Finally done! I've now offically concluded my 75 years after the Battle of Midway project. It took a little bit more than one and a half year to do., including an involuntary pause of several months due to an intervening move. As you can see in the posts it grew in volume under the way but now I believe I've covered every aircraft type that participated in the battle. Even both types of the Dauntless, the SBD-2 and SBD-3. In the process I've also learned a great deal about the history, reading a multitude of articles and books on the subject in my hunt for specific planes to build.
13. Hero of the day - The SBD-3 Dauntless
I spent an extra effort on the last kit. It was needed. To compensate for an old kit with a poor representation of the characteristic Dauntlesses air-brakes Hasegawa had included etched metal parts which added some levels of skill requirements. I also bought a large extra detailing set from Eduard to further enhance the kit adding more complexity. Another first for me was to exchange the canopy parts for a much thinner vacuum formed canopy. This was not an easy task I can tell you. To cut out the canopy parts turned out to be a real challenge. For once I also added a pilot. A resin figure to represent pilot Best climbing out of the cockpit after one of his successful raids that day, the 4 June 1942. As you can see on the left I also took a picture of the kit and edited in a sky in the background to create a suitable end representation of the project.
To close this project I've created project pages on this website writing my take on the historical event with one page for each kit I've built. On each page I've written the story of the actual plane combining it with relevant pictures and a gallery of pictures of the model itself. My plan is to create pages for each project I do and in that way also learn more of the history around my kits. It adds a pleasant dimension to my plastic modeling.
You can head over to the project pages here: The Battle Of Midway 75 years
I'm just finishing an in between kit, a Spitfire Mk.IX. It'e the plane of Johnny E Jonson, a Canadian ace who fought in the RAF. In my youth I once sent a letter to him when he had written in the comic paper Pilot. He actually replied in an hand written letter which impressed me much. The letter is long since gone but I felt I owed him this homage.
I'm now close to finally finishing this project. The Dave and the Duck mentioned in my last post is now done and the last kit, the SBD-3 Dauntless from Hasegawa have been a work in progress since some time. I'm also close to finishing my project pages on this site. I soon have to think about what project to do next. It has to be a smaller one than this.
The penultimate kitIt became the Duck. Not satisfied with the original kit I got from Classic Airframes I bought one of Merit International. However the later was a J2F-5 which had another engine and the engine cowl differed greatly. So I decided to cut away the front part of the fuselage on the Merit kit and replace it with the front part from the Classic kit. This turned out to be harder than I had anticipated. The Merit fuselage turned out to be much wider than the Classic was so a lot of filling, filing and sanding was required. Also getting the cowling and exhaust pipes in place looking reasonably good with the broader fuselage was a real challenge. Not having any reference pictures of the real plane we can only guess how it was marked. Getting som good advice from the net helped and I printed some text decals on my laser printer. Think it came out quite well at the end.
I've saved the SBD-3 Dauntless to the end. It was the plane that changed the game at Midway. After all failed attempts by the Avengers, Marauders, SBD-2 Dauntlesses and Devastators, without putting a scratch on the Japanese carriers, the SBD-3's came in and saved the day finally putting all four of the Japanese carriers on fire leading to their loss. The kit from Hasegawa is really not that great from the start. Specially the perforated air brakes are not perforated. However the kit version I got included etched metal air brakes which makes the real difference. I also bought some extra etched metal parts detailing the cockpit. All this tiny metal parts has prolonged the building process but hopefully also enhanced the end result. We will see withing a few days.
This project has taken me over a year and a half to complete. The next one will be smaller, but what will it be? I have the kits to build one of each of the plane types involved in the shooting down of general Yamamoto. I lack markings for the P-38 though. Also I just finished the Midway and I'm not sure if I want to do another Pacific one again. On the other hand I also have Doolittle's B-25 in the stash so one could see them as prelude and aftermath of the Midway battle. Another project could be the Battle of Malta. Just a matter of how to limit it. I also have a slow really long time project, one that will probably never end, to build planes from the Swedish Air Force. Well plenty of stuff to do.
And then I always have my 1/24 Hawker Typhoon...
Well this project is a moving target. I'm starting to think it will never end. With the D4Y1 'Judy' done I thought I just had the last kit to do. But as I read on I found more references to both the E8N2 'Dave' and the J2F Duck so I thought "What the heck, if I'm going to do this I might as well go all the way.
