There would be many heroes on the American side in this battle. Butch O'Hare throwing his VF-3 Wildcat fighter at a formation of G4M Betty bombers would earn him the Medal of Honor. Aboard VS-2 two others would be catapulted to fame - Eng Leppla and ARM3c Liska who would use their Dauntless dive bomber to shoot down seven Japanese aircraft.
The model kit is the Accurate Miniatures SBD-3 Dauntless in 1/48th scale built almost straight from the box and using kit decals.
Playing in Photoshop to give it a real feel.
Overall view of kit on the Squadron carrier flight deck.
A peek into the pilot's cockpit.
Used Model Master paints for this project. Diluted the Intermediate Blue with Light Gray to fade the top side paint. Then dry brushed a Flanker Blue/Gray or used undiluted Intermediate Blue to represent touch-ups. After sealing the paints used a silver pencil to make worn areas and tiny drops of black smeared front to back to represent spilled fuel on the wings or grime.
The tri-color propeller tips are decals I made. In the -3 run this was how Douglas painted the propellers. The TBD from Douglas had similar propeller tips.
Tried to scratch build the canvas cover for the canopy, this cover was used to protect the cockpit area from the elements but most importantly to prevent all that glass from reflecting sunlight and giving away the aircraft carrier. Used diluted white glue on a white napkin to make a rough form. Then painted it with Dark Earth which soaked into the napkin that gave a rough texture. Once dried I cut it down and shaped it to represent how the canvas cover would look as the flight crew were going to move the plane on the deck.
All bombed up and ready to launch.
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