Virtually all SBD models I have seen position their wingwalks incorrectly. Everyone seems to do the easy and obvious position that puts the innermost edge of the wingwalk butted right up against the seam produced where the wing fairing meets the wing topside. This is not scale accurate.

Looking at photos of the fullscale SBD, you'll find that the wingwalks were butted up against the narrow fairing at the leading end of the walk, but crossed over the fairing seam as it went back. It ends up with the trailing end of the walk straddling about midway across the seam with the wing fairing. Essentially, it follows more parallel to the fuselage instead of the fairing. This would obviously make sense, since the gunner crewman would not mount the plane from such a far distance from the fuse.

The other thing that I think is weak on most wingwalks is the color and texture. Most models will have a very uniform black color and texture, with sharp clean edges. Again, looking at fullscale planes, you'll see that simply by "walking the walk" you tend to dirty up the strip, and it eventually starts getting tattered and peeling off the wing.

Also, these planes were based on carriers at sea, so the guys walking them wings with saltwater on their shoes produced a lot of sea salt residue that got trapped in the texture of the wingwalks. Actually, many carrier-based SBD's that saw much action ended up with wingwalks that were nearly "salt-white" instead of black! Now, on to how I did my walks...

My technique and materials

I started by masking the strips down with blue painters tape to get the basic shape. Then I tore small pieces & strips of tape and applied them in "scabs" in the areas that got the most wear. Then I painted thew area with various mottled shades of scale black acrylics. Next I shot the Rustoleum "Anit-Slip" enamel paint over the whole area. This paint has a sandy grit in the paint that produces the perfect texture.

Once that was dry, I began adding some airbrush weathering and staining to dirty up the area. I also used black and white charcoal sticks to add more color variation and bring out the texture. You can "powederize" the charcoal by grinding it down on a piece of sand paper, then use your fingertip to smudge the dust on the wingwalk. This done in light steps produces a good simulated seawater salt effect.

Now I pulled all the tape "scabs" off and shot a good coat of Nelson's flat clear to seal it all in. I finished up with a light misting of Flat Clear Acrylics to really dull it down, since Nelson's clear is just not "flat enough." The end result is a pretty scale accurate and realistic wingwalk. The picture here looks a little "off" since the weathering has not yet been done on the rest of the plane. Once that's done, it will all come together very nice!