The Dave revisitedIn my last post I had just built an E8N1 'Dave' half way realizing that I really needed an E8N2 for Midway. At that point I was prepared to just give the 'Dave' a miss in the project. But then I read 'Shattered Sword - The Untold Story Of The Battle Of Midway' by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully where I found a passage of an E8N2 who actually had a brush with the opposition. So I changed my mind. Finding an E8N2 on Ebay was no trouble so now I'm half way done with the right version. The only trouble is that I lack references on camouflage and markings so some educated guesses will have to be done. However there are some good hints on the markings in the book. This have to be the last Japanese plane in this project.
On the web I found some more references to the Duck at Midway. The only plane totally destroyed on the ground at Midway. That's also a sort of claim to fame. Finding the right version, a J2F-2, was not that simple. After some hunting I found a copy of Classic Airframes 'Grumman J2F-1, 2, 2A, 3, 4 Duck'. However upon receiving the kit it was a bit of a disappointment. Even it it contained good resin details etc. it was a bit empty on the inside and the landing gear construction looked like a unnecessary challenge. Therefore I went and bought Merit Internationals 'J2F-5 Duck' and have a plan to merge the two kits to get a reasonable J2F-2. It's mainly the engine cowling's that differ.
The main reason I'm doing this kit though is to be able to write it's story saying that "To the Japanese it must have been like shooting on a sitting Duck." 😉
After these two there is only the final SBD-3 Dauntless to finish. It will take some more time though. I'm getting a bit tired of Midway by now so I'm squeezing in a few other kits onto my work bench, like Johnny E Johnson's Spitfire Mk.IX.
Now this project is getting me a bit frustrated. The Battle Of Midway took (stretching it) three days. This project has now taken over a year. There is now only two kits left and I've started on one of them. So why the frustration?
Although done an over with I'm not quite happy with the result. Primarily it's an old kit and not up to today's standard. On top of that some conversion was needed (turning the B-17F kit into a B-17E) and I'm not very good at scratch building. I had some help by getting hold of the nose dome but the rest was really a bit over my head. Specially the Bendix belly turret.
Also the colours turned out to be a challenge. There's no real references except from the colour photos from John Fords documentary of the battle. The camouflage was applied at the Oahu airbase on Hawaii after the war broke out and were more a local spur of the moment than an official US Army standard. Many references says that the brown was a rust brown so I used that. On the whole I'm not satisfied. Should I do it again It would turn out a lot better but I don't have the resources (specially not a second nose dome) or the perseverance to do it again so this one has to do.
Next one was to be the E8N Dave. As I've written earlier I bought a Nakajima E8N1 Dave. I was a bit hasty as I realized I needed an E8N2. Also I did extensive internet searches for information (and preferably pictures) of Daves from the Battle Of Midway. The only snippet I managed to find was in a few books they mentioned that at Dave partook in the primary search pattern that the Japanese sent out on the morning of June 4. It was a plane from the battleship Haruna.
Then I thought I've found a mention of several Daves that had been sent out. Amongst other the battleship Kirishima and the kit I had pictured a Dave from that battleship. Happily I started the kit. But then on a second look I found that the information on several Daves in a search came from Pearl Harbour and not Midway. I also noted that the battle order for Midway states that the Daves aboard the Kirishima was E8N2's so the E8N1's had been replaced by then. So I finished the kit but will not include it in the project. Later I could of course get hold of an E8N2 but the rigging on this kit was a pain and I still don't have any documentation for Midway markings so I think I'll give it a miss.
The last frustration at moment is that I have a Yokosuka D4Y1 'Judy' in the mail. It has been on it's way from Japan for a month now. As this will be my next kit in the series I'm starting to get a bit upset over the mail services. Then there is the already started Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless as the finish line.
As far as I know there will only be two kits missing when I'm done. First the E8N2 as mentioned above who's only contribution in the battle was a scouting sortie without any results. The second will be the Grumman J2F Duck. It's only claim to fame at Midway was that the only one present (a liaison plane) was bombed to oblivion by the Japanese.
