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Late TBF-1 Avenger conversion from TBF-1C


Durangokid

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I think the degree of weathering in the gun turret looks just fine Bryan. Not excessive at all.

 

As long as you retained the proper dihedral of the wings after you glued the assemblies up.... those look cracking good too! The recessed rivets to me are off putting but those might be eliminated or greatly subdued with a coat of Mr Surfacer 500 and an overall rubdown with wet 1000 grit....

 

Crack On!!

 

david

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all the comments guys, although I hope I don't disappoint everyone with the rest of the build :whistle:

 

Trumpeter really did a good job with this kit, especially in the fit department. There are a lot of parts involved when putting the fuselage together, especially considering the aftermarket stuff, and everything fits well so for. Every time I add something during my dry fit I think "this won't fit" and it just does. So kudos to Trumpeter.

 

 

 

 

I hope this will help you in some ways but I think the Midway Avengers were the early variety? I would love to see your work if you can leave a link. I'm always interested in seeing other modeler's work.

Excellent scratch build work Bryan! As soon as I get some personal problems sorted and get bench time, It will be my pleasure to provide a link.

 

Keep up the great work, and thank you for taking the time to post.

Damian

Edited by damouav
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I really appreciate the comments fellas and I finally have some updates.  There are so many parts for the interior that it's taking me a bit of time to sort things out.  I think I'm finally to a point where I can start putting the main fuselage together. 

 

I'm not sure about the bronze green for the front cockpit areas.  I really like MRP's bronze color itself, but almost all of the color photos I've seen of a TBF-1, looks to have been painted dark dull green.  But we are talking about old WWII era photos which everyone knows aren't exactly the best reference to go on.  Everything thing I have read however, says these areas were painted with bronze green.  I did read somewhere that dark dull green was used on occasion but it seems that was the exception rather than the rule.  Either way, I'm sticking with the bronze.

 

I used various placards from Airscale, Barracuda, and left overs to enhance the pit...

 

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Thanks guys, I've been trying to post more pics but I'm having trouble for some reason.  

 

The bomb bay is a scratch builders dream but since a lot won't be seen, I just built it OOB.  I was gonna close it but I saw a lot of pics with it open while on the ground.  I was contemplating aftermarket bombs but since they won't be all that visible, I don't think it will be worth the extra expense in the end.  The kit bombs okay for the most part.

 

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I'm not a fan of the color PE but I was pleasantly surprised on how it came out.  Not to mention this area will barely be visible through the rear door and small windows.

 

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Here are a few shots of the dry fitting before I close everything up and say goodbye to all the detail. :shrug:

 

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I forgot the pic of the floor below the rear seat.  Figured I would post it since it will never be seen again! Such a bummer...

 

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Oh and the seat that will never been seen again!

 

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I used both Mr. Color and MRP paints for the chipped areas with Alclad Magnesium for the base.  I only chipped the rear areas since I figured there would be a lot of traffic going on.  And since much of it will never be seen, I figured I'd practice my chipping techniques since its new for me.

 

Thanks again for stopping by fellas!!!

 

Bryan

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Slowly moving along...

 

The turret glass is a perfect fit...

 

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Here are a few pics before I closed her up.  I forgot to include a pic of the rear gun installed...

 

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Fuselage was a perfect fit.  Considering all the different interior assemblies, that is quite the accomplishment by Trumpeter.  I wanted to leave the turret glass off until the end but it wouldn't fit after the fuselage was closed.  I could have modified it to work that way but the masks can be left on and removed later.  Figured that was the better route to go.  Wings and clear parts are just dry fit.  Perfect fit there too...

 

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Motor attached.  I had to add some plastic sheet to the bulkhead to get the motor aligned properly but that was because to the aftermarket parts.

 

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Not much to be seen inside the cowl so I dirtied it up real good

 

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The clear parts didn't look that good but with a bit of polishing and a dip in future, they came out okay.  I did crack the front windshield during the polishing phase but good luck getting replacement parts from Trumpeter.  I tried their replacement parts website but it's not working anymore.  Guess I will have to live with it.

 

This has really been a fun kit so far.  The wings fit so well that I'm considering painting the separate.  It will help with painting process not to mention that it's so dang big!

 

Thanks for stopping by :)

 

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