TBD-1 Yellow Wing

[jknaus]

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.

Yep and the bombardier had a pistol to shoot it 7 times to completely trash it so it could not be reverse engineered. Supposedly they also signed a contract that they would defend the secret to death. Oh well this bird will be equipped no matter what.
James

 

[jknaus]

View attachment 162182
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.

Yeah this one will be a yellow winged bird.
5-T-7

I guess maybe I could sub the 1000 pounder or 2 500 pounders though. Hmmm
James

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Looking good so far James!

 

[jknaus]

I think I will print out these bombs. It could carry 3, 2 on wing racks and one internal. If I could find a picture I would even consider 12 100 lb bombs as it could carry 6 on the wings and 6 internal. The kit comes with 2 500 lbers but I like the look of these 3D bombs. They come in 4 pieces, nose and tail fuse, fins and case. I got the files a while back but had nothing to put them on. So thats the way ahead I guess.
James

 

[jknaus]

For anyone building this kit I recommend the book Legends of Warfare Aviation: Douglas TBD Devastator by David Doyle. Lots of good photos of the interior etc. As I was looking through it today at lunch I saw that the bombs had small fairings, They are not given in the kit and there isnt a good enough view of them to recreate unless I find something online.

 

[jknaus]

Okay some more pics. The Norden sight installed and primed. When I get the radio stuff all sorted I will have to re prime the aft cockpit. Also I printed some AnyZ switches etc on the saturn 3 and they came out the best of all the prints of the switches I have done. Slow but sure. Next up is aluminum. Oh and the 2 bombs are 3D printed 500 pounders with separate fins, fore and aft fuses. Love how they look.

 

[Rhino]

Those Bombs are really cool!

I have one of these.

 

[moon puppy]

Damn you farm boys are stout, slingin' around a 500 pounder like that!

 

[Rhino]

Just to give a guy a sense of scale, this'un heyer is a 100 lb. US Navy practice bomb from NAS Glenview. (From USS Sable or USS Wolverine? An guy could imagine!) It was found on the shore of Lake Michigan. The big lake's waters had washed almost all the plaster out of it.
I Don-a-ted a ridiculous sum to bring it home from my Big Buddie's house. God rest him.

 

[jknaus]

That would be a cool item to put in the display case.
James

 

[jknaus]

Well went down to a hobby shop a half hour or so away with a buddy yesterday and got some paint for the Barbie and Spiderman figures. Also got some Tamiya paint for the engine and at first I was not going to bother as the colour called for looked wrong. I sprayed when I got home anyways and it was definately wrong. Repainted today. Attached the radio tray I made. I've heard tell of this new tool called a ruler and after watching some you tube videos to figure out how to use it I went and got one of those new fangled tings. Maybe it will help me design things to size seeing as Mk1 eye balls and Mk 1 brain dont seem to be able to figure out sizes well. Printed a Nitrogen cart and a Hydraulic cart for my Mule and wheels etc. Was hoping to get more done but just not in the cards this weekend. I realized the engine for the TBD-1 does not have a wiring manifold. So I made one in Tinkercad and it will be printed tomorrow after the current print job is finished. I hope it will fit and look proper. Time will tell. No pics and nothing else to share I guess. I did get another Tamiya Opel Blitz and now to go through my files and look for upgrades to print as I know I found some before. I think new wheels. Maybe print a pile of Gerry Cans and fill up the bed with those.
James

 

[Heavens Eagle]

@jknaus James how are you liking the 1200 dpi Saturn 3? They keep making the printers with better resolution all the time.

 

[jknaus]

@jknaus James how are you liking the 1200 dpi Saturn 3? They keep making the printers with better resolution all the time.

Its fantastic. The switches etc by AnyZ all printed out and withy better detail. Usually I lose a few on printing. The ends of the Rem tow bar show very nice detail and the other parts are all nice and crisp. I want to print the Steyr RSO front screens again and see how much better they come out. Each jump from 2K to 4 K to 8 K and now 12 K has shown quantifiable improvements. I also use an 8K resin which is not only stronger than the others I was using but captures details better. The down side is it really gunks up the alcohol wash. I need to figure a better filtration system. The Spiderman figure is very crisp, but then again the Barbie done on the 8K machine is very nice also. II have a very busy figure vignette I am going to print out and see how it looks in 12K. Its called Ouroboros, the Cycle of life by CA Sculpts.

It depicts Gaia or Mother Nature and Death. Click the pic for the link.
James

 

[moon puppy]

I've heard tell of this new tool called a ruler

Dang James, you getting all sorts of high tech on us

 

[jknaus]

Okay not a lot of work lately but I'll show some of what I have done. Got the wing center section glued up and need to fill some gaps. Did the cooler and spent the time to remove the placement pins onside just to find they would be hidden when I attached the hood to the wing. Oh well was a fun few minutes. I have more work on the engines and waiting for some decals for it. Still trying to figure out the wiring manifold for the spark plug wiring. I made a basic shape in tinkercad but it just doesnt look right to me even after sanding it down some. You can just see the holes for the leads I added to the drawing. They are .5mm so I'm impressed with the printer. AnyZ has some new products so you can see the 2 types of head rest for the Corsair and a bunch of switches and ignition leads. They also came out with a Corsair Canopy frame with mirrors and handles etc. I used one handle for the bomb bay aiming doors as it isnt in the kit. Just to the right of the 3 instruments I added on a frame. Hard to see with the primer and lighting and my crappy camera skills but hopefully enough you get the idea. Printing stuff for my Opel Blitz and Field kitchen at the moment also.

From what I have been able to find the bombs from this era were either a very light grey or a dull mustard yellow. So I did mine in light grey. Found a small sized parts holder which is working quite well. I still need to find the colour for the fire extinguishers. So far red is possible despite some experts assertions, but Brass is what the experts call for and that is quite possible also. Will have to decide sometime soon I guess. Hoping to get a bit more of the cockpit done this weekend so I can start moving on to buttoning this bird up. Any comments or critiques are most welcome.
JAmes

 

[jknaus]

Oh and the second picture left and 4th picture center are cannon plugs, straight and angled.
James

 

[moon puppy]

Looks like you ready to stock the spare parts store also! Great looking prints James.

 

[sharkman]

This is looking great James!

 

[jknaus]

Okay I seriously question my sanity building a corrugated wing aircraft. Sigh. Not as much done as I would like. Primed the new resin wheels, dry fitted the new prop. It looks better than the kit but it is also not as good. It should have keys for the propellor alignment and the stubs will take some work to clean up to slip into the hub nicely. Also it looks like some layer lines but I will have to prime first to make sure thats not just a colour change. Got the horizontal stabs glued together. Will need a small amount of filling. Rudder is also glued and the box is looking a bit emptier. I need to find a good pic of the bombs. My understanding is there is either a yellow band at the CofG or a yellow circle with all the bomb specs. Would love to see a good picture of that. Still plugging away at the PE cockpit. Used some black Miliput to make a head rest and then used the PE headrest as a guide for it. Looks a bit rough in the picture but a bit of sanding and should be fine. Slow but sure.

Got the seats folded and need to break out the soldering iron. I really need to get the rest of the radio equipment done and installed so I can prime and then paint the cockpit. Want to see this buttoned up.
James

 

[jknaus]

Okay updates are going to be slower. I made a mistake buying the PE set for this. The PE is nice but the instructions suck big time. Very tiny print so I found them online and printed out larger to find they are poorly written and the pictures dont show everything so difficult to figure placement. I'm past frustrated now and slowing down.
James