Trumpeter 1/32 SBD-5/A-24B Dauntless Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Douglas Aircraft Company developed the SBD Dauntless in a pre-war competition for the 'next generation' carrier dive bomber. The aircraft was two-place monoplane of all-metal construction (except for the flight control surfaces) powered by the Wright R1820 radial engine. The Dauntless was a dive bomber, the steeper the dive, the more likely the bomb will go where you're aiming after release. Like other USN dive bombers, the SBD employed split flaps that doubled as dive brakes to keep the aircraft from accelerating beyond its maximum speed and ripping the wings off the aircraft. Consequently, when the bomb is released, it will accelerate away from the diving bomber. To keep the bomb that is hung on the centerline bomb rack from falling through the spinning propeller (a bad thing), a trapeze mechanism was used to swing the bomb out below the propeller arc during release.

The SBD-5 was the most numerous version produced of the Dauntless series with almost 3,000 examples coming off the production lines. The SBD-5 differed from the previous variants by having the 1200 horsepower R-1820-60 under the cowling. Externally, the SBD-5 differed with the elimination of the characteristic carburetor scoop on the cowling and the enlarged cooling vents on the sides of the forward fuselage, but moved farther aft than previous versions. The telescopic gunsight of the earlier Dauntlesses was replaced with a reflector sight.

The SBD-6 was externally similar to the SBD-5 with the only major difference being the R-1820-66 engine producing 1350 horsepower. By the time the SBD-6 entered production, the Dauntless was being replaced in the carrier air groups with the SB2U Helldiver. Most of these new SBD-6s would remain stateside for training duties. The A-24B Banshee was equivalent to the SBD-5 but differed by having a larger tailwheel and the tailhook eliminated.

Here is the third installment of the Dauntless series from Trumpeter - the SBD-5/A-24B. This latest release from Trumpeter is as impressive out of the box as were the previous two Dauntlesses.

The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on ten parts trees, plus four trees of clear parts, one fret of photo-etch details, two pair of rubber tires for the main gear, and an acetate instrument panel face. According to the specs, there are 250 parts in here and while I'm not going to count them, you can clearly see that there is detail in this box!

As with most aircraft projects, assembly begins in the cockpit. The instrument panel front is molded clear so you can sandwich the acetate instrument faces between clear front and gray rear to get the instruments to show through the bezel glass faces. The rear of the gray instrument panel has the rear of the instruments molded protruding behind the panel so you can see those details when viewing behind the panel.

The remainder of the cockpit is equally well-done with photo-etched seat belts and harness for the pilot's seat and seat belts for the gunner. The cockpit appears to be completely equipped with all of the control levers, dual stick, rudder pedals (foot rests for the rear gunner), and even a life raft canister.

The R-1820 engine is a real work of art. The radial engine has separate rocker arm covers for each of the cylinders, a nice collector ring for the exhaust manifold, the accessory pack that mounts to the rear of the engine with the various vacuum pumps, fuel pump, etc., a nicely done engine mount that mounts to the firewall, and even an oil tank mounted on the firewall.

The superdetailer may want to wire up the engine, but you're going to have lots to see through the cowling face and through the open cowl flaps. To make things more interesting, the cowling is molded in clear so you can leave part or all of the cowling transparent to show off that R-1820, or paint it with the rest of the aircraft. Even the section behind the cowl flaps is molded clear so you can see the rear of the engine if you wish.

After the engine, construction resumes with the rear cockpit and once again, you'll be amazed at the level of detail in here. The twin 30 caliber gun mount alone is eight parts, not counting the gun ring it mounts onto.

One of the more important points (at least to me) in this kit is that there are no photo-etched hinges for the flight control surfaces. THANK YOU!! The elevators, rudder, ailerons, and flaps/dive brakes are all separately molded so you can position them as you see fit.

One thing I haven't seen before in styrene is careful engineering of the cockpit transparencies. Of course you can pose the aircraft with the sliding canopies closed (as with most any kit), but what is really impressive is that these clears are thin enough to slide over and under one another so the front and rear canopies can be posed open without lots of fiddling (or resorting to vacuformed parts). Bravo Zulu!

The kit assembly is very straightforward and the details are very nice, right down to the 50 caliber guns that sit on either side of the instrument panel.

Decals are provided for four examples:

• SBD-5, 45, VB-16, USS Lexington, Nov 1943
• SBD-6, 109, VS-5, May 1944
• SBD-5, 18
• A-24B, 42-54676, US Army

To the casual observer, this kit looks like one of Trumpeter's usual highly detailed kits. In this case, it is clear that they had access to at least one Dauntless and the level of details, especially in the cockpit and the exterior surfaces really show this off. Trumpeter has once again raised the bar on kit quality!

If you're a USN WWII modeler, this kit does for 1/32 scale what the Accurate Miniatures SBD series does for 1/48 - you can give away any other kits of the aircraft as you won't need them!

My sincere thanks to Stevens International for this review sample!

References:

• SBD Dauntless Reference Section
• SBD Dauntless in Detail & Scale, Bert Kinzey, various publishers
• Walk Around SBD Dauntless, Richard S. Dann, Squadron/Signal Publications