OK, we have now past the target date, June 4. It is now officially really 76 years after the Battle Of Midway. Well not to worry, I'll just keep going. There's two reasons why I missed the target. 1. I had two stow away my hobby stuff for several months due to a move. 2. I started with ten kits to build but the more I read about the battle and the more I searched the internet for available kits the more I found (see previous blog posts). I think I can safely say that the tally will stop at sixteen kits.
I'm still working at my B-17F to B-17E conversion. It's been fighting me all the way. To start with the kit as such is getting very old and by today's standard it leaves a lot to wish for. Then I had a hard time to find a conversion kit. And when I finally manage to lay my hands on one it turns out that the nose dome was the only part that I needed. A well needed Bendix turret for was not included. A spare Bendix tower from a B-25B kit was of no help either. I ended up by doing one in wood. Not the best result but still. Then the nose dome turned out not to be a perfect fit to the kit either so some filler work had to be done. The next challenge was trying to get the colours right. There's no records of exactly what colours they used when they improvised new camouflage at Hawaii. I used the colour documentary John Ford did on Midway and did the best I could.
My next challenge will be the Nakajima E8N1 Dave. The kit as such looks good but it is a double decker and I always dread those. A lot of wiring and stuff. Another thing with this kit is that there are no reference pictures of the Dave from the cruiser Haruna that partook in the recognizance mission at Midway. No real hints on colouring and markings. Scavenging the internet I finally found a digital art portraying the actual plane. No chance of determining if the artist have taken any artistic licenses when doing it but it's as close as I can get.
The Judy is still in the mail with estimated delivery some time before June 25th. It's travelling from Japan so it has a bit longer to travel than the Dave had. Then it's only to finish the SBD-3 and I'm done.
I have seen the old James Bond picture "Never say never again" so I ought to know better. In my last post I happily exclaimed that I had received the last kit in the Battle Of Midway project. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First a progress update.
I have finished the Vindicator (read the review of the kit here). At the moment I'm in the midst of converting the B-17F to a B-17E. I tried to make the Bendix turret out of wood but I was not happy with the result. Then I found an article about doing exactly this conversion and this guy had used a Bendix turret from a B-25B kit! So return to Ebay and I managed to find a Doolitle-raid B-25B. They used B-25B's but without the belly turret. BUT on scalemates.com I could see that the kit was a conversion and that the turret was included! So soon I hope to receive my B-25B and plunder the turret and still be able to build a complete Doolittle bomber.
As I've written before I would stop at thirteen kits having covered all aircraft types of the battle except, as I thought. I knew that some of the cruisers carried Nakajima E8N "Dave" reconnaissance planes but thought I'd give them a miss. But then I read more about the battle and realized that one of them partook in the search patterns from the fleet (even if it didn't find anything). Ebay again. It's in the mail. Fifteen.
Then I kept reading and suddenly I realized that two early Yokosuka D4Y1-C "Judy" was aboard the Sōryū. The "Judy" was developed as a dive bomber but initial structural problems meant that the early model was used for reconnaissance instead. Two of these went to Midway. Not only that but one of them played a part in the battle! You know what's next. Ebay. Yes, a D4Y1/D4Y2 "Judy" kit is also in the mail. Sixteen.
Then I HAVE to stop.
Today, finally, the last kit in the project arrived! The goal is now in sight. But first things first.
The conversion kit has arrived. As promised it contained parts to not only convert the B-17F to a B-17C or B-17D but also to a B-17E. To be honest that turned out to be just the nose dome. The rest of the conversion kit is just really needed for the C/D versions. This turned out to be one of the most expensive parts I've ever bought. I will still have the parts to convert another kit to the C or D versions but then I will miss the shorter nose that I'm going to spend now. You can't always win.
Also, it is true that the B-17E had the new ball turret that's in the kit. And some of the newer Fortresses at Midway had it. But the older B-17E's at Midway, the ones with the more interesting paint schemes, had the Bendix flat turret with a sight cupola next behind it. This can clearly be seen in John Fords documentary from the battle. Now it would be tempting to just build one of the newer ones but what's the challenge in that? The Bendix turret is not in the conversion kit so it's scratch building time. My main concern is how to get the clear sight cupola. I've rummaged through my spare parts stash but no luck. This will need some consideration.
I think I have all the needed decals to do any of the Fortresses at Midway although a serial number containing a 7 will need some creativity but if I can do the Bendix turret this would be a small challange.
