Ready for Take Off. Academy 1/72 SB2C-4 Helldiver with Photo etch

September 6, 2021 · in Diorama · · 22 · 2K

In January this year I found myself under forced quarantine due to a virus case within the family, thus I decided to start working on this gem of a kit, I have been putting it off for some time due to the fact that I wasn't very confident with Photoetch, yet I took the opportunity to experiment and to be honest I found it quite relaxing (but maybe that's the glutton for punishment in me talking !)

The kit was from a limited edition which included PE and masks, it went together without any hiccups and with minimum filler required. For the figures I used Airfix USAAF , which I customised for my needs with miliput. The deck itself was done from Balsa wood and sprayed with AK real colour, Intermediate Blue. In order to achieve the deck affect I used a surgical knife on rectangular balsa strips in order to get the deck effect (see photos).

As for the aircraft history itself, minimum information was found during my research, yet still what I found out was that it was on USS Yorktown in April 1945, thus that required that I research USS Yorktown itself in order to see deck color etc. during the period.

Kit was airbrushed with Humbrol enamels in free hand while figure where hand painted with Humbrol enamels as well and highlighted in oils and artistic turpentine.

This video on You tube also helped a lot during my research: The Fighting Lady (USS Yorktown) original footage from 1944: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0nrOoPeRCU&t=1273s

Enjoy

Reader reactions:
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38 additional images. Click to enlarge.


22 responses

  1. Nice work on this "beast." Overall really nice result.

  2. A great overall result indeed, Christopher!
    You managed to capture the "beast's" looks extremely well!

  3. Well done on this kit, Christoper @chupajs
    Also the base is looking very nice.

  4. In your dioramas, the aircrafts, veichles or equipment are always detailed on the basis of documentation, whereas the figures are set in non-trivial poses in a perfect mix of accuracy and vitality, and this dio makes no exception! Very well done, thanks for sharing.

  5. Excellent work! Very creative.

  6. Nicely done indeed.

  7. Nice base and build. It captures the whole feel of the scene, great job!

  8. Hello! What shade of paint did you use?

  9. Great build! It's always great to see several 1/72 builds over a weekend. Well done.

  10. Nicely done, deck scene and all!

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