Kit: No. 480200
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Accurate Miniatures, 704-795-2345, www.accurate-miniatures.com
Price: $37.99
Comments: Injection molded, 124 parts (12 photoetched-metal), decals
Pros: Historically significant subject, excellent detail, great interior, clever parts breakdown, handy options, beautiful decals, good photoetched seat harnesses
Cons: Sink marks mar rear fuselage and some small parts, incomplete marking and painting guides, part number errors in instructions
Vought’s Vindicator was the U.S. Navy’s first monoplane scout bomber, and the first with folding wings for carrier hangar-deck stowage. Initially delivered in 1937, a few were still in service with the U.S. Marines in 1942 during the Battle of Midway. France ordered Vindicators, but after capitulation, the remaining aircraft of that order were delivered to Great Britain, where the craft was dubbed the “Chesapeake.”
Accurate Miniatures has been working on this kit for years. The molded-in detail of the plastic parts and the fine recessed panel lines are outstanding. However, obvious sink marks that are difficult to fix present a problem not seen in previous Accurate Miniatures aircraft kits. The most serious are vertical depressions in the rear fuselage. Interior bulkhead flanges produce areas of thicker plastic here, and for some reason, the plastic sunk. These sinks are difficult to fix because the marks are right on the horizontally ribbed section of the fuselage. Other sink marks mar some of the cockpit interior parts.
The instruction booklet is broken into nine major steps with many parts shown in exploded views within each step. A handy hobby-paint chart is given, but there are no parts maps. The instructions have a few mis-numbered parts.
Parts fit is excellent, with a few exceptions. The cockpit interior has excellent detail, but take time to study the parts and the assembly diagrams before bringing out the glue. The diagrams can be confusing as some items are shown more than once from different aspects within one assembly step. I found it difficult to install the pilot’s “consoles” onto the floor, so I removed the locating tabs on the floor and glued the consoles to the insides of the fuselage halves instead. The photoetched metal seatbelts are a nice addition, but they take some experience to bend and paint for a realistic appearance.
Decals representing the instrument faces are placed on the back sides of the clear plastic panels, but the thickness of the plastic pretty much hides the gauges. In step 4, the thin cowl halves had to be trimmed to fit onto the fuselage and the front ring. The air scoop atop the cowl had to be persuaded to fit the contours of the cowl. The top half of the cowl and air duct are mis-numbered; they should be 105 and 106. The engine shows great detail, but it’s a tight fit into the cowl. You can choose between open and closed cowl flaps.
Only four pieces compose the construction of the wing in step 5, but the location of the wing spar in the diagram is not clear. Interestingly, two pairs of internal wing ribs on the sprues are not mentioned in the instructions; perhaps a folded-wing feature will appear in a future version.
The landing gear assemblies are tricky, and took several dry-fit attempts before I could figure out how they went in. Accurate even gives you parts for retracted landing gear if you want to pose your model in flight.
Underwing ordnance includes an auxiliary fuel tank or 1,000-pound bomb on the centerline and 100-pound bombs or practice-bomb dispensers on the outboard racks. In the instructions, the fins for the small bombs should be labeled as parts No. 80, and the large bomb crutch should be No. 82.
The addition of the die-cut vinyl canopy window masks is a great idea but are never mentioned in the instructions. The masks in my kit didn’t fit their intended panes, so I used Bare-Metal Foil instead. I painted the fuselage with Floquil old silver and platinum mist, the upper wing surface with Testor Model Master chrome yellow, and the tail group with Model Master willow green. The green decal band for the fuselage didn’t match the willow green paint, so I painted the band onto the fuselage. Otherwise, the decals were among the best I’ve worked with in some time.
No painting information is given for the propeller. To reduce glare, the rear faces of the blades were painted insignia blue, extending from the tip color. Good references are Squadron/Signal’s Navy Air Colors, Vol. 1 1911-1945, and SB2U Vindicator in Action.
The finished model measures to scale and looks great in its yellow-wing, 1940 Neutrality Patrol markings. It brings back memories of gazing at the sole surviving Vindicator, preserved at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla. I’m glad to be able to add it to my collection, and relieved that Accurate Miniatures is back!
– Al Jones