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New GWH Devastator


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I think they're referring to the fact that the corrugated surface of the outer wings is going to make eradicting the leading edge seam very difficult.

No pain, no gain...right?

Well if the fit is good I don't think it will be too much of a problem.

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The location of the engraved panel lines seems to be accurate, though I haven't done a line-by-line comparison between the kit parts and reference pictures. I do think they're too heavy; the Devastator appears to have a very smooth outer surface in most of the pictures I've seen, with very tight gaps between the panels. There's also the old recessed vs. raised rivet complaint, but I think that's to be expected with most of the newer kits.

My main complaint, though? I started a Monogram TBD just before I found out about this kit, and now I'm going to have a hard time finishing it. So much scribing. I'm also going to have to apologize to the SBD kit I stole a twin gun mount from, if it turns out its sacrifice was unnecessary. :doh:

Oh, and kudos to GWH for including a paint mask. That canopy would be a pain in the butt to mask from scratch, and I doubt the TechMod masks would fit it due to the possible shape discrepancies others have pointed out.

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This is a day I should have stayed in bed.

Took a lookie at the pics on Hyperscale, and thought "...no way does that surface look right, let's see what Los ARCos think!"

This (snap) conclusion was based on a study I made in 2006 of the TBD-1. Then I found one of the period photos I had seen back then:

TBD-1

Suddenly it all looks a lot better -sorry GWH! So much for the power of memory.

Also, it is a very good thing to have masks for the national insignia as well as the canopy greenhouse. For me, this year's must-have after all; it will need ye olde yellow wings scheme, though... :woot.gif:

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I think they're referring to the fact that the corrugated surface of the outer wings is going to make eradicting the leading edge seam very difficult.

No pain, no gain...right?

As has been mentioned if the fit is good it shouldn't be difficult. Tamiya Super Thin is a must for that join.

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When the mating surfaces on the Monogram kit are sanded flat, they fit pretty well too. But the sanding is tedious and the lower outer and upper inner wing panels are short-shot so some gap filling has to be done, unless you prefer wings folded and even then the wing-to-fuselage join needs more material. One slip sanding between the details and party's over.

Still. Even before I get styrene in hand I'm sure the GWH kit will be the better and more desirable starting point of the two.

Ken

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How else could they have done it? The stiffening ridges wrap around the leading edge. There has to be a seam someplace, there's just no other way to mold something like that. "Modern" molding technology can't solve every problem. Sometimes you still have to be a modeler.

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By wrapping the leading edge around to the bottom so you don't have to sand a seam on a rounded surface. It would also make the boo-boos less visable. It wouldn't have to go far-just enough to get the seam away from the peak of the curve.

Ken

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By wrapping the leading edge around to the bottom so you don't have to sand a seam on a rounded surface. It would also make the boo-boos less visable. It wouldn't have to go far-just enough to get the seam away from the peak of the curve.

Ken

Not sure that would really gain you anything. You'd move the seam work to the bottom, but the leading edge would still probably have at least a mold parting line that would need to be cleaned up. The end result would be 2 areas to clean up vice just one.

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It just looks so interesting. Its not sleek and its got corrugated wings! I might have to get one. It all depends on price right? But this kit has painting masks, PE ahd hopefully modern 'fit' standards. You get a lot in that box

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Not sure that would really gain you anything. You'd move the seam work to the bottom, but the leading edge would still probably have at least a mold parting line that would need to be cleaned up. The end result would be 2 areas to clean up vice just one.

Yes-as I said, it moves it to a place that's supposed to be flatter than the roundest part of the wing making it much easier to clean up without damaging it. And slide mold technology makes it quite feasable.

Ken

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I think I'll try using my trusty flex-i-file: I figure I can take a sanding strip, trim it so that it is narrow enough to sand between the corrugations, and voila! Seam be gone! B)

Edited by gocoogs
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It just looks so interesting. Its not sleek and its got corrugated wings! I might have to get one. It all depends on price right? But this kit has painting masks, PE ahd hopefully modern 'fit' standards. You get a lot in that box

Yeah, I love the ProfiPack-style approach. You usually get a lot of bang for the buck, even if the price is a bit higher.

