Italeri’s 1/48 Scale SBD-3 Reviewed

Transcript*

Intro

Hello all. This is David from Loisirs vers le soleil. Is this what I’m reviewing today? I guess it’s fitting. I just came back from the bathroom where I did some dive bombing for myself. So, sure, why not? Let’s unbox Italeri’s new 1/48 scale SBD-3 Dauntless. Here is one of Italeri’s newest releases.

Brief History

I’ll just give you a brief history on the Dauntless before I open this up. It was one of the most important aircraft of the Pacific War. Uh essentially the hero of Midway, sinking four Japanese carriers in one battle. Uh affectionately nicknamed by its pilots slow but deadly.

It was used almost entirely through that span from 1941 to about 44 when it eventually got replaced by the SB2C Hell Diver which didn’t turn out very well and then essentially by that point dive bombing had become obsolete. But yes, it served its purpose very well and it is one of the most famous aircraft not only of the Pacific War but all of World War II in general. As I said, this is an Italeri kit.

Re-boxing History

So, you guessed it, it is a re-box. However, it is a re-box of the old Accurate miniatures kit from the late 90s, which was a very good mould. So, I am confident that this kit will be decent. So, instructions we’ll get to later.

In fact, the kit was uh so well molded that uh it’s not only been re-boxed by Italeri, but also by Academy, Édouard, et Revel. So, this kit has been around the block and it’s uh nicely double bagged.

Sprue Overview

Uh, not too many sprues here. I’ll just take quickly take a look at them.

Clear Parts

Uh, first one here is the clear parts. Uh, the Dauntless, like many other dive and torpedo bombers, has a lot of framing to paint. But if you’ve seen my how to mask canopies video, that is no problem for you.

Uh, Accurate Miniatures, for um, whatever reason, they like to have their instrument panels be clear parts. I guess they figured that um, you could paint the backside either white or orange. And then you would fill in in between the dials with black, but uh I mean I don’t do that. Maybe others do. So you do you. This next bag has got three sprues in it.

Propeller, Engine, Elevators, Bombs, Bomb Rack and Radio Equipment

You’ve got uh two different propellers to choose from. One with a more rounded tips and the other pointier ones as well as parts for the engine. And here you’ve got the uh elevators, bombs, uh some radio equipment here, uh bomb racks, as well as one seat. Whoops. Yeah, one seat.

Dive Breaks, Landing Gear, Flight Deck Equipment and Tires

And um this part here is like a structure for the dive brakes if you choose to have them down. And now we’ve got a sprue with the dive brakes. Uh some landing gear legs as well as some more uh equipment for inside the cockpit.

And then on this one, we’ve got tires, the cockpit floor, the uh Pratt and Whitney engine, as well as some machine guns and an arrester hook. And as you can see, Accurate Miniatures for their time made some very nice detail work. I mean, even now it’s still very good.

David’s Experience with Accurate Miniatures

One thing about Accurate miniatures though, um, in my personal experience, the kits, uh, they don’t go together that easy, but they are accurate. I mean, if your brand’s name is Accurate Miniatures, you better live up to that.

Wings & Fuselage

And our last bag here, two more sprues. You’ve got the wings, both halves, and uh this part here, the detail is very nice. Uh it is missing rivets. So if you are a rivet counter, have fun with this. And last one here has got the fuselage halves, uh, cowling halves as well as some bulkheads. And that looks like the, uh, rear machine guns. Also, the tail wheel is molded into the fuselage.

It’s very tiny. So, it would have been a little difficult to make that separate, but yes, accurate miniatures. Still looking very good.

Marking Options & Decals

So, in the kit, you get six different marking options, which I will show you in a minute. Here’s our instructions. Firstly, we’ve got the decal sheet. You’ve got options for the uh older uh US roundel with the red dot in it before they got really mad at Japan and had wanted nothing to do with red dots. And then the uh the newer one.

Plus, of course, you got all your stencils. Uh you got seat belt decals, which I’m not a fan of. All right. Now, on to the instructions. Uh on the front page, you get a color illustration of the box art, as well as a synopsis of the aircraft’s history in several different languages.

Des instructions

Okay. So, as I can see, they have printed the instructions almost exactly like Accurate Miniatures did. Now, that’s one other complaint about AM was their instructions were at times hard to understand. Hopefully, Italeri uh re-illustrated it in a way that’s uh not quite as tricky. So, everything like always starts in the cockpit.

Yeah, cockpit requires several steps. Uh then the assembled cockpit floor looks like it first slots into the fuselage halves once they’re joined together and then sits in the bottom half of the wing. Uh then you put your top halves on elevators arrester hook. Uh the forward firing machine guns. Uh not not too many US aircraft in the Second World War had the synchronized guns in the engine cowling. So this was one of the exceptions. Uh landing gear.

Next uh then uh bomb assembly and bombs are placed on the racks on the the forward sling. And then the dive brakes, you can position them open or closed or or even uh Okay. Yeah, I see. either closed uh bottom halves open and bottom and top halves opened as well as uh a few other uh additions in the cockpit uh canopy uh open or closed of course and the propeller and radar antenna. So yeah, looks like they did manage to simplify the instructions here.

Closer Look at Marking Options and Paint Schemes

So now for your decal options, you’ve got two with the old US Roundel uh from one from Wake Island and the Coral Sea. These were literally just before Midway when they switched over to the Roundel without the red dot. So, you’ve got two Midway schemes, one from the Yorktown and one from the Enterprise.

And then you’ve got this one with the really ugly smeared paint round. And then you’ve got this uh late 1942 one with the yellow rain around the the roundel, which they only used for a very short time. And basically all the color schemes are the same. A flat blue gray on top and a light dull gray on the bottom.

David’s Conclusion

And there you go. In conclusion, Italeri has once again re-boxed somebody else’s work. But at least this time they picked a good one. This Accurate Miniatures mould, despite being nearly 30 years old, is still excellent. So yes, I would recommend this kit, even though I don’t do that very often with Italeri.

So you can pick one up for yourself at Loisirs vers le soleil in store or online. Thank you very much for watching this video.

Remember to like, comment, subscribe, and it would appear that the Akagi is still floating in the toilet sea. And I’ve still got some payload to deliver. So, until the next one, adios.

About the Author:

David Peckam has built scale models since he was 12, specializing largely on military aircraft. He is a makeup artist and background actor for films and TV. He enjoys watching hockey and of course, movies. He has an excellent knowledge of hobby products and if you have questions concerning scale model airplanes.

*Video by David Peckham
Video Edited by Daniela Castellano
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano