richdlc

*update 07/01/16* Hi - Happy New Year to one and all! It’s been several weeks since my last update, and I’ve been very busy. The big news is that the engine is more or less finished. I had several more items to scratchbuild first though. First up was the ignition harness - the one provided in the kit is a simple circle of plastic, whereas the real thing comes in two halves, as seen in this photo: I also noted that the ignition wires themselves are braided - iin smaller scales it would be hard to depict this, but in 1/18 it is possible to use some of the various braided hoses available for model car detailing, and I duly ordered some. Each ignition wire also requires several open head bolts - I got a job lot of 1.0mm aluminium coloured bolts. The thread is just wide enough to allow the braided wire to fit through. I used the kit part as a basis for my own version, first cutting it in two and then bending, shaping and trimming the parts until I had two halves. I drilled holes for the ignition wires and fed the appropriate lengths of wiring in. The support pieces at the base were made from the plastic casing from electrical wire - rather than trying to thread the ignition wire through it, I simply removed the electrical wiring and then split the casing along its length. I could then wrap each piece around the base of the ignition wires and glue in place. The seams are hidden at the rear of the harness, and once it’s in place on the engine you can’t see them. Bolt heads were added as appropriate. I was considering making the individual spark plugs, but these are (more or less) hidden inside each cylinder, so in the end I simply fed the ends of each ignition wire directly into holes in the cylinder heads. One thing I needed to make was the prop governor - atop the crankcase in thi pic and the prop pitch regulator: Here’s the engine painted up: Some things to note: The data placard at the base of the crankcase will need to be replaced as I handled it a little too much during construction. Also, the silver paint has worn off the nuts around the base of the prop mount - again due to heavy handling and test-fitting. One of the downsides of the AK Interactive paint is that it isn't very durable unless sealed in with something. The little green things are mounting brackets which fit up snugly against the inside of the cowling when it is attached - there is one per cylinder. Some of these had broken off when this pic was taken. Similarly there are some at the rear, to which another supporting bracket is attached (to which the cooling flaps / gills attach) - but more on those at a later date. You’ll notice that on the real engine, the push rods and ignition harness are natural, shiny metal. I decided to use a product new to me, which was AK Interactive’s ‘True Metal’ paint - fantastic stuff! Next up, the interior of the cowling received some details. I ascertained what was needed by studying the maintenance manual, and numerous pics of the real thing. It’s not 100% accurate, but it dresses things up nicely. Various fasteners were replicated with metal, plastic, and one or two spares from an Airscale etched brass detailing set. The edges of the cowling were very thick, and a lot of sanding was required to make them scale thickness. Oh yes - I skinned the finished cowling with pewter! First of all, I bought some new tools - an RB Riveting tool at Telford, and a set of beading tools from UMM in America. Dive bombers tended to be heavily riveted to withstand extreme strains on the airframe, and the Dauntless is no exception. I can expect lots of riveting in the weeks to come. In retrospect, I think that the few rivets I added to the cowling are a little too small. In any case, I think they will be virtually invisible under a coat of paint. For larger fasteners (like dzus fasteners) I used one of my large beading tools. You can’t really see any of this on the photos because unfortunately my camera died and I am using my iphone, but you should get an impression of what I am trying to do.

many thanks guys, glad you like it

thanks very much mate. I know what you mean about the cooling vanes (that's the phrase I was looking for!) - I really only think it could work in this larger scale. At a push 1/24, but you'd have to have a bloody thin scribing tool blade and a super large magnifier to stick the parts on.. The acid test will be painting it, then I can see how realistic it looks thanks for your kind comments about the accessory bay. I'm no photographer, and it's hard to convey a) the size the complexity in images. I can't wait to get everything glued together, then it should really start to come to life Rich

The rear part of the engine is a little spartan. I dressed it up according to my reference pics. Again, I only detailed the half that could be seen - the right side is mostly hidden in the cowling and again. Can’t remember what those pipes are called - the opposite to exhaust collectors. Someone help me out? The white pipe at top right is a piece of solid plastic rod buried inside the engine. This mounts directly through the cowling and is essentially a way of affixing it (I had to remove the moulded in mounting pegs for realism’ sake). Once everything is glued in place, sanded and painted, you won’t see it. Exhausts - pretty good! I dressed them up a little with some mounting plates, and one or two cosmetic details. The open exhaust itself benefitted from having a section of hollow tubing sandwiched in, so at least it looks hollow all the way up now. Again, once all these parts are glued together everything will be much more fluid Modification begins on this part of the cowling (Americans would call this part the speed ring). The kit part is about two meters thick, or so it seemed. Thinning down the edges to scale accuracy took a lot of time, and indeed I overdid it in places. An issue to be addressed at a later date… The SBD-5 had only one cowl flap on each side. I duly cut down / filled in the relevant areas. At the right time I will add the cowl flaps. Also you will note the white strip at the top - the SBD-3 depicted in the kit had a different air intake system, and this needed to be filled in. A final couple of shots show the state of play as of last night. Next up is the ignition harness and wiring. any comments or queries welcomed as usual Rich

