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1:72 Grumman Avenger Mk.II *FINISHED*


Dunny

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Hi All,

 

I'm after a nice, uncomplicated build for the holiday period, so inspired by @AliGauld's lovely recent build I decided to purchase the Sword Avenger Mk.I. Here's the box art:

 

Tarpon-Resized.jpg

 

I forgot to take any sprue shots as I just dived in this morning! I'm going to model this as an Avenger Mk.II JZ402 of 853 Sqn FAA in 1945, as shown on the below Xtradecals sheet:

 

X48103.jpg

 

Although I cannot find any photos of this aircraft here is another Avenger Mk.II wearing a similar scheme (photo is of a 711 Sqn aircraft):

 

Avenger-711-Squadron-RN-in-flight.jpg

 

As this is a Mk.II, and therefore an Eastern-built aircraft, the cockpit will be painted in standard Interior Green (as opposed to the Bronze Green of the Mk.I), with the engine bay in Zinc Chromate yellow. I shall also fill the groove in the cowling for the cowling gun (incorrect for the Mk.II), and drill holes for the wing-mounted guns. The Observer's position is also incorrect in the model, so I shall offset it to port, which will allow for a cutout in the bulkhead behind the Observer. I've marked up the area to be removed from the cockpit floor:

 

20221227-122520.jpg

 

Here's the 'after' shot with the bulkhead cutout:

 

20221227-124252.jpg

 

Here's a shot of the fuselage halves with Interior Green and ZCY applied:

 

20221227-141445.jpg

 

Here's a final shot showing the cockpit coming together:

 

20221227-144654.jpg

 

A most pleasant day inside with an eye/ear on the Australia-South Africa test match at the MCG (but not out, where it is 40C today!) Happy Holidays to all!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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1 hour ago, Fritag said:

40C 😱  Only 10 times the 4C in London right now then.  Anyways, cracking looking scheme.  I’m in, Roger.

Cripes - stay warm Steve! Down by 20-odd degrees tomorrow...

1 hour ago, Dandie Dinmont said:

Nice looking scheme Roger and a great start. I shall follow this with interest!

 

Craig. 

Welcome aboard Craig! It looks like a cracking little kit...

45 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

What a great idea for a build Roger. By coincidence, I bought one of these no so long ago & have similar plans to yours. Carry on. :)

Steve.

Can't go wrong with an Avenger Steve - I look forward to seeing yours!

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21 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Great start, I take it that the observer Cockpit is incorrect for the Mk.1 too as also needs modding? 

Chris, you are correct. For a Mk.I the cockpit & observer positions are Bronze Green (modified by Blackburn), with the remainder Interior Green, with the cowling interior Grumman Grey. There's a bit of scratch required for the radar gear - not difficult but it all makes a difference,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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20 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Chris, you are correct. For a Mk.I the cockpit & observer positions are Bronze Green (modified by Blackburn), with the remainder Interior Green, with the cowling interior Grumman Grey. There's a bit of scratch required for the radar gear - not difficult but it all makes a difference,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Brilliant thanks Roger, that is very helpful indeed.  I will get the instructions out in a bit and make some notes. Thanks for your help fella.

Chris

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What a way to get up.

A surprise build in a belter of a scheme and correction work already underway.

Really looking forward to this as i know you'll do a fantastic job with it.

40 degrees, you say. I got to my work last night to find the car park had turned into a skating rink. 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Brilliant thanks Roger, that is very helpful indeed.  I will get the instructions out in a bit and make some notes. Thanks for your help fella.

Chris

Chris, not sure if you remember my Hobby Boss Tarpon build from a couple of years ago - that may be of assistance?

30 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

What a way to get up.

A surprise build in a belter of a scheme and correction work already underway.

Really looking forward to this as i know you'll do a fantastic job with it.

40 degrees, you say. I got to my work last night to find the car park had turned into a skating rink. 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Alistair,

 

Thankfully a cool change is blowing through and we should see a balmy 15C overnight. Please take care on the rink,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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1 minute ago, Dunny said:

Please take care on the rink,

I got a tip from a Canadian many years ago, and they know a bit about the frozen stuff.

She told me to curl my toes in my boots and then walk as normal.

Don't ask me, but it works. :D

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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7 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

She told me to curl my toes in my boots and then walk as normal.

I believe that probably applies to life in general. Wise people, those Canadians...

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Aaaand Roger is back with an Avenger !!

Nice start Man, can I take a seat ??

Okay, I'll restart mines...

Norway operations, great choice, I used that same pic as a guide....

Thanks for the internal colors tip !!

Dully saved !!

Sincerely.

CC

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On 28/12/2022 at 01:15, corsaircorp said:

Aaaand Roger is back with an Avenger !!

Nice start Man, can I take a seat ??

Okay, I'll restart mines...

Norway operations, great choice, I used that same pic as a guide....

Thanks for the internal colors tip !!

Dully saved !!

Sincerely.

CC

We should do a GB CC!!

