Monogram #7575 1/48 Devastator TBD-1 -- FINISHED!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks great, Id be in a world of hurt with that birdcage of a canopy. 

[dnl42]

I decided to make a more accurate pitot from Albion tubing. I used 3 smaller tubes as the forks and fit those into a larger tube, which appears relatively close to the apparent construction shown in this photograph

 

The table below calculates the diamter of a larger circle (D) that circumscribes 3 tangent circles (d). For the forks, my stock includes 0.14mm brass rod as well as 0.3 and 0.5mm Albion brass tubing ("d" in the table below). These lead to larger tubing ODs of 0.5, 0.9, and 1.2mm.

I chose 0.9mm tubing for the main tube as this scales out to about 1 5/8 in diameter; the 0.3mm forks scales out to a little under 5/8 in.

 

With some bending and breath holding, I finally got to this point. CA is holding it all together. I'll use some Mr.Surfactor to fair the forks as they emerge from the tube.

[Toryu]

Man, what a battle for accuracy! And I thought I'm obsessed with detail...  Most impressive!

[dnl42]

15 minutes ago, Toryu said:

Man, what a battle for accuracy! And I thought I'm obsessed with detail...  Most impressive!

I've found my quest for accuracy is not consistent. Some features will scream out for me to correct while others get a pass, 

[dnl42]

The pitot is done. A root section of brass Albion brass 1.1mm tubing is glued into the wing. I aligned this with a makeshift jig using a length of 0.9mm tubing for horizontal and vertical alignment. Looking at the photos again, the root section should have been a tad longer. 

 

Per the photos, I faired the tube into the leading edge with putty. I used Molatov Liquid Chrome for the 2 upper-side tines. The delicate pitot section is just slid into the root section for the time being. If I had actually glued it in place now, I gua-ran-tee it would have been mashed before too long.

 

Decals are next, then final assembly.

 

Thanks for looking! 

[dnl42]

With only 14 decals to apply, this was a quick step. The Techmod decals needed a bit of a soak to release. They're also quite thin, which made it difficult to get the oh-so-small type and tail no off the paper. Fortunately, they provided extras of the type.

But once on, the decals moved well enough and settled down very nicely with the aid of MSI Micro Set. I'll apply some Micro Sol tomorrow.

As usual for me, this is without a gloss coast as Mr.Color paint provides an amazingly smooth surface, regardless of sheen.

[JeroenS]

This looks really nice. Nice job on the pitot. Regarding the accuracy, and speaking for myself of course, I find that there would be no fun in this hobby if I were to try for everything on every build. Besides, I usually build my trucks the way I like them, and they're not existing subjects with tail numbers and a/b/c/d/e/etc typing which makes it a lot easier 🙂 

[dnl42]

On finals!

 

It was clearcoated with MSI Micro Flat. The various small cockpit bits were attached. Slipping the IP in was quite a challenge. At first I wondered if I had prematurely glued the stick in, but I had actually followed the instructions at that point. I finally managed to  sllide the IP in forward of the stick from one side and then rotate it into position. The motor, cowling, and torpedo were then added.

 

The tailhook was modifiied to be glued into position v. the latch and pivots allowing for play. While the instructions showed a striped tailhook, and indeed phots do show stripes on some TBDs, the John Ford's VT-8 film suggested the hook was plain gray. BTW, this film also shows the SBD twin 30-cal mounts.

 

I used loon outdoors UV glue to attach the torpedo tail shroud to the fins to get a clear bond that didn't damage the paint. I still need to make and attach the torpedo slings. 

Hm, need to paint the tail wheel tire.

 

Beside the torpdeo sling, the other bit of building left is Eduard's SBD twin 30 cal. MG

 

Thanks for looking. .

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Wow this just gets better and better. 

[dnl42]

I spent a couple of hours working out some bands to mount the torpedo then took another look at an early TBD photo, which showed this

Cables, not bands.

 

While nominally easier, getting the whole thing threaded was quite the exercise

 

It's simplified and oversize, but It will do.

[jean]

Maybe it is oversized and simplified, but nobody would know.

