In 1976, I purchased a 69 in. Douglas Dauntless kit. I bought a Hirtenberg HP .60 engine and Carl Goldberg mechanical retracts for it and started my first RC scale project. However, the Dauntless remained uncompleted. You know, studying, family, kids, house, you name it.

Then I decided to quit my RC airplane hobby and sold most of my bulky models. The uncompleted Dauntless went to an unkown enhusiast.

This week, I remembered the Dauntless of my youth. After four telephone calls I could locate its present owner. He happened to live in the town I work and an appointment was scheduled.

The project was very much at the state I sold it some 25 years ago. However, the unsheeted wing had been damaged beyond repairs during several moves and it had been thrown away. So what was left was the fuselage, rear part of the canopy and set of plans.

And guess what, he donated the remains to me.

The dauntless Dauntess is now back home. I am considering completing the project. Next winter, I don't have time for any major airplane project but maybe later.

ilkka

Very cool story! You simply MUST finish the model!

Tom

This is really nice. I'm with TJK in saying you must finish the Dauntless. Think of the odds of finding the Dauntless after 25 years, and, finding it with some the your original construction still intact. Best wishes on this project and please post some photos later on of your "new" build.

Soft landings,

Joe

That is such a nice story, hope to see you post as you do your build.

Time to activate this project, after almost 40 years' hiatus. At first, I made wheel covers from aluminum sheet. To see how they'll look I naturally needed a pair of wheels.

Well, the wheels needed tires. Can you imagine, I found a set of lightweight wheels with tires with exactly the right dimensions and form for a 1/7.3 scale Dauntless! They are 105 mm wheels from Pichler, Germany. (Actually I purchased the set before and the wheels were made to suit them.)

The next step upwards is the landing gear.

ilkka

Good to see you back on the Dauntless build. Will be following along on the sidelines.

Soft landings,

Joe

Hey,,,I tried to find you a replacement wing,so I checked traplet pub
and went through all of their wood packs
I did find a 69"w.s Dauntless but no wood parts avialable.
Also check kit cutters.

Thank you for your effort. I appreciate it very much. I am gonna get my wing balsa from a LHS. I think I am going to modify the construction quite a bit anyway.

I see, you live in Plymouth, MN. Back in ´77 I had a summer job in the USA and I was living there, too. Pineview Lane.

ilkka

Today the first real chill has settled in,The flying season is so short here.
I have 2 planes to maiden and trying to finish a 3rd.
I found Pineview ln,its close by.All of the farm field is gone,its
a busy town now.I fly nitro so I cant go to the park.
I have always wanted a Dauntless,I have to choose between a corsair and a Dauntless.Its Tough
Please post pics of your build,thanks

I purchased Ripmax electric retracts, type "Large Mains". Unfortunately, due to Dauntless retraction geometry, I could not use them "as is". I had to convert them to retract to the opposite direction. Seems to work, though.

The retracts are attached to plywood boxes built on center wing main beam. I hope I can support the beam at the wing dihedral joints with stronger-than-usual wing ribs.

ilkka

Very good.Laminate where possible.

At last I got the landing gear completed.

I made the cylinder part from extruded aluminum tube. The tube's outer diameter was less than scale so I made that region to look thicker with thin wall styrene tube.

ilkka

Gear video

Douglas Dauntless RC Model Landing Gear (1 min 17 sec)

I got the wing center section framed. The outmost ribs are plywood, other ribs are from balsa.

The landing gear was a tight fit. However, it seems to fit in the wing like it should.

ilkka

Due to careless work the center section got malformed wing profile. In addition it was badly twisted after sheeting the forward part as I never thought it must be supported straight while sheeting. I did not have any alternative but to rip off the sheeting and sand the ribs to proper shape. The second try produced an acceptable center section.

I vacuformed the wheel wells from thin plastic. The plug is made of glassed foam. Still to sheet the gear leg portions of the wells. Someday. Perhaps.

ilkka