1:72 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator

Who had which tail

Before the war came, American naval aviation identified an aircraft's parent ship by the color of its tail surfaces. White belonged to the Saratoga, yellow to the Lexington, blue to the Enterprise, red to the Yorktown and green to the Ranger. Add to that the yellow upper wing surfaces, the polished metal of the fuselage and the bands of command machines: it was the most colorful period in the history of American aviation and it ended in December 1940 with the order for an overall gray finish.

The six options on this sheet are tailored precisely to that era. Machine 3-T-15 of VT-3 from the Saratoga with a white tail is dated to 1938, as is 2-T-1 of VT-2 from the Lexington with a yellow tail. Aircraft 5-T-8 of VT-5 from the Yorktown with a red tail belongs to 1939 and 6-T-16 of VT-6 from the Enterprise carries blue tail surfaces. The fifth entry is 42-S-16 of scouting squadron VS-42 from the Ranger, already in the overall gray finish of 1941, and the sixth a white 82 of the training command from Pensacola with a red tail.

For the build that means one thing: most of the work is done by the paint, not by the decal. It therefore pays to mix the tail shades according to tables of the period and to transfer the numbers and letters only onto a polished glossy surface.

The sheet suits a finished Devastator model in 1:72 and is the logical counterpart to the sheets with the wartime blue-gray.

Polished metal surfaces are reproduced today with metallic paints, which take wet decals very badly. It is therefore better to seal the places under the markings first with a layer of clear gloss varnish and to work with water only above it.