Son of a B!tch, 2nd Class....

1
December 15, 2022
I'm 12 years old and I've just brought this home from the newsagents/toy shop. School holidays are coming soon because of Christmas so I will build this over the break. First a peek into the box...
2
December 15, 2022
Umm... used to love this feature
3
December 15, 2022
No paint needed... hmm... at this point in my modelling career I was painting. I will paint this by airbrush but otherwise will be a basic slap together job.
4
December 15, 2022
Colour plans and options. I'll be doing the 2 blues/white scheme. (The real US Navy scheme to a 12 year old me..) Listed as VB-4 off Yorktown it's actually VB-2 off Hornet .
5
December 15, 2022
Whee! Sneaky tantalising peek of the wonderful joy that awaits in the box!
6
December 15, 2022
Multi colour goodness...
7
December 15, 2022
Multi colour goodness..
8
December 15, 2022
Matchbox made great crew figures
9
December 15, 2022
Mix of raised and engraved panel lines.
10
December 15, 2022
3rd sprue
11
December 15, 2022
12
December 15, 2022
Decals have suffered some damage but chosen option seems usable.
13
December 15, 2022
The goal here, is to see using the 40 years of experience, if I can build it to look as good as the catalogue photo example.
14
December 18, 2022
When I was 12 I didn't need two pairs of glasses to be able to paint these two lads...
15
December 18, 2022
Matchbox's mini paint plan just calls for black over the whole interior. Basic Tamiya LP matt Black used but I also put some cockpit green in there to liven it up a bit.
16
December 18, 2022
I was 2 years old when this was originally tooled up. This will be 50 years old in the new year....
17
December 18, 2022
Let's put the wings together. 4 parts each side, 8 in total, quite a lot by Lesney standards.
18
December 18, 2022
Fuse together the fuse halves, trapping the arrestor hook and pilots armchair.... Yes there is a total of 4 parts in this assembly
19
December 18, 2022
Wings on.
20
December 18, 2022
Most productive 2 hours I've spent at the bench in a long while. Enough for today though.
21
December 23, 2022
Wings work!
22
December 23, 2022
Spent a happy hour last night masking the clear parts.
23
December 23, 2022
Crew, gun and it's mount installed. Left the crew in blue, yes it's wrong but I would have lost today's session at the bench if I had repainted them.
24
December 23, 2022
Put the gunner looking to the side. Artistic move there on my part?
25
December 23, 2022
Quick spray of Tamiya primer and LP matt white on the undersurfaces.
26
December 28, 2022
Painting finished. Used Humbrol intermediate blue but it looks too dark, and Xtracolour foe the dark sea blue
27
December 28, 2022
Not sure about this.....
28
January 2, 2023
Back at it..
29
January 2, 2023
I cheated and used some filler, the water based stuff so still safe for a 12 year old, wiped down with damp cloth and touched up with brush paint.
30
January 2, 2023
Prop tips brush painting. Under coat yellow with pink....
31
January 2, 2023
Decal time... Will 49 year old decals work?
32
January 2, 2023
Hopefully...
33
January 2, 2023
Well, there's a surprise ?
34
January 2, 2023
Well, only lost one National Insignia and the 45 on cowling on one side.
35
January 2, 2023
Replacement courtesy of a microscale sheet. Of course now that makes the rest look odd. Matt coat clear at the next session and removal of masking tape will see it nearly finished. Till next time...
36
January 3, 2023
Semi gloss clear coat added. Time to start removing canopy masking...
37
January 3, 2023
Looks OK! I'm impressed!
38
January 3, 2023
Should have changed the second insignia...
39
January 3, 2023
Microscale this side, looks better. Canopy looks good.
40
January 3, 2023
Folded wings. I've already broken one hinge....
41
January 3, 2023
Some drybrushing of silver to add wear.
42
January 3, 2023
No Matchbox is complete without fingerprint or smudge. This kit is no different
43
January 3, 2023
Off the bench at last.
44
January 3, 2023
C'est fini...
45
January 3, 2023
Prop even spins.
46
January 3, 2023
Beauty shots...
47
January 3, 2023
Best side.
48
January 3, 2023
Wings still work. Whoo hoo!
49
January 3, 2023
It's a big old bird, here with a Tomcat for scale. No wonder it was a handful compared to the Dauntless. And why she got the name derived from designation SB2C.; Son of a Bitch, 2nd Class.

Comments

45 15 December 2022, 20:35

Alex K
Following with great nostalgia... 😉 🙂

16 December 2022, 02:02

Marcel Klemmer
Beautiful journey into the past…👍

16 December 2022, 09:46

Franck Drebin
Back to the Future 🤠

16 December 2022, 09:59

Alec K
Those Matchbox kits were great. Following 👍

17 December 2022, 15:07

Skyhiker
Love it! Bring in the old Days.

17 December 2022, 16:24

Roy McKay
Was hoping to get some work done today... went trimming a tree in the front that took a lot longer than I expected... all afternoon... and even longer to clean up. It's now far too cold to work in the shed so no models or modelling until tomorrow...

17 December 2022, 18:05

Roy McKay
-1°C yesterday, +12°C today. Bit more conducive to modelling in the shed.
Well. 2 hours done today. 40 mins of which was painting the crew.

18 December 2022, 19:16

Roy McKay
Got some more done today.

23 December 2022, 18:33

Mark Broughton
I built this kit when I was about 10 years old, bought it with my pocket money from the hardware store in the village where I grew up. Big selling point back then where the foldable wings. Happy days!

23 December 2022, 20:29

Kyle DeHart
Looking good!

28 December 2022, 21:53

Skyhiker
Looks black to me.

29 December 2022, 02:05

Skyhiker
Apparently that dark blue is correct. Seems pretty dark in the photo but I think it is that dark on the real planes.

29 December 2022, 02:11

Roy McKay
The intermediate blue you mean?

29 December 2022, 11:00

Łukasz Gliński
What a lovely vintage build 👍

29 December 2022, 11:54

Erik De Smet
Following this nostalgic build too

29 December 2022, 12:09

Finn
Looking good

29 December 2022, 12:19

Skyhiker
Yes, the Humbrol intermediate blue looks very dark in the photo but I think it's probably correct.

29 December 2022, 12:47

Guy Rump
Very nice build. 👍

3 January 2023, 18:30

Roy McKay
Thanks all. Been fun!

3 January 2023, 21:05

Neil
Excellent work 👍

3 January 2023, 21:22

Łukasz Gliński
Looks great 👍 And the wings are foldable! 😮 👍

4 January 2023, 13:00

Alec K
Nice nostalgia build 👍

4 January 2023, 15:57

Moreno Baruffini
Bellissimo!

4 January 2023, 16:24

Alberto
Very nice finish! 👍

4 January 2023, 17:20

Jan Peters
A trip through memory lane, I was 3 when this came out 🙂
Looking through the foto's and reading the comments made me feel like that little kid butchering and smearing these kits, great stuff 👍🏻

4 January 2023, 17:51