Small Scale Military Headquarters

Hmm I remember someone on here had decals made from smaller scale (i think) water slides that were resized to 1/18 correctly. Maybe something similar could be done for those lables?

I'm going to call the main switch panel done. I have to give credit to my wife Dusty for putting all those tiny markings around the switches. Thank you sweetie for your tremendous help when I needed it.

Holy crap that is detailed! Awesome work

Thank you sir....stay tuned...more to come!

More detail has been added. The main and lower instrument panels are next.

any plans to add some finer details like a photo on the panel of a crewmans girlfriend?

Not much room for it I'm afraid. Not a bad idea though....

Yeah!!! The metal landing gear came in today. WARNING.....you will have to do some work to make them retractable like the original plastic legs were. To start with, the plunger is cast into the top of the strut. Leave it there and it provides a solid anchor for the leg if you want it down permanently. For retracts, you have to cut it off and flatten the oleo struts top. Then you have to drill the pivot pins hole all the way through. Only the first couple of millimeters is cast. Takes a bit, but worth it in my book. This is the end result....retractable landing gear.

Rough but workable...

Shoulder belts looking about right...

Another update. No more cloudy dials on the panel...and seat/shoulder belts are done.



A better view of those belts...

Your seatbelts look amazing! Actually your level of detailing and painting on your SBD thus far are amazing

Enjoying your build.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I will be posting, of course, as I get farther along. Right now there's not a whole lot to show. Just some minor details and getting ready to enclose the cockpit tub completely.

Some light updates. Started the preliminary interior painting especially those hard to get places when everything is together.

More dry fitting....boy getting all those sub-assembilies to fit together is a bear!

I've been asked why I do so many dry fittings, why not just get it over and glue the darn thing together. Let me explain a little bit. When you buy these things pre-built, most all the few parts (sometimes hundreds of them) in there are fitted for you ahead of time. Snap or screw a few major assemblies together and there you have it. Not so with a "kit". For this one, the major headache is the cockpit tub. It doesn't take much to throw large misalignment into the outer shell and ruin a lot of good work. The outside MUST go together flawlessly. So here I am, dry fitting again. I have added alot of interior detail and it must not interfere with the overall fit.

Small update...the battle to get the cockpit tub to fit properly has taken a turn. I think I finally found the culprit and did some filling to make one bulkhead easier to snug in. It seems to have worked...at least partially.

One more...the main wings are together permanently. Now to get those data plates and placards, we might be tying everything together for good!

Small update. My first attempt at a data plate and finished taping the canopies and shooting the interior color.

We'll call this attempt #2 at making a data plate.

Well...it finally happened....the placards and data plates came in. Thank ya Jesus-a! Now I can finish the cockpit tub and start working on the fuselage...film at eleven...

Looks like the engine will start and the plane will fly! It so reminds me of some of the full sized restorations at the Museum with the different components being so individually worked on and highly detailed. Amazing!

Well...first sets of placards are in for the left front...

...and now the right side panel is done.