Douglas Devastator

[Captain Canada]

821 Sqn.
HMS Ark Royal
1939

Thanks to Thor for suggesting the colour scheme....looks spot on to me !

[nev]

wow...beauty!

What kit is this?

[sequoiaranger]

Nice looking Devastator!

The wheels reminded me that they might look good with wide "whitewalls" like American 1950's cars, so the wheels resemble the roundels (doctored pic below). I did an early-war whif F5F with the American red-dot-in-the-middle roundel on the hubcap and it looked cool!



I do think the Devastator gets a bad rap as an aircraft, especially in light of the disaster at Midway. As if a similar group of un-escorted TBF Avengers would have had a chance at Midway against the massive CAP the Kido Butai had at sea level! It was the bum torpedoes that were the problem, not so much the aircraft. Devastators did well at Coral Sea (with torpedoes that had decent exploders). Enough TBF's were on hand to replace it, so there was no reason not to, and for uniformity's sake the remaining Devastators were sent back to the States so there weren't any out in the Pacific. The Devastator was at its "natural" end of practicality, and due to be replaced, but only when compared to the "Kate" was it found lacking. I do think it was better than the Swordfish or Albacore, IMHO, the only other reasonable comparative, so RN livery would have been appropriate if the hidebound Brits wanted to re-equip their carriers with something "modern" and looked to the US Navy.

I can just imagine the Devastators zeroing in on the Bismarck!

[Taiidantomcat]

That looks great! 

[sideshowbob9]

looks spot on to me

It does at that. Gorgeous! 

[Dork the kit slayer]

looks spot on to me

It does at that. Gorgeous! 

Me an all.

[jcf]

I do think the Devastator gets a bad rap as an aircraft, especially in light of the disaster at Midway. As if a similar group of un-escorted TBF Avengers would have had a chance at Midway against the massive CAP the Kido Butai had at sea level!

True, as of the six Avengers used at Midway only one made it back.

As to the Devastator being superior to the Swordfish, mm not so much, pretty evenly matched actually in terms
of combat performance. The Swordfish I actually had greater endurance than the Devastator, which was of
greatest importance in the case of the Bismarck pursuit. The notion that the Swordfish was somehow antique
because of its layout isn't borne out by a close examination of the design. The Applecore on the other hand ...

[Martin H]

it suits that scheme rather well, nice one Todd

[Brian da Basher]

Very well done, Cap'n! That's a very striking scheme sure to get lots of heads turning!

Brian da Basher

[NARSES2]

Me likey a lot 

[thedarkmaster]

Looks good and looks right   

[lancer]

Now that is just Gorgeous looking. Damm fine work Toad-san

[Radish]

Great. How did the decals go down on the wings?

For mine I'm thinking (now)....
Finnish, Civil, French, Israeli, RN camouflage for Norway Campaign or Spanish Republican. Possibly

[Barry Krell]

Nice!

[Captain Canada]

Thanks for the comments, guys ! As usual, the pics don't do the actual kit justice. She just looks right in those colours.

It's the Airfix kit. The most fun I've had in years for $7.75 !

The white walls look great ! I like that idea !

As for the wing decals, I actually thought about sanding down the corrugated detail for the roundels. I ended up slapping some micro set on the decal whilst still on the paper. Then I let 'er soak real good. Then I brushed a few coats of Micro Sol onto the decals once they were applies. The roundels nestled right in there perfectly !