1/48 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator VT-8 "Midway" (Finished)

Greg

Joe, thanks for your feedback regarding Great Wall kits.

I see Clint mentioned he likes them too, thanks to you too.

 

Nice to have you along Greg. 

Oh HELL yeah!!! I SOOOO wanna build me one of these!! I'll definitely be tuned in and watching this one come together. I didn't even know that Great Wall had released this kit and may even go out and buy it now that I've seen this thread. Roll on Joe cus I'll be pullin' me up a seat.

Here is John Ford's documentary on VT-8 on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajlKvA48IXU

Note the scalloped fin boxes.

mustang1989

Oh HELL yeah!!! I SOOOO wanna build me one of these!! I'll definitely be tuned in and watching this one come together. I didn't even know that Great Wall had released this kit and may even go out and buy it now that I've seen this thread. Roll on Joe cus I'll be pullin' me up a seat.

 

Nice to have you Joe....dog the GIF too...

Thanks Rich and Stik. 

I continue to plug way at this turkey.  I assembled the cockpit and have been pretty happy with the fit.  

I read that some modelers used shims to aid in creating positive gluing surfaces.  I followed suit with plasticard.

I then closed her up.  I had no issues.  It's gonna need some more dry brushing later.

I switched to the R-1830  Great Wall did a nice job on this. I didn't even mind the supplied PE wiring harness. It was flat but I built up the wires with copper paint.  Careful painting and a wash..

I returned to the frame and assembled the wings.  I used the same shim technique for the wing tops, which worked well for strength  I needed some putty for gaps here and there but nothing major. I wish these companies would offer one piece wings for folks that want them displayed down, to save some aggravation. What's the saying? Wish in one hand and...well you know the rest...lol.  

Apparently Great Wall forgot to add landing gear well detail? I wonder why nobody mentioned this?

I think I figured out why these were so slow.  Look how small that R-1830 is compared to the rest of the plane.  These were pretty large...

I primed the seams to check my work and taped off the one piece canopy which I will use as a mask.  Time to throw down some paint.

Looking great Joe.  Trying to putty those corrugated wings must have been a pain in the rear.  I'm glad my devastator is far in my past

The R-1830 was not a small motor as it powered PBY's, B-24's, and P-36's.

richs26

The R-1830 was not a small motor as it powered PBY's, B-24's, and P-36's.

 

Yup... it’s more a question of power to weight, and streamlining. The TBD was faster than the aircraft that it replaced, but was outclassed within a few years. 

Lawdog, your TBD is coming along great! That’s a real beauty of a kit. 

The other major factor that led to the demise of VT-8 was the lack of fighter cover, but that was not only because they lost their escorts. The USN was still relying on the SBD as both a dive bomber and a combat air patrol fighter, and the carriers carried about as many TBDs as F4Fs, and twice as many SBDs. 

And I also think that torpedo bombers were kind of an iffy proposition by mid 1942, until guided torpedoes in all of their forms came into general use.

GMorrison

The other major factor that led to the demise of VT-8 was the lack of fighter cover, but that was not only because they lost their escorts. The USN was still relying on the SBD as both a dive bomber and a combat air patrol fighter, and the carriers carried about as many TBDs as F4Fs, and twice as many SBDs. 

 

At Midway, that was not so much the case. The carrier based SBDs were pretty much used only in their primary scout and dive bombing roles. More F4Fs were carried due to the introduction of the -4 model. But yes at Midway, each carrier air group consisted of one fighter squadron of F4Fs, one torpedo squadron of TBDs, one scout squadron of SBDs, and one bombing squadron of SBDs. Each squadron had a nominal assigned strength of 18 aircraft, plus spares carried on board.

This book is a must read for the history of Torpedo 8 and their demise at Midway.

Torpedo 8 was disbanded after the battle for Guadalcanal.

Rambo

Looks really good lawdog. You are right they are a really large airframe for such a small motor.

 

Indeed.  Thnks for dropping by Clint

VT-8 was reconstituted in 1943 and shipped out with the Intrepid in November 1943.

Greatmaker

Looking great Joe.  Trying to putty those corrugated wings must have been a pain in the rear.  I'm glad my devastator is far in my past

 

Thanks Robert.  It was sort of a pain but they lined up ok.  The key was not to press too hard and cause glue seepage which would be difficult to remove.  On the wing folds I used Perfect Plastic Putty and then a toothbrush to remove the excess.  It worked great.  

Unfortunately I still have to build another one...

richs26

The R-1830 was not a small motor as it powered PBY's, B-24's, and P-36's.

 

......and the Wildcat, and perhaps others.  Just an observation.  It looks fairly small in relation to the size of the airframe. With a reported top speed of 200 mph, it was slow.     

stikpusher

Lawdog, your TBD is coming along great! That’s a real beauty of a kit.

