Hello there BritModeller Community!
It is with great pleasure to present to you my second take on building this classic Monogram kit. So much has happened since it was delivered to me after purchasing on eBay 24 years ago. I gained a ton of weight, lost a ton of weight, got married, bought a house, raised two kids, both of whom are in college and have rekindled my passion for this hobby.
My first attempt at this kit was back in the late 70's; I was a wee lad with more enthusiasm than skill. I hurriedly built the aircraft, rushing to start that unique Lemon Yellow paint job on the wings. I "completed" the model but believe me it was a true example of enthusiasm over skill by a pre-teen. Brush strokes abound, broken parts, not a page of reference material and lots of nasty Testers glue marks all over it, I was proud to say it was done. Then of course, I blew it up with some well placed fireworks.
Fast forward to 2000 and I am starting to dip my toe in the water around restarting this hobby. Naturally, the first kit that came to mind to try was that Monogram Devastator kit. A quick search on eBay uncovered the kit new in the box and a few days later I started in on it. Then life happened. I met my lovely bride and all my spare time was spent chasing her. I got as far as masking the canopies before putting it down to start that new chapter of my life.
Last year I posted my first build after that very long hiatus and went back to working on the Devastator. How times have changed. There are tons of tutorials available on YouTube, some money in my pocket to by some aftermarket decals or resin torpedo kit I happily plowed forward until finally it's done. I've joined my local chapter of the IPMS and brought it to our last meeting. I immediately see ALL those flaws that I will fix on my next project but for now, this is a best I could do. More importantly, I LEARNED so many new techniques and got to try all them on this build. As you go through the photos, it'll become very apparent that BritModeller's very own @dnl42 provided MASSIVE amounts of inspiration, information and just plain guidance as I puzzled my way through the build while referencing theirs. Let me know what you think and I look forward to posting images of my next build., Tamiya's 1/72 Messerschmitt BF-109E 4/7 Trop. Cheers!