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Hi All,

 

Some good progress on the Avenger yesterday and today! The cockpit was detail painted, and harnesses added from painted Tamiya tape:

 

20221228-133334.jpg

 

There is no instrument panel decal, so I just dry-brushed the moulded part and glossed the instruments:

 

20221228-133341.jpg

 

Far from my best work but as the canopy will be closed I'm not sweating it too much. Here's the single-piece engine painted up:

 

20221228-134128.jpg

 

I'm sure that'll look fine under the cowling! With much dry-fitting and checking the fuselage was buttoned up:

 

20221229-131804.jpg

 

There's a bit of fettling and filling required but doesn't look too bad? I did manage to snap the tail wheel off in the process though :banghead:. The wings and stabilisers were then assembled - the undercarriage bays each assemble from 4 pieces, with little to locate them properly so proceed with caution. Also, the tabs for both wings and stabilisers are too wide to fit the mating slots, so the said slots were made a little wider. Here's the assembly:

 

20221229-161019.jpg

 

There are some fairly big gaps which will need filling:

 

20221229-161026.jpg

 

Other than that, no major dramas. In other exciting news, I was rummaging through the spares box to see if I could find 'ROYAL NAVY' decals in white (I think they're probably too small for the Silhouette to cut), when I found the very scheme I'm modelling on the Xtradecals 'Yanks in Roundels Pt.1!! 🤩

 

20221229-144710.jpg

 

This sheet was the result of an incorrect purchase a couple of years ago when I was sourcing decals for a 1:48 Tarpon (some wine may have been involved), so to find this now is a rather happy coincidence. I will still cut the masks for most of the markings but I can use the serial decals as is!! Tidying up tomorrow, and I may get some primer down with a following wind,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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Fantastic progress Roger, cockpit internals look good and it's great to see the fuselage together and wings on too.  Looking forward to seeing some paint. 

Wow what a bit of luck re the decals the drunken purchase came good. That's brilliant. 

Great work

Chris

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6 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Fantastic progress Roger, cockpit internals look good and it's great to see the fuselage together and wings on too.  Looking forward to seeing some paint. 

Wow what a bit of luck re the decals the drunken purchase came good. That's brilliant. 

Great work

Chris

Thanks very much Chris. It's a nice little kit - a few foibles but nothing too bad. Of course the purchase was all part of the master plan 🤣

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Wow, You're going to finish it before 2023....

Great job my friend !!

Purchasing decals sheet for a project, and then buying a kit which contains that same paint scheme is funny too....:bangin:

Guess how I know it ???

Well done Sir !!

CC

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Looking rather splendid Roger.

 

5 hours ago, Dunny said:

the tabs for both wings and stabilisers are too wide to fit the mating slots, so the said slots were made a little wider

I probably should have mentioned that. Sorry.

Then, again I pour my life and soul into one of these and then some chap from the Southern Hemisphere comes along and shows everyone how it should be done. 

Effortlessly, I hasten to add. 

So, just for that, you're on your own mate. :wicked:;):D.

 

Seriously, though, sterling work and looking fantastic so far.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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11 hours ago, AliGauld said:

So, just for that, you're on your own mate. :wicked:;):D.

 

Seriously, though, sterling work and looking fantastic so far.

Thanks very much Alistair. It's no shake & bake, but as you ably demonstrated the finished result can be well worth the effort!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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3 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks very much Alistair. It's no shake & bake, but as you ably demonstrated the finished result can be well worth the effort!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Thanks very much Roger.

That is extremely kind of you to say, but, I have absolutely no doubt that this will be another stunner.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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16 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Wow, You're going to finish it before 2023....

Great job my friend !!

Purchasing decals sheet for a project, and then buying a kit which contains that same paint scheme is funny too....:bangin:

Guess how I know it ???

Well done Sir !!

CC

I'm not sure I'll crack it this year CC,  but I won't be far off! Glad it's not just me that stuffs up...

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

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Hi All,

 

Some progress on the Avenger. I spent a couple of hours designing the stencils for the markings, and as I have no aftermarket masks for the glazing I thought I'd cut them too. Here's the canopy masked up:
 

20221230-101059.jpg

 

Looks like a bought one (well almost!) There were a couple of panels which were slightly too small, so I duly corrected them:

 

20221230-101553.jpg

 

That's better! Here's the greenhouse in place:

 

20221230-114205.jpg

 

Lots of scribing and cleaning up, and I also remembered to drill the holes for the wing guns:

 

20221230-114234.jpg

 

That's a poor photo - apologies! Curiously the wing panel lines are correct for wing guns, but no holes - hey ho! The turret requires one to cut the port for the gun - the plastic is pretty solid at this point so I chain-drilled holes through:

 

20221230-121614.jpg

 

And here we are once the slot was opened up and cleaned:

 

20221230-121834.jpg

 

I did do a little more work on it after this shot was taken, so it now looks a little less bobbins! With that the airbrush was fired up, and some Interior Green laid down on the glazing:

 

20221230-130337.jpg

 

Once that had dried the first coat of primer was laid down:

 

20221230-134516.jpg

 

That's almost dried so I shall sort out the usual minor defects before I preshade (Nato Black for the upper surfaces, EDSG for the white lower surfaces). Might get another update in later...

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

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