Thanks Stik..

fotofrank

This book is a must read for the history of Torpedo 8 and their demise at Midway.

Torpedo 8 was disbanded after the battle for Guadalcanal.

 

Thanks Frank...i wish I had more time to read.  

Coming along nicely!  I ordered this kit based on your comments.  Despite the shortcomings I've always liked this bird.  I'll be following along  

keavdog

Coming along nicely!  I ordered this kit based on your comments.  Despite the shortcomings I've always liked this bird.  I'll be following along  

 

Thanks Keav...

Excellent work, Joe. I have plans to build a 1/48 TBD, SBD, F4F, and B-25 to set beside my 1/350 USS Hornet representing the Doolittle raid on April 18, 1942. In your research, do you remember coming across any changes to the SBD from April to to Midway in June; and, did your kit come the VT-8 decals that you plan on using?

Shipwreck

Excellent work, Joe. I have plans to build a 1/48 TBD, SBD, F4F, and B-25 to set beside my 1/350 USS Hornet representing the Doolittle raid on April 18, 1942. In your research, do you remember coming across any changes to the SBD from April to to Midway in June; and, did your kit come the VT-8 decals that you plan on using?

 

Thanks ship. No idea about the SBD. I think they used the Dash 3 if I remember correctly. I plan to paint the markings, but yes this boxing comes with Gay‘s and Waldron’s VT-8 markings. 

Love the work, Joe. The interior looks great. And thanks for the heads up on the wings, I think I'll build mine folded up. Besides I'm running out of space and the folded wings just gives me more room.

BK

Shipwreck

Excellent work, Joe. I have plans to build a 1/48 TBD, SBD, F4F, and B-25 to set beside my 1/350 USS Hornet representing the Doolittle raid on April 18, 1942. In your research, do you remember coming across any changes to the SBD from April to to Midway in June; and, did your kit come the VT-8 decals that you plan on using?

 

The SBDs likely had the single .30 gun mount for the gunner in April 1942. The switch to twin .30 mounts occurred just before Midway. There is a snippet on this situation in “Icredible Victory” how Cdr Waldron was able to cajole some of those twin mounts for his TBDs on the eve of the battle.

Got in some painting last night and I'm surprised how far I got with the assistance of Indiana Jones on Netflix.  I started by preshading the panel lines. Then I sprayed the insignias and added the Montex Masks.  I was having trouble getting the thick masks into the corrigated wings (cussing to ensue later). I sprayed the light grey with custom mix of XF-19 Sky Grey and XF-2 White.

My normal mix of Intermediate Blue is half XF-18 Medium Blue and half XF-2 White, or 60% blue 40% white.  I'm not sure what I used my XF-18 on, but it was almost empty?  I ended up running out before finishing.  Fortunately I remembered I had Intermediate Blue in Mission Models that I used on a Corsair. I feathered it in.  With some fading I liked the results. I also painted in the upper black wig root walks and taped them off before paint. A side note, I don't know what happened, but I really don't like this paint anymore.  It's too thick. Perhaps I forgot how to thin it correcty. I was having trouble getting it to spray well.      

The underside wingtips are straight Mission Intermediate Blue.  I think my Tamiya concoction was darn close.

I removed the Montex masks from the wing insignias to find that the blue had leached onto the white star a bit.  It was because couldn't get a tight seal with the Montex material into each groove. I even tried to take precaution by spraying straight at it.  It looked sloppy. I went for plan B.  I used Tamiya tape and outlined each star then resprayed the white again.  This worked much better. 

I had no issues with the fuselage stars. Montex works great on smooth surfaces.  Corrigation, not so much.   

I added some slight postshading then used some pictures to simulate the exhaust staining.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. 

I crudded up the underside a bit too.  

Now I have to turn my attention to the canopies.  For S#$!s and giggles I was playing around with them to see if they could be used.  I found than not only do they not fit, the middle ones don't seem to be shaped right?  I'm not sure what they were thinking.  That's assuming I had them in the right spot (the instuctions diagram kind of sucked).  I figure I'll use the windscreen and the sliding pilot canopy portion, then get vaccuform for the rest.  Did I mention I hate these?   I read that I can leave the last two off as they were apparently removed on the real one.  This could be wishful thinking........The least amount of cutting the better .  I figure I'll get those ordered then turn my attention to the pre war TBD for a bit.  I haven't decided on a thread for that one or not.  

Oh...Thanks for your input Stik. I’m glad I didn’t have to source a single gun somewhere. 

Looks great, Joe. I think you nailed the light blue grey look. That faded washed out look is very hard to do. Well done.

BK

BrandonK

Looks great, Joe. I think you nailed the light blue grey look. That faded washed out look is very hard to do. Well done.

BK

 

Thanks Brandon