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TBM-3 Avenger Conversion to TBF-1C. On to the Cockpit


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37 minutes ago, Finn said:

Thanks Jari. I appreciate the picture. It will help with the painting and weathering when I get to that around 2018 at the pace I'm going!  Seriously, thanks for looking in and thanks for taking the time to contribute to this build. I will be using your picture for reference.  

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1 hour ago, georgeusa said:

 

I am not too keen on the color of the firewall and engine bearers.  I think it is too dark.  Will have to look at some more pictures, but I think these will be repainted in a lighter gray.  There are a whole bunch of pipes that need to be painted, and I think I painted some the exhaust color rather than black.  Betcha those will need some repainting.  Oh yeah, did you see my massive piece of construction for this update.  Yep, took a heaping amount of time and effort to make that tank, all two pieces of it.  (I am a pathetic builder!)  Laid the foundation paint for the exhaust system as I want it to have a brownish/rust tint to it.

Next up, started the weathering process on some of the finished engine parts that have already received their base paint.

Hi George,

 

All looking good. I'm not sure what paint manufacture you are using but Humbrol 64 Light grey, or Model Master

1729/1730 (Gull grey) would suit "Grumman Grey", which is the colour you want for engine bearers, oil tank, forward firewall etc and interior cowling colour.

 

Hope that helps?

 

Regards

 

Alan

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36 minutes ago, LDSModeller said:

Hi George,

 

All looking good. I'm not sure what paint manufacture you are using but Humbrol 64 Light grey, or Model Master

1729/1730 (Gull grey) would suit "Grumman Grey", which is the colour you want for engine bearers, oil tank, forward firewall etc and interior cowling colour.

 

Hope that helps?

 

Regards

 

Alan

Alan, I found some Testor's light gull gray that I think will work and have repainted the gray portions with it. I really appreciate your input, thanks. 

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13 hours ago, georgeusa said:

Thanks Jari. I appreciate the picture. It will help with the painting and weathering when I get to that around 2018 at the pace I'm going!  Seriously, thanks for looking in and thanks for taking the time to contribute to this build. I will be using your picture for reference.  

 

No problem, for more pics go here:

 

http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/education/emil-buehler-library/

 

type in Avenger in the Search box at the bottom of the page. You can also try TBF or TBM as well.

 

Jari

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More engine work update.  At least I’ve started assembling the beast!  First off, LDSModeller came to my rescue with some correct interior color call outs regarding a TBF-1C.  That meant I needed to repaint this engine wall from green to a metal finish.  I also repainted the engine mount the interior gray color, but it is too dark I think.

 

repainted%20engine%20wall.jpg

 

Now, I finally get to start building some more stuff.  There is a control box that attaches to the engine wall that needs to be pieced together.

 

completed%20control%20box.jpg

 

That goes into the engine wall inside of the engine mount (which was repainted to make it a bit lighter in color).

 

control%20box%20in%20engine%20wall.jpg

 

Now I get to work on the two banks of cylinders.  On the first bank, the push rods are sandwiched between the cylinder bank and the front housing.  Then comes the fun session of gluing the individual cylinder heads (Two per cylinder and they are handed.  Glad I didn’t take them off the sprues to paint, what a nightmare that would have been.)

 

cylinder%20head%201.jpg

 

I keep telling myself I build 1/48, 1/32 and 1/24 kits because I can’t work with the small 1/72 parts.  Then I put on 28 of these making sure they are attached in the right place on the cylinder while trapping the push rod into the bottom hole of the cylinder head.  Who am I kidding?

The left half heads are put on first.

 

cylinder%20head%202.jpg

 

Then the right half heads are next

 

cylinder%20head%203.jpg

 

This same process is repeated for the back bank of cylinders

 

cylinder%20head%206.jpg

 

My ham fistedness finally reared its ugly head and two of the push rods were broken putting on the cylinder heads.  They were a joy to repair!  After attaching the cylinder heads and the different assemblies, some repainting and retouching was done.

