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This Accurate Miniatures kit is a
fine representation of Vought's SB2U-3 Vindicators used in the early
years of America's entry into World War II. My Vindicator
depicts #10 of the Marine Aircraft Group 22 of VMSB-241 that fought in
the Battle of Midway in 1942. These SB2U-3s were due for overhaul prior to
being flown to Midway from MCAS Ewa. This overhaul would have included new
fabric for the aft fuselage. Medical tape was commonly placed in selected
areas around the fuselage and doped over to counter-act the effects of
heat, sunlight, salt air, and to hold the decaying fabric to the fuselage
structure. This was supposedly done in a non-standarized fashion by ground
mechanics since their was no facilities or new replacement fabric available on
Midway Island at the time. As such, each of the Marines SB2U-3s of
VMSB-241 would most likely have had different lengths, widths and
configurations of medical tape stripes, depending on the condition of the aft
fuselage fabric. I chose to represent Vindicator #10. Since there
are no known photos of #10, I had free artistic license to depict the
lengths and configurations of the medical tape stripes, aft fuselage condition,
and overall condition of the aircraft. I chose to depict #10 as having
different aft fuselage fabric conditions for port and starboard, hence the
different lengths of medical tape. Conditions on Midway Island were harsh
and wind blown dirt would have mixed with the dope after application to the
medical tape. This combined with a haphazard application of the dope by
ground crews, it would be probable to see Vindicators with random and sometimes
unsightly dirty patches of dope along the medical tape which I tried to
represent in a few areas of my kit.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The kit went together very well
with minimal filling/sanding required. The interior was painted Aluminum,
given a Flat Black wash and Tamyia smoke applied in selected areas. I then
gave the aircraft a coat of Floquil Old Silver, pre-shaded panel lines with
Gunship Gray, and then applied a coat of Future. I next randomly
applied a salt paste to potentially worn areas of the aircraft. These
would be painted over later, then the salt crust removed to represent chipped
paint. This technique was done sparingly, since US aircraft paint at the
time was fairly durable and not subject to a lot of chipping. The entire
aircraft received a base coat of Tamyia Sky Grey. Panels on the
underneath side were tinted with varying shades of Light Gull Grey mixed with
White. A light coat of Blue-Grey was applied to the upper surfaces
followed by progressively lighter tints of Blue-Grey mixed with Light Gull Grey
to panels. Future was applied over the entire model.
Panel lines were highlighted with
an acrylic sludge wash of Neutral Grey. Tamyia Smoke was used for exhaust
stains and overall dirt and grime of the aircraft. Pastels were used along
the gun ports and exhaust stains. After all of this was done, the aircraft
was given a few coats of Flat Clear and tippet was used for the radio cables.
In all the kit was a
joy to build. The only concerns I have is the engine cowl is very delicate
and requires patience when placed over the engine and onto the fuselage.
The 'greenhouse' canopies were tricky to mask. Don't try to use Accurate
Miniature's canopy masks since they are not large enough to cover each pane.
I spend about 20 hours on this kit, mostly with painting and weathering.
Eric
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