1:32 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator part 3 - pre-war period 1940

1:32 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator, part 3 - the pre-war period 1940 (Art Scale)

This item is a sheet of wet decals in 1:32 scale focused on peacetime operation of the Devastator in 1940. It serves as an accessory for a finished model, onto which it is applied once painted and polished with a gloss varnish. The model, paints and varnish are not part of the package.

The real subject

Pre-war American carrier aviation was the most colorful in its whole history. The Douglas TBD-1 Devastator, then a modern all-metal torpedo bomber with folding wings, carried in 1940 polished aluminum surfaces, strikingly yellow upper wing surfaces and colored tail panels and engine cowlings, by which the individual carriers and squadrons were told apart. The markings also included large lettering on the fuselage and a mark of the aircraft's position in the section. It is that very color that makes the pre-war machines a popular subject: a model reads entirely differently in a cabinet from the later blue-gray wartime examples, even though it is the same type of aircraft.

How to work with the decals

• Create a smooth gloss base under the decals - the colored areas then will not go dull.
• Apply the large area elements in sections and draw off the water as you go.
• Use a softener sparingly, so that the deeply colored film does not wrinkle.
• Seal the finished markings with a varnish that evens the gloss of the whole model.

Who the sheet is for

• Modelers who want a Devastator in its peacetime, colorful form.
• Those interested in American carrier aviation at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s.
• Collectors putting together a whole series of markings for one type.
• Those looking for a striking exhibit for a cabinet in the large 1:32 scale.