Hello all!
Prior to Americas entry into the war, the Devastator equipped most of the U.S.
Navy's Torpedo Squadrons. This particular kit shows an aircraft with the
markings of the colourful VT-5 from the carrier USS Yorktown at the time of
Pearl Harbour. Although the aircraft itself was obsolete, it took part in most of
the major sea battles in the first few months of the conflict. Powered by a 900
h.p. Pratt and Whitney Twin Wasp, the Devastator had a top speed of around 206
m.p.h. and a crew of three. Defensive armament consisted of one fixed 0.3in
gun in the cowling and a flexible 0.5in machine gun in the rear cockpit. Warload
consisted of a 21" Torpedo or one heavy bomb.
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Right, now for the kit. This is
Airfix's take on this famous aircraft and on the whole isn't a bad effort.
However there a few areas where I think improvements could have been made.
The moulding on some parts was a bit, shall we say ropey with quite a bit of
sanding and shaping in order to get the parts to fit snugly (is it me or are
Airfix going a bit downhill?). The other major thing was the cockpit glass was a
bit naff, but even if it was an aftermarket offering I would probably have made
the same mess of it! Good points, the cockpit detail was quite good (for an
Airfix kit of this scale anyway) and the transfers went on with no fuss (apart
from one mistake which I will let the reader search for). The only modifications
I made while constructing the kit, was to make it with the wings in the flight
position and to drill two tiny holes in the exhaust stacks for a bit of added
realism.
Paints used were all Humbrol. 11
Metallic Silver for the airframe, 24 Trainer Yellow for the wings and 60 Scarlet
Red Matt for the tail and front cowling. With the usual matt blacks and
gunmetal's for guns, undercarriage etc. Hope you have enjoyed looking at my
model, see you all soon.
Regards
Oliver
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