Small Scale Military Headquarters

The next project to hit the bench....Merits SBD 3/4 Dauntless dive bomber.

This should be interesting....

So here's the plan. For the most part, this will be an OOB with only a few small alterations to the exterior. The major change will be paint and markings. I want to do her as "2106". If you are unfamiliar with 2106, here's the short version of her history. 2106 survived Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea campaign, and ended up at the bottom of Lake Michigan for decades. She was salvaged, rebuilt for static display, and today is on display at the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola. She is the only known SBD 3/4 in existence and one of the few real combat veteran WW2 aircraft left. For the interior...a different story. I plan to do alot of work there.

I have touched 2106. Growing up across the bay from PNAS didn't hurt.

And to correct myself, 2106 was a -2 SBD damaged in two sorties at Midway.

Very nice work so far, Fockewulf!

Isn’t this kit from Hobby Boss? Does it have fixed or retractable landing gear? I built the Hobby Boss 1/18 FW-190A5 and FW-190A8 kits that were based on the Merit 1/18 prebuilt model. They were nearly identical in construction save the FW-190s had fixed landing gear.

Oh boy....what have I started? This is the Merit model and has all the functionality of the prebuilt version. The gear does retract, but what surprised me was the amount of detail hidden that you won't see. I have not personally seen the prebuilt version, so I have no idea if all of it was included on it too. Everything between the firewall and the forward cockpit bulkhead will be hidden. All of the major mechanicals are there. And the amount of detail in the cockpit also surprised me.

This is basically the Trumpeter 1/32 kit enlarged. If you image search you will find references to it as a Trumpeter kit, and the SBD was one of Trumpeter's better 1/32 kits. Plus, Trumpeter and Hobby Boss (subsidiary of Trumpeter) have upscaled several aircraft over the years.

I have one of the 1/32 kits; I plan to build mine as a U.S.S. Lexington plane since I grew up looking at the Lexington most every morning for 20 years. I am sure you know from the reviews and word-of-mouth what a nice kit yours is and how great it will look when done.

I hate to disagree with you CplSlade, but this is a totally different kit. While the Hobby Boss kit might be an upscale of the Trumpeter kit, the Merit kit is not. Again, all the functionality of the prebuilt is here including retractable main gear, rubber main tires, opening dive brakes, opening. 30 cal bay on the rear spine, moving. 30 cal, sliding canopy, moving control surfaces and centerline bomb cradle, and moving arrestor gear.

So here's what I think is going on with this kit. The upper cowl covering the .50 cals appears to not fit. There is a tab for alignment on the forward end that does not fit around the intake you see above. This means the intake is NOT in the prebuilt version as I suspected. The extra details are in the kit if you choose to add them.

I believe that there is more detail in the cockpit as well....and in other small places. For instance, the kit contains both single. 30 cal and dual .30 cal mounts and guns for either early or later versions and surface search radar antennas too.

Well, I did some looking because I know I saw this kit offered earlier by Trumpeter and it turns out you are partially right. This is not a true upscale of the kit but a new tool that was developed by Hobby Boss based on the smaller Trumpeter kit (remember HB is a unit of Trumpeter) and was going to be released under that company but they made a deal with Merit to just make the kit--and other kits as well--and Merit would package and sell them as a licensed item under their name instead. Just as they do with the F-86's and Fw 190's, etc., that 21st Century and BBI used to put out until the molds got sold.

The ignition harness is about done...

And the near completed engine...

And there you have it...a complete power egg...

So some bad news....I have thought it out and come to the conclusion that the only way to show the detail behind the firewall is to degrade the integrity of the entire nose. This would make the fuselage halves susceptible to misalignment or snapping apart. So...I am abandoning plans to detail the area and glue it enclosed.

So...we start anew with details in the cockpit area...

More dry fitting. Trying to get a better idea of what will be visible...and what will not. Seems there is more not than is.

Working on the throws for the elevators and rudder. Works much better now...

Holly Crap......this thing is bigger than my bench!

Brakes closed...and open. Whew...they work!

Working in the cockpit mainly on the switches. Only the side panel is done right now, but the larger lower panel is next.

Does anybody out there have any ideas on how to reproduce warning and label placards? There are none available in 1/18th scale I can find...

*******************(chirp....chirp....chirp)..........*************** Man, you sure can hear those crickets good!

Can you show an example of what you mean

This is just one of 4 on the main dash. There are several different ones located on the side panels and around the rear gunners position as well.