This is the closest I've been to an SBD lately.  It's in the parking lot of the Proud Bird near the Los Angeles airport.

La Terre appelle Kiwi, viens en Kiwi...I'm still waiting for the "next installment" of your Dauntless adventure...don't go dropping off the map now! 

Here's a little humble inspiration for you...very humble because I'm no Winslow Homer...that's for certain. 

I grew up (such as I managed) less than a mile from the face of the Rocky Mountains (Wasatch Front) and as things tended to do...brush fires broke out now and then.  Usually they were dealt with by teams of volunteers forming fire lines with pick n' shovels...but on special occasions, the powers that were spent the money to bring in "the big boys," aerial combat.  I had the thrill once upon a time of in person, witnessing a flight of Avengers battling the mountain, just like Iwo or Siapan...Tarawa.  They'd swoop in close with bomb-bay doors open, then suddenly, seemingly at the last possible moment, pull away while flinging a cloud of fire-retardant into the smoke n' flames.  I naturally failed to appreciate the danger those pilots were placing themselves in at the time...but my friend's father probably understood...because he'd been a platoon leader during those actual WW2 events...Solomons, Luzon, Manila...Purple Heart, Bronze Star.  Afterward...he packed us all into his station-wagon and off we went to the local municipal airfield where the Avengers were staging.  I was really impressed with their size...I never anticipated they were so large! 

I was always so impressed with "The Captain" (he emerged from it all as a Captain...Company Commander...infantry).  I never heard him raise his voice...not once...and we boys could be real "hellions!" 

Neal

Cutting out the remaining parts.

Fuselage formers.

Koutny style.

Few notches, so easier and quicker to cut out.

Only notches required are for the top, bottom, and side longerons.

I have left the interior cut outs of the canopy formers as it is raining and my drill bits are in the garage outside.

All the best everyone.

Keep safe.

hi all,

so there I was reading along when a thought dawned...
you did the printing onto the balsa.
that looks well done.
yours looks far better than my attempt at it. 

don't spend much, if any, time thinking it was a hard luck story.
the Kit was on a deeeep discount. and I embezzled the few dollars
it cost from the money left over from the errands... (it was a wink agreement)
That is why it was last.  it was a pricey for a box, buuuut
a useful box and a good life lesson.
Check the kit before you leave...

you are doing the part I dislike the most, cutting out parts.
soon you will be past that.

cheers
victor

a memory drawn to the surface by a box.
I purchased a comet kit at a large discount store.
plastic wrapped.  I got home after a long bicycle trip back
(I had other errands on my way to that fateful purchase)

opened my new treasure chest and found a largly empty box.
no cowl, canopy wood, or plans...
I went back the next day and the store service desk people
did not believe me that the box was light of parts when purchased.
contact manufacturer... etc.

I did not know it then, but I think think
Comet was out of Biz by that time about 1977.

To make this association clear, the stack of kits were almost all SBD
and the one p47  so guess which one I wanted...

I used the box to store balsa for many years.

Comet was bought out by its primary competition, Guillows...during the early 1990's...after being a leader in the business from 1929.  That was an industry disaster in most modeler opinions...should have been the other way around.  Guillows may have succeeded in eliminating their competition in the retail business, but Comet plans will live on...as long as this hobby exists.  In a manner of speaking...Comet models are as popular today as Guillows...if not more so.  A Guillows kit will cost the proverbial "arm and a leg," while a Comet plan is free...and material costs are minimal in comparison.  You're on the right path, Toulouse...and you're doin' well...nothin' quite as delightful as admiring your own creation.  Believe me when I say that we all share your pride.  That's your baby! 

Neal

Bruno Peter Gaido...While I'm here...that is quite the story about Gaido's heroics...and no doubt it's true...so many witnesses.  What distresses me...and I don't necessarily believe, are the details of the demise of the good Seaman and his pilot...doesn't make a lot of logical sense to me.  Sounds like so much after-the-fact propaganda...no witnesses, no surviving officers or participants, etc.  Why would anyone take the trouble to "weigh" them down, after all, mid-way...Midway...in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!  Why tell such an unsubstantiated tale three years after the deed?  Intelligence officers?  Who were they interrogating?  Things are bad enough in war....but that's tantamount to making them walk-the-plank...when just tossing them overboard is more like the truth...if it is the truth at all.  How many instances are recorded of abandoning people in the water of necessity (enemy activity in the area)...all too common.  Just unwarranted bs....

The Dauntless I am building is a smaller version of the Comet plan.

I am very impressed with the Comet Speed-O-Matic construction method.

There is a top longeron and a bottom longeron. 

These are temporarily joined over the plan with 1/16 square at the front and 1/16 scrap at the rear.  Then the formers are cut out with notches at 3, 6, 9 and 12 O'clock.  When the longeron glue is dry they are removed from the plan.  The formers are then eased onto the top and bottom longerons.

When all formers are in place the left and right side longerons are added at the 3 and 9 O'Clock positions of the formers. 

The side formers are cut from 1/16th sheet with the shape of the fuselage from front to stern post.  I have not cut these out yet.

Good chance it will all be true and square.

Thanks Kerak,

I found this about Bruno Peter Gaido

https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/04/24/toughness-aviation-machinist-
mate-first-class-amm1c-bruno-peter-gaido/

Source: The Sextant.

Decisive thinking, effective action.