Cleaning up the joint around the wing corrogations will be a little delicate, but I'll be more than happy to take that on if it means I won't have to rescribe the panel lines, scratchbuild or kitbash significant portions of the interior, and use an aftermarket Mk 13 to replace the kit's (somewhat crude) fish. The Monogram is a good starting point, I like the kit for what it is (it was great for its time), but most of the work I've put into the one I'm working on would be already done if I had the GWH kit in my hands. Like I said in the other thread, just having the VT-8 twin .30 guns in the box is a huge plus for me. One less part to hunt down.

I don't mind extra work, but I won't complain if the kit manufacturer does it for me. :thumbsup:

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  • 3 months later...

Hi All

Great thread here.

The GW kit is definitely better than the Monogram kit (still got several) and the fit really is that good. GW got most of the sprue attachment points on mating surfaces so less cleanup there. Also the wings fit so well that some careful work and the seam will go away. (even you doubters can take it easy here, it's that good a fit) I'll have the wings on my kit by the end of next week hopefully. The kit is awesome IMHO

Now... everything is not perfect in dreamland so here goes.

The masks are useless. They are a little uneven in size, worse they are not "sticky" enough unless you press down very hard. Also if you lift one to reposition it there goes it's adhesion period. No question in my mind that the insignia masks will not adhere to the wings at all. (someone who knows better please let me know) Just give up on the masks and you will not be disappointed.

The canopies... The closed one fit's very well. For true detail they have molded in the overlapping frames. However that means on the inside you have to prime certain frames blue FIRST, than interior green after. The separate canopies will not fit under each other. (I will try to sand the bottoms down to try and get them to fit)

The PE. Parts PE 25 (handwheels) have no shafts to them, very easy to make some. The bombardiers doors PE fit's quite well, but not perfect, some filling involved. PE parts 3 and 4 (canopy guide rails) have no real inner attachment points, either make your own out of very small pieces of plastic, or glue them to the canopy sills. (nitpicking here) Also they give no hint of which way to bend certain PE parts, no biggie if you are used to working with PE tho.

Bombardiers doors will work great open, closed you will have to add some sheet stock to give them something to mount to and line up. I'm going the way of gluing them to each fuselage half, which adds in the problem of fitting up the central lower wing. (pick your poison) Also for spread wings, the fit is good on top, but there will be a slight gap between the inner and outer bottom sections. Not hard to deal with, no matter to me, I'm going wings folded.

Torpedo (s) Great job molding them but still long mold part lines to take care of, also the PE finned ver will take some work getting the PE right. Note here, the torp front should be light gray, the back brass color.

Gear. No detail in wheel wells, nice strut detail, tire detail a little soft on the outside (nitpicking again) otherwise very nice.

The rest is great IMHO, and really all of the above is nitpicking as far as I'm concerned. My build is in the "In Progress" forum here on ARC

Allan

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The tires are wrong, unless it's sat for a very long time. USN tires shouldn't be so flat. And the pilot's hood is noticeably flat. It should bump up at the peak, which is just before the aft frame. And the struts are too long-they're at full extension which isn't appropriate for one sitting on the ground.

On the bright side, if a modeler likes picking out details with a paintbrush this is the kit for it. But I would expect that from something that wasn't molded in The Bronze Age of Modelling.

Ken

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Second the comment on the canopy masks. They are useless. The separate canopy sections(the two rear sections) need to be sanded down a 1/16 inch, then they will stack.

Cheers, Terry

On the Midway aircraft and only the Midway aircraft, the 2 rear canopy sections were totally removed from the aircraft due to the fact that the twin .30cal guns would not fit in the tunnel that was designed only to fit one gun.

Also.... on the Hornet TBD's (VT-8) they got the same repaint all others did but they didn't get hardly any flight time, (they were not at Coral Sea) and none on the way to Midway, so they wound up being very clean aircraft.

Allan

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On the Midway aircraft and only the Midway aircraft, the 2 rear canopy sections were totally removed from the aircraft due to the fact that the twin .30cal guns would not fit in the tunnel that was designed only to fit one gun.

Also.... on the Hornet TBD's (VT-8) they got the same repaint all others did but they didn't get hardly any flight time, (they were not at Coral Sea) and none on the way to Midway, so they wound up being very clean aircraft.

Allan

Not true. They weren't at Coral Sea because the Hornet was returning from the Doolittle Raid, but the airplanes were far from prestine. They were typically stored on the flight deck and they had faded considerably. Commander Waldron flew his squadron as often as they could get on schedule.

Edited by chriss7606
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