1/48 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator (VT-2 Lexington)

Marine SB2U in the overall light gray burning at MCAS Ewa after the Pearl Harbor Attack.

Both the Army and Navy/Marine Corps were trying to get aircraft repainted into War colors but had not completely dome so in both Hawaii and the Phillipines when the war started for US forces.

stikpusher

 

 

Shipwreck

 

 

lawdog114

stikpusher

the Baron

That's a great finish!

I can't help thinking, though, that the poor plane captain is going to get a chewing-out for the state of that TBD

 I agree wholeheartedly with the above. A beautiful artistic finish, but not so realistic. Pre war TBDs in most every photo look to be very well maintained and cleaned. The peacetime Navy op tempo allowed for such niceties. 

One critique that I would add is that the tail color for the Lexinton’s Air Group was Lemon Yellow, a lighter and distinctly different shade than the wing top Chrome Yellow.

Thanks Stik. I‘ll go ahead and disagree about the dirty part. Just because there are no pictures of them dirty doesn’t necessarily mean it never happened on occasion. These tend to look like toys without weathering so I sought to avoid this. 

Thanks for the info about the tail. I never even thought of it. This turkey was way out of my comfort zone. 

 

 

 

 

Stik and Joe,  Regarding the camouflage/weathering question; I think you are both right. It just depends. For example, how many pre war marked aircraft turned blue on December 7th? It had to take time to repaint the entire fleet of aircraft. From what I understand, the war disrupted many things. It seems perfectly reasonable to me if a pretty pre war marked plan were to get dirty before it got blue! Just a thought.

 

 

 

 

Oh the run up to the war disrupted many things. Op tempo increased. Alerts and patrols as the war clouds gathered. But there was another paint scheme worn between the Yellow Wings scheme, and the Blue Gray over Gray, overall Light Gray, which began to be applied in early 1941. The Blue Gray over Gray did not take effect until October of 1941 and priority went to shipboard Aircraft. There are photos showing land based USN/USMC aircraft in the overall light gray at Pearl Harbor and on Oahu immediately after the attack.

 

Great discussion!  I do recall the light grey scheme from when I built the SBD-1 back when I first got back into the hobby. It was the second kit I built when I return and I used model master light gull grey if I remember correctly. 

Shipwreck

 

 

lawdog114

stikpusher

the Baron

That's a great finish!

I can't help thinking, though, that the poor plane captain is going to get a chewing-out for the state of that TBD

 I agree wholeheartedly with the above. A beautiful artistic finish, but not so realistic. Pre war TBDs in most every photo look to be very well maintained and cleaned. The peacetime Navy op tempo allowed for such niceties. 

One critique that I would add is that the tail color for the Lexinton’s Air Group was Lemon Yellow, a lighter and distinctly different shade than the wing top Chrome Yellow.

Thanks Stik. I‘ll go ahead and disagree about the dirty part. Just because there are no pictures of them dirty doesn’t necessarily mean it never happened on occasion. These tend to look like toys without weathering so I sought to avoid this. 

Thanks for the info about the tail. I never even thought of it. This turkey was way out of my comfort zone. 

 

 

 

 

Stik and Joe,  Regarding the camouflage/weathering question; I think you are both right. It just depends. For example, how many pre war marked aircraft turned blue on December 7th? It had to take time to repaint the entire fleet of aircraft. From what I understand, the war disrupted many things. It seems perfectly reasonable to me if a pretty pre war marked plan were to get dirty before it got blue! Just a thought.

 

Oh the run up to the war disrupted many things. Op tempo increased. Alerts and patrols as the war clouds gathered. But there was another paint scheme worn between the Yellow Wings scheme, and the Blue Gray over Gray, overall Light Gray, which began to be applied in early 1941. The Blue Gray over Gray did not take effect until October of 1941 and priority went to shipboard Aircraft. There are photos showing land based USN/USMC aircraft in the overall light gray at Pearl Harbor and on Oahu immediately after the attack.

Shipwreck

 

 

lawdog114

stikpusher

the Baron

That's a great finish!

I can't help thinking, though, that the poor plane captain is going to get a chewing-out for the state of that TBD

 I agree wholeheartedly with the above. A beautiful artistic finish, but not so realistic. Pre war TBDs in most every photo look to be very well maintained and cleaned. The peacetime Navy op tempo allowed for such niceties. 

One critique that I would add is that the tail color for the Lexinton’s Air Group was Lemon Yellow, a lighter and distinctly different shade than the wing top Chrome Yellow.

Thanks Stik. I‘ll go ahead and disagree about the dirty part. Just because there are no pictures of them dirty doesn’t necessarily mean it never happened on occasion. These tend to look like toys without weathering so I sought to avoid this. 

Thanks for the info about the tail. I never even thought of it. This turkey was way out of my comfort zone. 

 

 

 

 

Stik and Joe,  Regarding the camouflage/weathering question; I think you are both right. It just depends. For example, how many pre war marked aircraft turned blue on December 7th? It had to take time to repaint the entire fleet of aircraft. From what I understand, the war disrupted many things. It seems perfectly reasonable to me if a pretty pre war marked plan were to get dirty before it got blue! Just a thought.

 

Excellent point. All passes still revoked!

Tickmagnet

Very nice build.

 

Thanks Tick

Tom Hering

Excellent. I really like pre-war colors and markings.

 

Thanks Tom

lawdog114

stikpusher

the Baron

That's a great finish!

