SB2U-1 Vindicator by Landlubber Mike - Accurate Miniatures 1:48

[Landlubber Mike]

Made some progress on the Vindicator the last couple of weeks.  Put together both the front and rear cockpits.  Lots of nice little details from the kit, especially when enhanced by the Eduard PE set.

 

 

 

 

On 4/27/2021 at 11:43 PM, Landlubber Mike said:

They did man, thank you!  Should be a fun build.

 

 

Quoting myself here as the next stretch of the build -- assembling the cockpit and fuselage -- has not been fun at all!  I probably had a good five or six hours to slowly shave back material to get the fuselage halves to close.  The rear cockpit essentially is too wide so you can't close the fuselage halves in the rear, and if you try to squeeze things together, you run the risk of bending and breaking some of the cross pieces in the cockpit.  Had to use a combination of two-part epoxy, plastic cement, and CA.  Managed to get it together finally, just need to fill and sand in a few spots.  Apparently others have had similar issues.  Definitely not the quality of the F3F kits for sure.    What made it more complicated was you had to fit the two cockpits into the fuselage halves, and also fit the instrument panel on the front cockpit -- yet the front cockpit doesn't have a good way to secure the IP in the proper place.  Looking at the cockpit, the IP is a touch crooked so I'm going to have to figure out if I can actually rework it in place.  So literally you're trying to hold about five pieces in place at once to glue everything, and that doesn't include the bottom of the fuselage which is a separate piece.  

 

 

 

 

 

I also worked on the 1000lb bomb, enhancing it with the Eduard PE.  Looks a touch nicer than had I built it from the box.  Required cutting or sanding off a bunch of the kit details to add the PE.

 

 

 

Next up, I'm going to work on the wings.  I'll be doing two things - cutting out the flaps and adding the Eduard PE for open flaps, and then cutting the wings to display the model in the partially folded position.  Will need a stiff drink or three to get through that part I'm sure.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

[Egilman]

56 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

So literally you're trying to hold about five pieces in place at once to glue everything, and that doesn't include the bottom of the fuselage which is a separate piece.  

Suggestion Brother....

 

A strategic drop of canopy glue in an unseen place.... (personally I use Formula 560, probably cheaper on evilbay) If any pieces move, they are easily separated and re-positioned without damaging the paint or plastic, failing that, postage stamp thin pieces of bluetack will do the same thing.......

Edited May 17, 2021 by Egilman

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks, I'll have to check that out!

 

The problem was that the rear cockpit was probably close to 2mm too wide.  So, it was endless test fitting so that I could get the rear portion of the fuselage halves to close.  Even resorting to a thick bead of 2-part epoxy on the underside of the rear seam of the two halves it was splitting a bit right near the rear cockpit.  I probably ended up with a 0.5mm gap in the first few millimeters near the rear cockpit, but that will be easily filled and in the end, will be too small to really notice.

 

The IP essentially sits on two tiny shelves of the front cockpit, but doesn't lock into place.  And it was impossible to fit it after front cockpit was inserted into the fuselage unless you cut it into two pieces which is probably what I should have done.  

 

Just poor design of the whole thing.  A bit surprising given how good my experience has been with other Accurate Miniatures kits.  Not to mention, the instructions have a bunch of typos with wrong part numbers shown, and in some instances, aren't very clear on what to do.

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

Looking super - all that fine detail and paintwork  - lovely job.

 

OC.

[Javlin]

She is looking Quite Nice Mike!! Kevin

[lmagna]

Looking good Mike, nice to see you getting some time in on her again.

[popeye the sailor]

really nice work on her so far Mike.  fit issues happen more often than not........amazing how some get their model to look so good in the end     I have no doubt that you'll arrive with the same results!  adding PE and resin doesn't help either   pulling up a chair  

[Bari T.]

Thanks do much for the build diary. I have the SB2U-3 with the Eduard set. Accurate/Academy instructions are not very clear and I alternate with the Eduard when I add/replace details. I was very unclear about gunner's position as the usual Eduard instructions were confusing on page 3. I checked your photo of that area and see that you followed a logical construction path which seems a bit different than I understood from both sets of instructions. I have the Squadron booklet as reference as well as a build article from a 2005 magazine. Your article here is much better for me to use as a basis. So thanks again!

[Landlubber Mike]

15 hours ago, Bari T. said:

Thanks do much for the build diary. I have the SB2U-3 with the Eduard set. Accurate/Academy instructions are not very clear and I alternate with the Eduard when I add/replace details. I was very unclear about gunner's position as the usual Eduard instructions were confusing on page 3. I checked your photo of that area and see that you followed a logical construction path which seems a bit different than I understood from both sets of instructions. I have the Squadron booklet as reference as well as a build article from a 2005 magazine. Your article here is much better for me to use as a basis. So thanks again!

Hi Bari, glad to hear that my log was of some help.  You're right that the kit instructions are not very clear, which is a bit frustrating.  Even worse, as I mentioned above, closing up the cockpit was a real pain in the posterior! 🤬

 

If you have time, post your build progress.  If you don't want to start a separate log, you're more than welcome to share on this log.  I'm hoping to wrap this build up by the end of the year once I get a few other projects out of the way.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Landlubber Mike