On one hand, this is wonderful news. Given the size of my diecast aircraft collection, I can hardly straight-facedly claim to have a "core collection," but if I did, it would surely be US Carrier-based aircraft of World War 2, and early-war ones at that. The TBD has long appeared on my "most desirable" lists, and, as similar aircraft (TBM, SBD, etc) are available in 1/72 already, this is just wonderful.
That said, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to just a tinge of disappointment for the choice of 1/72 as a scale. I have been over the last few months eschewing 1/72 as a scale for WW2 aircraft, especially single-engine types in favor of 1/48. While I cerainly have more than my share of 1/72 WW2 types, I've come to the conclusion that the scale is simply too small to provide good detail and value; my EI, FM, C1, HM and other 1/48 aircraft provide far, far more tactile and visual appeal and value than the 1/72 set does.
The TBD is a particularly interesting case since it could have gone either way - 1/48 to complement HM's excellent pre-war-USN line or 1/72 to match its existing wartime stuff. Their decision is defensible, it's just sad. Have a look at a well-built TBD devastator plastic model:
When displayed closed like this, it looks not great, but passable - the plastic is evidently too thick and detail-less, but, it more or less represents the actual aircraft "ok."
With the canopy open, things start to fall entirely to pieces. The overscale thickness of the plastic becomes immediately apparent and it just looks bad. This is evidenced by looking at the Kate photos that HM has on its surrogate website; of the five or so Kates released so far, there has been only one photo released with the canopy open, and even that has been done with the 'sliding' pieces removed!
In short, 1/72 was in my view not the ideal choice, but, well, I am nevertheless thrilled that a TBD is coming out. These truly are great diecast days.
