Academy/Accurate Miniatures USMC SBD-1
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- 1. The model also included a complete set of canopy masks, which I didn't use. I'm a glutton for punishment.
This is my interpretation of the Douglas SBD-1 Dauntless by Accurate Miniatures/Academy. I really liked this kit a lot, mainly because it fit together well and had an almost extreme amount of interior detail (a lot of which I can't see, but I know it's there).
It does have its drawbacks (though they are few). There's not much in the way of rivet detail and the panel lines fade away on the underside of the fuselage where the back of the wings meet. At first I thought the landing gear would be on the fiddly side because of the angle of the struts, but everything worked out fine.
I found this model in a good, old fashioned hobby shop in beautiful downtown Staunton, Va. My wife and I were there for a short trip when we stumbled across Frontline Hobbies while strolling down Beverly Avenue. I think my wife was more excited than I was as she immediately glommed onto the jigsaw puzzle collection and picked out four of them. She then asked me if I was going to buy any models. The first one that crossed my mind was a 1:32 Avro Lancaster, but there's no place in my house that could accommodate that monster. Instead, I found two models by Academy/Accurate Miniatures on my shortlist - an SBD Dauntless and a TBM Avenger, neither of which I had ever built. So I bought both of them.
Academy sells several versions of the SBD and this one is the SBD-1 "Pearl Harbor" version. It's equipped with metal seat belts (apparently the Navy didn't use shoulder harnesses at that time), so I saved time by not having to fabricate a set out of masking tape. It also had some of the best decals of any model I've built so far.
The kit includes decals for two different planes. As I live about 45 miles up I-95 from Quantico, I chose the version based there. As far as I can remember, this is the first USMC model I've built. I'm still not certain of the color - it appears the Marines used a sort of gull gray just before the war, which equated to Vallejo Deck Tan. I think it looks good in this color so if it isn't the precise shade I won't be too upset.
The biggest decision I had to make is the configuration of the canopy. Originally, I wanted to have the gunner and pilot stations with open canopies with the gunner's .30 cal stowed and the rearmost canopy in place. It's necessary to cut the "gun canopy" off from the single closed canopy that comes with the model because the individual "gun canopy" is too small and doesn't look right (they made it small so you can "stack" the canopies). Unfortunately, I failed at that task and destroyed the single-piece canopy, so I had to go with the open canopy option. However, I liked the looks of the plane with the pilot's canopy closed, so that's what you see here.
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- 1. Panel lines fade away here. You'll also need to putty the joint where the wings meet the fuselage.
Great!
Thanks !
Academy gives canopy masks for all the Accurate Miniatures re-pops they do, which is very handy.
Nice result on this. I don't think anyone is going to better this kit unless Eduard does one with raised riveting - I've seen two 1:1 SBDs and only the wing leading edge back to the main spar is flush riveted.
I took my time with this one as I really enjoyed the assembly process. I’m looking forward to the TBM-3. It looks very promising.
That's a real eye-catcher in that grey. Really pops. Very good job.
Thanks. I wasn’t sure about the accuracy of this color, but it did work out.
Well done, looks good in grey.
Thank you!
Very nice. Love the color.
Thank you. I've never seen this color on a Dauntless until bought this model. Usually they're the three-tone scheme.
Very nice Clunk you built. The SBD-1, the Navy didn't want them even though brand new, so gave them to the Marines.
Thanks, didn't know they were called "Clunks" nor that the Navy didn't want them despite the fact they did the job.
Excellent job, Fabian! Thanks for the kit details!
Thanks, and you're welcome Spiros!
Amazing build, Fabian @gwfabian
What a great way to still find one of those real hobby shops.
Thanks for the complement. The hobby shop was lucky find. His prices are about the same as an internet hobby shop after factoring in shipping. I now have an excuse for stopping by Staunton.
Nice job, Greg!
Thank you!
Nicely done. That’s a great kit and you have done it proud.
Thanks, this was a fun kit to work on.
Lovely, Greg. That is a classy scheme on the Speedy. I feel the same way towards using the masks. Having no depth perception, I can't seme to line the masks up well. Have much better luck with the Tamiya masking sheet material.
Again, great job on o lovely kit.
I might have used the mask if the model didn't come with two canopies. I used the one-piece canopy for spraying the final dull coat, then tore it off and replaced it with the canopy pieces. I can say that with the gray color scheme, I dodged the bullet that is the three-tone scheme. Thanks for the compliment!
Well done, Greg (@gwfabian). I haven't seen many planes in the light gray scheme, and yours is executed perfectly. You are a glutton for punishment. One of the reasons I got this kit was because it already had the canopy masks in it.
I was unaware of the light gray scheme until I bought this kit. Also found in my research that the SBD-1 was not considered combat-ready because of the lack of self-sealing fuel tanks and armor. In any case, the trick to painting canopies free-hand, I've found, is not to do it after having my morning coffee.
Looks very good, Greg, and what a nice way to buy these two kits.
Thank you. I'm looking forward to my next trip to the Shenendoah Valley so I can engineer an excuse to stop by the shop.
Love that scheme, and a great build - well done!
Thank you!
Slow but deadly... Fantastic build Greg. Really cool finish 👍
Thank you!