The final kitAs mentioned above the final kit arrived today. It was the Vought SB2U-3 Vindicator. This won't be the final kit in my series, that will be the SBD-3 I've already started that as mentioned in my last post. But it was the last acquired. For a long time I was going to skip this (as well as the B-17) but after reading of Capt. Fleming who was the only one that was awarded the Medal Of Honour at Midway I changed my mind. To get the kit was another thing. There was a French Vindicator available at Hannants but how to be certain on all details? A Midway Vindicator from Midway was announced but not released.
I started to scout Ebay. Suddenly there was a reasonable priced Midway Vindicator available from South Korea. It clearly stated that the kit lacked decals and box art but as I have alternatives for the decals that was okay. I bought it. Today it arrived and to my surprise the 2 X in the item description really meant that it was two complete kits! Reasonable price indeed. But also there was no instructions. With a little help from different Facebook groups I got that sorted in less than 20 minutes.
Now the markings for Flemings plane, number 2 in Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 241. The instruction indicates that there is no pictures of Flemings plane so some guessing has been done. And sure enough when you search the net there is several paintings of the plane that all differs. What to trust? But yet again I scrutinized John Fords documentary from the battle and lo and behold! Suddenly there is a scene with Vindicator number 2 taking off in full view. Why has no one caught this before? Still here I had all the reference I needed, and it differed quite a deal from the paintings. These were more like the other Vindicators taking off in the same scene.
A bit frustrated at this point. But more about that in the later part of my post.
The SBD-3I have slowly started work on the final kit, the Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless. The kit is from Hasegawa and after I built the SBD-2 I have to admit that it's not as good as Academy's SBD-2. But this time I've added a lot of after market stuff so maybe that will compensate. But it also makes it a lot more fiddly. It's all to easy to shoot away that 3 mm etched metal part with the tweezers into oblivion. But that is why I start this kit a bit early because it will take time.
I'm also bracing myself for the paint job. I bought paint masks for the markings on the kit. It's an art I'm trying to master. The result looks really good compared to decals but naturally there's more job. In some places it can be hard to get the mask to adhere to the surface. If the surface is bended or things protrude and the mask is a bit stiff it can be hard to keep it tight. This was true when I did the SBD-2. The national insignias on the fuselage was placed quite close to the wing root and keeping the mask in place while airbrushing was a challenge. Still the end result was gratifying.
A pleasing frustrationAs I mentioned at the start I'm a bit frustrated at the moment because this project gets bigger for every post. At the moment I'm still waiting for the Vindicator to clear the customs, where it has been for ten days now. As this was the penultimate kit in the project that was a bit frustrating. But then one, or actually two, of Kosters 1/48 Flying Fortress B-17C/D/E Vacuform Conversion Kit turned up on Ebay. After a week of nail biting I managed to win one of the auctions.
A blessing in disguise as this means that I now can turn the B-17F kit I have on the shelf into a Midway B-17E adding yet another (quite large) kit into the project. So at the moment it looks like it's going to be 14 kits in total and that I will not make my target date of July 4, the 76th anniversary.
Well more fun to do.
I'm beginning to reach the end of this project. Just putting the finishing touches to the SBD-2 Dauntless flown by Lt. Iverson. This will be the eleventh kit. Still have two to go so the tally will end at thirteen if not a conversion kit for making a B-17G Flying Fortress into a B-17E miraculously should turn up. But the chance of that happening looks bleak.
The SBD-2While doing the Marauder I decided to include the SBD-2 into the project. Reading about Lt. Daniel Iverson and navigator Wallace J. Reid and in what state they returned to Midway made my mind up. Also the fact that the plane was patched up, used as a trainer and then lost in Lake Michigan to be salvaged in 1993 and now in a museum helped.
The kit is originally from Accurate Miniatures but my version was sold by Academy. Lucky for me the decals was for Iverson's plane. The kit is generally a good one and really needs no changes. So basically I built it out of the box. The only extras I used was paint mask for the cockpit hood and the national insignias. The national insignias would have been hard as decals because the wings have some kind of intakes just where the insignias goes.
The only snag is that Hasegawa's kit of the SBD-3 does not look as promising. I hope that it does not become a disappointing finish to my project.
