Trumpeter TBD-1 Devastator

[Clunkmeister]

6 hours ago, HubertB said:

Well, I spent ages on the Devastator, and bought about all the documentation you can find (spare the Erection and Maintenance manual, which is rarer than finding a hen's teeth on 4-Thursdays' week)

From your pics, I'd agree that the cockpit looks barren compared to what it could be. But the basics seem to be here. I'm pondering whether I should sit in front the computer and design a "proper" cockpit, to be printed ...

Hubert

I think it’ll surely help the kit. The corrugations look well done, although I’m loathe to call them corrugations.  Hugo Junkers brought us corrugated aluminum, and the Devastator nothing like the Junkers patent. 

[Clunkmeister]

Guys I’m sure you’re all aware, but just in case…

The bomb doors on a Devastator are not bomb bay doors, but are bomb aimer doors, used for high altitude level bombing. The bombardier opened the doors on a bomb run so the bombardier could see though a clear windscreen in the belly. He’d then conduct a bomb run using his rudimentary flight instrumentation and his Norden bombsight. 
The Devastator was quite successful in that role.  
Those doors were otherwise always closed.

IF you’re building a torpedo bomber,Trumpeter would have you open the doors, then add the torpedo. If the torpdo was loaded, the doors could not be opened. They’d hit the torpedo.

So, keep them closed, which means minor part surgery. They don’t even come close to fitting, as they’re expecting to be left open.

[Clunkmeister]

Organized semi mass confusion. There is much missing from the cockpit with this kit, but the exterior is wonderful. 

[KevinM]

Ernie yes looking good from the outside but are you working on a dogfight scene on that table?😂

[Clunkmeister]

On 7/6/2023 at 5:42 PM, KevinM said:

Ernie yes looking good from the outside but are you working on a dogfight scene on that table?😂

That TBD is gonna chew the tail of that D3A.  But I expect if the D3A crew would pull their heads out of their arses, they could pour the coal to her and run away from that TBD.

[Clunkmeister]

A few things to point out here, guys. 

1. Trumpeter correctly depicted the fuselage mounting foot wells.  They were slightly recessed and covered by spring loaded covers. Nicely done!  GWH depicted them open on their 1/48 kits.

2. The torpedo sight is there, but it is very rudimentary on the kit. The entire mechanical drift compensator is MIA, but it would make for a very nice AM 3D printed component.

3. The windscreen framing is WRONG.  Trumpeter chose to depict two internal braces as windshield frames.  No biggie:  sand, polish, and Future, but Trumpeter totally blew it there. Oops!  Sand them off and add them after the windscreen is in place. I WILL be fixing this on this build. I said OOB, but this is a fairly big oops.

In the first pic, you can clearly see the torpedo sight and the internal braces.  Compare that to the pic of the kit canopy

 

 

[Clunkmeister]

The TBD used a removable crank similar to a 109 to spin the flywheel and start the engine.  Being able to show one in place would be cool, but like the 109, it’s never offered in kits. 

[HubertB]

3 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

The TBD used a removable crank similar to a 109 to spin the flywheel and start the engine.  Being able to show one in place would be cool, but like the 109, it’s never offered in kits. 

It was with the venerable Monogram kit, IIRC …

Hubert

[Clunkmeister]

8 hours ago, HubertB said:

It was with the venerable Monogram kit, IIRC …

Hubert

I love this kit, Hubert. It’s basic, but that’s OK. That just adds to what we can do. The outline seems accurate, yes, the Trumpeter rivet-divots are an issue, but for those who don’t like it, Archer or Quinta will come to the rescue.

The only thing that really needs additions is the cockpit, as it’s basic. 
Trumpeter appears to have fixed a couple of the GWK kit issues. 
The ENTIRE bombardier control system is missing, but it’s invisible without actually having a mirror and penlight.

What’s amazing is how in 1937-38, the TBD was considered the most advanced navy bomber in the world, yet within 3 years, it was woefully obsolete. 
Credit where credit is due, though. It did well at Coral Sea, and in other battles where it also served as a level bomber. 
Many of its issues were issues with the torpedo itself. WW2 US aircraft torpedoes were a joke that were never properly developed.  Even the Avengers used bombs more than torpedoes.  The US torpedoes were a very effective Japanese weapon. 

[KevinM]

The Japanese loved to use torpedoes at night if they knew an enemy convoy was in range they would unload 100/150 torpedoes hoping for 5% hits if they got more so be it.The delivery was an arc in the direction of the enemy.

[Clunkmeister]

1 hour ago, KevinM said:

The Japanese loved to use torpedoes at night if they knew an enemy convoy was in range they would unload 100/150 torpedoes hoping for 5% hits if they got more so be it.The delivery was an arc in the direction of the enemy.

Yep, and you’d read about how even US submarines, destroyers, and MTB’s would watch their fish thump into the side of their target with no more than a clang. The perfect alert!

The air dropped fish were even better. They had to be dropped at the perfect altitude and airspeed to give the enemy a nice, fat, juicy target, many would fail to run once in the water, others would detonate upon impact with the water, others would veer off course and fail to track, others would run deep and cruise right under their target without even a magnetic detonation. 
The wood box fins on the Midway fish were an ad hoc way to possibly improve accuracy.

So I’m not sure it had anything to do with the aircraft itself. The Brits used slow biplanes through most of the war, with great success. 
The Japanese used a slow, unarmored, fixed gear monoplane with great success as well.  
And they both had decent fish. We didn’t. 
 

[GusMac]

Thanks for the info Ernie. Always half pondered why there seemed to be a gun barrel sticking out of the front of the windscreen but now I know better! 😆

[ScottsGT]

Looks like a little filing, sanding and then fluff and buff will fix that wind screen right up.  You even get a practice piece with every kit! 

[Peterpools]

Ernie

Still so hard to believe the kit is actually here. I'm in no rush and will; be waiting for the eventually to be released Quinta cockpit set plus some Eduard goodies and then I'll be digging in.

 

[Clunkmeister]

A bit of progress.  I found a few little spots I had to fix.

If carrying a torpedo, the bomb ai er doors are closed.  The fit is terrible and some sanding and fitting is needed. 

[Clunkmeister]

Come on, Trumpeter, seriously?  Time to peel it off, mask and paint. 

[BlrwestSiR]

10 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

Come on, Trumpeter, seriously?  Time to peel it off, mask and paint. 

Shrinkage? 

Masked and painted will look better anyways. 

[Clunkmeister]

43 minutes ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Shrinkage? 

Masked and painted will look better anyways. 

Hah yep. But I’m trying to do a 100% OOB build, and this makes it pretty tough to do. 

[Peterpools]

Ernie

It's easy - just keep the non-detail blinders on and stick to what's in the box. Seems to have worked for me for decades. 

[Clunkmeister]

8 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Ernie

It's easy - just keep the non-detail blinders on and stick to what's in the box. Seems to have worked for me for decades. 

Yep. Against my grain it is, but this will be part of an in depth review so yes, it’s 100% OOB.

However, I just HAD to attack that oh-so-wrong windscreen, so what you see here is the Windscreen, Cloudy Edition. I’m up to 8000 grit so far. 

[DocRob]

However great your pain is about the oob-approach. It looks like a Devastator to me and a fine one btw.

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy 

[BlrwestSiR]

That looks good. Nice fix on the windscreen and well worth the effort. 

[Clunkmeister]

1 hour ago, BlrwestSiR said:

That looks good. Nice fix on the windscreen and well worth the effort. 

The few minutes spent on it makes all the difference. 

[Spitfire]

Very neat

Cheers

Dennis