I can't help thinking, though, that the poor plane captain is going to get a chewing-out for the state of that TBD

 I agree wholeheartedly with the above. A beautiful artistic finish, but not so realistic. Pre war TBDs in most every photo look to be very well maintained and cleaned. The peacetime Navy op tempo allowed for such niceties. 

One critique that I would add is that the tail color for the Lexinton’s Air Group was Lemon Yellow, a lighter and distinctly different shade than the wing top Chrome Yellow.

Thanks Stik. I‘ll go ahead and disagree about the dirty part. Just because there are no pictures of them dirty doesn’t necessarily mean it never happened on occasion. These tend to look like toys without weathering so I sought to avoid this. 

Thanks for the info about the tail. I never even thought of it. This turkey was way out of my comfort zone. 

Stik and Joe,  Regarding the camouflage/weathering question; I think you are both right. It just depends. For example, how many pre war marked aircraft turned blue on December 7th? It had to take time to repaint the entire fleet of aircraft. From what I understand, the war disrupted many things. It seems perfectly reasonable to me if a pretty pre war marked plan were to get dirty before it got blue! Just a thought.

Very nice build.

Excellent. I really like pre-war colors and markings.

Greg

Zowie. That is really eye-catching, Joe.

 

 

Thanks Greg

stikpusher

 

 

the Baron

That's a great finish!

I can't help thinking, though, that the poor plane captain is going to get a chewing-out for the state of that TBD

 

 

 

 

I agree wholeheartedly with the above. A beautiful artistic finish, but not so realistic. Pre war TBDs in most every photo look to be very well maintained and cleaned. The peacetime Navy op tempo allowed for such niceties. 

One critique that I would add is that the tail color for the Lexinton’s Air Group was Lemon Yellow, a lighter and distinctly different shade than the wing top Chrome Yellow.

 

Thanks Stik. I‘ll go ahead and disagree about the dirty part. Just because there are no pictures of them dirty doesn’t necessarily mean it never happened on occasion. These tend to look like toys without weathering so I sought to avoid this. 

Thanks for the info about the tail. I never even thought of it. This turkey was way out of my comfort zone. 

Zowie. That is really eye-catching, Joe.

the Baron

That's a great finish!

I can't help thinking, though, that the poor plane captain is going to get a chewing-out for the state of that TBD

 

I agree wholeheartedly with the above. A beautiful artistic finish, but not so realistic. Pre war TBDs in most every photo look to be very well maintained and cleaned. The peacetime Navy op tempo allowed for such niceties. 

One critique that I would add is that the tail color for the Lexinton’s Air Group was Lemon Yellow, a lighter and distinctly different shade than the wing top Chrome Yellow.

the Baron

That's a great finish!

I can't help thinking, though, that the poor plane captain is going to get a chewing-out for the state of that TBD

 

Thanks! Indeed. Pass revoked!

That's a great finish!

I can't help thinking, though, that the poor plane captain is going to get a chewing-out for the state of that TBD

RadMax8

Hi Joe,

Great work. I can imagine the masks not settling down gets annoying. Have you thought about cutting your own masks with kabuki tape (basically sheets of Tamiya tape)? I’ve heard those craft cutters make quick work of making masks.

This is a great build, thanks for sharing. Any interest in doing more yellow wings in the future?

 

Thanks Max. I do cut Japanese meatballs out of Tamiya tape, not sure I have the desire to try anything more complicated. Montex normally works great sans the corrugated surface.

...and no, likely my last one.  

1943Mike

Fabulous scale model work Joe!

 

Thanks Mike

Shipwreck

Well Joe, I would say that you deserve a double WOW; one for each TBD. The pre-war color scheme is just pretty! Thanks for sharing you art work.

 

Thanks Ship, and your welcome.  

Hi Joe,

Great work. I can imagine the masks not settling down gets annoying. Have you thought about cutting your own masks with kabuki tape (basically sheets of Tamiya tape)? I’ve heard those craft cutters make quick work of making masks.

This is a great build, thanks for sharing. Any interest in doing more yellow wings in the future?

Fabulous scale model work Joe!

Well Joe, I would say that you deserve a double WOW; one for each TBD. The pre-war color scheme is just pretty! Thanks for sharing you art work.

Greatmaker

Really like the weathered yellow and NMF look. I didn’t think I would like the pre-war version but I have to admit yours raises the bar

 

Thanks Robert! I didn’t think I was gonna like it either, but it grew on me. 

philo426

Yes sir!Classic Monogram kit!

 

Nice! Mine is actually the subject on the box art of that old kit. The guy I built it for built that one as a kid. He’s feelin‘ nostalgic!

Really like the weathered yellow and NMF look. I didn’t think I would like the pre-war version but I have to admit yours raises the bar

Yes sir!Classic Monogram kit!

philo426

 

Nice! Is that bare metal foil? 

Reasoned

I must say, you've made the pre-war scheme of yellow wings etc. look better than acceptable, it really is attractive. I think your weathering has, as you said, made it look less toy-like. Very nice Joe.

 

Thanks Reasoned. It was actually more challenging than you would think. 

BrandonK

Wow, Joe. That looks fantastic. Now that I've see you do both schemes I don't know which one I like better for mine. I thought I loved the blue scheme, but this yellow wing is amazing looking. Hmm, may have to flip a coin. Well done, again.

BK

 

Thanks Brandon