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1/48 Revell Pro Modeller Curtiss SB2C-4 Helldiver

Started by Louis Gardner · 38 ≡ · ↻ 7 years ago · 1/48, Curtiss, Helldiver, Pro Modeller, Revell, SB2C-4

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Louis Gardner said 7 years, 5 months ago:

Thanks Rob and Bernd ! Tonight I made a little more progress.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 5 months ago:

Lately I've been busy with other things. Tonight I spent some time with the Helldiver build. I have been thinking about how to replicate the life raft that goes inside of a storage tube under the rear canopy.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 5 months ago:

This afternoon while working out in my shop I had a brainstorm. I have a roll of 3/4 inch wide yellow masking tape that I happened across by accident.

That's when the idea struck me.

I would attempt to make an improvised life raft from the tape.

So I laid out a section of tape and folded the edges inward so that they would stick to the tape.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 5 months ago:

Then I used a toothpick to roll the tape into a little roll that would fit inside of the storage tube. I had to experiment with the length of the tape to get it to fit properly.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 5 months ago:

Once I was able to get the tape roll to fit into the tube, I had to trim off the excess on the forward side that will not be too visible once completed.

Now that is done with I'm going to be masking off the canopy and constructing the rear gunners seat. After that is complete I will be spraying more Model Master "Italian Olive Green " which I think is a close match for Curtiss interior green.

If you use a little imagination my tape kind of looks like a yellow life raft.

Please stay tuned!
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 5 months ago:

Tonight I finished the landing gear. My SB2C is up on her own feet. I wrapped bare metal foil "ultra bright chrome" around the oleo struts to make it look a little more convincing. Here are the latest pictures.

It's getting a little closer... The gear doors are next.
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 5 months ago:

Tonight I installed the gear doors and built the rear gunner's seat and twin MG's. (These parts still need detail painting)

My "Beast" is starting to look more like the part.
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Bernard E. Hackett, Jr. said 7 years, 5 months ago:

Louis, that was clever work on the folded liferaft in the tube. Am I seeing that you're dropping the flaps? Whoa! Gun ring looks real good!
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 5 months ago:

Thanks for the compliments. Yes I dropped the flaps and drilled out all of the perforated holes as well. The gun ring was photo etch and included in the kit. It looks much better than the original kit part in my opinion. I'm not normally one to use PE parts unless they come in the kit. They do enhance the looks of it though.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 3 months ago:

Now that I have finished up the 3 F4U Corsairs, I have been busy with trying to finish the Helldiver. Today I was able to mask off the inside of the canopy frame work. Then I sprayed it with Model Master "Italian Olive Green", which I think is a close match to Curtiss interior green. Here are a few pictures of the progress.

Since I was spraying green, I went ahead and painted the rear gunner seat and MG, along with the life raft container tube.

Hopefully tonight after the green dries I can mask off the outside portion of the canopies and spray some Blue.

Thanks for looking. Hopefully I'll get this one done soon.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Rob Anderson said 7 years, 3 months ago:

Looking better all the time!
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 3 months ago:

Thanks Rob. Last night I didn't remove the window masks. Instead I decided that it would be best to let the paint cure longer. So tonight I removed the masks and the interior parts of the windows looks great. I'm very happy with how these turned out.

Now I am in the process of masking off the outside of the canopies. Here's a picture the progress.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 3 months ago:

I was able to get the windows masked off and sprayed in Dark Sea Blue. I'm going to let these dry overnight and remove the masks tomorrow.

Getting a little bit closer...
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 3 months ago:

Today I was giving the "Beast" a good close inspection. That's when I noticed that the fuselage numbers were not aligned properly. They were too far forward and one was way worse than another. There was almost 1/2 inch difference between the two. So I decided to take a step backwards and paint over the side numbers...
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Louis Gardner said 7 years, 3 months ago:

If you look closely at these two pictures you can see the faint outlines of the fuselage numbers.

While the dark sea blue was drying I unmasked the canopies. They turned out pretty good. Then I glued on the rear sliding canopy wind breaks.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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