Slywolff Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 (edited) Good moaning, This project was a gift from a fellow BM member on one of our Plonk and Plastic gatherings, the vintage Airfix Dauntless was just the parts along with an extra Hasegawa Dauntless sprue and decals that were in one of his Hasegawa Dauntless kits!! I'm replacing the Airfix engine, cockpit interior, canopy, tailhook and some smaller items with Hasegawa parts, which go without saying are far superior to the 1967Airfix offering! The hardest part to replace was the engine, as the Airfix cowling is quite thick and needed the wall thinned drastically! The cockpit interior went a lot easier and only required minor alterations! So far I have drilled out all the dive brake holes (200+), attached the wings to the assembled fuselage and fixed on the cowling.... Airfix left off the exhausts on the cowls, I'm using replacement aftermarket resin parts, and they left off the covers to the two forward-firing machine guns which I replicated with Milliput! They also left out the recessed bomb area, easy to replicate... Here are photos of where I am up to right now: BTW I am leaving the Airfix rivets on as they add to the aircraft demure....oh as to why I am not building the superior Hasegawa kit, well they are bloody hard to get hold of and go for a lot of money on E-bay ... missed out on two so far but am still looking!! 🙂 Typical of that vintage the wheel wells are open and show the bottom of the cockpit floor... so I filled these in with card under the cockpit and thin plastic card around the wheel wells, quite easy really: Drilled the holes to locate the missing exhaust stubs; Edited May 31, 2019 by Slywolff update 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stromness Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 (edited) 14 hours ago, Slywolff said: So far I have drilled out all the dive brake holes (200+)....... I know what you‘re talking about.......🤪 Great job so far! Edited June 1, 2019 by Stromness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slywolff Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 (edited) 11 hours ago, Stromness said: I know what you‘re talking about.......🤪 Great job so far! Thank you! She now has her legs, Airfix seems to have got the angle of the legs right!! Edited June 2, 2019 by Slywolff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 Brilliant, I've a couple of these Airfix kits in stock & while not having any spare Hasegawa bits, I'll be keen to see what improvements need making. already the gun bulges & bomb recess step out. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slywolff Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 Hello... A pleasant Monday Queens Birthday weekend public holiday here in Sydney, a chance to do some gardening and modelling. In the past I never bother to undercoat any of the kits I build as getting all the airbrush stuff together seems like too much effort, however having discovered (thanks to others) that a Tamiya rattle can will do the trick with little effort I am a convert, well while I have Tamiya Primer in my possession! So with this project I did undercoat the model and it worked bloody brilliantly... hm something went wrong then 🙂 Next I did a pre-shade of the underneath of the aircraft using Revell Black enamel, just brush painted on... This afternoon I sprayed the Grey underneath as per the Airfix kit instructions, using Humbrol 129... I just wanted to put enough paint on to give a faded sense of pre-shading that is not to have it too glaring.. just soft enough.. I think it looks okay, any thoughts?? I think though, next time I shall paint a thinner pre-shaded line... On to the photos: 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre B Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Nice build! Since my last Airfix Dauntless was twisted like an banana I never goes close those kits again. I recognised this after I had drilled out all those dive brake holes. Your Airfix Dauntless looks surpricingly straight compared too what I've seen of other builds. It would bee interesting to see your build angled up straight with the lined background on your pictures... Following your build with interest! Cheers / André 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Liking this, some really solid modelling going on kicking a nice old kit into shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 This is a great build. When I read how you planned to do the pre-shading I was dubious, but it works incredibly well! Just shows that being open minded is healthy. I continually learn from others on here. Watching with much interest. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slywolff Posted July 23, 2019 Author Share Posted July 23, 2019 (edited) Well since last we met! I've got quite a bit done, with luck this will be finished by the end of this week! For the Sea Grey I used a Model Masters enamel bottle (almost said tin) 1720, which I read somewhere was a perfect match for a Dauntless pulled out of Lake Michigan, well it does look good as a colour match but these machines were so worn and weathered I'm not sure it matters too much! The upper surface pre shading did not go as well as I had hopped, but I am still learning so... Masking tape and Silly Putty did the job.. On to the Falcon Canopy for the Dauntless kit, this vacform canopy set is designed for the Airfix kit, mind you the Airfix canopy parts are unusable.. and I don't feel the Hasegawa ones need replacing at all! I have also attached the resin replacement wheels and attached the kit u/c doors. The gunners canopy I think should have been two parts on its own... you can see what I mean by the photos: Next, I have to paint the holes of the dive brakes red.. all two hundred plus of the.... pardon me if I don't rush that process!!!! Just found these which I'll quickly include.. older progress shots: The canopies after separation... I recently bought one of these multiple kit parts holders and it is so dead useful!! Wish I had obtained one before now.. Edited July 23, 2019 by Slywolff added photos 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slywolff Posted July 27, 2019 Author Share Posted July 27, 2019 The project is completed and I have posted photos on Ready for Inspection!! Cheers Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clive_t Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 Typically for me, it seems, I notice a great thread just as it comes to an end! An excellent build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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