

[wbill76]

Looking forward to seeing it on the flip side Doogs! Nice solution to the masking question.

[deafpanzer]

I know how much you love Mr Surfacer black primer... LOL Looking good!

[doogsatx/]

Okay...it's been a weird month. Lots of travel, then lots of rain. Paint hasn't happened as quickly as I hoped, and there have been some side diversions to test out a few different things and see what levers I can pull. The most interesting finding has certainly been the effectiveness of putting warm tones under sea blue. Cool tones "feed the blue" and make it way too saturated, but warm tones - from gull and sea grays all the way to hull red - keep saturation in check wonderfully.

Anyway...through that part, and through the walkways, and through the inner wing chipping and scuffing and now finally starting to build up the rest of the camo. So here's a quick tease.

[doogsatx/]

Main paintwork is done and I'm moving through the joy of masking. Three of four insignias are done, one of the six "18"s are done.

Capturing the tonal variation in the Sea Blue is a royal pain, ESPECIALLY on a white background - the tonal crush is extremely intense. But the variation is in there.

[Rick]

Man, those insignias are so much better than decals! I haven't tried the paint masks yet but I think it's time to give it a try. I'm working a 1/32 Heinkel 111 and starting a Bf109 I think I might be able to manage or muddle my way through.
Rick

[doogsatx/]

Yep! Especially in 1/32, I don't think I'll ever go back to decals again except for smaller stencils where I have no choice.

[wbill76]

Can't beat that for the 'painted on' look! Pretty sharp Doogs.

[doogsatx/]

Moving on! The rest of the masks have been knocked out:





And prop work and bomb work are underway. Though honestly I'm not sure I'm going to use the bomb or depict a "returned from mission" Dauntless. The aft design is a real pig.



The prop spinner and hub have been painted black - there's plenty of evidence that this was done, I'm assuming to keep the polished spinner from catching the light in weird and compromising ways. Hellcats and Corsairs show a few other interesting options such as intermediate blue and what looks like interior green - there's some photo evidence for shades of blue on the Dauntless as well, but they're from rather shoddy and low resolution photos, and I'm not quite inclined to trust them.



Decals (a few stencils and prop logos) were knocked out last night. Uneventful, except that the Hamilton Standard logos in the Trumpeter kit are just laughably bad. I stole the logos out of a Tamiya F4U-1A, since I've got HGW's wet transfers intended for that kit.

Fun with oils comes next!

[panzerjager2]

[Wes]

As alwyays, its a pleasure to see your updates doogs. Interested to see your oil work progress.

[doogsatx/]

Well, oils were intended to come next, but then I decided to get the canopies knocked out instead.

Masking - inside and out. The Eduard masks didn't quite fit on the outside - 95% there - so sectioning them and dealing with corners first addressed the discrepancies. Ironically - the masks did fit near perfectly on the insides of the clear parts.



GSB sprayed inside and out. By the time I finished this coat and looked up it was ridiculously late, so I'll have to come back and deal with the interior green.

[doogsatx/]

Quick update - done with the canopy spraying - just a touch of weathering and a little bit of attention to the clear areas before I can call them done.





Not super happy about the texture on the framing - which is part of the way they're molded but doesn't stand out really until paint happens. Knowing what I know now, next time out I'd do a bit of sanding work ahead of time. But - they're going to be stacked, so it's not all that big of a deal, and it's way more apparent in macro photos than in person.

In other news...BOMBS. Finally got a start on the 250s that are pylon-bound last night. Using different base colors because color uniformity is for the birds.

[wbill76]

Canopy stack s up just right. Can't argue with the bomb load, nice touch!

[doogsatx/]

Oil work is underway - starting with the fading/salt staining.

[doogsatx/]

Panel line washes in place - a bit darker than I'd hoped over the insignia blue, but once the flat coat goes on it should lighten nicely. As for the wings - AMMO's Dark Sea Blue is actually slightly lighter than the sea blue paint, makes for a nice, subtle effect.



Next up - exhaust staining and other surface weathering (underside staining, fluids and grease and dust on the inner portions of the wings, etc).

I've also been having "fun" with the prop.

The Trumpeter H-S logos were laughably bad, so I stole some from Tamiya's F4U-1A decal sheet. They look infinitely better, but in typical Tamiya stencil fashion, the carrier film was ridiculously thick and stood out prominently on the blades. To address, put down a heavy coat of Gunze GX100, which is rather tougher than your average clear coat, and then got out the sanding materials. 1000 grit knocked down the decal carrier plateau, and then 4000 micromesh cloth unified the overall surface. I was even able to sand along the leading and trailing edges without screwing the paint.

[Rick]

Very nice update Doogs. Prop and canopies turned out great.
Rick