Hasegawa 1/72 SBD-3 Dauntless 'Midway'

[Nanond]

Hi! 

This is my latest finish just in time to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the battle of Midway. It is the old Hasegawa kit released in 1992 or so. It is still very nice externally. The cockpit is rather basic and the canopy is provided in a close position only. The new Flyhawk version is an improvement in every way. I started this kit many many years ago. Along the way, I added a set of PE flaps from Eduard. Finally, I added my own 3D printed bombs to replace the badly shaped and oversized original. The markings are masked and painted on, except the B1 and number on the wings.

Nanond

[Rich G]

This is beautiful, for 1/72 it is exquisitely detailed, the staining, weathering, everything is on point!

 

Rich

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Wow how is that 1/72!? Impressive.

[Volksjager]

Your weathering on this is superb. Love the staining around the cowling and the overall colours used. Well done

[KeithA]

That's a beautiful build - really impressive.

[lasermonkey]

If you had told me that was 1/32 not only would I have believed you, I would have thought you’d done an outstanding job on it.

This is simply exquisite. 

[Zigomar]

Pretty neat model! Kudos.

[Taylor Durbon]

I‘m truly not a fan of the Dauntless. But your crisp build of these speedbrakes and this realy nice paintjob are worth to look at. 👍

[Pantherhawk27263]

Absolutely amazing!! Very well done. 

[112 Squadron]

You really went an extra mile to detail this kit and achieved a superb result. 👍 I love how you detailed the dive brakes which surely involved a lot of effort. Since it includes the option to build it with open dive brakes the new Flyhawk kit is certainly an improvement as you have pointed out above and I hope that they will release all the other SBD versions and the A-24 as well. Still, the Hasegawa kit is a nice kit and was a great leap forward when it was released back in the 1990s. At that time the only other Dauntless that was available in 1/72 scale was the ancient Airfix kit. 

[Toryu]

Excellent, and really well weathered! A 1/72 gem.

[Nanond]

8 hours ago, Volksjager said:

Your weathering on this is superb. Love the staining around the cowling and the overall colours used. Well done

 

8 hours ago, KeithA said:

That's a beautiful build - really impressive.

7 hours ago, lasermonkey said:

If you had told me that was 1/32 not only would I have believed you, I would have thought you’d done an outstanding job on it.

This is simply exquisite. 

7 hours ago, Zigomar said:

Pretty neat model! Kudos.

22 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

Wow how is that 1/72!? Impressive.

 

7 hours ago, Pantherhawk27263 said:

Absolutely amazing!! Very well done. 

Thank you all. I'm glad this small model looks convincing enough to you guys. 

 

7 hours ago, Taylor Durbon said:

I‘m truly not a fan of the Dauntless. But your crisp build of these speedbrakes and this realy nice paintjob are worth to look at. 👍

Yes, I can see that this is not a very interesting plane. With the canopy closed and no bomb attached, it looks almost like a boring trainer. 

 

6 hours ago, 112 Squadron said:

You really went an extra mile to detail this kit and achieved a superb result. 👍 I love how you detailed the dive brakes which surely involved a lot of effort. Since it includes the option to build it with open dive brakes the new Flyhawk kit is certainly an improvement as you have pointed out above and I hope that they will release all the other SBD versions and the A-24 as well. Still, the Hasegawa kit is a nice kit and was a great leap forward when it was released back in the 1990s. At that time the only other Dauntless that was available in 1/72 scale was the ancient Airfix kit. 

Thank you. The flaps are really what make the biggest difference in this build. It is also the item that put me off for a long time. Flyhawk Dauntless is a gem of a kit. The plastic flaps are thicker but should be good enough. I hope someone will release a TBD Devastator in 1:72. Hard to believe Airfix is still the only option in 2022. 

 

 

4 hours ago, Toryu said:

Excellent, and really well weathered! A 1/72 gem.

Thank you! I hope the weathering is not too heavy. 

Nanond

[Jackson Duvalier]

Beautiful work, Nanond, especially the flaps.  

 

I've built this aircraft from the same kit, or at least I got 95% done then snapped a landing gear leg just as Flyhawk announced their new tooling, so it's gathering dust now. 

[BerndM]

Excellent work.

[Giampiero Piva]

Very nice, Nanond. Bravo !

Cheers

Giampiero

[Sky Keg]

This was well worth the wait.  An impressive work of art.  I like it!!!! 

 

Mike

[Wulfman]

Delightful Dauntless, superb build !

 

Wulfman

[Dave Slowbuild]

Lovely model, very well done!

[Autle]

Really good model again Nanond, I think you've captured the colours brilliantly.

[RMCS]

Fantastic work 

[Nanond]

On 6/8/2022 at 12:59 AM, Jackson Duvalier said:

Beautiful work, Nanond, especially the flaps.  

 

I've built this aircraft from the same kit, or at least I got 95% done then snapped a landing gear leg just as Flyhawk announced their new tooling, so it's gathering dust now. 

I was pretty much in the same situation as you do when I pulled this one out and finished it. Now I'll have to do the Flyhawk one quickly. It will look good side by side. I think I'll finish it as one at the battle of the coral sea. 

Thanks all for your kind comments!

Cheers!
Nanond

[sohoppy]

What everyone else said about scale... Really remarkable work.

[kev67]

For a 1/72 kit it looks superb, it looks more like 1/48 scale

[Smudge]

That is very impressive.

 

How on Earth do you get your canopy framing so sharp and the transparent parts co clear? I do struggle with that, especially on aircraft like this with such a 'greenhouse' affair.

 

Thanks for sharing your work.

 

 

[François Escudé]

so nice !! love your paint and weathering  !!  

 

congrats !!