A-24B Banshee

Brengun, 1/144 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

The Banshee was the equivalent to the U.S. Navy SBD-5 Dauntless, but lacking the arrestor hook. It entered service  in 1943 with the more powerful 1,200-hp Wright R-1820-60 Cyclone engine, a more powerful engine than either the A-24 or A-24A. As a result, it could fly slightly faster and higher than the earlier models. The A-24B lacked the small air intake on the top of the engine cowling present on the earlier models and that is an easy way to distinguish the B model. 

A handful of A-24s survived with the USAAF long enough to be taken over by the USAF when that service became independent of the Army in September 1947. A  few remaining A-24 Banshees became known as F-24 Banshees after WWII, soldiering on in a reserve role until 1950 when they were scrapped. The French used a number of them until the early 1950s. 

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Thumbnail panels:

IBG’s tiny rendition of the A-24B comes in the familiar small end-opening box with a nice CAD drawing on the top and a colour illustration of the two decal choices on the bottom. Inside is a clear sleeve containing two sprues in mid-grey and a single clear canopy. The parts are very well moulded and contain all the parts to also produce the A-24A and Dauntless aircraft. Interior detail is restricted to a floor, seats , a radio bulkhead and an instrument panel and guns. No detail is inside the fuselage halves. Many of the parts are necessarily thick ( such as u.c doors and bomb sling) and can be thinned down or replaced with finer card or rod. I suspect we will see a PE set in the near future to make up for the limitations of the moulded plastic parts. The canopy, while clear, is quite thick. Surface details are finely done and should look great under a coat of paint.

The instructions are clearly drawn in B&W in six stages and a parts map indicates the parts not used in this variant.

Decals are nicely printed on a mid-blue background that helps in the search for pale markings. The colour is dense and carrier film is negligible. However the red in the review sample is off by  a poofteenth and results in the French cocardes and Cross of Lorraine, and the red outline to the USAAF marks being noticeably out of register. 

The two options are:

1. A-24B-1-DO, of the 407th BG, Amchitka, , mid 1944, and

2. A-24B-1-DO, GCB 1/18 “Vendee”, Armee de l’Aire, 1944.

Both are in the same Olive Drab over Neutral Grey, although the French one has B&W stripes under wings and rear fuselage.

In summary, this is a nice little kit of a the Air Force variant of the Dauntless that saw action in some of the lesser campaigns of the war.

Recommended to any tiny-scale modeller with an interest in this era and the aircraft used then..

Thanks to Brengun for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2023 by Graham Carter
Page Created 1 May, 2023
Last updated 1 May, 2023

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