SBD-3 Dauntless (Flyhawk 1:72)

[InFlames]

Second addition to my Battle of Midway 80th anniversary build.

 

After some excellent 1:700 ships (and supposedly 1:72 armor), Flyhawk released their first 1:72 aircraft and they nailed it the first time. There are a few minor things like open dive flaps (upper part should be closed), wrong stencils font and supposedly slightly wrong shape of the upper cowling transition towards the windshield, this is still an excellent first effort and just yesterday SBD-2 was announced.

 

 

The model represents Richard Best's aircraft just before flying to his first mission of the day, when his bomb doomed the Akagi carrier.

 

Mostly out of the box model, with just PE seatbelts added from a generic set.

 

 

 

[Shorty84]

Your Dauntless looks terrific, hard to believe it's actually 1/72 👍

I've checked the WIP on your site and it seems the Flyhawk kit is a real joy to build. 

One question though, do I see that correctly that the kit features raised rivets? Are they a kit feature or did you add them using aftermarket rivets? They look to be in scale so they must be quite delicate. 

 

Cheers

Markus

[Pete in a shed]

3 minutes ago, Shorty84 said:

Your Dauntless looks terrific, hard to believe it's actually 1/72

My thoughts exactly, what a beautifuly made model. How did you do the dip in the aerial wire?

Pete

[Sky Keg]

This entire presentation looks more like a 1 / 1 scale subject.  You did a magnificent job at recreating the famed Dauntless. 

 

Mike

[Dave Klaatu]

Nice work! A fine build!

[DaveH]

Very nice build 'n finish.....

 

DaveH

[kapam]

TBH, I had never heard of the Flyhawk kit.

It certainly turned out beautifully.

👏👏

I have a pair of 1/72 Hasegawa SBD's in my stash, but I will go look for more info on this Flyhawk kit.

Thanks for showing. 🙂

[adrianm2]

Absolutely stunning.

👏👏👏

 

Adrian

 

[Rémi]

A brillant built

It look like to 1/48th scale

[InFlames]

Thanks to everyone!

 

On 10/31/2022 at 10:43 AM, Shorty84 said:

One question though, do I see that correctly that the kit features raised rivets? Are they a kit feature or did you add them using aftermarket rivets? They look to be in scale so they must be quite delicate.

Markus, they are indeed a kit feature. I was a bit worried at the start of the build, as I still had vivid recollections of disappearing raised rivets on the kits from the '80s, but Flyhawk's engineering of the kit is such, that the fit is great and the danger of eliminating those due seams clean up is minimal.

[InFlames]

On 10/31/2022 at 10:49 AM, Pete in a shed said:

My thoughts exactly, what a beautifuly made model. How did you do the dip in the aerial wire?

Pete

I first attached the upper wire between the mast and the tail. Then I superglued the vertical line to the fuselage and when it dried, I (with the help of a 3rd hand tool) guided the wire over the top one with the self closing tweezers and started to "lower" it on the other side of the fuselage, thus creating sag on the main line. When I was satisfied with the result, I superglued it and removed the remainder of the wire.

[112 Squadron]

A great finish and a nice carrier deck diorama. The level of interior detail and the dive brakes of the Flyhawk kit are simply amazing. 

[Lightningboy2000]

That's a stunner!

 

Martin 

[RussellE]

This is awesome! Amazing build of an amazing kit.

 

Where did you source Dick Best's decals?

[thekz]

well done 

[InFlames]

3 hours ago, RussellE said:

This is awesome! Amazing build of an amazing kit.

 

Where did you source Dick Best's decals?

Flyhawk's decal sheet includes numbers and letters giving you an option to build almost any SBD that flew during the Battle of Midway.

[RussellE]

2 hours ago, InFlames said:

Flyhawk's decal sheet includes numbers and letters giving you an option to build almost any SBD that flew during the Battle of Midway.

Fantastic! This might sound like a novice question, but where can we find the codes for the planes that flew at Midway? 

[russ c]

Great looking Dauntless there, really nice work

[georgeusa]

Hard to believe this is a 1/72 kit with so much detail shown and the painting done so well.  Your eyes and manual dexterity are much better than mine as I shy away from this scale.  Thanks for sharing such a great looking Dauntless.

[David Koktavý]

After some in-box reviews I had not good impresions about the kit. Surprisingly the finished kit looks really nice 👍 .  As I see, I suspect the brake holes in the flaps are a bit smaller 🤔 just compared with some random photo

[Vulcanicity]

Superb model, and looks like an excellent kit! It'll be very interesting to see where Flyhawk go with their 1:72 aircraft!

[Winded Penguin]

Like most others, I'm astonished this is achievable in 1/72 scale. Looks at least 1/48. Bravo on the scenery too 👍

[InFlames]

On 11/3/2022 at 12:19 PM, RussellE said:

Fantastic! This might sound like a novice question, but where can we find the codes for the planes that flew at Midway? 

A good start would be here - the Order of battle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_order_of_battle#Carrier_Strike_Force
Then it's easy - just image search for specific squadrons and you should get plenty of results. If you check my page, you'll find a complete VB-6 list in the SBD article.

Hope this helps.

 

13 hours ago, David Koktavý said:

After some in-box reviews I had not good impresions about the kit. Surprisingly the finished kit looks really nice 👍 .  As I see, I suspect the brake holes in the flaps are a bit smaller 🤔 just compared with some random photo

yeah, the holes are a bit too small, but I'd say that's the major downfall of the kit. Don't know what the inbox reviews said, but this is one of the best WW2 kits I have built so far.

 

 

 

[phildagreek]

Very smart.

[Roger Holden]

Great Midway Dauntless ! These planes were nearly-new so your level of weathering is absolutely correct. I've seen way too many Midway Dauntless models that look like they've spent 3 years in the sun on a Pacific island ...

 

Just one point. The central flap was not painted red inside. The official regulation was for the outer dive brakes only to be red, so they were visible to the wingmen flying on either side. That is confirmed in old colour films of the Midway take-offs.