 

cylinder%20head%207.jpg

 

I repainted the front cover in a deeper blue/grey color.  Do not be afraid, it will be toned down in the weathering process.  It is quite jarring right now.  I painted and weathered the fire wall trying to give the metal a beaten-up look.  I am happy with the results

 

firewall.jpg

 

And lastly, the poor oil tank got its own shot of color and the beginning of some weathering.  It still needs some more stains and a cap.

 

oil%20tank%20weather.jpg

 

What’s up next boys and girls, well that would be the fun and games associated with making the wiring for 14 banks of cylinders, complete with some clips.  Excitement abounds here at this camp I tell you.  I have a plan on how to do this, just hope the plan works as smoothly in execution as it is running through my addled brain.  As always, all comments are welcome.

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Update filled with frustration and disgust!  Yesterday was not a good day, mostly because of me so I have no one else to blame.  I am still stuck on building the engine for this kit and wondering why on earth make it so detailed without a means to see about 90 % of the finished product?  Did the Trumpeter designers that worked on this kit jump ship and begin designing for Zoukei-Mura?  So, from the last update, I had stopped after doing some basic construction of the different engine sub-assemblies, painting and some weathering.  When I stopped, these parts were finished and left on top of the instruction page waiting for paint and glue to dry.

 

IMG_3264.jpg

 

Before I begin today’s construction, the ring in the above photo has gone missing, vanished, AWOL.  This part (D14) is nowhere to be found.

 

Missing%20Ring%201.jpg

 

The front housing is still in its place as is a small ring of excess wash from where the part dried.  Where in blue blazes is that ring?  Well one of two things happened after I turned the lights off.  First option, magical gremlins entered my modeling room, breathed life into this part and it bolted for freedom and has returned to the wilds of the earth seeking a mate to create little baby plastic rings.  Second, some poor, unfortunate fellow modeler broke this part when they were constructing their own Avenger modeler.  In their distraught, unstable mental condition they discovered I was building the same model, read up on burglary from the internet, carefully and without any damage broke into my modeling room and absconded with this part manically laughing as soon as they jumped into their getaway vehicle!

I have no clue what happened between turning off the lights and then turning them back on as to how this part vanished.  Now, I don’t have the most clutter free working environment, so a search must be made and forced organization of my work station begins in hopes of finding this part.  So, after about an hour of searching, cleaning, organizing and muttering strange and most foul curses under my breath as to what makes essential plastic parts vanish, no discovery of the missing part.  Since my modeling floor is tile and not carpet, no carpet monster reached up and grabbed it.  But, I dutifully took out a broom and swept the entire room in hopes it had bounced off the table and rolled to some dark crevice of my plastic den.  I found a 1/72 complete engine that I had built for another kit about 3 years ago, various plastic sprue noodles, dust bunnies, two pennies, one quarter, the head of a 1/48 figure, radio masts, and assorted small clear parts from different planes that crystal clear was used as a substitute.  But, no missing part that I wanted.  I thought about just leaving the part off the engine, but this is the ring that all the spark plug wires tie into and is one of the few visible parts of the engine.  ARGGGHHHHHH!!!!!  A scratch built replacement will have to be made.  I find some insulated wire that looks like it could work.

 

Missing%20Ring%202.jpg

 

That is bent into a ring shape after finding a suitable size round mold. (Why are circles so hard?)

 

Missing%20Ring%203.jpg

 

A quick test of fit indicates the ring size is about right, but the ring itself is much too thick and doesn’t look right.

 

Missing%20RIng%204.jpg

 

ARGGGHHHH!  What to do?  Well dummy, it is an insulated wire, how about removing the insulation.  Of course, this thought process that should have taken only a nanosecond to occur, didn’t dawn on my thick skull for about 5 minutes as I began rummaging through the misc. box for a smaller diameter wire.  So, the wire was straightened (using a brand, new piece of wire didn’t run through my head either!), the insulation removed and the bare wire was reshaped into a circle.