It truly looks life-size.

 

Great build so far!

 

JR

[Toryu]

8 hours ago, dnl42 said:

It's simplified and oversize

 

Happens to me, too, but I still think it adds realism. In real size such detail would often be too small to be represented. Great steps towards completion!

[dnl42]

I finally built Eduard's twin 30 cal mount for the SBD. Here are the resin parts stuck together. Note the 2 resin cocking lever pins. Eduard provided 4, I eventually lost 3 of them.

 

And here it is with the PE that I was able and/or willing to use. By this point both of the cocking lever pins broke off with only one remaining. Fortunately I had some brass rod that fit. In the foreground are some small bits that I couldn't quite attach--TBH I'm happy that I was able to fold them.

 

And here's the final assembly painted according to a contemporaneous photo.

 

Thanks for looking. 

 

 

 

 

[dnl42]

Almost there! I'll be able to string the antenna once the mast is solid.

[JeroenS]

Awesome, that colour looks really good. Building the twin .30 must have been a nightmare!

[dnl42]

23 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

Awesome, that colour looks really good. Building the twin .30 must have been a nightmare!

Thanks. It was hard, and I didn't quite get it right. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

1 hour ago, dnl42 said:

Thanks. It was hard, and I didn't quite get it right. 

Looks right to me but Im not an expert on them. 

[JeroenS]

14 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Looks right to me but Im not an expert on them. 

That's what I thought. I don't have a pair of these handy so really couldn't tell how they're supposed to be. But, as a builder, you'd like to be able to at least get all the required parts on so I understand the dissatisfaction. Still, they look great on the model, well worth the effort.

[dnl42]

Woohoo! It's done! Thank you @stevej60 and @Corsairfoxfouruncle for hosting this GB. I was a great opportunity to get this model built.

Also, a hearty Thank You to all who commented on this thread, your support was greatly appreciated.

 

This is Torpedo Squadron Eight's TBD number T-16, flown by Lt. Commander J.C. Waldron and Chief RM H.F. Dobbs. Waldron was the VT-8 commander.

 

Quote

...on the eve of battle, Commander Waldron called his men together and distributed a mimeographed plan of attack. He concluded by saying that if worst came to worst, he wanted each man to do his utmost to destroy the enemy. "If there is only one plane left to make a final run-in," he told his men, "I want that man to go in and get a hit. May God be with us all. Good luck, happy landings, and give 'em hell."

All of VT-8's attacking aircraft were lost; only Ens G.H. Gay survived. TBDs were withdrawn from front-line service after the Battle of Midway.

 

Now, to the model.

 

I used veevus 16/0 silver fly tying thread for the antenna and Albion 0.4mm tubing for the insulators.

 

The torpedo sling cables. While not quite visible, I did drill out the exhausts on both side.

 

While only 8 decals in the Techmod 48808 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator sheet were needed for this aircraft, the canopy masks were well worth the cost! 

 

The Eduard Twin 30 cal is very nice, with some very small parts that were beyond my skills. Sadly, I used the wrong ring mount (R8), which caused it to be too far back into the ring. This didn't leave any space for the gunner. I originally pulled the corred part, R7, but it went missing at some point.  

 

And here's the very nice Resin2detail 1/38 FAST FIX R-1830 motor. I had to thin the cowling to within a mm of its life as well as remove material from the cylinder heads to make it fit, but that's a problem with all 'interior' parts on a platsic model, the model structure is so grossly oversize that any correctly scaled interior parts--or figures--may not fit.

 

I like these low views, which are more realistic. The drilled-out lightening holes in the wing fold pushrod are just visible.

 

And here's my improved pitot in situ. 

 

Thanks for looking. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Thank you for building this and joining us here. 

[Jinxman]

That's a fine looking build of a golden oldie.

[JeroenS]

Nice. Those low angle shots look really good.

[stevehnz]

You've made a wonderful job on this, I'm well impressed. 👍

Steve.

[paul-muc]

Simply marvellous. Great stuff!

[Toryu]

This turned out great! You created some very nice detail and the shots share it with us. Very well built!