Trumpeter 1/32 TBD-1 Devastator

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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This is my first time posting, so here goes for review and critique.

This is my recent completion of the Trumpeter 1/32 TBD-1 Devastator. Overall, this was a nice kit that went together well. Any real issues encountered were my own.

The kit does present a nice base for upgrades and I did take advantage of the Airscale Pro line of resin parts. PE interior, resin prop, twin mount .30, wing fold inserts, and gunsight. the 1ManArmy masks were used for the stencil markings, and Hawaiian Air Depot masks were used for the remaining markings. Only three decals were used in the kit, and those were for the Hamilton Standard prop logos.

Aircraft was painted in the markings of Lt Commander Waldron, of Torpedo Squadron 8 at the Battle of Midway. In my research, the aircraft he flew, T-16, was a replacement aircraft. In the movie John Ford filmed, you can see another replacement aircraft, T-3, on deck. T-3 still has the meatballs in the roundel and the remaining markings, which were painted out. The story goes that the maintenance crews could not reach them as they hung from the ceiling. Since T-16 was a replacement, I felt comfortable leaving them as seen on T-3 in the movie.

MR Paint lacquers were used, with some Vallejo used when hand-painting was needed. Overall I loved this kit and would build it again. Maybe a yellow-wing version to add some color to my display.

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All I can say is… WOW !! Great build and it looks like a great kit.

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Nicely done!

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Very nice. Love the twin 30 details.

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Excellent job on the TBD. The Airscale twin mount is just perfect. It is the only one out there that actually is a correct early twin AN M2 mount that is box fed for TBD’s and early SBD-2/3’s. I have just one quibble which is the fire extinguisher. Pre-war and WW2 aircraft carried brass or bronze extinguishers. The red paint was used post war.

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Beautiful build

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Red designated CO2 extinguishers, the Brass ones used Carbon Tetrachloride as the extinguishing fluid (suitable for fuel and electrical fires). Copper colored bottles had pressurized borate treated water, which were not often on a/c due to weight considerations.

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Thanks for explaining markings. Pretty unusual.

Really nice build.

Bill

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Thank you! Went together very well.

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That was the toughest decision of the whole build for me. Researching fire extinguishers seemed to give too many options without a definitive answer that I could find.

The internal extinguisher is brass and the other is red. So, I figured one of them would be right. LOL

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Which1ManArmy masks?

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Never mind. Found it. Wasn’t cheap. Nice job with the Devastator, by the way.

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@FLModeller For some reason, your pictures are not showing up for me. I will check my laptop tomorrow to see if it is a problem with my iPad. But I do the subject and the story you put together about your build. Midway was always my favorite battle of WWII.

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Yeah, I can’t see the pics either, neither on my iPhone nor my PC. Sure would like to! Ha!

Edit: A right-click and “open image in new window” brought me to the Facebook post: Redirecting...

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Welcome @aggie308 and Gig 'Em