 

Missing%20RIng%205.jpg

 

A quick check of fit and the diameter of the bare wire looks to be the right scale replacement, but the diameter of the ring is too large.

 

Missing%20Ring%206.jpg

 

Maybe I should have remembered the previous shaped ring included the thickness of the insulation, DUHHH.  So, a little metal is removed and the ring reshaped and now it fits about the way it should

 

Missing%20RIng%207.jpg

 

Okay, boys and girls, I am back in business.  A quick application of some superglue to hold it in place and close up the tiny gap at the ends and I can begin the fun task of putting in 28 plug wires!  Let’s find some superglue.  Now, because of health problems, I have not done any modeling work for over a year.  What did I discover, out of the 8 different bottles/containers of superglue I had, each and every one of them had turned into a solid mass of hard, dried cement.  I threw them all away, but that left me without the means to secure the new ring to the engine.  As an aside, I have seen the large bottles of superglue in modeling shops, who can use them without most of the glue drying before it can be used?  I buy the smallest container and hope to use it before the plastic container becomes a lethal weapon of hardened superglue.  The nearest store to buy superglue is about 30 minutes away from where I live out in the country.  So, next trip into town, must buy replacement superglue.  So, this aspect of engine building must cease.  What can I do?

The little oil tank needs some oil drippings before I put it in place, maybe I can do that without screwing it up. 

 

Oil%20Drippings.jpg

 

It didn’t turn out too bad.  I plan to cut out an inspection panel and this side of this part will be very visible.  I then attach the oil tank to the firewall.

 

Oil%20Tank%20Installed.jpg

 

I set that aside and then go to the engine wall and realize the back side will probably show more than the side with the control unit.  So that gets painted and suitably weathered.

 

Engine%20Wall%20weathered%20other.jpg

 

The only other thing left is some more weather detailing work on the front engine housing.  I add some brownish stains.

 

engine%20weathering%20more.jpg

 

Not too bad, and I am happy with the ending blue/gray color.  And, my modeling time is now at an end as the 3 lovely hours I had set aside for fun modeling consisted of about 2 ½ hours of futile searching for the missing ring, cleaning up the work station in hopes it would appear and rebuilding another ring.  I am sure when I go back to do the next modeling session, the ring will have returned.  No wait, it won’t return until after I superglue its replacement into place and about half of the plug wires have been attached.  Foolish me, what was I thinking?  So, I left my modeling room and went off to do farm chores and proceeded to be bitten by a horse, stupidly flooded the laundry room so it soaked the carpeting in the bedroom next to the laundry room, boke the sledge portion off the handle of a sledgehammer driving in a post and won’t be able to do modeling this weekend as some calves need to be brought up to be sold and I’ve let them get a little too big.  Putting them in a cattle trailer for transport will be so exciting.  And did I mention it will be raining this weekend just to make matters even more exciting?  Although I am disgusted right now, as always, all comments are welcome.  Everyone else have a good day.

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George,

Time to pour a fresh coffee & take a break.

Some days we win, some days.....

As you say, that ring should turn up later,

I have my fingers crossed for you.

I do like your metal effect on the firewalls.

Regards

Pete

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Pete,

i would predict I find the missing plastic ring just as I have the last one of 28 plug wires to install on the home made ring!  Thanks for looking in. Oh yeah, the calves were not cooperative today and still have 3 more to round up. I really should not have let them get so big as they are a handful now. 

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1 hour ago, hendie said:

hi George,  - despite your current handling issues you certainly seem to be getting to grips (no pun intended) with modeling again.

