I have decided on a 1/48 dauntless. Anybody tell me which kit I should go with? thanks

Monogram is the least expensive, details aren't that great, but it was a nice little kit.

Hasegawa is much better detailed, but the holes in the dive brakes aren't opened up.

The Accurate Miniatures molds are now offered by other makers-Italeri offers the -5 that I picked up. Details are much better but the molds are showing some age. There is some flash and the fit of the lower fuselage to the rear edge of the wings is lousy. In spite of that they are generally considered the best current offering available. You can find them in the original boxing at a few online retailers, a local hobby store if you are lucky, or on e-bay.

If you can find it, the Accurate Miniatures kit is the absolute best. It's a little fiddly to build but extremely well detailed. The Hasegawa is next best and a much less taxing build even though the perforations in the flaps are moulded solid. The ancient Monogram kit is a toy, not fit for serious builders unless you love turning sow's ears into silk purses with a ton of aftermarket. Italeri released the Accurate Minitures plastic with a different selection of markings a year or two ago. It should be relatively easy to find.

Here's photographic proof that the Momogram kit can be made to look good at the cost of far too much work:


It can be done, but unless you're willing to spend a fortune on aftermarket and several weeks' worth of bad language, I really recommend the Italeri/Accurate Miniatures kit instead

Nice Monogram model. Your's Jessica?

Yes, it's my fault. It's got the ancient Medalion Models resin interior, an Aires R1820 engine and mostly scratchbuilt flaps. I kept the flaps themselves, but I drilled out all the hundreds of holes and built the interior framework from plastic card. I didn't rescribe it, because the real Dauntless is covered in rivets, one of the few things the Monogram kit is superior to the others for.

Thanks everybody I was thinking hasegawa but 60$ is a lot of grip fpr a plastic kit. Great pics Jessica.

Really great kit Jess!! THanks for sharing. I love that airplane!

Jim

I always have a tough time of posting photos. Maybe they will show up. If not, they are in my photo gallery. AM's Marines at Pearl Harbor-- Dauntless and Vindicator.

I see the problem. If you go back into your post and edit the picture URLs you can get the full size pictures to display. Right now your URLs read http://gallery3.kitmaker.net/data/500/thumbs/Copy_1_of_IMG_4913_1_1.jpg
Delete the /thumbs part to make them big. The URL should look like this: http://gallery3.kitmaker.net/data/500/Copy_1_of_IMG_4913_1_1.jpg

When you consider that you'll get 10 or more hours of enjoyment out of it and it's going to be a hassle-free build, that $60 suddenly becomes pretty reasonable. $6 an hour for a lot of fun is pretty good. Compare that to what you'd spend on a movie night or a professional sports game