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WAYNE TEVLIN - 01/03/2007 
Here is something new from the people at Yellow Wings Decals. 32-001 is their first foray into 1/32 scale and they have celebrated this by issuing the initial sheet in their "Special" Survivors Series.
The sheet provides the markings for a single aircraft, SBD-2 Bureau number 2106 throughout her brief military career from July 1941 when she was assigned to VB-2 aboard the USS Lexington until her untimely demise in July 1943 when she was spun into Lake Michigan whilst serving with Carrier Qualification Training Unit, Naval Air Station Glenview.
Yellow Wings has chosen a significant machine to provide markings for. Apart from being the sole surviving SBD-2 above water, Bureau number 2106 was also present at Naval Air Station Ford Island on December 7, 1941 when the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force raided Pearl Harbour, took part in the early the early Pacific Fleet operations including the 10 March 1942 raid on Lae-Salamau in New Guinea, and when re-assigned to The United States Marine Corps' VMSB-241 participated in the decisive battle of Midway, surviving the attack on the Imperial Japanese Navy Ship Hiru, albeit with a wounded crew and at least 210 holes in her.
Markings are provided to enable you to replicate 2106 in the three different paint finishes she wore; her initial and highly colourful "yellow wing" scheme, the overall non-specular light grey, and the blue grey over light grey scheme. The final scheme has three different markings options including red and white rudder markings with red centre national markings, painted out but still visible red centre national markings, and her final markings of white star on blue circle background national insignia with white "plane in squadron" numbers and letters.
As with all of Yellow Wings Decals products, this sheet is backed up with extensive research and documentation. Yellow Wings provides six double-sided A-4 sized pages of information and drawings. Each marking variation has its own three-view black and white drawing whilst another sheet provides left-hand side profiles of each marking variation in colour with the artwork by well known Hyperscale contributor Rich Dann.
The other sheets provide a written history of 2106, a replica of a period document that provides the colours and markings worn by all of USS Lexington's SBD-2s by Bureau number, a list of all SBD-2s produced and their squadron/carrier assignments by Bureau number, and finally, a list of suggested model paint matches to official United States Navy and United States Marine Corps colours (Testors, Tamiya, and Gunze).
The suggested kit is the new Trumpeter SBD1-2 one (if you haven't seen this yet, it’s a beauty!) but I'm sure that you could use the old Matchbox one (suitably modified of course) if you really wanted to.
Be aware that you will also need to find the national insignia markings from elsewhere as they are not supplied on this sheet. For the first marking option, Yellow Wings sheet 32-002 will help you here and Yellow Wings advise that a future release (32-026) U.S. National insignia in the five different sizes will provide the national insignia you need. A further future release (32-009) will provide you with stencil data for the SBD
(-1, -2 and – 3)
The decals themselves are produced by Microscale and are well up to the products we are used to seeing from this benchmark company.
The decal sheet and the accompanying documentation are packed into the ubiquitous clear plastic zip-loc bag along with a full sized stiff cardboard header to stop everything from being bent and creased.
Another very nice product from Yellow Wings Decals! |
WAYNE TEVLIN - 01/03/2007
Yellow Wings Decals 1/32 SBD-2 Dauntless #2106
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
When this sheet showed up, I had just received the Cutting Edge 1/32 Corsair decals. I chuckled at how difficult those 1/32 modelers have it, as their subjects are so big that aftermarket decal manufacturers can’t put more than one aircraft on a sheet. But when I dove into this sheet, I realized that, while this is only one aircraft, it is a complete life history of that plane, with no less than five different schemes portrayed. This one plane has an incredible history, starting from operations from one of the first US aircraft carriers and ending up at the bottom of Lake Michigan.
This sheet starts out with this plane decked out in its colorful prewar yellow wing phase in early 1941. Flying off of the USS Lexington, it had a yellow tail and the top half of the cowling was red. The plane carried the code 2B2 on the fuselage in black. In mid-1941, the plane was repainted in non-specular gray, with small fuselage roundels and the 2B2 code painted in white. In late 1941, this plane was again repainted, this time into the standard blue-gray over light gray, with the colorful red and white striped rudder and large national insignia. While wearing this scheme, this plane was left behind in Hawaii for engine repair. It was at Ford Field on December 7, 1941, and survived the Japanese attack. This plane then returned to the Lexington and fought in some of the early battles of the Pacific, returning to Pearl Harbor in April of 1942 for reassignment. A good thing, too, as the next trip of the Lexington was fatal, lost at the Battle of Coral Sea. This plane, instead, went to Midway Island, where it had the red and white rudder painted out, and the red centers of the national insignia painted out. It survived Midway (barely) and returned stateside in 1943 for use in a Carrier Qualification Training Unit out of Glenview, Illinois. Freshly repainted, this time the plane carried the fuselage code B-7 and the name “Midway Madness” on the nose. After surviving combat from the beginning of the war, the plane survived just a few months before stalling out and crashing into Lake Michigan, where it sank to a depth of 170 feet. It remained there until 1993, when it was recovered for the National Museum of Naval Aviation.
This sheet provides just about everything you need to make any one of these aircraft. The only thing that are missing are the national insignia (which are available on another Yellow Wings decal sheet) and the rudder stripes. For those ambitious people, you could pick up five Trumpeter SBDs and build the entire series, making for a very impressive (and large!) collection of a famous aircraft. The decals are well printed and, like other Yellow Wing releases, should go down quite nicely. |
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