So, 20 years of vaporware is now solid plastic in a box on my work bench. What have we got?

Overall, this is an excellent kit. Trumpeter has made the same smart move here they made with their SBD Dauntless kits: scale up the best, most accurate 1/48 kit. The Dauntlesses were the Accurate Miniatures kit scaled up. This is the Great Wall Hobby kit scaled up and modified.  That’s good news.

Taping the fuselage and lower wing parts together shows that fit is overall excellent. Ditto the upper wing. You will have no difficulty whether you choose wings folded or extended. The open canopy can be stacked properly, and that fits to the fuselage correctly. Both options, open or closed, offer extremely clear plastic parts. The cockpit is sufficiently detailed to suit most, while leaving room for super-detailers to have at it.

Surface detailing is overall excellent, and accurate compared with photos. With an overall parts count of 180, this will not be a difficult kit to assemble. The sprue gates are thick and strong, and stand proud of parts. I recommend you use a sprue cutter rather than an X-Acto knife, to insure you don’t damage the parts taking them off the sprues.

Kit decals allow a modeler to do a pre-war airplane from VT-2, and a wartime airplane from what appears to be either VT-5 or VT-6 (unfortuntely the instructions do not identify the unit) at any period from January 1942 through the Battle of the Coral Sea. The decals have good register.

You cannot make a Midway TBD with what’s in the box, since the twin-30 mount for the rear gunner is not included. All three squadrons at Midway had the twin mount. There is a reliable rumor that a leading aftermarket company is already at work on a 3D printed twin mount.

Overall, this kit lives up to people’s hopes over the years that when and if Trumpeter did release the kit, it would be the work of their “A” Team. I’ll be doing mine in pre-war markings, using the Gold Medal Models “Early Devastators Part 1" decal sheet, which is excellent. There are three GMM decal sheets for this model, available from the Squadron Shop.

Overall assessment: Buy. In. Confidence.

Tom Cleaver

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