Hobby Boss 1:48 scale Douglas TBD-1 Devastator

[19kilo]

The old Monogram TBD-1 was one of the first models that got me into the hobby in the late 1970s. Ever since then the Devastator has been one of my favorite aircraft. When I heard Hobby Boss has produced a new 1/48 scale kit, I had to get it. If you’ve ever built the old Monogram kit, building  the Hobby Boss kit will be like a walk down memory lane. There are a few fit issues, mostly pieces that fit too tight and require a little bit of trimming, usually holes that are a tad too small. And there were more PE parts than I care for as I’m not a big fan of PE. But overall, I really enjoyed the build. 

[tcoat]

Looks great but just the thought of laying those wing decals down on that corrugated surface gives me the willies.

[handiabled]

Terrific finish to this one! I like the paint scheme you chose for it.

[stuart]

Superb build!

[TJ]

That's great. I haven't built a Devastator in eons.

[19kilo]

Oct 17, 2024 8:17:57 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Looks great but just the thought of laying those wing decals down on that corrugated surface gives me the willies.

Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I applied Micro Sol to the area then after laying down the decal I put Micro Sol on top of it. I let it sit for a minute then used a pointed q-tip to smooth out the decal.

[19kilo]

Oct 17, 2024 9:19:18 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Terrific finish to this one! I like the paint scheme you chose for it.

Thanks. I had to improvise on the scheme. The decals and painting instructions were for either a pre-war scheme with silver body, yellow wings, and blue tail with “meatball” national insignia or Battle of Midway scheme with grey blue body and standard Star National insignia. I decided though I wanted to do it in early war scheme that was sorta in between the two. Luckily, the prewar decals would work for this, except I needed two additional “meatball” decals. I solved that problem by digging through my decal stash and finding two red dots that would work to make the standard Star decals into meatball decals. If you look at the picture of the bottom of the wings, that’s where I used them. Also, there was no decal for the red & white stripes for the tail. I solved that problem by simply painting the stripes on instead.

[kyledehart5]

Excellent work!! Like the scheme you went with!! Very cool

[stikpusher]

Very nicely done! Nice to see a TBD in the colors of their most successful days at Lae, Tulagi, and Coral Sea. The type is a favorite of mine too since the Monogram kit was first released way back when…

[bradley25mm]

The paint and weathering work on this model is out of this world. I really do love the finish.. Thanks for sharing

[AussieTJ]

Really nice work.

[jeaton01]

Well done!