*update 22/11/15* Hi - time for an update.. last time I showed you the work I had done on the engine accessory compartment. The next item to tackle was the engine itself. The kit representation is fairly basic. The main shapes, such as cylinders and crank case, are there. The problem being that in this large scale, there is huge scope for improvement. The first thing to tackle was the cylinders. The Dauntless was powered by a 9 cylinder Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine. The kit supplies these already affixed to their mounting, but in two separate halves. As you can see from this photo, the ‘wafers’ typical of radial engine cylinders are moulded into the parts, but they are crudely done. There should be many, many more of them. I first considered scratching a master and casting the pieces in resin, but my resin-casting skills are limited at best. I then thought about somehow fashioning dozens of thin ‘wafers’ from metal sheet. A good idea in theory, but a logistical nightmare as I would have to repeat the entire process nine times. In the end I hit upon a satisfactory solution - refer once again to the trusty pewter sheet! This is thin and maleable enough to mould around the curves of the cylinders, and I could scribe in the lines to represent the layers of ‘wafers’. So that’s what I did.. This photo shows the process - there are five pieces for each cylinder. To get the right shapes, I first made templates with low tack masking tape, placed them on the pewter sheet and cut them out. I then used these parts as templates for the next cylinder and so on. It took several days of cutting, scribing and sticking, but I am happy with the result. I think a coat of grey primer will determine how successful I have been, but that’s in the future.. This photo shows several features of the real engine that I needed to replicate. Firstly, the ‘dome’ on top of the crank case, which isn’t present in the kit. Many of my ref photos show this, so I added mine from plastic card and putty. The black gadget on top is the prop governor. Also evident are the clips / tighteners on each puch rod - three per rod. The kit’s crankcase isn’t bad. Here’s my modified version: The push rods on the kit are fine - I dressed mine up with the clamps shown in the photo of the real thing above. The gadget at the bottom is the oil sump. Further mounting bolts were added for the crankcase, and also at the base of each push rod. I added these from appropriately sized hexagonal plastic rods. getting there…. rear of engine - more mounting bolts etc. You’ll notice the sheet of thin plastic card sandwiched between each half of the cylinders. Evident on the real machine, although I can only summise that this was for aerodynamic purposes. The holes in it are for the air induction pipes / intakes to be fitted later (more on that in a moment) Here is one of the aforementioned air induction intakes. There are two - one either side of the crankcase. They extend through the rear of the engine into the accessory compartment, and are connected to the two ‘kidney’ shaped devices found on the top of each side of the engine mount (see earlier posts for details) I started to build mine up with plastic tube and card, plus some of the ubiquitous pewter sheet. The white gadget on the bottom is the part that attaches to the rear - only the left side one can be seen, and then only half of it, so that’s why it looks like…nothing in particular at the moment! Trust me, once it’s in place it should all come together and it will be obvious what you are seeing (that’s the idea anyway)

many thanks guys, it's great to finally see it finished am working on the engine now!

*update 15/10/15* Hi again big news! Engine accessory compartment is now done. After deliberating for a long time (and while awaiting more images from my contact), I decided to just take the plunge and replicate as much as I could. I think the end result is suitably 'busy'. First of all, I gathered together numerous small fixtures and fittings. After having seen several builds on here that use scale hardware such as miniature nuts, bolts etc., I went ahead and bought a load of stuff - braided wire, ribbed tubing, scale hex nuts in various sizes. Not an exhaustive collection, but enough to be getting on with. As you can see here, there is a lot of stuff to reproduce! Lots of careful dry fitting helped me determine what would be seen, and what wouldn't. Only the left side is open for display, and that's where most of my work would be concentrated. gradually, the many layers of wires, pipes, tubes and accoutrements were added, always checking back to see what was visible and what wasn't. For example, the carburettor is completely hidden behind the air ducts, so I didn't bother adding additional details to it. The right side of the engine mount is also pretty much invisible, so I simply hung wires the begin on the right side firewall directly from the mount instead. small details were made one at a time, like the mount for the main bomb cradle and these pipes and wires for the oil lines this gadget sits atop the oil cooler - I believe it is a temperature control valve Everything was eventually glued in place and painted, and here's what I ended up with - *NOTE* one glaring omission is the radio mast, which is located near the top engine mounting. Will add that later! and here are some close ups... the mount for the oil cooler was hard to make - all difficult angles and tricky installation, especially for the right hand side, but I think it looks OK the top part of the accessory compartment is still loose at this stage, giving me easy access to the top of the oil tank. As this will be hidden, I terminated a lot of the wires on top of here and secured with healthy dollops of glue. You can see the false bulkhead I had to make after the kit part became horribly warped - unfortunately this makes the bulkhead 30mm too far forward but hey, I don't think it's too big a deal on the finished article the gun troughs for the fixed 0.50 cals are also visible, so I added these from plastic tube of the appropriate diameter, and covered with riveted pewter... update over, message ends! Feedback welcomed as usual Rich

