To the Pacific!

About time to get away from the Western front and all of those Luftwaffe baddies, as much as i want to knock out a D9 and some others. I went to the model shop with my heart set on one of the ugliest aircraft i have seen but unfortunately it was a couple of weeks away from coming into stock and i missed the last one on the shelf by a few days. Seems ugly is popular! So, after much perusing at Wildcats, Bearcats, Corsairs and some Japanese craft i walked out with this...




The venerable SBD (slow but deadly) Douglas Dauntless, the machine that famously sent the four Japanese carriers at Midway to the bottom, helped in the earlier sinking of the Shoho and damaging of Shokaku at the Battle of the Coral Sea, scored three1000 pound bomb hits on the Ryujo in the Battle of the Eastern Solomon, which added with a torp hit by an Avenger sent her down. On top of that, 14 cruisers sunk, six Destroyers sent down, transport and other ships as well as plenty more damaged over it's 5 year life span in the Pacific. Despite it's many battles and slow speed it had the lowest attrition rate of any of the US carrier based aircraft, solid old beast and i thought she should be my first cab off the rank when it came to pacific planes. I've had this book kicking around for nearly twenty years and it has all of the planes inside that are included as paint schemes which is cool, it also has the shot that the box art appears to be modeled from as well. 'Thirty-Six Sniper'








I'm already a decent way into this build so this is a catch up thread, grab a drink because it's a bit long winded I 've been holding off on posting this one so i don't pollute the model forum with my builds, but if i wait to much longer it will be finished.


First up, not a promising sign, a broken wing section right at the wheel wells thinnest piece when i checked the parts off. No biggie, just something extra to do.





Before i dived into the build i decided i was going to get serious about attempting some chipping effects on this one and looked at the options, a chipping fluid, the hairspray option or salt chipping, i went with the salt chipping. It was something i wanted to learn plus i have salt here at home, no outlay needed, and if it fails maybe i can eat the Dauntless. So, it seems simple enough, lay your base coat, wet it with water, place some rock salt down, let it dry and adhere, spray the top coat, brush off the salt...easy peasy! As usual it's going to be one of those easy to do hard to master type of things but you got to give it a shot huh. So out came the trusty Warspite base for some practice. First up some yellow base, wet, salt down (exciting times!)





Blue over the top after the water has evaporated at about 8-10 psi so i don't blow away all of the salt.






And brush the salt away when it's dry






And that's the basics. Delivery/placement and size of the salt is going to be the determining factor i realised after this, and the next experiment, where i did silver first followed by yellow then blue and finally a black stripe, so three salted sections in all.






I will have to do three layers with the model itself but will be concentrating on the inboard sections of the wings and the fuselage under the cockpit and behind the gunner. I have also decided i will more than likely overdo the effect so it stands out a bit more. Basically, everything i have done so far fits as rough as guts required trimming, putty and brute force. This is the the lower wing and the wing top halves to the fuselage, which even under some pressure in this pic are still terrible.








The inside is meant to be zinc chromate which was a yellow mixed with black at the factory so i whacked up a mix which may have been too dark but i'll live with it. These two were a rough fit without any of the many extras even added.






I started out by gluing the broken section to the top half so i could brace it and then putty it up and not worry about possibly snapping the piece off and creating more work for myself.





The cockpit is quite the build in itself and the major part of the kit, a pity as it is rather nice but once the fuselage is joined it will mostly disappear.






Onto the joining. I mated the fuselage full of interiors bits to the one already glued top and lower wing section and then held it under pressure until it set lining up the top wing as square as i could get it. Once i was happy with that the other top half went on and it felt like something was going to bust as it was under some brute force whilst drying to get the second wing to stay true. Once set everything got some additional goop to be cleaned up later as i wasn't confident it would all hold. The lower rear wing gap was horrendous but at least the top wing to fuselage gaps which were my main concern were tight. You'll notice i sanded off the landing lights when doing the lower wing section, i will drill those out and fill them will clear paint so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.









Look at these lovely leading edges. I would rather the putty and sanding work there than down the complete fuselage join though. That's with the wingtips square and neat, maybe the mould guy was drunk.







Putty for the cowl, really obvious and sunken join lines.





The fit of the gun mount to the rear cowl section was also tragic. I ended up cutting a section out of the cowl and bracing it and trimming the inside of the gun mount panel to get a better fit. Since i have tightened the cowl up i will need to trim the front of the plane where this whole piece mounts so it will actually fit.











The hole under the gun mount panel will not matter as the front cowl completely covers it. I knocked out the engine, basic little piece of gear but looks decent when in place. The side of the gun panel will still need some extra work to lessen the gap but it's starting to look much better than out of the box.









