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GWH 1/48 Devastator – FINISHED

Started by Eric Berg · 173 ≡ · ↻ 3 years ago · devastator, dive bomber, Douglas, Great Wall Hobby, GWH TBD-1 devastator, Lt. John C. Waldron, Midway, T-16, TBD-1, TBD-1 Devastator, torpedo, torpedo bomber, VT-8

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Eric Berg said 3 years, 11 months ago:

I picked this GWH kit up brand spanking new for super dirt cheap while visiting Hong Kong two years ago. I gather those days are over for the time being until things settle down there politically, which is too bad as there are some knockout hobby stores there.

This is said to be a great kit except for the canopy in the open position which apparently does not fit at all according to the build reviews I've read. So...Rob-Taurus canopies to the rescue! This Cezch outfit manufactures superb after market canopies well worth trying out. Best I've ever used.

I'm also going to use decals by Techmod and some Eduard PE cockpit goodies. Haven't decided which markings I will use, but at least I have this kit moved to the head of the line and will commence working on it it any day now.
Andrew H said 3 years, 11 months ago:

Can't wait to see this one progress Eric. I have a Techmod sheet and BigEd set that I intend to apply to an old Monogram boxing. Plenty of choices to select from to honor the brave men that flew these planes into combat. As inadequate as this plane was I find it to have graceful lines and proportions.. like i said, following!
Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 11 months ago:

You know how to pick'em Eric. Sign me up for the ride - looking forwrd to it too @eb801!
Eric Berg said 3 years, 11 months ago:

Andrew - I also have that Revell/Monogram Devastator kit. It came with a great Bert Kinzey book although I seem to have lost it. Comparing the Monogram boxing side by side with GWH, guess who wins? Still the older kit has enough going for it that it’s worth building.
John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 11 months ago:

Eagerly looking forward to your build, Eric.
Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 11 months ago:

What a great entry,Eric!
Looking forward to your build!
Eric Berg said 3 years, 11 months ago:

Well guys, I gotta say one thing about this Great Wall Hobby kit: I've never seen so many tiny delicate parts have so many thick sprue attachment points. It's overkill. Removing each piece is going to be slow going and pain staking. Must have a tube of super glue handy at all times. I've already snapped two parts just by "looking" at them. This is going to be some fun.

I will be posting some cockpit photos in a day or two.
Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 11 months ago:

I too find this situation very discomforting. I faced this situation in a couple of Roden kits at a couple of very tiny parts, the brittlish styrene did not help...I discarded them and scratchbuilt new ones...@eb801
Eric Berg said 3 years, 11 months ago:

Spiros: that’s why I don’t like building Roden models. They have an element of crudeness about them.
Eric Berg said 3 years, 11 months ago:

Here's another frustrating weak point of this kit - the instructions. In order to get the well appointed instrument panels looking good, GWH provides individual tiny decal gauges, each individually numbered for placement purposes except that the numbers don't match the placement instructions. In fact there's a lot of mistakes and other things missing in the kit instructions. You would think by now GWH would have proof read these and made the proper corrections. Meanwhile it's slow going positioning these gauges in place. Since the instructions are useless, I decided to pick out the ones that look good and fit inside the bezels. Keep in mind they take awhile to snuggle down and can easily disintegrate in the process. Fortunately GWH gives you two of each.

Another complaint I have with these instructions: GWH doesn't tell you which way to fold the tiny PE parts and there are a lot of them. Overall, the cockpit is impressively detailed so I see no reason for using any aftermarket add-ons except for lap belts as the kit ones are incorrect. The front office is almost a model in itself. Stay tuned.
Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 11 months ago:

They could use a one piece decal that could be snuggled down with some decal softener and (with careful positining) one could obtain a good (a very good!) result.
I would risk to call the individual gauges an over-"engineered" decal sheet. At least, they could provide alternate "one piece" decals, to give the modeler a choice.
Still, your result is amazing here, Eric @eb801!
Pedro L. Rocha said 3 years, 11 months ago:

GWH is a brand I never built a model from, but from your description reminds me some AFV brands that over engineer their kits. Hope your patience endures, it looks a very realistic IP so far
Andrew H said 3 years, 11 months ago:

Looking good. Im working on ICMs O-2A (stalled out on paint), but they also decided to do single gauge decals. Fortunately they were kind enough to orient the gauges in the panels layout on the sheet. Would have been a pleasingly easy thing to do GWH...
Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 11 months ago:

Eric, the challenges you meet keeps up a good fight. And as we've seen before you make the most of it. The posted results are great, Thank you for sharing (@eb801).
John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 11 months ago:

So not only modelling but also puzzling to get everything on the right position.
A lot of work to place each gauge individually, but so far it looks great, Eric.

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GWH 1/48 Devastator – FINISHED