John: I do recommend you pick up a bottle of Vallejo’s airbrush thinner which has a top that squeezes out one drop at a time. I follow the instructions which is 5 drops of paint to one drop of thinner but you can play around with it.

I’m going to try Vallejo’s metal aluminum next.

John: What airbrush do you use? I am thinking about upgrading. I've used a Paasche H forever, simple and indestructible like a DC-3.

ABOUT THE TORPEDO

As I was getting ready to install the torpedo to underside cradle, I started thinking, hey wait a second, there's no attachment point to keep this guy from falling out. So I did a little research and I discovered another mistake in GWH's kit instructions. Let's take a look at those instructions first:

Now let's look at a photo of the real thing:

Low and behold, these two torpedo hard points (pylons) are actually included in the kit, parts 53 and 54 but for some reason GWH doesn't mention them in the instructions. I installed them according to reference photos. Next up I have to figure out some scratch built straps to secure the torpedo.

Yep, I think the kit builder took a break and the one who was writing the instructions made his own composition, Eric @eb801...
Good thing that, at least, the tightening pylons (!) are there.

Thanks Tom for that suggestion but I already came up with a solution that I'm in the middle of completing based on the above reference photos. I'll be posting it soon.

Just found this thread and I have to say...WOW! Well done Eric. Late to the game here but regarding the thick attachment points. Pick up a set of these little saws which fit in a normal blade handle...

These will cut the part almost flush, sometimes needing no clean up. Great for clear parts but mask the clear parts to avoid scraping with the handle. (Guess how I found out). These are also great for scribing panel lines though sometimes these are finer than the kit panel lines. I have eight bottles of various Vallejo Metallics and I really like them. I've read some bad reviews about them being fragile and don't handle masking well. Yes they do scrape easily but careful handling will stop this. As for masking, I spray and then let it sit for a minimum of 24hrs. I do this for all Vallejo Model Air paint. When masking, I detack the bejaysus out of the Tamiya tape. I remove the tape almost immediately after spraying, pulling very slowly and at an angle. Doing this, I have rarely had paint lift and if it did, it is no more than when I use Tamiya, Gunze or Polly Scale.

I came up with a fix based on the reference photos above to secure the torpedo to its fairing. I used some thin gauge wire and tiny thin squares of evergreen styrene with holes drilled in the center to give the wire something to hold on to. Glued the squares to the pylon and inserted the wire held in place with my favorite styrene friendly super glue, "Plastic Surgery". Whew! I might go back and add a little more detail
later because the more I stare at it...

While I'm at it, I want to mention the wheels supplied in the kit are sagged tires. It's my understanding that carrier planes had their tires pumped up to the max to counter act rough deck landings. It would have been nice for GWH to supply both tire options like others do. I used them anyway. I was going to steal the pumped up wheels from my Monogram kit but they appear to be incorrect for this TBD version and don't fit the gear anyway with out some slight modification.

George: Thanks for the tip on the Tamiya blades. I will give those a try. I am testing Vallejo's Metal Aluminum out at the moment. I'll let you know what I think. I usually go with Alclad.

Andrew H: The Iwata HP-CS is exactly what I was thinking of purchasing. do you have the model with the cup on top?

Very nice. I just swapped over from my Testor Aztek A470 to a more traditional airbrush, the Harder & Steenbeck Evolution 2 in 1. The 2 in 1 part is 2 different sized paint cups (2ml and 5ml) and a .2mm and a .4 needle and caps. Love it I do and its supposed to be easier than Iwata to strip and clean. Short story long...last year the company offered us a gift selection instead of the usual gift certificate. There was nothing I wanted so I passed. About a month later, the gift company informed me if there was nothing I wanted, make an offer and they'll decide if its OK. On another forum someone purchased the above AB so I chose it and it was accepted. It took 3 months for it to get to Canada and when it did I was told they couldn't deliver to a Post Office box so the gift company took my street address and reordered. A week later the original AB came to my PO box and 2 weeks later the reordered AB showed up at my PO box as well so now I have two