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OTDAEABT 2 - Maly Modelarz SBD-3 Dauntless
Alright here goes my next one.
Designed by Bohdan Wasiak yet again. 4 pages of parts, 1 page of formers. This plane is supposed to be from the 243 dive bomber division of the 1st Marine Air Wing, in 1943. That's my rough translation, don't know what the proper format is. Seems simple enough, and the canopy is easier than the F-5. The author claims this one is easy, so we'll see. I already suspect problems, so I'll be more careful this time - I'm going to cut the formers too large, so I can actually shape them together and avoid the misfits I had last time. That was the first and last time I cut all the formers at once before trying them out. If the model works out it should be a nice plane. I really like these American Pacific theatre planes. I'll start something later today, once I finish some more school work.
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- Kuba Last edited by Gharbad; 02-19-2009 at 02:35 PM. Reason: Added info |
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Good luck on this one, Kuba! How is the printing on your kit. On mine, the black alignment is slightly off. Not terrible, but not great.
Chris |
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Luckily I don't see any alignment issues with mine.
And I just finished my work for now, so I guess I better get started!
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- Kuba |
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Kuba --
I'm very glad to see you taking this one on. From the photos, it looks like a very nice model and with your skill and experience, the finished airplane should turn out to be a real beauty. Although the unit identification is entirely clear from your translation, the official title was Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 243 (VMSB-243). Based on the red outlines to the national insignia, the model depicts a VMSB-243 aircraft in 1943, probably during the time the squadron was based in the Solomon Islands and supporting operations in Bougainville as part of the First Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW-1). Don |
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Cool one Kuba! That should be nice!
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regards Glen |
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Nice choice Kuba. I like the colour scheme on this one.
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Thanks for the clarification Don. It's pretty interesting, I never really thought of the things I build as belonging to someone. They were always just some random machine. It's good to see it in a different way.
Thanks for the luck guys. My progress: Somehow I got most of the fuselage done, though not all glued together yet. My suspicion paid off, and most of the formers are too small just like before. I have a new system for dealing with them now: a) Cut out the adjacent skins accurately, and the formers oversized b) Trim and/or sand down the formers to almost fit the skins, leaving it a bit large, trying to fit them both decently c) Once I find a compromise, I sand them both at once, making them match and also small enough to be just right for both skins. e) Now that the formers actually fit, I can follow Mr Wasiak's instructions - glue both formers simultaneously. Starting with the marked middle point of symmetry, I glue a quarter of one, then the other, and so on, until I just have a flap left. e) Now I carefully take the flap to meet, and mark the point of overlap if the formers came out too small. That was part of the compromise between adjacent skins. I trim that off, and hopefully it ends up matching. f) Finally you sand the faces of both sides to make it as flat as possible. I know others do it differently, and it isn't perfect. It's working pretty well though. Here are a few segments just stacked, without glue. [note the bottom segment isn't supposed to match, it's an under detailed part of the cowl] The design calls for making the segment and then cutting out holes for things like the cockpit. I tried it, and it was pretty iffy. With a fresh blade it cut alright, but I still got some shredded edges. Not only that, but it's hard to actually fit things in. I resorted to needle nose pliers through the open circles in the formers... if you want to do it this way you might want to cut them larger for even more control. Here's the very basic cockpit. There's nothing planned to seal the giant gaping hole into the fuselage at the gunner's feet, I could've done something but didn't really plan ahead. It was awkward enough without extra things blocking access. You can see that one segment didn't line up, but besides that the skins fit together pretty well. I have all the segments right up to the tail, and none have significant misalignment.
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- Kuba Last edited by Gharbad; 02-19-2009 at 10:53 PM. |
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Kuba,
This looks really good already. If there's one thing I've found consistent in Mr. Wasiak's designs, it's the undersized bulkhead formers. Sounds like you've got a good approach for all of his designs. Chris |
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Thanks Chris.
Guys, I have a question. In a plane like this, does the engine rotate with the prop or is it stationary? As for my progress, I haven't glued anything for 2 days and I'm already going through withdrawl. I'm just starting the cowl and engine right now. Edit: Well after a bit of research this thing has a radial engine, not a rotary engine, so it is stationary. That meant nothing to me before, but now it does. Now back to gluing!
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- Kuba Last edited by Gharbad; 02-22-2009 at 05:15 PM. |
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Looks good, Kuba.
As you say, the engine in the Dauntless was a stationary radial, as opposed to a rotary, engine. I don't think there were many rotary engines in service long after WWI. Probably too complex for heavier, more powerful engines. Don |
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