Accurate Miniatures

1/48 SB2C-4 Helldiver

Kit Number 480406

Reviewed By Dave Morrissette, #33653

Accurate Miniatures Website: www.accurate-miniatures.com

At one time, the 1/48 scale Helldiver kit (originally issued by Monogram) was one of the most sought after kits out there.  Accurate Miniatures comes to the rescue with two releases of this excellent kit with new markings.  The first release was the SB2C-1C and the one reviewed here is the later SB2C-4.  The kit is molded with over 100 parts in gray styrene and clear parts for the canopy.  Photo etch parts are included for the upper and lower dive brakes, seat belt buckles, engine harness and other small additions. The engraving is excellent.  I did notice a small amount of flash that takes about 2 seconds to fix.  The clear parts are OK but there was a little indistinctness in the canopy framing.  As you see from the pictures, it is not particularly noticeable.  The box is excellent as are all from Accurate Miniatures.  There is artwork included showing one SB2C, and I kept it for framing- it’s very nice.

Construction begins with a nicely detailed cockpit and gunner’s position.  Parts fit is tight but if you follow the instructions, it all fits well and closes up nicely.  Test fitting the arrestor hook, I saw that I could leave it out for the present to make painting easier.  Fuselage fit is great with only a couple dabs of putty needed.  I decided to close the bomb bay (detail is also excellent here, but I like the lines of the “Beast” with the bay doors closed).  This required trimming a little and some patience and some filler at the edges where I misaligned the parts a little.

The engine and cowling are next.  I glued the engine together, painted and dry brushed and attached it to the fuselage.  The cowling fit is good and I attached it temporarily later for painting.  The wings came next and here was my only difficulty for the kit- the wings go together perfectly but when attached to the fuselage, the bond is a little weak.  I cracked the seam several times during handling and sanding.  This was designed into the kit and is NOT a huge problem if you handle the kit gently.

The stabilizers were added and the kit prepped with a good washing for paint.  There are two options, an Atlantic ASW scheme of (dark gull gray over white) and VMSB 2444 (Sea blue, intermediate blue and white).  I chose the former for its looks.   I also chose at this point to purchase the Black Magic masking set from Meteor Productions (www.meteorprod.com).  I know it is an extra $8.99 but I masked the entire canopy set in 20 minutes (after a dip in Future).  As opposed to doing 35 separate panels, I consider it money well spent!  The bottom was painted Xtracolor gloss white (FS17875) and the top Xtracolor Gloss Dark gull gray (FS16231) I set it aside for 2 days for drying.  After that, I masked the dive brake areas and shot them with RLM red.  The PE dive brakes were painted at the same time as the plane.

This let me concentrate on the landing gear, aft guns, pilot seat and other miscellaneous parts.  Nothing surprising here - good fit and detail and things were finished off in subassemblies.  The photo etch dive brakes were excellent, fit perfectly, and really set the kit off.

The decals were beautiful and set down well with the Micro Sol system.  I attached all the subassemblies and then the aerial wires.  I weathered with pastels and ComArt transparent smoke and black.  A couple passes of Dullcote and attaching the many canopies (which fit great!) and we have another one for the shelf.

This kit was a lot of fun to build and I think it great that Accurate Miniatures has stepped in to help fill voids with great new releases of this hard to find kit.  I would like to thank Linda Habovick and AM for this release and the generous review kit.  I can recommend this kit to anyone with even minimum experience with photo etch - it will give you a great replica for a good price.

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