Kit: No. 3403
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Accurate Miniatures, 100 Centre St., Charlotte, NC 28216, phone 704-391-1176
Price: $28.98
Comments: Injection molded, 112 parts, decals.
GRUMMAN'S TBF began to replace the obsolete TBD Devastator torpedo bomber in early 1942. In response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the TBF was officially named "Avenger." More than 7,500 Avengers were produced by war's end, both at Grumman and at the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors.
Accurate Avenger features finely recessed panel lines. Most rivets are recessed, but some are raised, as on the real Avenger. The clear parts are thin and re-create the intricate framing pattern of the real Avenger. The instrument panel is also molded clear, so you'll have to carefully paint around the gauges.
There are 25 parts for the cockpit interior, providing everything but a relief tube. You may want to replace the seat-belt decals with aftermarket items or tape. Another 10 parts go into the rear gun turret, and there are 21 parts for the landing gear. Also provided are four 500-pound bombs, a pair of depth charges, and a bomb dolly. You have the option of positioning the rudder, and building the aircraft with the bomb bay either open or closed.
Accurate's instructions must be read carefully -- and there is a lot of reading to do. Study the written steps, the diagrams, and the kit parts before committing the parts to glue. Accurate suggests test fitting the parts before gluing to assure a proper fit. Do so.
Paint notes for each step are in a separate box at the end, so don't forget to refer to them as you go along. The model paint reference chart is handy.
Accurate's decals are well printed and provide markings for one Avenger from the escort carrier USS Block Island in the Atlantic gray-over-white Antisub Scheme II.
You can lower the flaps by cutting away the lower trailing edge of the wings. Detail is molded into the inside of the flaps, but not into the inside of the upper wing surface (which you can't see with the model resting on its landing gear). To fill the gap in the wing in front of the dropped flaps, Accurate provides templates (printed on the side flap of the box-insert riser) to cut sheet styrene bulkheads. The riser also has a printed cutout to protect the ventral gun while you continue to build the model.
Construction went well with no major fit problems. I had to trim the clear parts for the lower aft fuselage so they would fit their openings.
Assembling the gun turret is complicated. It is designed to allow the gun to elevate, but I found it better to cement the gun to the trunnions (part Nos. 52 and 53). Make sure the trunnions are properly aligned and the angles match each other. If they are not installed properly the assembly will not fit the turret glass or the mounting bracket.
I painted my Avenger using a combination of AeroMaster and Testor Model Master enamels. The most difficult aspect was masking all that framing on the cockpit canopy and turret.
Although there aren't many markings on the Atlantic Avengers, Accurate provides dozens of small stencils that are scattered all over the airframe -- even stencils for the bombs and depth charges. The decals went on well with a little Solvaset. I made a small slit in the national insignia on the left fuselage to fit it over a raised air scoop. After a little touch-up with insignia blue, it's barely noticeable.
I spent slightly more than 25 hours building my Avenger, most on painting and assembling the interior and engine and masking and painting the canopy. The finished model scales accurately to the specifications listed in Squadron/Signal's TBM/TBF Avenger In Action.
Because of the complexity of the kit I would not recommend it to beginners. But experienced modelers will have a field day painting all that detail.
- Randy Fields