Midway 80th anniversary duo - 1:72 ArmaHobby F4F-4 Wildcat & Flyhawk SBD-3 Dauntless

Started by Sebastijan Videc · 84 · 1 year ago · armahobby, Dauntless, flyhawk, Midway, Wildcat
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    Sebastijan Videc said 2 years, 2 months ago:

    Hi everyone. It's been ages since I've created an in-progress thread, so let me try to remedy this by this dual build. Since this year marks 80th anniversary of the important naval battle of Midway which was one of the turning points of the WW2, I've decided to jump into rather unknown territory for me, a jetboy - WW2 era props.

    Anyhow, the kits I'll be using are the excellent 1:72 ArmaHobby F4F-4 Wildcat and Flyhawk's first foray into aircraft kits, the SBD-3 Dauntless. After having built Flyhawk's HMS Aurora and seeing the awesome detail a ship in 1:700 can have, I went and preordered their Dauntless, first time in about 40 years I am building models. And boy oh boy, I don't regret decision at all. Surface details are top notch, a mix of engraved panel lines and positive rivets and interior, which will probably not be seen anymore when closing the fuselage, better than in larger scales. I'll be building these two kits in a modular fashion - first one cockpit then another, then the engines, then the prep for painting, joint common colours painting, etc.

    Enough of chit chat, let me show you the result of the first day of work. Interior green airbrushed over black primer to get some tonal variation and the black boxes painted. Hopefully I'll start adding detail bits of paint and weathering in the next few days. I have also finished the rear gunner machine guns and boy-oh-boy how great they look. Unfortunately my camera isn't able to catch such a tiny detail, but I'll try to play with different lenses to see if I can get a worthy shot of it.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 2 months ago:

    Two amazing entries, Sebastijan @inflames
    Your interior work looks superb.

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    Andrew H said 2 years, 2 months ago:

    Great start, and excellent choices. I hope Flyhawk, like Arma, can continue to provide some excellent 1/72 scale kits, even though that's not "my scale". I appriciate the smaller scales when it comes to ships, and yes what Flyhawk can achieve in 1/700 is nothing short of incredible. Hoping you find a good lens combo to do it justice! 🙂

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 2 months ago:

    Amazing entries and great progress, my friend @inflames!

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    Sebastijan Videc said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Thank you very much, guys!
    @pb_legend from what I've seen so far with this build, Flyhawk has transferred all the best they achieved in ship models into this aircraft kit, so yeah, I am keeping my fingers crossed for further releases as well!

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    Sebastijan Videc said 2 years, 1 month ago:


    There are some pin marks in the cockpit area but they are cleverly placed and will either get covered by interior equipment or will be hidden when the fuselage is closed.


    Cockpit floor also looks great and all I did was a bit of brown weathering and some scratch marks around the seats, foot rests and gunners seat/position. Unfortunately the kit doesn't come with any PE, so the seatbelts were used from a Brengun set in my stash.


    Very nicely detailed machine guns (just drilled the hole in the muzzles), instrument panel and rear gunners radio equipment. Glass faces were made with UV glue.


    And everything glued together... well most of the things... I was thinking of adding a wash to the sidewall details as well, but since they won't be seen at all once the fuselage is closed, I decided to skip this step.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Great interior, my friend @inflames!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Looks very realistic, Sebastijan @inflames
    The seatbelts look great as well.

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    Sebastijan Videc said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Thank you, Spiros and John!

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    Tom Cleaver said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    That's a very good SBD kit, particularly that it's 1/72.

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    Sebastijan Videc said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Flyhawk's Dauntless has got to be one of the best engineered kits I have ever built. The fit is exceptional, as are the details. Sprue attachment points are relatively narrow and located on the mating surfaces making this build fast and hassle free. Nose cowling is just dryfitted to the fuselage and the engine will be installed at the end of the build.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Looks wonderful so far, my friend @inflames!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Indeed great fitting, Sebstijan @inflames

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    Sebastijan Videc said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Thanks a lot, Spiros @fiveten and John @johnb

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    Rick Wilkes said 2 years, 1 month ago:

    Beautiful Dauntless! The interior looks like, maybe, they copied the Accurate Miniatures parts.
    Certainly far superior to the Hasegawa/Hobby 2000 kit.
    Looking forward to more photos.