Hey guys,

This is my latest build - Accurate Miniatures' SBD-3 Dauntless. It was a lot of fun, although it took me one month longer than I had wanted it to. I used MM acrylics with artist's pencils for the panel lines. It is only my 4th or 5th a/c ever, so I still have a lot to learn.







Any comments and criticisms are welcome. Sorry the pics are so dark. I'll try to get some better ones up.

Thanks,
Samuel

Samuel,

Great looking pane! I have this same kit in the "To Do" stack. Tell us (me) more about the build, any problems? And please do post more pics!

-Derek

Thanks for the reply, Derek. I'm very pleased that you like it so much.

As for the kit, it is the best kit I have ever worked with. I thought about getting PE for it but couldn't find where it would be needed. There are still a few things to watch out for, though.
1). The fit at the bottom rear of the wing and fuselage can be tricky to get right. Mine has a nasty bead of putty through there.

2). Missing/incorrect parts: The fuselage cowling supplied with my model was that for an SBD-5 variant, instead of the -3 I intended to make. I had no trouble getting AM to send me replacement parts. Also I was missing the DF loop as well as spinner.

3). Decals: One of the members here on Aeroscale said that his model's decals were out of register. Fortunately, I didn't have that problem. Also, it might be a good idea to paint the rudder instead of used the supplied decal. In my experience, it did not lay flat over all the ridges in the tail, and no amount of decal solvent would make it do so.

Other than that, the kit was a joy to build, and I highly reccommend it.

Here are some more pics:





Thanks for your interest!

Samuel

Samuel,

Looks awesome! What's next on the build pile???

cheers Brad

Thanks, Brad. I'm glad you like it. Thanks also for the help you gave me in the early stages of this build. I'm relatively new to this so your advice was invaluable.

What's next? Well, I'm building Dragon's T-34 for the White-washed campaign. As far as a/c go, I'm working on Revell's P-38, a terrible kit, it seems, after working on the SBD.

Here's a pic of the T-34:


Thanks for the replys.
Samuel

Derek,

I forgot one other thing with the kit.

The decal for the instrument panel is printed backwards, so you'll have to use Future to "glue" it on.

I'm looking forward to seeing your build.

Samuel