Just to get away from all of that and do something painless, i dry brushed the rear .30s which look the part at this stage. The side armour plate is to be painted in the green and another piece of armour plate to be added as well as the mount and then pick out the hand grips.





After puttying and sanding the wing leading edges she got a coat of black and then silver and then the silver was rubbed down with a cloth to smooth it off. You can see the right wing (as you look at the top on silver pic) has been rubbed down compared to the left. Disregard the seam lines and still dodgy looking inboard wing section where the break was, i redid the whole d amn lot again with putty after laying the silver and seeing how terrible it still was







And now, the salt! This first layer may look hectic but not all of this silver will show through the final coat. I thought i'd rather more at this stage than less, easier to have too much and cover it than too less and be stuck. I find i am letting the salt sit for about 30 minutes then spraying then letting the painted salt sit for about two hours before i brush it off with a cut down stiff brush.











Then onto the side, this whole process for the first complete layer took about a day and half with drying times, doing one side at a time and then tilting it to do the fuselage sides separate to the wings





And if you ever wondered what a Dauntless looks like after they fish it out off the ocean a couple of decades later...









Hectic or what I actually really like it but it is overdone and needs some smoothing down as well before i do the next (blue) coat. I'm hoping to keep about half of the silver in these shots exposed depending on how good i can get my next salt placement. I gave the bombs the salt treatment as well, not as hard core though, just enough to try and show that they have been stored and rubbing around a bit. Once decalled and detailed a bit more they should look the part i think.






So, all caught up to where it stands atm. I was thinking of leaving the wheels up, dive flaps deployed and sitting her above a small circular water base via a piece of clear tubing in a dive position at about 45 degrees or so. We'll see what comes of that though, it just seems a wasted opportunity to have the flaps all popped and then sitting her parked.

Excellent work, as usual, but more evident given the poorer than usual, even for Academy, molding in that kit.

I have recently bought their SB2U-3 Vindicator, still in the box, and your pictures sent me scrambling to do some dry fitting to see if the quality was as bad.
It seems to be not the case and I wonder if you got a kit from a run that was more defective than Academy's usual offerings?

The salt weathering is beyond my patience level but it will sure look good when finished.

Your pictorials are informative and appreciated so keep them coming, OK?

That's amazing.

Sorry to hear you think F4U is ugly. LOL, with your skill, we can not expect you to be perfect. (ribbing joke).

Huh?

I'm hurt.

Sorry to make you panic lol. After some more work today i think the actual fuselage is warped which would make sense with some of the issues i have been having. The tailplanes went on fine and tight, they located and mated in perfectly but one pointed slightly skyward whilst the other drooped.



The plane i had planned to buy makes the Corsair look like a light little fragile prom queen

P47?

The usual lovely work Ajay. Metal, primer then top coat to achieve weathering effects is above and beyond the call of duty, but it's going to look great.

Almost like a production line the way you turn out fantastic models Ajay. Nice to see fingers in some of the photos to show just how small these models are.

Will be interesting to see the 'wear and tear' on a Japanese model, if you decide to do one..

Makes the P-47 look like Marilyn Monroe.




I just finished the blue layer and the chipping side of it looks good but the rest of the blue was really clean and freshso i've lightened down the blue to fade it off a bit with a few drops of white and rlm blue in some panel sections. I'm thinking a light grey mixed with black oil wash to finish off the weathering topside A straight black may be too stark but too light in the panel lines might also look a bit off do you think?



I've a lot of free time on my hands these days... so i might as well build my own personal air force Japenese planes are definitely on the list in my Pacific foray.

Another nice build Ajay.


Wheels

Cheers Wheels

Salt update time, this was about as cleaned up and smooth as i could get it (without sanding) before moving on to the top blue layer. It was sort of tempting to just go full hog on the whole model and park it up on a beach and water dio as a leftover remnant of WWII just rotting away on a secluded island.





Salt down and blue layer applied, i went over with a lighter mix to try and fade off the blue as it was so bright and factory fresh looking.







Getting the underneath ready for it's final colour.





Salt removed and thinned the inside of the cowl which fits up pretty snugly to the fuselage now. Because i was dropping the salt on the wings from above my chipping for the leading edges is a bit high and also too large, live and learn







Intermediate blue down and pre salted.







Masking the anti slip stripes out







Lots of waiting for salt and paint to dry and set before being able to move on to the next step. Cockpit masked, the kit gives you this five piece open setup or a two piece closed. Started to look at how the flaps setup, very basic.










And finally, salt job complete, upper and side paint done besides a little bit more work needed near the tail. Looking like a junkyard dog.






The dive flaps should add some really cool contrast to the model, can't wait to get them all positioned up.






