Our Midway Comprehensive Paint Mask sets includes markings for T-16 (Lt. Cdr. John Waldron) and T-14 (Ens. George Gay) as they likely appeared on June 4, 1942, the day Torpedo Eight was destroyed at the Battle of Midway. Also featured are each TBD we could identify in John Ford’s Midway documentary: T-3, T-5, T-7, and T-13.

The files include designs to mask the bomb aiming and side windows (which Trumpeter didn’t include on their canopy mask sheet, go figure), wheels, prop tips, oil cooler grill, wing walks, arrestor hook, fuel caps, cowl numbers, and numbers for the upper wing.

Insignia masks for the wings are included so you don’t have to worry about decals not conforming to all that corrugation. Two sizes for both positions of fuselage insignias are also included, as are two types and styles of lower wing insignia.

In Ford’s footage T-3 can clearly be seen with earlier, large fuselage insignia in the forward position and massive insignia with red dots on the lower wing. Both T-3 and Waldron’s T-16 were replacements (Waldron had recently damaged T-1) pulled from the rafters just prior to June 4. The story goes that when the order came to paint out the red crews couldn’t reach the underside insignia on the folded wings of the hanging aircraft, so the meatballs remained. Evidently, they didn’t bother to change the insignia position of the fuselage, either. Both T-3 and T-16 appear with the larger, forward fuselage insignia, so there is a good chance Waldron flew T-16 into battle with the red dots underneath as well.

We’ve found the bureau numbers are too small to cut effectively, so they are not included.

Stay tuned for Yellow Wing and Coral Sea masking sets, and our Styrene Sheet Metal set that will convert Trumpeter’s bomb aiming window doors to the late configuration. We’ll also include the plywood torpedo fin shapes clear in Ford’s Midway footage.