1/48 Douglas TBD-1 'Devastator' - Great Wall Hobby

[Cris Garcia]

Hi Folks, 

 

After the build of the Japanese Nakajima B5N2 'Kate', next in line was her Nemesis, the infamous American torpedo bomber carrier aircraft Douglas TBD-1 'Devastator'.  The kit is from the Chinese brand GWH (or Great Wall Hobby) from 2012.  I was pleasantly surprised by the nearly perfect fit of the fuselage and wings.  But things started to get complicated once I dry fit the canopy, not the closed one provided, but the seven-piece open canopy alternative.  Lot of sanding and testing of the last 3 parts of the canopy was needed as for the radioman/gunner can show his 0.30 Browning M2 displayed.  Except for that, the rest of the build went straight on.

 

Black basing and pre-shading technique was used to 'break' monotony on the one colour top fuselage.  Colors came mostly from Mr. Color 367 (Blue Gray) and AK RC 220 (Light Gull Grey).  Figures came from spares, Tamiya for the pilot and an old Monogram for the radioman/gunner.  I also used Eduard decals from they newer Wildcat kit to represent this aircraft used by VT-5 during the Battle of The Coral Sea, and I can tell you it was quite an adventure to peel the carrier film off!  Nonetheless, the tail was masked and painted.

 

A really nice kit, but it put to test all my skills developed in the last 3 years since I return to the hobby. Very glad on how it came to life.

You can see all the building process at my instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/cris.oveja.negra/

 

 

All the best from Santiago, keep modelling, 

Cris.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2024 by Cris Garcia

[Toryu]

Beautiful build, Cris. The crewman make it even more enjoyable.

[Armorrich]

Beautiful all around. That paint job is magnificent. Well done....

 

Cheers...Rich 

[Dieda]

Hello, zur paint Job ist Really Good 😃👍

[arfa1983]

Absolutely magnificent! The figures look really good too.

[georgeusa]

Great looking Devastator and a really effective paint job.  The figures are also well done.  Thanks for sharing.

[Keeff]

That is fantastic!  Great paintwork and detailing! 👌

 

Keith 😁 

[Rod bettencourt]

Good looking build, thanks for sharing.

 

Rod

[Fred piket]

Brilliant Devastator! I love it.

[Zigomar]

Great built, thought I am not fun of pilots on models. Squadron has a canopy for the Monogram Devastator that can be used for the GWH model! Un abraço to Santiago.

[GoranD]

Great job, pilots turned out really nice, you did a great job on those corrugated wings👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Model cobber]

Very nice. Pre-shading has worked well. Great masking on the canopy with beautiful neat framing. MC

[Philly1860]

I like this one lovely paint job and agree the figures set it off.

 

Colin

[David H]

Nice model, Chris!

 

I suspect the pilots of Torpedo Squadron 8 were expecting more vigorous and aggressive fighter cover. TBDs had a decent showing at Coral Sea and it was probably expected by the pilots to do just as well or better. at Midway. I don't think any of em were expecting the meat grinder that they flew into.

[Pantherhawk27263]

What a lovely job!!! It looks fantastic. Stunning work. 

[Darth Vader]

Beautiful, the paint job is just exquisite 

[pacificmustang]

Lovely work in all aspects 

Bruce

[kapam]

Superb!

👏👏👏👏

[Cris Garcia]

17 hours ago, Darth Vader said:

Beautiful, the paint job is just exquisite 

Thanks Master, Obi Wan taught me well!

[Cris Garcia]

21 hours ago, David H said:

Nice model, Chris!

 

I suspect the pilots of Torpedo Squadron 8 were expecting more vigorous and aggressive fighter cover. TBDs had a decent showing at Coral Sea and it was probably expected by the pilots to do just as well or better. at Midway. I don't think any of em were expecting the meat grinder that they flew into.

Agreed. Just an observation, the torpedo squadrons that fought at Midway were other than the ones that fought at Coral Sea (VT-2 and VT-5). VT-8 and VT-6 were completely slaughtered by the Japanese CAP and AAA. VT-3 was also badly hit, but Jimmy Thatch and his fighters fought valiantly against the Zeros preventing further shoot-downs.

[russ c]

Superb TBD there Chris, great job getting the canopy parts to fit as you have

[Navy Bird]

Outstanding workmanship on that one! Paintwork is beautiful. Feel free to pat yourself on the back.    

 

Ever since they found these guys...

 

 

...I've been wondering if it's possible to make a diorama of an aircraft that is under water. Anyone know if that's ever been done? Probably would need to be in a letterbox format (box with a window in the front).

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Duncan B]

Very nicely done, the GWH kit looks great.

 

Duncan B