This was a rare find. I wanted to build all the Midway planes in 1/72nd
scale and there
are no current models of this plane produced today. The hobby shop told me
that
somobody made one years ago, but he did not know who. Well I was browsing
through
ebay and saw several MPC Devastators for auction. This is an OLD kit from
my youth. I
got it for a pretty good price on an off day along with a 1/72nd scale
Helldiver (also rare).
This is a truly GREAT KIT!!! It makes some of today's kits look bad by
comparison. I had
forgotten how good the MPC kits really were. Too bad they are not around
anymore
(Some are in reissues). The surface detail especially the corrugated wing
surface was
crisp as was the rivet detail. The fit was great and it needed very little
filling. Too bad
the real plane was not as good as this kit. At the start of the war this
plane was already
obsolete. Its only claim to fame came in the Battle of the Coral Sea. I
modeled the plane
from one from Torpedo 4 which scored one of several successful torpedo
hits on a
small Japanese carrier which was sunk. The paint scheme and markings were
the intial
ones used by the Navy at the beginning of the war. Interesting to note
that this was the
last battle where any red was left on the tail surfaces and insignia. They
were removed
when it was noted that naval gunners would shoot at anything with red on
it like the
Japanese meatball. Aeromaster paints were used as well as a combination of
kit and left
over Aeromaster decals and hand painted tail stripes. The kit decals were
very old and
required special attention to get them to snuggle down and stick to the
corrugated wing
surfaces. Thank goodness for modern setting solutions. I also had to use
copious
amount of thinned white glue to augment the kit decals as they were really
old and the
decal glue had lost its potency. I am really happy with the way this kit
came out and it
will remain in my collection for a long time. It will be worth a lot
someday.
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