Doing this kit had made me wish i would have learnt how to rivet, the added detail would have been nice.

I love the work Ajay but I seriously do not have the patience to do it myself.


Wheels

This works out a lot cheaper than building hotted up engines and scouring the country side for old car parts, plus i get an end result a lot quicker. In the situation i am in being a carer it's good to have something calming that totally takes my head away from that situation as well

Moved her on up to the clear coat and decal stage and started a light oil wash mix of a brown and white on the upper wing surfaces.


Prop that appears it has been dragged across a coral landing strip.




Cowls and engine finally mated, the slot on the front hub is for the oil pump that was a last minute nearly forgotten fitment.




All cleared up an awaiting a few days setting time. Decals on the prop made her look pretty spunky in a ratty sort of a way.




First one down, the supplied decals are really nice and looked solid once set.








I did a bit of poking at the decals with a stiff brush to try and make them a bit more worn seeing as the plane looks like it has been to hell and back, twice.




Next up will be oil washing the fuselage and underneath, putting the flaps on and then i can flat it all out and add the last items like the wheels, rear gun, tail hook, ordnance and lastly the canopy.

I mixed up an Umber and White oil paint mix and randomly applied it, darker towards the front and then just worked it around. The wings have already been done in this pic.





Finally standing on her wheels. At this stage i still have to do a final all over last wipe down to remove any excess oil, put the flaps on and then spray the matt and satin mix final clear coat.




The 1000 pounder needed the vanes sliced off and turned 90 degrees as i had them positioned incorrectly.

Decided on a simple base instead of doing a water one and having to work out how to support the model above it nicely. Started out with some left over mdf and began arts and crafts time.




A piece of balsa sliced into 2mm wide lengths and some zip ties in place of the cv tie down deck sections. Some thin card underneath each zip tie to raise it level to the deck height




Trimming, painting some weathering and oil stains should finish it up tomorrow.

That's a really clever idea with the zip ties, I actually had no idea that these kind of tiedowns did exsist.

Seems the wash took down the salt weathering a notch visually, so it's coming together really nicely now.

Wow. just great

Finito! I went with the blue deck version for the base, i'll save the wooden look for a Japanese build. I was going to fart around and smooth off the edge but the saw marks make it look like a tree slice so i just gave it a light sand and stained it.







On the home straight i had to make two more wheel leg to door struts as they pinged off somewhere into the shed never to be found again and then dropped the gun sight that melded into the carpet for twenty minutes before i luckily found it. I knew the carpet was going to be a mission for finding dropped small pieces but i couldn't handle the hard concrete floor anymore, at least my feet are comfy Very happy with the finished build considering how much of a cluster muck the kit was at times, the whole salt experience was worth it and one of the most fun things i have done so far regards modelling. Pics are a tad bright as i had to stuff around with the camera settings to negate the light frequency (flickering black lines) when taking photos. So here's, what i have started fondly calling, the Battered Beast of the Pacific

Spectacular looking thing - you're really amazing with the colors and washing these days.

Thanks Colonel, i think i am slowly moving along to building something blown up or apocalyptic like

Beautiful work Ajay. Just superb.

One nitpick. The wear and weathering of the prop seems wrong. It lacks the paint stripping from the leading edge. The random splotching just looks wrong to me.

Incredible!

Oh yeah it is totally wrong Grog, and thanks for the nitpick, it's always needed mate. It should be weathered more on the rear of the prop if there was anywhere near that amount on the front. That aside my salt placement was pretty rough although my plan *was* to attempt to concentrate on the leading edges. I was thinking the whole time i was doing 'the salting' about how to apply it better...but i haven't really got a solution besides patience and less water placement so the salt doesn't stick where it isn't needed.

Now that i have this one under my belt i should be able to dial it back a bit and apply what i've learnt more solidly. It really is a cool effect but huh



Better than falling out of a tree Cheers Dart!

U did a Super Job on that one.

Since U R in the Pacific U might Like this Vid

https://youtu.be/pgrg7f8oHE4,

I agree with OG, superior job except for the prop.

Air has mass. Think if it as water. A guru showed me this for porting 2 strokes. You might consider it for your weathering.

Again, outstanding. I enjoy watching your builds.

Cheers Carrick, some nice paint weathered Japanese planes in there!

Speak8ng of port work Brit i'm thinking of using a similar tool on another technique i want to learn for models. Back in the day a mate and i use to cc our own heads and port match the exhaust and inlet manifolds as well as polish the ports. Good fun over a couple of beers

I've been following and reading this quietly... awesome stuff, great detail and skill.

Thanks mdwa, appreciate it

Another lovely build Ajay. What's next?

Cheers mate, hopefully they have the ugly (and very British) plane i want is in stock when i hit the shop this week