many thanks Jason, glad you like it cheers! Hoping to crack on with the accessory compartment, just waiting on some scale fittings / tubes / pipes I ordered haha thanks Pete many thanks!

The auxiliary air intakes are completely absent from the kit but are prominent items that can't be overlooked. I cannibalised the section of engine cowling that I have removed as it already had the curve I needed, and built it up with plastic card and filler, sanded to shape Honestly, the right hand one could have been dispensed with as it is completely hidden, but in the interests of symmetry (and to satisfy my OCD) I made it.. The kit provides an oil cooler mount, but no oil cooler! Again, too big an item to ignore. I built mine up with plastic tube and plastic card, with some PE mesh for the screens. In this photo you can see I have modified the opening it sits over. You can also see the engine mount bulkhead. I had to add a 'false' bulkhead from plastic card. For some reason the bulkhead in the kit began life perfectly flat, but after being squished into the fuselage it distorted horribly and I was no longer left with a flat surface. The only way around it as far as I could see was to make this replacement bulkhead. Unfortunately this now means that everything is now around 2mm too far forward. I had to cut a recess into my new bulkhead for the oil tank to sit in, and it just about clears the back of the engine! You can see also the throttle control linkage and various other accoutrements - some of these are very rudimentary as they will not be visible except at acute angles. Others will have a lot more detail added later. For now, the basic shapes are there... Here's a pic showing all the parts dry-fitted. Note how the focus is now on the left hand side, with much of the right hand side hidden from view. Once the oil filter is in place, and all the piping and wiring that I need to add, things will become even more crowded. Finally, here is an example of one of the fuselage mods I need to make for the dash-five version, the kit being a dash three/four. The SBD-5 had a taller, thinner cooling slot in the accessory compartment, whereas the 3/4 variant had a wider, smaller slot. The kit has a mixture of both these features, having the height of the dash-5 slot, but the width of the dash-3/4. I removed the offending material and filled most of the resulting hole with plastic card and filler. Don't forget that this plane will be skinned in metal, so all the flaws will hopefully disappear! That's where I am up to as of today. I am eagerly awaiting some hoses, tubes and fittings so I can begin adding the myriad of wires and plumbing to the accessory compartment, so more updates soon! Thanks for looking Rich

*update 12/09/15* Hi - after a long spell away from modelling, I got my mojo back and started working on the big Dauntless again a couple of weeks ago. First of all, I am pleased to say that I now have the fuselage halves glued. Here are some final shots of all the interior detail glued in place Next, I started working on the engine accessory compartment. I am going to show the left hand panels removed (and also the left hand cowling to show off the engine). I made the decision to go ahead, even though I lacked photos of certain areas. At the end of the day, much of the detail is going to end up hidden, and I had to fight my normal urge to detail everything, regardless. In the long run I think this will work out OK. Here's some pics to illustrate my point.. Here's what the left side of the accessory compartment looks like: As you can see, a lot of details..but most of the stuff on the right is hidden from view. The detail in the kit is fairly good - for starters, the oil tank, engine frame, rear of engine and firewall are all present. I began by detailing the firewall by adding the internal ribs as seen in the photos above. There is also a kind of 'membrane' between the engine rear and the firewall, which I replicated with a circle of thin plastic sheet. Various details were added to the engine mount frame, and the engine rear according to ref pics - note, only on the left side!

