I have had the Devastator in the stash for a little while so I was delighted when the group started up. Not quite decided on unit or scheme yet - but will do some research while on holiday and come back with an answer and ready to go!
Apologies for the photo quality but the recent Windows 10 ( upgrade?) is giving me some grief!

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

I built this model when it was a new release... back in the 70's. OK I'm giving away my age... 🙂 I have since purchased a few more and hope to get building another one soon... (hopefully)

It's still a very nice kit and a great choice for the Group Build.

Hang in there with your computer... Sorry but I'm not much help there.

I'm glad to see you are making some progress David. That sounds like a great choice of markings too. I have always liked the Enterprise oversized markings. They really look good on a model...

But I wouldn't want to fly a plane into combat marked like that, even though I understand the logic behind it with so called "friendly fire" (if there ever was such a thing)...

In one of my books they referred to the time period when these markings were used as "Red and White and Scorned All Over".

So a little more progress - would help if I didn't allow myself to get sidetracked with other projects so here goes - first of all some sources which I have been using the first is the Steve Ginter book which has a wealth of photo's and details,the other is the aero series book which has many of the same photos as Steve Ginters but also a short and well written history of the development and combat history of the Devastator

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

'Even the longest journey starts with a single step' However I am not sure even chairman Mao contemplated this rate of progress. Anyway attached is the engine assembled and painted. Humbrol enamels - custom (homemade) acrylic wash.
Cockpit next - honest!
Cheers Dave

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

The engine really looks great ! I really enjoyed building my Devastator too. Thanks for the updates Dave.

This is the part where we have to live with the consequences of the decisions we made earlier!

The fuselage is buttoned up and a little bit of filling done - all in all quite pleased no real problems with the torpedo doors. This was largely due to Louis blazing a trail here and identifying an issue which I was able to correct.

The small blue area on the cockpit floor (at the end of the cocktail stick) can be sanded back allowing the fuselage forward of the instrument panel to join more easily.

The wings went together well.

I concentrated on getting the leading edge right and the panel lines and corrugations matching!

This worked out well but produced a number of unexpected consequences.

The first was large gaps on the wing to fuselage join - both sides - fortunately regular on both sides - but large.

The second was the collapse of the aerofoil profile of the starboard wing - see picture leaving a massive step at the fuselage join!

Remedies, I was thinking:-

First pack up the wing profile to the correct shape.

Second pack up the fuselage/wing gaps with plastic card - but watch the dihedral!

Third (nuclear option) disassemble the wings and build to the wing root ( as per the instructions), thereby eliminating the gap at the wing root but end up with a mismatched leading edge, not my favoured option as the corrugations on the wings are one of the most distinctive features on the Devastator.

Solution No 2 is the one I am favouring - at the moment!

Cheers guys!

10 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Sorry for the late reply David... I just noticed your posts.

Nice catch with the area that needs to be trimmed down on the fuselage floor ! I'll believe this was the cause of my fit problems with the nose area during my TBD build. It also caused my bomb doors alignment problems too I'll bet...

I remember adding some plastic strip along the top edge of the wing joint and along the edge of the instrument panel top to the cockpit coaming joint. However the gap in my wing joint was not as large as yours is. Maybe yours will need more plastic added to fill the voids ?

The wing gap on my plane may not have been as large as your plane is, simply because the part was not trimmed off on the fuselage floor as you have indicated. This in turn may have pushed the fuselage sides more outward on my plane, reducing the gap... Hmmmmmm.

I think it would be a good idea to try and build the wing profile back into it's original shape. Possibly make a small spreader to fit in between the upper and lower wing parts ?

Your leading edge corrugation lines look much better than mine did. Yours have really turned out nice. The cockpit of your plane really looks great too.

Excellent work David.

Thanks for the updates my friend.