 

 

Thanks Hendie.  I am thinking, given my past level of mediocre modeling, I should be able to achieve that level once again!  Gots to have goals.  I am discovering that, without a fine sense of touch, trying to persuade little, fine pieces of wire into a wiring harness for the engine is a bit daunting.   That, and I drop nearly every piece at least twice as I am not holding it tight enough.  I am slowly wading through your Pullman build. It is massive, impressive and highly educational as to trains and scratch building tricks. You really have a talent for scratching art objects out of bits and bobs of random pieces of plastic, metal, and whatever may be lying around. Thanks again for stopping bye and taking the time to comment. 

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39 minutes ago, georgeusa said:

I am discovering that, without a fine sense of touch

 

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but have you tried using those plastic tweezers for handling ?  Since the ends are pretty flexible, it wouldn't matter how much force you applied to the holding side of the tweezers, they would only be able to transmit a nominal amount of force to the end tips.

 

I think you are doing a great job btw.  I don't know if I would be as patient as you given the circumstances.

 

43 minutes ago, georgeusa said:

I am slowly wading through your Pullman build

 

and I am slowly trying to get back to it.  Life has got in the way of things over the last few weeks but I am hoping that I can get back on the (iron) horse again very soon.  This paint matching has proved to be the most troublesome aspect of the build so far.  Whooodathunk that trying to get two colors of paint would have proven so difficult ?  I reckon I've got at least 40 hours into trying to source the correct colors but I think I have a way forward now

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More engine work update.  Looking at the engine parts made, the parts of the engine that still need to be assembled, and determining where the plug wires were to be run, left me with the conclusion I should finish the piping at the back of the engine and the exhaust system as it would be easier to run plug wires around the piping and exhaust rather than piping and exhaust around the plug wiring.  The two sets of cylinders were glued together with fairly positive location pins.

 

Engine%20cylinders%20together.jpg

 

After the cylinders were together, I thought I might need to add some more detail to the homemade ignition ring so it would match the kit part.

 

Missing%20Ring%201.jpg

 

The kit ring has 4 little flat tabs.  I then referred to the picture I had of the actual engine so I could determine where to mount the tabs around the homemade ring.  When I looked at the actual engine picture . . .

 

IMG_1548.jpg

 

It has no tabs.  Now, either Trumpeter put the tabs on to help hold the kit ring in place, or they patterned their ring on another version of the engine that I have pictured above.  There is a difference in the engine series between the TBF 1-C and the TBM-3.  That could account for the difference.  For my purposes, I am patterning the engine for the kit after the picture I have of an actual engine.  Lucky for me, it has no tabs on the cylinder ring!

Back to the kit parts.  All the pipes should go in a specific order around the back of the engine.

 

Lots%20of%20little%20pipes.jpg

 

Here I am carefully putting in the first pipe.  Seems pretty easy.

 

Start%20of%20little%20pipe%20application

 

And here, I have one set of the pipes meticulously installed in the back of the engine.

 

Incorrect%20pipe%20installation.jpg

 

I then start to assemble the next set of pipes, with the exhaust system installation to follow.  I look at the instructions, I look at the remaining parts to be installed.  I look at the instructions again, I test fit the exhaust system.  I discover I have incorrectly installed the first set of pipes and must redo them as I have placed the ends of the pipes into the holes where the exhaust system is supposed to go.  The first set of pipes are correctly repositioned with me glad the glue had not completely set.  The second set of pipes is then put in place.  Now, it probably was just my cylinder assembly being slightly out of alignment, but the second set of smaller pipes were just a tad too long to properly fit where they were supposed to go.  I had to cut about a 1/16 of an inch (Sorry, just a colonial that doesn’t use the metric system, apologies to Mr. Heath) off each end to make everything line up.

 

Correct%20pipe%20installation.jpg

 

With the pipes correctly set, putting in the exhaust system was easy peasy.

 

Exhaust%20installation.jpg

 

Touch%20up%20after%20pipe%20and%20exhaus

 

With all the moving, removing and hacking on these little pipes and removing some seams on the exhausts, a paint touch-up is needed.  As I was touching up the paint, off pinged one of the tiny cylinder heads.