Hi - from www.sylmasta.com no progress at the moment as I'm still trying to get more images of the engine and accessory compartment so I can scratch build them..

thanks guys.. yes I can recommend the kit. The basic details are very good as Trumpeter/Merit have simply enlarged the existing 1/48 kit from Accurate Miniatures. Obviously there is huge scope for improvement in this scale, and yes, the larger size does make it easier but also less forgiving of mistakes. It's a good value for money kit too, I picked mine up for around £100 on eBay Germany As for working with pewter, all I can say is give it a go yourself. Very nice medium to work with.

cheers mate ! haha yes, that's due to my mental illness

many thanks James! cheers Pete, more updates soon!

*update 24/6/15* Hi - update time A lot has happened since my last update, so I’ll dive straight in. Right at the very start of the build, I decided to show both the baggage compartment and the life raft compartment open. I drilled out the corresponding hatches on the fuselage halves, and scratched the interior. To make it easier to test-fit as I went along, I chopped out a section of the right hand fuselage (the baggage compartment side). I added bulkheads, ribs and stringers etc. In fact, I added a lot of stuff that will eventually be hidden, but it was important to me that when you look through the open hatch, there are details as far back into the fuselage as it is possible to see, and I achieved this. Here’s a picture from the D&S book showing the baggage compartment, with the flare tubes visible inside the fuselage: The fuselage interior - at the top is the opening through which the flare tubes are loaded. Fore of that is the bottom of the ‘trough’ in which the twin 0.30 cals are stowed: And finally, looking rearwards from the open baggage compartment door. You can see the flare tubes to the right, and beyond that, the arresting hook snubbing cylinder: I added as much detail as I thought was necessary from plastic sheet, strip and rod - the life raft storage compartment was made from a couple of old large scale bomb bodies: Other side: You can’t see that much once the removed section of fuselage is back in place (Note: Once the airframe is skinned in metal, the opening will of course be scale thickness) Even more details were then added to the cockpit floor, such as the gunner’s rudder pedals, the wobble pump handle and the various wires and tubes that will be visible on the finished model: Smoke grenades, oxygen bottle, gunner’s airspeed indicator etc: Finally, it was time to throw some paint at it. Here are some glamour shots of various parts. Some are finished, some not, it’s an ongoing process: More fun next time as I attempt to meld all these pieces together! Rich

thanks Sid ps:

thanks for the tip pete

just caught up with this one Tom - looks awesome, as I knew it would!

thanks mate :-)

Thanks Rob! The fuselage alone is 19 inches long (minus cowling) and the wingspan is 28 inches

thanks a lot guys! I am slowly painting up bits of it as we speak, and am hoping to have some progress shots ready in the next couple of weeks cheers Rich

…and that translates into this when painted up - the cocking pull handles / cords and the (thumb) triggers were added last: The ‘turret’ was detailed according to my reference photos. The kit parts are actually quite good, but there’s a lot of stuff missing. For instance, the lightening holes in the gun mount ring are all solid - I drilled each one out. I then added numerous nuts and bolts and other details from plastic sheet, strip and rod, as well as fuse wire. I decided to offset the guns to one side, hence the mounting pin is on the extreme right. The gunners often did this anyway to make it easier to climb aboard the aircraft. I’ve yet to paint this lot up: So there you have it…the more I carry on, the more detail there is to add, but I’m enjoying it! Bye for now

*update 24/5/15* Hi again it’s been a long time since I updated my build, so here goes… I’ve been really busy on the cockpit still - there is a lot of detail to add, even though some of it won’t be seen. A major feature of the rear cockpit is, of course, the gunner’s position. The gunner sat in an open ‘turret’ with a flex-mounted 0.30 (or twin 0.30s in later models). Here’s the parts from the kit - as you can see, not brilliant but a good basis for detailing: The real thing is a lot more complex: The first thing I tackled was the guns themselves - the ones in the kit are quite accurate in shape, but low in detail. I managed to find an example of the out of production Verlinden 0.30, which is actually in 1/16 (or 120mm) scale - placed next to the kit parts, the size difference was absolutely minimal. I could have resin cast copies of this piece, but I decided it would be more fun to scratch them from plastic. So that’s what I did: Unfortunately I copied the Verlinden item exactly (twice) - the guns mounted on the Dauntless were modified - certain parts were removed, and others modified (the right hand gun is different to the left), so no sooner had I scratched the two guns, I had to hack some of the parts off! In the end I got two guns I was happy with. I paired them up with brass barrels (which I think are made by Aber) Next up was the gun cradle - here’s the real thing: And this is a very similar one from a B-25 Mitchell: Armed with a few more reference pics like these I was able to gradually modify the kit part until i ended up with this:

thanks Jan, glad you like it

thanks Al, glad you like it :-)