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SBD-3 Dauntless

Background

The Douglas SBD Dauntless was easily the most famous US Navy bomber of World War II, and possibly the most important dive bomber flown by any combatant during World War II. At the outbreak of World War II, the Slow But Deadly Dauntless was considered by many to be obsolete. The Dauntless was the only US aircraft to participate in all five Naval engagements that were fought exclusively between aircraft carriers, and despite having been marked for retirement even before the war began, the Dauntless sunk more enemy shipping during 1942 than all other aircraft combined.

In 1932 aviation genius John Northrop left Douglas Aircraft to form his own company at El Segundo, California. During the next few years Northrop turned out some remarkable designs. The Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) put out a request for new purpose-built dive bomber to replace the numerous types then serving in the fleet dive bomber role. BuAer chose the Northrop design over entries from Brewster, Martin and Vought (because they were biplanes, the Curtiss and Great Lakes designs had been rejected out of hand), ordering a single prototype from Northrop under the designation XBT-1 (BuNo 9745).

The SBD-3 Dauntless reached the front line units during the spring of 1942, it was originally ordered by the French who had witnessed the destructive power of the dive bomber during the German invasion of Poland. In the event, all 174 machines ordered for the Aeronavale, plus an additional 410 SBD-3 were delivered to the US Navy. The SBD-3 finally brought the Dauntless up to combat standards. Self-sealing fuel tanks, crew armor, and an armored windscreen were introduced on the SBD-3. The cowl mounted forward firing machine gun that was usually deleted from the SBD-2 was officially reinstated on the SBD-3. A new model of the Wright Cyclone, the R-1820-52, replaced the similarly powered R-1820-32 engine used on previous models.

The Kit

Accurate Miniatures has done it again with the release of this amazing kit. This kit continues in the high quality attention to detail scale model kit we modelers look for.

On opening the box, the first thing that jumps out is the individual parts trees wrapped separately in clear plastic. The decals and clear part tree are even more protected with the false bottom suitable for framing SBD-3 Dauntless color profile. The Kit features recessed panel lines, over 110 parts, a fully detailed interior complete with map table for the pilot. Perforated dive brakes with 3 different position dive brake options. Optional canopies (open and closed). Dedicated Wright Cyclone R-1820-32 engine. The kit is molded in light gray plastic; some of the parts have come off their trees during shipment. My review sampled revealed very little flash, the dive brakes where warped, probably at result of being removed from the molds to soon, the wings where also slightly warped. Very few noticeable injector marks and sinkholes are present. No sprue B was included with the kit, as this is probably reserved for another variant of SBD Dauntless. The kit instructions are very well laid out and contain 10 easy to follow pages with painting instructions throughout and a paint cross-reference chart for Federal Standard colors associated with the kit. The decal sheet is very clean and in perfect register from Microscale. Only one decal option is included with a full array of stencils. The decal option will be reviewed during the kit build-up review.

Update

In March 2007, Accurate Miniatures announced the following on their website:

During the first part of 1996, parts requests for specific components in the Accurate Miniatures SBD "Dauntless" kits caused us to study the kits that were in production. This study highlighted that specific version parts required to build a specific kit were not mated correctly in some instances. As a result, all further production was halted until the molded part trees and assembly plan could be studied and modified.

1.) Assembly plan references to existing kits may use letter and number part references. Disregard the letters and reference by part number.

2.) One main area of contention was part #83, Carburetor Air Scoop. In every version, these parts are referenced as part #83, but, they vary by version. A.) The tallest air scoop is used ONLY on SBD-1 versions. Beginning with the release of kit # 0251, this part is renumbered as #183 B.) The shorter air scoop is used on all SBD-2, SBD-3, SBD-3A, and SBD-4 versions. Future kits will reference this as part #283 C.) The part with no air scoop is specific to the SBD-5. This part will be numbered as #583.

3.) In the SBD-3A, the inclusion of the twin gun parts eliminates the early prop spinner, part #45. This part has been recut on the early prop tree and retains #45 for all future production.

4.) There are two parts #6. This is the Top Gun Cover. The shorter part is used on all versions SBD-1 through SBD-4. The longer part #6 is used ONLY on the SBD-5. Future molded trees will renumber this longer part as #506.

5.) The Outer Cowls are #4 and #5. These parts with a small notch at the top of the part are used in all SBD-1, -2, -3, -3A, and -4 versions. These part numbers will be retained.

6.) The Outer Cowl #4 and #5 molded without the small notch are used ONLY on the SBD-5. Future production will be numbered #504 and #505.

7.) The Inner Cowl #17L and #17R with the wide cowl flap details are related to parts #4 and #5. These parts are used in all SBD-1, -2, -3, -3A, and -4 versions.

8.) The Inner Cowl parts #17L and #17R with the narrow cowl flap are used ONLY on the SBD-5 version. These parts will be renumbered #517L and #517R.

9.) Finally, some kits of the SBD-3A (with twin guns) and the early Prop did not include parts #44, Gun Mount, and #46, Gun Shield (shown as "unnumbered") These parts have been relocated so that they will be molded next to the twin guns.

These changes should resolve incorrect parts in all future production SBD kits.

If you have one of the Accurate Miniatures SBD kits, you'll want to use the instructions Accurate provided above to see if you have one of the affected kits. If you have the incorrect parts sprue for the version you purchased, contact Accurate Miniaures customer service directly, information is on their website (www.accurate-miniatures.com).

Summary

As with every other release from Accurate Miniatures, this kit is a beauty straight from the box and if you have one of the correct kits, this is a straightforward build. With all of the detail in this kit, less experienced modelers should study the instructions and take their time assembling the model. The results are worth it.

My sincere thanks to Accurate Miniatures for the review sample.