Vought SB2U Vindicator by ccoyle - Kartonowa Kolekcja - 1/33 - CARD

[ccoyle]

Welcome to the start of another adventure in card modeling! I had to stare at the pile for several days to decide on what to build next, but the SB2U finally won out.

 

From Wikimedia Commons

 

I won't bother with retelling the Vindicator's history, which most of you are probably already familiar with. Interested parties can read about its underwhelming wartime service here. Nevertheless, it was the US Navy's first monoplane, carrier-based dive bomber, and it wasn't a bad-looking airplane, either. It will pair up nicely for display with my completed F4F-4 Wildcat. Plus, it's even kind of ship related, so it deviates less from our forum's task and purpose than some other choices might have.

 

The kit is another Pawel Mistewicz design from Kartonowa Kolekcja, and looks to be every bit as good as Pawel's other excellent designs. Pawel had seriously upped his artwork skills by the time he got around to designing this kit, which depicts an aircraft from Scouting Seventy-Two aboard USS Wasp in February, 1942, operating in the North Atlantic. The squadron flew the Vindicator until June of that year before transitioning onto the Douglas SBD-3.

 

 

 

Lots of excellent diagrams, as usual.

 

 

The back cover has some great photos of the prototype model.

 

 

First cuts have already commenced.

 

 

Now that I've started in on this project, I feel quite good about the selection and am looking forward to hopefully doing this kit justice. As per usual, I have the optional laser-cut frames, molded canopy, and resin wheels.

 

Hope you enjoy following along!

[Egilman]

Actually, there is only one SB2U left in existence... It was recovered from Lake Michigan in 1990, needless to say it was a wreck after 5 decades underwater... After 20 years of restoration it now resides at the National Naval Aviation Museum I believe...

 

They restored what they could, replaced the fabric covering but left the instruments and parts in the condition they were recovered in, after stabilizing them of course...

 

A very interesting airplane....

Edited yesterday at 06:09 AM by Egilman

[Canute]

These were the Midway torpedo bombers. Very brave men flew them.

[ccoyle]

8 minutes ago, Canute said:

These were the Midway torpedo bombers. Very brave men flew them.

 

Yes, brave, but not torpedo bombers. You're thinking of the various squadrons that flew the Douglas TBD Devastator. SB2Us did fight at Midway, but as land-based dive bombers flown by VMSB-241. The twelve Vindicators operated by VMSB-241 flew three strikes between 4 and 5 June, suffered six aircraft lost and five damaged, and scored no hits. Captain Richard Fleming, one of the SB2U pilots (VMSB-241 was also operating the SBD-2) earned a posthumous Medal of Honor for his actions against IJN Mikuma on 5 June; USS Fleming (DE-32) was named in his honor.

[Dave_E]

I’m aboard for this one! 👍😀

[Canute]

Absolutely correct,Chris. That's what I get for writing anything before my first cup of coffee.  😬