Douglas TBD-1 Devastator

by Bernhard Schrock

 available online at Squadron

Here is Monogram's 1/48 scale Douglas TBD-1 Devastator. I built this kit approximately six years ago.

The model has received "the treatment" from front to rear.

First, I separated the control surfaces and added the prominent, bearer-structure with lightening holes on the inside. The kit supplied folding wings, but I decided to redo the area completely again. The hinges originated from brass-wire. Unfortunately, I did not succeed completely due to the thickness of the material.

The pilot's cockpit comprises 150 new parts. These include new correct rails for the canopy of the pilot and an instrument panel in a sandwich. The buttons and knobs originated from sand-grains (it was an experiment). The two other cockpits were also detailed, although I had to improvise for the middle cockpit as I had too little information.

The twin-Browning-Lafette was not standard equipment on Devastators. In fact, it was only installed with the VT-8 on order of the LCDR Waldron shortly before Midway.

When building this kit, I had much more patience than today and so I created a torpedo sight from 15 parts.

The final application of Murphys Law saw the Squadron canopy was out sold in my local store. I therefore had to vacuumform all these important glasshouse parts. Also the area of the window on the underside again was corrected and side-walls were added.

Built from the box, the rudder pedals would have been exposed to the outside and so the pilots would get cold feet!

The model represents the only survived machine from the VT-8 after the battle of Midway. Even this aircraft beach itself on it return journey.

Click the thumbnail below to view larger images:

Text, Images and Model Copyright © 2001 by Bernhard Schrock
Page Created 07 December, 2001
Last Updated 04 June, 2007

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