 

Popped%20off%20cylinder%20head.jpg

 

After some futile searching for this miniscule part (seeing I can’t find an ignition ring which is a whole lot bigger!) it looks like I will have to scratch this teeny little part.  It will have to be done as it is on one of the front cylinders and will be visible through the cowl opening.  This sounds like a lot of fun.  I also take a long hard look at the exhaust system.

 

Need%20to%20mess%20with%20exhausts.jpg

 

The exhaust system has its initial paint coat on it, but it needs a bit more work to make it look somewhat real.  But the ends of the exhaust . . .?  There is some bit of depression that starts to form the impression the exhaust pipe is hollow, but it is much too shallow.  Some drilling and filing must be done to make the opening much wider and deeper.  Perhaps doing this prior to installation at the back of the engine was the opportune time, but why should I make life easy?  The next steps are to drill out the exhausts more, give them a metal look, and then finally, set the plug wires in the engine.  As always, all comments are welcome.

 

 

 

 

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Still more motor update.  I must have done something to appease the modeling gods as when I walked into the modeling room, I stooped down to pick up some lint off the floor, and lo and behold, it was the missing cylinder head.  Somehow it travelled about 15 feet away from the modeling table.  It was quickly glued into place.

 

missing%20head%20found.jpg

 

I started looking at pictures of actual Avenger motors including the main one I was using as a reference and the secondary reference photo.  The secondary reference photo clearly has the four tabs that attach the ring to the front of the cylinder housing.

 

IMG_1549.jpg

 

I think the main picture I am using has the tabs, but they have either been painted the same color as the cylinder front housing or they are obscured by some grime.  Some tiny little tabs were made from just plastic stock.  I just needed 4, but I cannot tell you how many I made as most were pinged off into space while attempting to install them.  Finally, I got four of them installed.

 

wires%20and%20tabs%201.jpg

 

After the superglue hardens, I will sand and shape them a bit better.  While I wait for glue to dry, metalizing the exhaust system takes priority.  I overcoat the base color with a very thinned version of metallic copper.

 

exhaust%20metal%201.jpg

 

Then a dark wash is applied to tone down the shininess.

 

exhaust%20metal%202.jpg

 

While the exhaust dries, I take a big breath and start surgery on the port fuselage.  I plan to expose the engine by opening an inspection panel on the port side of the cowling and the port side of the fuselage.  Dyno tape is placed around the boundary of the inspection panel and the outline for cutting is scored into the plastic using a new blade in the hobby knife. I then use one of my fine-tooth saws to cut out the sides of the inspection panel.  The long side running the circumference of the fuselage is scored a bit more and until it very gently breaks off.  To keep from cracking the fuselage with all the scoring and sawing, I found a Tamiya primer rattle can was the correct diameter to fit inside the fuselage and keep me from breaking it in to when putting pressure to make the cuts.

 

inspection%20panel%20removal.jpg

 

The inside of the fuselage walls were then sanded thinner with some coarse grit sanding sticks.  Seeing how this went okay, I then take hold of the cowl and begin its conversion.  The main difference between a TBF 1-C and a TBM-3 cowl is the TBM-3 cowl has air inlets both top and bottom.  The TBF 1-C only has a top air inlet.  I started by sanding the opening for the bottom air inlet and reshaping the bottom of the cowl.  After I got the basic shape in place, a piece of card plastic was cut to fill the lower air inlet gap.  This was done with superglue so it would withstand the next go around of sanding and, also for the gap filling properties.

 

redo%20cowl%201.jpg

 

Finally, for this update, a coat of silver was given to the four tabs after they were sanded into their final shape.  A little more touch up needs to be done and then finally the plug wire battle will begin.

 

wires%20and%20tabs%202.jpg

 

The inner structure for the inspection panel needs to be built up, some more touch up on the engine, getting the plug wires installed, putting all the pieces together, and then seeing how much will be visible to determine the next go around of homemade pipes, wires and plumbing that will need to be added.  As always, all comments are welcome.

