Hi all [:)]
I am in progress of building an Accurate Miniatures SBD5 Dauntless. I have the interior all painted / washed and the main body assembled. I am about ready to start painting the exterior. I am planning on an ASW (Anti Submarine Warefare) scheme which is flat white for the base color with dark gull gray wing tops and fuselage areas.
I would appreciate any advice from anyone out there who has experience in this field.
Also if interested…here is a link to my modeling page if you would like to check out the interior of the Dauntless. I took some pics before I assembled and put it into the plane.
[url]http://www.abingdon.net/~dowell/ScaleModeling.htmlI am thinking of preshading the panel lines which is something I have never tried before. Being the main color is white,…would I want to use black or some shade of gray for the preshading. White does not cover very well so I didn’t know if black would be the right choice or not. Of course I know one wants it to show through some for the effect but… I am so confused
Good modeling,
Wayne
[8D]
[#offtopic]
A slightly off topic question… does anyone know what has happened to Armorama.com ? All of a sudden it just wasn’t there anymore.
Hey Wayne, was posting with you over on Armorama and was wondering how your SBD was comming along. I’ve got most of mine done. I have a few external details, decals and canopy left. Then the weathering of course. I’ll get some pics of it when I get done.
Could you post some pics of your progress?
Doug
P.S. I noticed the same thing over on Armorama as well.
Wayne – I’m sorry to say that I don’t have any advice for you about pre-shading, as I’m just starting out and learning myself. But I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed checking out your site – you do some fine work! I can’t wait to see how this Dauntless turns out . . . .
i would maybe use something like gunship gray, but not a full flat black. follow the panel lines fairly closely making approx. a 1/8" line or tighter. you can also “post” shade, which i would rather do anyway, it seems that you have more control that way. happy modelling. the little that i surfed your site, you are a fine modeller friend. later.
Wayne, Good to see you over here too. I would also encourage you to go with a gray for the pre-shading; you could do black under the darker color, but black under the white would probably be too much.
I get the message that armorama is doing something with their hard drive and will be up shortly.
As always, I enjoy your work and like the progress shots.
Leon
Great looking cockpit… I feel like I could climb right in and fly away. I was looking at the right side pic and I was a little confused about the dual controls. I have no knowledge of the dauntless’s interior… it looks like a funky setup though. It gives me something to research. I’ll be checking out some of your other builds when I get a chance too… looks like you do awesome work.
The cockpit looks great! I like the little scruffs in the paint.
To preshade you can also use a thin mixture of black.
As you are using white use something very light such as light to medium gray.
so you dont have to cover up with too much white.
Great looking cockpit. I took a look at some of your other builds, and they are all superb.
I have recently started experimenting with pre-shading myself, and the best advice I can give you is to try it first on a scrap of styrene, then attempt to replicate your results, if favourable, to your model. As saltydog said, you could also post-shade, which is a similar technique, albeit one that I have not found much luck in. I mostly use post-shading to give some weathering to the actual panels, by lightening their base colour.
I’ve not had any trouble pre-shading with flat black. I generally shoot either Tamiya acrylics or MM Acryl (only recently started) and both worked just fine over flat black, so much so that the results were very convincing. However, keep in mind that I was not shooting pure white over pure black. So I’d go with salty, go with a very dark gray, but still try it on scraps first.
The cockpit looks great. The wathering looks good. The key to a good looking pre-shade job is t make the effect subtle. If you have really dark lines it can look unreallistic, but if you have very faint lines it looks alot nicer (In my opinion).
Like saltydog says, to pre-shade light colours I’d use a grey and follow the panel lines pretty closely. It doesn’t really matter how accurate you are. Alternatively you could try post shading with a thinned mix of Tamiya smoke. It’s just the opposite process to pre-shading.
Hello Wayne:
Been using preshading off and on for the last couple of years. And funny
just about finish with my Dauntless SBD-3. I used black for the preshading, (USN Blue/Grey over Lt Grey). Looks kinda messy at first
Then after painting the Lt Grey, you get the desired effect. .
Dark Grey I also use for lighter underside colors. As stated earlier. Nice job
by the way. And Excellent website.
Hello again and thanks everyone for your kind words on my site and models [:)]
Doug- Nice to see you over here too. As of yet I don’t have any further progress worth showing. I have the plane body together and wings glued on but no scheme painting as of yet. As soon as I get to a worthy point I will definately post some more pics.
Leon-Thanks for the info there too, I was hoping armorama wasn’t down because of hacking or virus problems.
AJACKETSFAN - I don’t know all the different scenarios that would call for it, but the secondary control is directly behind the rear gunners seat and would give him the capability of controlling the plane. Why??? I wish someone could come along and give us a little lesson on the use of the Dauntless. The rear gunner might help steer the plane while the pilot is busy lining up for bombing???
Wooverstone8 - My only secret is in using magnifying goggles and a teenie tiny pointed brush. If you have never tried any of the goggles like the ‘Univisor’ I HIGHLY recommend it. Once you use them you will never NOT use them.
Thanks again to all of you for your nice comments and help with my preshading. I think I am definately going to give it a try and see what happens.
As much as I like the Mustang and seeing pictures of people’s models of them, the Slow But Deadly will always be the best looking one to me-- you have done it some justice mate-- nice job!
Carrier airplanes, particularly on the scouting mission, could fly for a long time. The rear seat guy would use his controls to spell the pilot or let him focus on navigation. It also provided a return capability if the pilot were hurt.
I’m working on this same model, kind of. I’ve got the cokpit done, fuselage together (not yet filled and sanded out the seems, I’ll get to it soon enough), and bottom wing structure on, and haven’t done much on it in a while since I pre-painted the underside. II’ve had a lot of fun with this kit , but the drawback is so much detail that goes unseen. Like the radios, and a few other small things, but I’ve enjoyed this kit much more than others. The instructions are just plain awsome. I’m not sure when I’ll finish it, as I have other things going on too. As in that B-52 I’ve been working on since January.
Looks good so far, Wad_ware. At least it looks like I got some things right that I thought I got wrong. Or, we both got them wrong because my cockpit looks a lot like your’s. If I only I had taken some pictures before putting the fuselage together. Oh well.
Thenothing ---- Thanks and when you do get some pics I would definatley like to see them. I agree with you on the detailing of the interior. A lot of that does get hidden and not very well seen, …if at all. It seems a shame to put all that work into it and cover it up. But what the heck, it is so much fun to paint, and I know myself how cool it looks on the inside.
No advice to offer, as it’s all been covered well, just letting you know that your Dauntless is looking great! Can’t wait to see it ready to be launched from the carrier deck! Thanks!
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