I finally bought the Vindicator. I found one reasonably priced kit on Ebay. It lacks the decals but that doesn't matter too much as I've also bought paint masks for the plane I want to build. I'm looking forward to receiving it because it's also an Accurate Miniatures kit. Also the item on Ebay was titled "2 X 1/48 Accurate Miniatures SB2U-3 Vindicator" so it will be interesting to see if it's just one kit or if it's actually two. According to the package tracking it's just arrived at customs clearance in Sweden.
After the Vindicator it's only the hero of the battle left, the SBD-3 Dauntless. If I manage to do these two during May the project will have taken me a year. Still that's included a stop of several months when I was moving.
I've started a project web page where I will write the Battle Of Midway story with pictures of all my kits.
Just finished kit number nine, the Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 'Kate'. I've written a review of the kit here. This project has a tendency to grow under way. I started out with nine kits, including two Dauntless, so really eight. This was what I thought was reasonable as it was hard to find more kits of plane types participating in the battle. I was proven wrong. Since then I found the Aichi E13A1b 'Jake' the Japanese reconnaissance plane that filled an important part in the sinking of the USS Yorktown. I also managed to get hold of a B-26 Marauder and enough reference pictures and assorted decals to be able to do the build SusieQ who made a run along the deck of the Akagi. I've also realized that the Vought SB2U Vindicator was more active in the battle than I previously thought prompting me to go out looking fore one, no deal done yet but it's available. I also have a B-17 Flying Fortress but it's a B-17G and the ones on Midway was B-17E and to do that I'd need a conversion kit. This is not as readily available.
The Marauder at MidwayI've just started the kit that will become SusieQ. Got it in the mail yesterday after it had made a turn in the customs office. I had already bought paint masks, photo etched parts and assorted decals for it and had them waiting. Unfortunately there is a shortage of reference pictures of the actual plane. The only picture I found is of a metal plate with the text "SusieQ" that was cut out of the wreck. So I know how that looked like. But I also found a concurrent picture of a B-26 at the Aleutian Islands equipped with a torpedo. So I will use that as a paint reference and guide to place the serial numbers etc.
Fortunately the torpedo on this B-26 looks a lot like the extra torpedo that was included in the Devastator kit. I also have to file away a few things from the fuselage from the kit that was not on the Aleutian plane. It had no forward guns on the fuselage and there's an extra armour plate on the pilot side that needs getting rid of. There is several drawings of the SusieQ but it's clear that the lack of reference pictures has opened the field for artistic freedom. Just the placement of the serial number differs from the tail fin to the fuselage. But the Aleutian picture helps. But weather the plane had the 'U.S. ARMY' text under the wing or not is an open question.
I also soon discovered that Esci's Marauder kit is not a reboxed version of Mongrams/Revells kit as I thought. This means that not all etched metal parts from Eduard will fit my kit.
There has been some really expensive Vindicator kits on Ebay but lately two kits have shown up at https://www.hannants.co.uk. Available today is Azur's Vought V-156F Vindicator 'French Navy' but even if it's based on Accurate Miniatures "Marine Corps Bomber SB2U-3 Vindicator
VMSB-241, Battle of Midway" it has new parts so I'm a bit uncertain. At the same time Hannants has also announced a "Vought SB2U-3 Vindicator Battle of Midway" from Academy but it's listed as Future Releases with no date. So I'm in two minds how to act here. One thing is clear though. The Vinidactor is in the project as of now.
Then we have the B-17 Flying Fortress. They were based at Midway and made several unsuccessful bombing runs on the Japanese navy. The only snatch here is that the available kit in 1:48 is a B-17G and the ones at Midway was B-17E. There's many small differences like the belly turret, the front glass etc. A bit too much for me to scratch build. There was a conversion kit from Koster Aero Enterprises but it's not available anywhere. It still looks like the B-17 will be out of the race.
When it comes to the Dauntless I have two kits, one SBD-2 and one SBD-3. The older SBD-2 was based at Midway and had an active role during the battle but the SBD-3 that were based on the carriers were really the ones that saved the Americans bacon. My initial thought was to just build one of each aircraft type in this project but now I'm starting to ponder weather I should do both Dauntless anyways. The SBD-3 I'm planning for the grand finale. It has a lot of extras to the kit and it was the SBD-3's that sealed the fate of the Japanese carriers so it will be the perfect kit to end the project with. But Maybe I should push in the SBD-2 before that? Choices, choices.