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Good effort George,.....this is a really brave conversion that you are doing,.... I would have stuck with a TBM-3 myself! 

Fingers crossed for you mate,

Cheers

          Tony

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George, I take my hat off to you. Considering your current difficulties you are doing a fantastic job, I built the engine for the Trumpeter Corsair a few months ago ( minus ignition harness ) and found it difficult enough with fully functioning fingers.

 

John

Edited by Biggles87
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On 4/26/2017 at 3:09 PM, tonyot said:

Good effort George,.....this is a really brave conversion that you are doing,.... I would have stuck with a TBM-3 myself! 

Fingers crossed for you mate,

Cheers

          Tony

 

You know so far it hasn't been so bad, but the conversion doesn't seem that difficult to do like other conversions I have seen done by much more capable modelers than I.  Such as some of the stuff you have done.  But, it is early yet, there is still plenty of time for me to muck it up!

 

On 4/26/2017 at 3:15 PM, Biggles87 said:

George, I take my hat off to you. Considering your current difficulties you are doing a fantastic job, I built the engine for the Trumpeter Corsair a few months ago ( minus ignition harness ) and found it difficult enough with fully functioning fingers.

 

John

 

I would assume the engine for the Corsair would be very similar to the Avenger, just a bit bigger with more plumbing in the rear.  Would like to see what you did with it.  Did you post a WIP?

 

22 hours ago, hendie said:

nice engine-ering !

 

You are far to punny for my tastes!  Thanks for looking in.

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Yeah, I know it is getting old, but still on the engine section!  First order of the day is applying some putty to the bottom of the cowl where I have plugged up the lower air inlet.

 

Cowl%20filler%201.jpg

 

I keep intending to finish (what a laugh, begin is more like it) installing the plug wires, but things keep getting in the way.  This time, when I started to attach the plug wires to the ring at the front of the engine, nothing was working out.  Why, because I only put in the plug wires for the front of the cylinders, not the back!  I credit this to my opening stages of senility.  Why I didn’t realize I had not attached the back wires is beyond me, as I purposely installed the piping and exhaust at the back of the cylinders so I could run the wires around them and not the reverse.  Now let’s review that idea I had.  For anyone else foolish enough to do this plug wire thing, attach the plug wires to the back cylinders prior to putting in the pipes and exhaust system!  I should have done that and then move the loose end of the wire around the piping and exhaust as the pipes and exhaust was being installed.  Going back and trying to put in the wire for the plugs in the back cylinders is not fun.   I have to angle and thread through the maze of pipework and exhaust.  Should have rethought my earlier decision.  Anyway, here is the back set of wires installed in the cylinders.

 

back%20wire%20insert.jpg

 

That was a fun exercise in depth perception through the magnifiers!  The front wires were much easier.

 

front%20wire%20insert.jpg

 

Because I don’t want to pull any wire loose, I am going to let the superglue really harden.  The next thing to tackle then is attaching the two wall sections together.  I inserted the mounts into the engine wall.

 

back%20mounts.jpg

 

I reversed the installation process from the instructions as I thought it would be easier to insert 8 mounting points into the base wall and then only match up the 4 mounting points to the second wall, than vice versa.  All in all, it was a fairly, painless process.

 

engine%20and%20firewall.jpg

 

As I was letting the glue dry on the above assembly, I thought perhaps I should check the alignment of the parts I just assembled with where they were going to be inserted into the fuselage.  Maybe I could just save myself some headache by making sure the alignment was correct prior to the glue drying.  I am learning in my old age.  I also wanted to see how well everything fit in relation to the inspection panel I opened the other day.  I taped the fuselage halves, trapping the deck where the engine walls will mount. A test fit of how the walls will mount makes me a happy boy as it all seems as if it will fit correctly.

