When the TBD first entered service with VT-3 aboard the USS Saratoga in 1937, it was at the technological forefront of naval aircraft design, the US Navy's first all-metal monoplane, the first to have a totally enclosed cockpit and the first to have hydraulically-powered folding wings. The TBD was the front-line torpedo bomber on all seven of the American aircraft carriers when World War II began. After Pearl Harbor, TBDs participated in a series of hit and run raids by American carriers on Kwajalein, Jaluit and Japanese bases in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. Despite the Devastator's growing obsolescence, they scored seven hits on the IJN light carrier Shoho at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. Sadly, the TBD is probably best remembered as the type that was slaughtered by the Japanese fighters at the Battle of Midway.

The TBD has previously been offered in 1/700 scale as an injection molded kit by Trumpeter and Tamiya included 4 TBD's in their 1/700 USS Yorktown kit. WEM also did the TBD as a resin model over 20 years ago. We believe that the 3D printed models offered here compare very favorably with all of these and likely surpass them. Plus this set actually includes 3 different gear down models, each with a torpedo loaded under the fuselage - one with an open canopy exposing a tiny pilot and gunner(!), one with the canopy closed and one with the wings folded. We've posted high resolution photos so you can judge the quality for yourself. Although photography of these little gems is a challenge for our equipment and limited skills, check out the well proportioned model including the fuselage with detailed canopy, wings complete with the TBD's subtle corrugated skin wrap (not seen on any of the aforementioned models), the engine cowling, tail assembly and landing gear.

While the surfaces are not perfectly smooth (3D printing is done in layers), the plastic used can be sanded and painted much the same way you would handle resin or styrene as noted above. The models may still have some powder and oil-like agent on them that needs to be removed by washing in warm water with a drop of detergent added to it.

NOTE: While we currently maintain limited inventories of most items, some items may be "printed on demand", which usually requires 10-15 business days from order to shipment.