1/72 Airfix TBD-1 Devastator

by Oliver Weston

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Hello all!

    Prior to Americas entry into the war, the Devastator equipped most of the U.S. Navy's Torpedo Squadrons. This particular kit shows an aircraft with the markings of the colourful VT-5 from the carrier USS Yorktown at the time of Pearl Harbour. Although the aircraft itself was obsolete, it took part in most of the major sea battles in the first few months of the conflict. Powered by a 900 h.p. Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp, the Devastator had a top speed of around 206 m.p.h. and a crew of three. Defensive armament consisted of one fixed 0.3in gun in the cowling and a flexible 0.5in machine gun in the rear cockpit. Warload consisted of a 21" Torpedo or one heavy bomb.

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Right, now for the kit. This is Airfix's take on this famous aircraft and on the whole isn't a bad effort. However there a few areas where I think improvements could have been made. The moulding on some parts was a bit, shall we say ropey with quite a bit of sanding and shaping in order to get the parts to fit snugly (is it me or are Airfix going a bit downhill?). The other major thing was the cockpit glass was a bit naff, but even if it was an aftermarket offering I would probably have made the same mess of it! Good points, the cockpit detail was quite good (for an Airfix kit of this scale anyway) and the transfers went on with no fuss (apart from one mistake which I will let the reader search for). The only modifications I made while constructing the kit, was to make it with the wings in the flight position and to drill two tiny holes in the exhaust stacks for a bit of added realism.

Paints used were all Humbrol. 11 Metallic Silver for the airframe, 24 Trainer Yellow for the wings and 60 Scarlet Red Matt for the tail and front cowling. With the usual matt blacks and gunmetal's for guns, undercarriage etc. Hope you have enjoyed looking at my model, see you all soon. 

Regards

Oliver

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Photos and text © by Oliver Weston