TBD-1 Yellow Wing

[jknaus]

Will be building the new Trumpeter 1/32 TBD-1 with new decals and some AM by Airscale, both 3D and PE as well as a Norden Bomb site by Master Details.
The bombsite just arrived today and I managed a few minutes on the kit the other day. Photos to come when I can get to them.
James

 

[moon puppy]

That's a big aircraft. Dive bomber had a Norden?

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I think the Norden is for the B-24.

 

[jknaus]

I was surprised also, but yes the Devastator had the Norden sight.

Have done lot of research for this model. If you look closely at the bombardiers tunnel in the kit they have a small mount plate which should actually be a bit higher up and more defined if you're not adding the sight.
James

 

[Barney]

Oooooooooo... Ahhhhhhhhh...

 

[moon puppy]

And I thought it was a dive bomber?!

 

[centaur567]

And I though it was a torpedo bomber? Gary S.

 

[jknaus]

It was a Torpedo bomber, and could carry either a 1000 pound boomb recessed in the center line or 2 500 punders or some 250 pound fragmentation bombs. I have not found any other Navy single engine bombers that carried the Norden site, but then I havent looked a lot either. I was just very surprised to find it did have it.
Been sick all day so no modelling and then my Saturn 3 arrived after dinner and I have been trying to figure it out.
I hope to be able to do a bunch of modeling this weekend if all goes well.
James

 

[moon puppy]

Feel better buddy.

 

[Barney]

NASA had a difficult time with it. You are in distinguished company!

 

[jknaus]

Okay I was hoping to do a little modeling but just hacking too much so back to bed. I took some pictures of what I had done a few days ago and also the new Saturn 3. I'm printing a test and calibration part right now to dial in the resin exposure times and then I will print a Spider Man figure to paint up for my Grandson. I'll do Barbie in the saturn 2. Whats the difference? The Saturn 2 is 8K resolution which is amazing and the Saturn 3 is 12K. I'm looking forward to seeing how much better details I can get as some of my files are very detailed.
Here is the cockpit with some PE started and some preliminary wiring in the tunnel as well as the cushion for the assistant Pilot/bombardier made from Miliput. Not really a lot to see so far. I'll be using my Anyz switches on the panels. And some refs from various sites online.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Very nice! Thanks for posting the reference photos as I have one of these in the stash for a future Yellow Wing project. Where did you obtain the bombsight and PE/cockpit set?

Also will be waiting to hear how well the new Saturn 3 works for you.

 

[jknaus]

I got the pe, wheels, gunsight, and prop from Airscale. The bombsite is from Master Details, although I am not sure I like it very much. I am going to get a 3D one from SBS instead as it looks better. No flash or lumps that may or maynot be part of the model. I got the decals from an Ebay seller in the States, I have to say I am fed up with postage from the US. It cost so much, sometimes equal to or more than the item and takes around a month or more to get here while stuff from Australia or Poland or China is cheaper and takes a couple of weeks. Photos are from the net and from books. I spent a good month looking for alll the refs I could.
James

 

[jknaus]

Okay a bit more done but not enough for pictures. I have found the instructions for the Airscale PE to be way too small to see. Luckily they have some pdf files on their site. Unfortunately they are laid out on a black background which would be a real waste of ink. So I did some screen captures and then made jpgs of the instructions which are much easier to read. I'm also finding the radio compartment a bit of a puzzler. From 3 view drawings which may or may not be correct it looks like one big box sat on rails on the floor and the others on racks above. Following another build the fellow made a tray with plastic which is more like pictures I have found but still not quite enough info. So I have made a simple tray in tinkercad that looks like other avionic trays I have seen. I'll print it out. It wont be seen but it looks more like what I see in pics. Better in my mind than boxes sitting in mid air. Ordered the new Norden sight and also some inbstrument bazels and instrument decals. I have made a bulkhead under the stick and will place the 2 instruments there. Will be hard to see, but they do peek out in the pictures I have seen. I cant find a slip and glide bezel though so will maybe use plastic rod and slice it up to the properish shape?Getting excited to give this a prime and then paint and see how it looks. Will use Vallejo aluminum for the cockpit as this is an early bird.
James

 

[jknaus]

Slowly getting the PE installed. Glued the center wing together and doing a dry fit to ensure everything fits so far. From another build it sounds like there are some tight fits so dry fitting is a must. I glued a plastruct bulkhead on under the flight deck which you can just barely see, its white with 2 red dots on it. When my instrument bezels arrive I will add some to it. Trying to figure out how much extra to add as it will be hard to see. There are 3 large switch boxes on the starboard side under the flight deck and I am trying to decide if it would be worth while adding them. At the moment I think the law of diminishing returns is leaning towards not adding as the will be really hard to see if at all. Figureing out the radio equipment in the fore of the gunners seat as neither the kit nor the PE really match reality. The kit looks closer but the boxes are too short. I made a simple rack and was supposed to print it along with some other equipment, but silly me I started the Spiderman print. I did print a bunch of Anyz swithces etc just to see how they would look and man they are amazing at 12K. I primed them and will paint steel and then take some shots so you can see. I'll ring some of the older pics in as well as a comparison. No failures on any one of them unlike in 4K and to a lesser extent 8K.
Okay some dry fit pics.

James

 

[Rhino]

Do you suppose US Navy personnel might remove the double super secret Norden bombsight when a TBD was torpedo armed?

 

[jknaus]

Do you suppose US Navy personnel might remove the double super secret Norden bombsight when a TBD was torpedo armed?

Thats a good question. As I sit and think about it though I wonder if it would work for a torp or just bombs. I wonder how one could find out?
James

 

[moon puppy]

Do you suppose US Navy personnel might remove the double super secret Norden bombsight when a TBD was torpedo armed?

I suspect they would. They would not take a chance of one falling into wrong hands unless it was needed. If I recall correctly, the sites were not installed in an aircraft until it was combat ready. Like B17s would be ferried over seas not only disarmed but without the site.

 

[moon puppy]

Looks great James.

 

[Rhino]

VT-6 Devastators attacked Wake Island in February of 1942 as level bombers. (Not Yellow wing airplanes) One would think at least the lead TBD-1 was Norden equipped. Torpedoes were generally released at low altitude. That and the loaded Mk. 13 torpedo covers the line of vision from the bombsight. Few TBD's survived combat. This one did. 6-T-5 was stricken in October of '43.
My 2-bits.