Airfix 1/72 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator

AIRFIX 1:72 DOUGLAS TBD-1 DEVASTATOR

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)
Kit Review submitted: 17 May 2006

Kit Details:

Airfix 1/72^nd scale Douglas TBD-1 Devastator (Kit N° 02034 ). Produced in France.

Aircraft:

Responding to a requirement of the U.S. Navy from 1934, the first prototype XTBD-1 flew on 15th April 1935, being the first monoplane to be used on a Navy´s carrier (concretely the USS Ranger). It was of conventional design and, apart from the fabric-covered rudder and elevators, it was all-metal. The wings could be folded to aprox. half its length. The relatively big ventral bay could carry a torpedo or a big armor penetrating bomb. The main undercarriage could be retracted rearwards, with half the wheel remaining exposed. Crew was pilot, navigator/bomber and rear gunner, the trio covered by one long glazing.

Flight tests of the plane were very satisfying, and deliveries began on 25th June 1937, the TBD-1 being the most advanced torpedo-plane of its day. It performed very well in the early stages of the Pacific War, but later during the Midway battle it was unquestionably overshadowed by Japanese fighters and air defense, losing 35 planes alone on the 4th June 1942. Retired from the front, some Devastators served in communications and training roles.

The kit:

Well, I bought this kit some 15 years ago, and I presume that it has been many years out of production since then. I started construction around then, but got uninterested and returned it to some dark corner amongst the unbuilt ones. Therefore, I cannot say anything about sprues, packaging and parts quantity.

Older series Devastator boxing

The mold obviously shows it's age, and quality of parts is what we would expect from long-running-Airfix: some mold imperfections, ejector pin marks, thick and distorting canopy, dry fit concerns. Plastic color is white, which is not so bad since it gives a good prime for painting (Matchbox sure would have made this kit in yellow and red J).

MPC Boxing of the Airfix kit

Instructions:

A typical Airfix one-sheet instruction from that era, with brief history in English, German and French, some 5 construction steps clear enough (since there are location helps for all parts) and painting / decaling instructions for two versions.

Construction:

Having built many „difficult“ kits lately (mainly Airfix ones), I was a bit disappointed when I (re)started this kit, and first decided just to kit-bash it, especially after having done some dry fit tests. But later I remembered how nice the one I've built in my young years looked (around 1975), and I collected all my patience just trying to do a „serious“ work.

I began with the cockpit, where you get one of those typical Airfix floor-and-bulkheads-all-in-one part (i.e. also present in their B&V141, Fw-189 and Avenger) which should lay onto pins protruding from each fuselage side. That meant a gap some 3mm wide would allow a look-through the well bays on each side. I decided to prevent this by adding pieces of plastic card and using a lot of imagination. I repositioned the pilot's bulkhead, the seats, the control sticks, added belts from masking tape and made pedals from scratch, and added an instrument panel for the radio operator. I also substituted the semicircular bracket for the rear gun, since the kit's one was absurdly thick. The interior was painted with (the now discontinued) Humbrol 158. The two fuselage halves went together by means of clamps and tape, and required heavy filling and sanding after it drie. The canopy consists of 4 parts, which really show their age and were not a pleasant fit.

Each wing consists of four parts, allowing you to build the model with folded wings, a thick piece supposed to be a hinge being supplied. I built my plane with unfolded wings, and noticed that on the right side the other section had thicker cord than the inner section at the joint line. This meant, of course, sanding and losing some detail (aprox. two thirds of the Devastator's wing was corrugated, like on old Junkers). The join lines needed filler and rescribing on both sides, to avoid an excessive gap. Fit of wings to fuselage was not the best, also requiring green putty and 600 grit sandpaper.

The engine is a two-row radial and acceptable in detail, looking good after being painted. This was glued into the one-piece cowling, and the latter was attached to the front of the fuselage, requiring careful positioning since the fit is not very precise. The horizontal stabilizers fitted more or less well, while the vertical fin is part of the fuselage halves. The undercarriage itself is rather basic. It will fit in a hole inside the upper wing half, but the lateral reinforcement leg is too short and just reaches the lower wing halve. Ergo, super glue is recommended here.

Armament consists of one machine gun firing rearwards, and underbelly stores, consisting of either a torpedo or a bomb, the torpedo's rear going into a recess opened in the underwing central section. „Fittings“ consist of a two-piece air intake located on the lower right wing near to the root, a little air scoop behind the right cowling's side, antenna and two short exhaust pipes (I drilled them out and painted them outside Humbrol 55).

As you can see in the photo, the upper wings are painted mainly yellow. Knowing that yellow has poor coverage, I decided to start painting the upper wings, the tail, the rear fuselage and the cowling with Revell´s red 36. The next day I masked that what should stay red and applied a coat of Revell yellow 15, which was surprisingly opaque after just one layer and getting the right „orange“ nuance thanks to the underlaying red. Again leaving it till next day to dry, I masked the yellow areas and sprayed the wing walks with Gunze flat black 12. Having masked the later, I sprayed the rest of the plane with Humbrol chrome silver 191. Finally, I removed all the masking except for the canopy and applied a coat of Future in preparation for the decals. I used the decals supplied with the kit, which went on surprisingly well considering their age. The final step was to give an overall coat of Humbrol gloss 35. I was very pleased with the result.

Versions:

Torpedo Squadron VT-8 USS Hornet in „Blue M11“ / „Grey M13“ camouflage;
Torpedo Squadron VT-5, USS Yorktown painted as stated above (please see photos)

Decals:

Old and, of course, just the basics, they went on well (The guys at Airfix seem to have learned meanwhile what today's expectations about decals are)

Overall:

Although this kit really shows it age, with some extra effort it can be worked into a fine replica, being a very eye-catching subject. For me it looks like a Devastator. There is a new 1/72 multimedia-Devastator from Valom on the market, but I've not seen it yet. Valom is reputed to have improved their quality with each new kit, so maybe it would be the better choice, apart from the Airfix offer now being hard to find.

References:

Just a few photos from the Web.

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