 

test%20fit%20firewall%201.jpg

 

test%20fit%20firewall%202.jpg

 

So far so good. Spurred on by how well this inspection panel surgery went, I break out the dyno tape and measure out where surgery needs to be performed on the cowl.

 

cowl%20surgery%201.jpg

 

With a new knife blade, the outline of what is to be cut is scored into the plastic.  Then taking a very fine coping saw the first two cuts are made.

 

cowl%20surgery%202.jpg

 

The last cut is made by further scoring until I can just, simply break off the inspection panel.

 

cowl%20surgery%203.jpg

 

cowl%20surgery%204.jpg

 

So, I am a bit stoked that both surgeries went so well and the patient actually survived!  Next up (I know, like a broken record) will be finally attaching the plug wires.  Then the attachment points for the removed panels needs to be made, along with some more internal bits and bobs for the engine and the back firewall.  Since life is forcing me to do actual chores, I should end here.  As always, all comments are welcome.

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1 hour ago, hendie said:

 

why is this photo reminiscent of some creature/robot/other-worldly-thing from Lost in Space ?

nice wirery stuff though!

 

 

Oh wait until you see it with all the wires pulled through to attach to the front of the engine. Lost in Space did have some strange concoctions. And I mean the TV series, not the dreadful movie. It was fun to see the main characters change throughout the series; especially the robot and Mr. Smith.   Thanks for looking in. 

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Pitiful, little update.  Guess what, I’m still on the engine!  But, at least I have started on the plug wires.  I threaded all of the plug wires to the front of the cylinders so they can then be attached to the ring at the front of the engine.  This one is for you Hendie, the true wire mess!  By the way, I forgot to tell you I really enjoyed the robot from Lost in Space you built a while back.  I have a mini version in the stash just because of that build.

 

wire%20mess.jpg

 

But before I began the attachment process for the plug wires, I did some more contour work on the cowl from the TBM-3 configuration to the TBF 1-C configuration.

 

cowl%20almost%20done.jpg

 

 

There is still just a hair more filling and sanding that needs to be done, but overall, I think the shape of the 1-C cowl is there.  Next on the cowl is rescribing some line and then redoing the cowl vents.

Okay, this is as far as I have gotten with the plug wires. 

 

start%20plug%201.jpg

 

I have pretty much figured out the pattern of what wires go where, and the first two put in place was not painful.  However, this morning, my hands are acting up and I can’t keep them from cramping up.  Detail work is not the name of the game today.  And, my nemesis, superglue, has begun to act towards me as it usually does, will stick to everything except what I want it to stick to.  I have considered soldering the plug wires to the metal ring, but I don’t think that will be possible without melting all of the plastic around the ring.  Anyway, until my hands start cooperating, I don’t have the manual dexterity to mess with the plug wires at this time.  Very frustrating.  So, if anyone would like to comment on the pitiful amount of work I have done today, as usual, all comments will be welcome.

 

 

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George, at least you keep plugging away at it!

With me, life keeps getting in the way of modeling.

 

Some great detail work on this engine and more to come

on the rest of the kit by the look of it.

 

Keep the pictures coming.

(Maybe a shot of rye would help the fingers?)

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32 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

George, at least you keep plugging away at it!

With me, life keeps getting in the way of modeling.

 

Some great detail work on this engine and more to come

on the rest of the kit by the look of it.

 

Keep the pictures coming.

(Maybe a shot of rye would help the fingers?)

Thanks Pete!  I'm thinking the rye will not really help spur my hand eye coordination to extraordinary levels.  Maybe in my head, but I doubt in actuality.  But, who knows, may give it a whirl.  Thanks for looking in and tell life to get out of your way and carve out some modeling time.  You deserve it!

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6 hours ago, georgeusa said:

This one is for you Hendie, the true wire mess!

 

Ouch !  that doesn't look like much fun.  

 

like Pete says, just keep plugging away George, and piece by piece it will come together.

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