monogram kit 7575 Devastator

I built one awhile back and used Eduard's PE set and some Starfighter decals, along with some rivets from Archer. Its a great kit, but there are wide gaps at the wing to fuselage join. They need to be shimmed with plastic, for they are way too wide to just putty. Also, the bomb bay doors don't fit that well, but if your careful they shouldn't need too much work. For the small side windows, I would suggest painting your exterior color around the opening first, then glueing in the windows from behind, so you dont' have to try and mask them perfectly. I used a vac canopy because the kit one is too thick to pose open, if you go that route. Sorry, can't help you on a yellow wings bird for paint, I've never done one. I wanna say the instrument panel was a tricky fit, but thats about all I remember....Oh, and the wing halves are a biotch to sand with the corrugations on the leading edge.

Here she is:

The biggest thing to watch is the fit of the wing to the fuselage. Everything else is pretty much issue/problem free. Seam removal on the wing leading edges are an exercise in patience and eyesight due to the wing corrugations. I used needle files on mine. Tamiya or Testors Aluminum is a good choice for the aluminum lacquer finish. As far as painting goes, work lighest to darkest, and use the Aluminum as a primer/base before masking the Chrome Yellow upper wing surface, and tail surfaces. (USS Ranger was Willow Green IIRC). Just tack the cowl in place for painting, and save final attachment of that until cowl marking painting is done, and the propeller attached to the shaft.

Nice looking TBD.  Some hours of work on detailing and weathering, hey?  Your suggesting the fuselage be painted and then the windows stuck in? So you say paint around the window opening before inserting windows and then gluing the fuselage halves together; got it.  I'm prepared to fit the wing to the fuselage with some plastic, but not prepared to fix the leading edge seem.  Any suggestions on tools to us for such narrow openings?

Yes, I pre painted my fuelage halves inside and out, on the one that I am building now as well

i used needle files on the wing seam clean up

and sheet styrene shims to eliminate wing root gaps

Would the trick of gluing the upper wing inner panels to the fuselage first take care of the gap issue?  I've used that on other kits with similar engineering.  Or would that make it impossible to install the lower center wing panel?

I'm a fan of this kit, even with the issues that people have pointed out.  I built it as a kid, when it was first issued, I've got one in progress, and another 4 or 5 in my stash.

If you go that route, you will most likely have the wing corrugations mid aligned, and possibly the wing fold edge as well.

stikpusher

If you go that route, you will most likely have the wing corrugations mid aligned, and possibly the wing fold edge as well.

I just purchased the kit off Ebay for under $30, not bad I'd say as finding one in good shape is hard. The last one I had was put together by someone who did not have much experience and it was a disappointment, oh well. I will be painting my kit with a Badger 200 using the mixes of paint and blue tint wiper fluid and drying with my hand dryer. I use all acrylic craft paints as I have mentioned previously here and yellow wings are the plane along with the same name brand decals added. As with all of my aircraft models (all 1/48th) I add a bit of glossy paint into the mix to allow the decals to set better.

Photos look great, keep up the good work!

John

"Tamiya or Testors Aluminum is a good choice for the aluminum lacquer finish. As far as painting goes, work lighest to darkest, and use the Aluminum as a primer/base before masking the Chrome Yellow upper wing surface, and tail surfaces."

I think I'm ready to move forward with construction and then painting, but discovered something in finishing my recent F6F.  I masked the prop to paint the yellow tips.  When I removed the mask some of the aluminum paint came off on the blue painters tape I used for mask but none of the black paint did.  Both paints were MM Enamel and had a couple of weeks to cure before I masked them.  I did not treat the original prop paint job (black blades and aluminum hub) before I masked.  I'm concerned about painting the Devastator MM Aluminum all over and then masking it to paint the yellow and squadron markings only to remove the tape and have the Aluminum paint come off with it.  any suggestions?

Try Tamiya masking tape... It has lower tack, and should never pull up a dried n cured enamel paint.