SPA Modeler

Stuart wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 11:00 am That worked a treat Carlos - an idea I shall save in the back of my head for future use.

Love the SBD - what a great subject.

Flat toothpicks work best for the majority of such projects. I would love to find a box to keep at my workbench. Those dang antennas just seem to broken off far too often. I’m with you on SBDs Stuart. One of Ed Heinemann’s classic designs. Not to mention that it wore most of the USN paint schemes during their service careers, from the pre war “yellow wings” to the tri color and Atlantic ASW schemes.

speedgraflex wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 6:08 pm I watched “Midway” with Heston, Fonda, Mitchum—an All Star Cast—last night. Score by John Williams!

I still like watching that movie. I just wish that they had done a better job of selecting the period footage of aircraft types that they spliced into the studio footage.

Another update on this project… one thing I noticed with the color of the dive flaps was that some SBDs appeared to have the interior of the lower center dive flaps was in light gray or white to match the color of the exterior underside, while the outer dive flaps have their interiors in red. I found this still taken from original color footage shot during the Battle of Midway showing such colors, and decided to go with this color configuration. The USN was pretty stringent on maintaining standard aircraft basic paint schemes in production and operations, with only markings showing variations as those were evolved.





I also made up an oil cooler for inside the cowling and glued it into place.





Afterwards I glued the engine and front cowling in place



So that’s where this project stands at this point.

Starting to look like a Dauntless. Hey... I don't see the bomb trigger - not building it functional? No dive bombing the dog?

Looking like a Dauntless for sure….

keavdog wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 8:43 pm Starting to look like a Dauntless. Hey... I don't see the bomb trigger - not building it functional? No dive bombing the dog?

Nope, no bomb drop feature anymore. I eliminated that aspect long ago. The dive flaps and landing gear are also no longer operational. Lots of changes made from the original kit… and yes, it’s starting to look like a Dauntless.

BlackSheep214 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 9:08 pm Looking like a Dauntless for sure….

Yes it is! Inching closer and closer to the finish line.

That does look excellent Carlos!

Carlos, that is a really good idea to use toothpicks for the antenna! I hadn't considered that, and I actually do have a box of the flat ones on my work table. When I built the Monogram Dauntless back in the early '90s, I wanted the antenna mast to be the right height, so I scribed a line across it for a gauge. But, when I finally attached it, I forgot all about my gauge and managed to glue it too high anyway! One can still see the scribed line in the right light.



And I went with red for the interior color of the dive-flaps too. Man, that's a lot of holes to drill!

Stuart wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 8:38 am That does look excellent Carlos!

Thank you Stuart!

speedgraflex wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 8:42 am What color is the unpainted plastic, Carlos?

Bruce, the kit was molded in two colors, dark blue for the major parts, and black for certain accessories such as the prop, gun, bombs, main wheels, etc.

Gary Brantley wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 9:20 am Carlos, that is a really good idea to use toothpicks for the antenna! I hadn't considered that, and I actually do have a box of the flat ones on my work table. When I built the Monogram Dauntless back in the early '90s, I wanted the antenna mast to be the right height, so I scribed a line across it for a gauge. But, when I finally attached it, I forgot all about my gauge and managed to glue it too high anyway! One can still see the scribed line in the right light.



And I went with red for the interior color of the dive-flaps too. Man, that's a lot of holes to drill!

Very nice work Gary. Looks like you used the same boxing as my kit. Although I will be using different markings on mine.

Thanks! I have an old Wen-Mac Dauntless control-line plane that I got for Christmas circa 1964 or 65. It had an .049 gas engine but never left the ground! I think my dad messed up some adjustment on that little motor and it would not stay running. It was overall Dark Sea Blue and had a bomb that could be released in flight! I still have most of the plane and that bomb, and it now hangs from the trusses in our cabin at Brokenoak.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/225576540228