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

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... 

Umm... used to love this feature  

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.  

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 . 

Whee! Sneaky tantalising peek of the wonderful joy that awaits in the box! 

Multi colour goodness... 

Multi colour goodness.. 

Matchbox made great crew figures  

Mix of raised and engraved panel lines.  

3rd sprue  

 

Decals have suffered some damage but chosen option seems usable.  

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.  

When I was 12 I didn't need two pairs of glasses to be able to paint these two lads...  

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.  

I was 2 years old when this was originally tooled up. This will be 50 years old in the new year.... 

Let's put the wings together. 4 parts each side, 8 in total, quite a lot by Lesney standards. 

Fuse together the fuse halves, trapping the arrestor hook and pilots armchair.... Yes there is a total of 4 parts in this assembly  

Wings on.  

Most productive 2 hours I've spent at the bench in a long while. Enough for today though. 

Wings work! 

Spent a happy hour last night masking the clear parts. 

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. 

Put the gunner looking to the side. Artistic move there on my part? 

Quick spray of Tamiya primer and LP matt white on the undersurfaces.  

Painting finished. Used Humbrol intermediate blue but it looks too dark, and Xtracolour foe the dark sea blue 

Not sure about this..... 

Back at it.. 

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.  

Prop tips brush painting. Under coat yellow with pink.... 

Decal time... Will 49 year old decals work? 

Hopefully... 

Well, there's a surprise ?  

Well, only lost one National Insignia and the 45 on cowling on one side. 

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... 

Semi gloss clear coat added. Time to start removing canopy masking... 

Looks OK! I'm impressed! 

Should have changed the second insignia... 

Microscale this side, looks better. Canopy looks good. 

Folded wings. I've already broken one hinge.... 

Some drybrushing of silver to add wear. 

No Matchbox is complete without fingerprint or smudge. This kit is no different  

Off the bench at last. 

C'est fini... 

Prop even spins. 

Beauty shots... 

Best side. 

Wings still work. Whoo hoo! 

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.