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1/72 Special Hobby SB2A-3 Buccaneer


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Well, since both my A-4M and Me-262 were finished a few weeks ago, I've since started Special Hobby's SB2A-3 Buccaneer.  This is a rather obscure plane, and was never used in combat.  Instead, it served in a training role so that pilots could get accustomed to the performance of a front-line aircraft.  As you can see, it's a mixed-media short-run kit, with photo etched parts (yuck), resin interior parts and engine (sigh), soft plastic and seems to be standard for Special Hobby: ambivalent and unclear instructions.  Should be fun!

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Initial progress on the cockpit and rear crew position...

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Adding some of the interior to the fuselage sides.  The mix of resin and plastic and totally unclear instructions makes it challenging to ensure everything is lined up.

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Not including photo-etched pieces, there are 55 plastic and resin parts that need to go in the fuselage before closing it up!!!! :crying:

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Wings!  The wheel wells are boxed in with inserts.

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Painting the interior...

Instrument panel turns out nicely with some dry brushing and clear gloss on the dials.  This part is no bigger than my thumbnail.

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With care, patience, and dryfitting, the fuselage actually closes up nicely.

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That's it so far!

Mike

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Finally circling back to this one. 

 

Assembling the engine, and the final product.

 

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Attaching the starboard wing.  There are no tabs or slots...it's a butt joint so I'll leave it to dry over night.  You can see there's a PE detail part in the wheel well.

 

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Mike

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Ok, so I couldn't resist, and attached the port wing.

 

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I actually attached the horizontal stabilizers as well.  Pic later.

 

Here is one of the PE bomb racks.  The main part has to be bent into a "V" and then the four feet bent out; after that, another part is inserted that has the bomb attachment points.  Very difficult to line everything up to be hit with a bit of CA.

 

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Mike

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All those tiny bits are really adding up to a great whole!  That cockpit looks amazing. 

 

 

Are those sparrows and sidewinders going to be internally mounted in the weapons bay? ;-)

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Thanks!  It's a slow build.  I have a whole bunch of Special Hobby kits in the stash staring at me, so GBs like this really help give me motivation to build them.

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Are those sparrows and sidewinders going to be internally mounted in the weapons bay? ;-)

 

 

LOL!  They go with the Academy F/A-18F I'm doing for this GB!  :wave:

 

Mike

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Engine installed, cowling face fitted, and some small seams dealt with along the wing roots.  The fit of all of this isn't perfect but far from terrible.  I've had "mainstream" kits with wing root and cowling issues far greater than this it.

 

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Mike

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  • 5 weeks later...

Still plugging away at this.  The cowling face really needed a lot of work to remove the seam and step...it just didn't fit well.  I also built the rear flexible twin .30cal machinegun mount and got to work on the landing gear. 

 

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Mike

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Canopy masked and attached!  Ready for paint!

 

The rear clear part fit pretty well, but the forward part did not meet up with the rear part.  I carefully filled the gap with white glue.

 

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On 12/4/2016 at 11:23 PM, RKic said:

Holy cow! Too bad to see all that detail under glass, but I'm glad you got it to fit. 

 

Yeah, I know.  I guess I'm glad I built this one for the Group Build, since it prompted me to take a lot of pictures of that interior!  :thumbsup:

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It really is an incredible job you did, on an incredible looking model. It is compelling me to have a go at a Special Hobby kit. The last one I tried (Vindicator) was a spectacular failure, but it was one of their earlier releases, and I was a less experienced modeler. I also tried to rush it. 

 

Anyway, I asked the wife to get me an SH Buffalo for Christmas :D 

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LOL.  I have a bunch of SH kits in the stash, but this is only the third one I've built from that company.  I did the Barracuda Mk III ten years ago, and really had a hard time with it...mostly due to my inexperience at the time. 

 

I built their F2A-3 Buffalo four years ago; nice kit.  I had some difficulty getting all the resin into the small cockpit, but I probably didn't spend enough time test fitting.

 

Mike

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  • 1 month later...

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