What is the best kit out there for this Midway participant? I want to do it in 1:48. How were these painted?
Go with Accurate Miniatures SBD-3 then…it is the best out there in 1:48…and if you go to their other thread in this forum, you’ll see they are just rereleasing it 
nsclcctl,
The variant you want is the SBD-3. Both Hasegawa and Accurate Miniatures make kits of the SBD-3 in 48th, and both are fine kits. My personal choice would be the Accurate Miniatures kit as it’s a bit more detailed, and has perforated and separated dive brakes. Haven’t built either, though, so I can’t comment on fit and all that.
As far as the SBD’s which fought at the Battle of Midway, they would have been painted in the scheme shown in the photo below. It’s a poor photo, I know, and the color reproduction is rather bad. But it shows the basic scheme used at the time of the battle.
The photo also shows the national markings as they would have appeared during the battle, with the red center painted out. Also, insignia sizes may have varied, as this was a time of many changes in ID markings for both USN and USAAC aircraft. There were actually cases of a large insignia being painted over a small one, with part of the underlying marking still visible.
Here’s a good link for general info on the Battle itself.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/midway.htm
The photos below can be found on this site and show SBD’s as they appeared during the battle. There are others out there, though. I’d suggest doing a search for the SBD-3 at the Battle of Midway on Google.com or any of the other search engines. There are also many good books available on the subject.
Also, you may find this site of interest. It deals with the Kalamazoo Air Zoo’s SBD-3 restoration. Some nice detail photos are on this site. Incidentally, this bird carries the markings used during Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa.
Hope this is of use, and if you would like more photos, I may be able to help.
Fade to Black…
Any info you need I would offer as well as the Dauntless is my personal favorite aircraft. While I didn’t build the AM SBD-3, I did build the SBD-5…and plan on picking up the SBD-3 as well soon
I have built both the 1/48 Hasegawa and Accurate Miniatures SBD-3 and both are excellent kits. The Accurate kit has a much more detailed interior and poseable/perforated dive flaps, however on the one I built the flaps were warped which caused some problems. The Hasegawa kit is somewhat less detailed but an easier build. Hasegawa also issued the SBD-3 with etched brass dive flaps which required some surgery to install but does improve the model. Overall I would go with the Accurate kit but either can be finished into a great looking model.
Rick
As mentioned above the colours used were the standard colours used on that period of war for Midway; in this case Blue Gray and Light Gray which look like very close to FS 35189 and 36440.(All info is told in Accurate instruction booklet about the war also)
If i had any chance to select the brands that produces the model i would prefer the Accurate one.
With my best regards,
Arkut Yuksel
I am currently building the AM SBD-3 Dauntless, and it is a nice build. The only aftermarket item I added are the Eduard PE seatbelts. Otherwise it is OOB. Do not have the Hase kit, so no comment on it. I’ll put up some workbench photos as it sits at preshading stage.
Fly Navy[;)]