Tokyo Raider Posted October 16, 2021 Posted October 16, 2021 Hi Fellow Britmodellers--- Here is a plane I just finished an hour ago... Took almost two weeks and its probably my best model thus far. This one is an Academy kit of the original Accurate Miniatures tooling. The Academy instructions were really hard to follow and missed steps! If you build one, head to scalemates and look up the old Accurate Miniatures instructions posted online. I had to several times to figure out how to build this!!! I added resin wheels, eduard PE seat belts, and the decals are techmod for the USS Essex TBM-3 Avenger. I detailed the bombs with printscale US weapons decals. One thing I had to fix was the kit did not have the tailwheel extended properly (or I goofed placement of a bulkhead, but not sure). I had to add a post to the top of the tail gear retract strut to get the tail gear rotated out enough as per photos of real Avengers. Looking at builds of this kit on line, everyone seems to have the partially extended tailwheel! So watch for that when you build yours... I painted in Gunsie Mr Color sea blue and intermediate blue and flat white. I also painted according to official TBM paint guide with the 'gradiated blue' on the Leading Edges of the Wing and Stab which is same as on fuselage sides. I found a photo of the real Georgia Peach flying and so weathered and detailed accordingly... This one came out nice! Thanks for watching and checking it out... 65 1
Andy Dyck Posted October 16, 2021 Posted October 16, 2021 I would say it turns out absolutely perfect. Your paint job is fantastic. No orange skin. Looks very realistic….….….I would be pleased to see it with a nice backdrop in natural light on a little flight deck…..come on please…. Cheers Andy 1 1
Tokyo Raider Posted October 16, 2021 Author Posted October 16, 2021 32 minutes ago, Andy Dyck said: I would say it turns out absolutely perfect. Your paint job is fantastic. No orange skin. Looks very realistic….….….I would be pleased to see it with a nice backdrop in natural light on a little flight deck…..come on please…. Cheers Andy Hey Andy... I am not THAT fancy! Maybe some day I will... I am lucky just to glue models together right! Lol... I use an old pasche H-1 single action airbrush. I have used same airbrush since about 1977! So I thin the paint enough and put it on in very lightly... looks like painted metal... 1 1
bigbadbadge Posted October 16, 2021 Posted October 16, 2021 What a cracking Avenger, great work and great paint. Chris 1
Farmerboy Posted October 16, 2021 Posted October 16, 2021 Cracker! It really is a nice kit, well ahead of its time, superb detail and beautifully finished, good job! 1
David H Posted October 16, 2021 Posted October 16, 2021 Very nice Avenger, Bob. The TBF/ TBM is one of those rare instances, where intermediate blue is applied to the wing leading edges. Very distinctive, and many tend to think its "wrong" without doing some study on the subject. I've been hooked on GSI Mr Color since i built my FG-1 in 2014. Excellent stuff. Just requires a bit more fastidious surface preparation. -d- 1
Spitfire31 Posted October 16, 2021 Posted October 16, 2021 Beautiful Avenger! It's certainly 'glued together right' – and then some! Very convincing model. Kind regards, Joachim 1
Tokyo Raider Posted October 16, 2021 Author Posted October 16, 2021 (edited) 12 hours ago, David H said: I've been hooked on GSI Mr Color -d- Hi David... love your fly navy picture... saw alot of those bumperstickers in the 1970s... my school friends Dad was a Navy aviator... Yes, i also got hooked on Mr Color! Edited October 17, 2021 by Tokyo Raider
Tokyo Raider Posted October 16, 2021 Author Posted October 16, 2021 3 minutes ago, Spitfire31 said: Beautiful Avenger! It's certainly 'glued together right' – and then some! Very convincing model. Kind regards, Joachim Hi Joachim... I got lucky, had to pry fuselage apart and I glued 4 different parts in wrong places! Finally downloaded original Accurate Miniatures instructions and that helped alittle! But I sure felt dumb building this! 1
ForestFan Posted October 16, 2021 Posted October 16, 2021 Very nicely done. Built one of these earlier this year, impressive beast isn’t it! Yours looks great 1
IvanP Posted October 17, 2021 Posted October 17, 2021 Two weeks??? Wow! Stunning model! Congrats! Ivan 1
dnl42 Posted October 17, 2021 Posted October 17, 2021 Outstanding turkey! Really fabulous finish! I was lucky to get a 1/48 Cushman scooter built in 2 weeks! 1
72modeler Posted October 17, 2021 Posted October 17, 2021 What the others have said- very nice paintwork, and one of the best TBM's I have seen in a while! Now you need a GWH SB2C-4 to go with it! Mike 1
Tokyo Raider Posted October 17, 2021 Author Posted October 17, 2021 3 hours ago, IvanP said: Two weeks??? Wow! Stunning model! Congrats! Ivan Hi Ivan... i say two weeks... really this was 13days. I can usually build a single engine plane in about 7 to 10days... thats about 3hrs a day evenings and a saturday and sunday thrown in. This one took alot more time in decals (4days of decaling) because of problems and the build problems I had.
Tokyo Raider Posted October 17, 2021 Author Posted October 17, 2021 2 hours ago, 72modeler said: What the others have said- very nice paintwork, and one of the best TBM's I have seen in a while! Now you need a GWH SB2C-4 to go with it! Mike Hi Mike... I am aware and have a sb2c-1 accurate miniatures kit, and am aware of the monogram promodeller sb2c-4... but didnt know of the GWH one... I am new to 1/48, over last few years... so missed alot of kits...
Tokyo Raider Posted October 17, 2021 Author Posted October 17, 2021 2 minutes ago, bigfoot said: Cracking build, love the finish on it. Thanks Bigfoot... I am in middle of my Pacific build, but will save something for your Midway GB!
phildagreek Posted October 17, 2021 Posted October 17, 2021 That’s beautiful, you’ve done a very neat job on the canopy glass.
Sky Keg Posted October 17, 2021 Posted October 17, 2021 Bob, as I was viewing the pictures, I kept waiting to see where this Avenger would start up and take off on a mission from the Essex. Very nice results!!!! Spoiler Mike
IvanP Posted October 17, 2021 Posted October 17, 2021 (edited) 7 hours ago, Tokyo Raider said: Hi Ivan... i say two weeks... really this was 13days. I can usually build a single engine plane in about 7 to 10days... thats about 3hrs a day evenings and a saturday and sunday thrown in. This one took alot more time in decals (4days of decaling) because of problems and the build problems I had. That’s pretty good, Bob. It would take me at least 2-3 months, working on weekends, to complete a kit like that, to such level. I’ve built one these a long time ago, when it was first released, and I remember that the cockpit and bombay doors were a bit tricky to fit. Anyway, good job! Ivan Edited October 17, 2021 by IvanP
72modeler Posted October 17, 2021 Posted October 17, 2021 7 hours ago, Tokyo Raider said: Hi Mike... I am aware and have a sb2c-1 accurate miniatures kit, and am aware of the monogram/Revell Promodeller sb2c-4... but didn't know of the GWH one... I am new to 1/48, over last few years... so missed a lot of kits... You know what, Bob-it was the 1/48 GWH TBD that I was thinking of, not the Helldiver. You are correct that the Monogram, Accurate Miniatures, and Monogram/Revell Pro Modeler SB2C's are the only ones in 1/48 scale.....do not follow the larger scale kits nearly as much as the ones in God's Own Scale; sorry, didn't mean to get your hopes up! Mike
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