This is another ancient 1/48th Monogram kit and build. Their Dauntless is 1960s vintage and was a toy more than a model. The landing gear worked, the wheels rolled, the dive flaps popped open and the bomb cradle worked. All attractive features for kids building model aircraft in the 1960s and 70s.
Notable Kit Features:
Decent aircraft outline
Front and rear sliding canopies
Bomb was able to be dropped using cradle
Landing gear retracts
Movable dive brakes
Positionable tail hook
Build Inspiration:
The SBD was the United States Navy's (and Marines) main Dive-Bomber from mid-1940 through mid-1944. It was flown from land bases as well as aircraft carriers and was definitely a necessity in my collection.
Heads-Up Report:
1960 Monogram models were more toy like than replica like
Raised panel lines and details
Very sparse almost non-existent (and inaccurate) cockpit
Pilot seat has slot in which the molded pilot fits in such slot
No wing fold
Dive brakes have depressions instead of holes in the plastic
Working bomb crutch hinges are heavy & inaccurate and should be reworked
No detail in the gear wells
Inaccurate rear defensive armament
Kit Additions / Modifications:
The pilot’s bulkhead back is open, so a piece of sheet styrene was used as a back
Constructed pilot's seat to fill slot cut away for pilot figure
Sanded off raised panel lines and detail
Removed dive brake working gear links
Drilled out the dive brake holes (upper and lower but did not add sawtooth edges on top brakes as that was deemed beyond my skills at the time) Two hundred and sixty-five holes drilled out and you're done.
Reworked bomb cradle to be more accurate
Made arrestor hook more accurate by removing working feature
Opened up front air scoop
End Result:
In the early days of my air-brushing I would experiment with whether masking was necessary or not. In this case I masked off the lighter lower paint and sprayed the final dark blue free-hand. Afterwards I decided that masking was still probably best. The paint scheme for this aircraft was the WWII USN "Tri-Colour" scheme of Navy Blue (FS 35042) / Intermediate Blue (FS 35164) over White. I finished my Monogram SBD-5 using the kit decals. No weathering was done to this kit.
The After-Build Report:
This Monogram kit needs a fair bit of work to bring it around to a decent looking model but it can be done. Still I wouldn't recommend it. Realistically, you'll be much better off with any one of the newer kit releases. The excellent Accurate Miniatures version alone was released by Academy, Italeri & Eduard. There is also the 1/48th Hasegawa kit whos early renditions featured plastic non-perforated (just depressions in the plastic) dive brakes (break out your drill) - this was corrected by the inclusion of perforated phot-etch parts with later kits.
Feel free to comment or ask any questions - Keep on building, gain experience, challenge yourself if you like, but try not to stress yourself out over the build - it is suppose to be an enjoyable hobby after all - Cheers