David, @davem
It is wonderful to see that you are going to complete this build. I was thinking to myself a few weeks ago about this very subject . You must have been reading my mind. I really like what you have done here. Once you get it completed, please post it up in the headlines section, and I'll be sure to add it to our final recap showing all of the fantastic builds we had as part of our Battle of Midway group build... Stay safe my friend.
David H, @david-hansen
When I built mine, I remember going along the leading edge with a very small machinists file to go in between the ridges. Mine was one of the original Monogram releases, (dated 1974 I think), so the molds were still in pretty good shape. I don't remember this as being too big of a problem. I had more problems with the bomb doors, and this was caused by my building as I had one of the cockpit bulkheads not lined up properly. This caused me some grief later on in the build.
Here's a link to my build log.
https://imodeler.com/groups/75th-anniversary-battle-of-midway-group-build/forum/topic/148-monogram-tbd-1-devastator/
I get to the wing leading edges on the second page of the journal.
Hope this helps you.