This one has so many construction mistakes I don't want to bother counting them - I suggest reading Squadron's Detail Scale 53 where all are described in detail. All in all the box says "TBF-1", while decals given are for TBM-3 of VT-84 from USS Bunker Hill, 1945.
This one I've built almost OOB, while once I'll get a proper one...
Assembly was pretty straightforward although I had to cope with both cockpits, dorsal turret, ventral gun and tail gear at the same time... Fuselage and wings went together nicely, and I needed just a little Mr. Surfacer to get everything perfect.
Since I work with paintbrush only, I had to paint some 5 layers of white (Humbrol 34), 2 layers of intermediate blue (Hu144) and 3 layers of navy blue (Hu77)...
Afterwards I have thrown out back seat and put radio-equipment, as it was from TBF-1C onward... This was followed by Model Master's Gloss Cote, as a preparation for decals and wash. Academy's decals (at least these 12 years old) were true horror so I used much of solvent setting solutions to make them proper...
Then went acryllic dark grey pin-wash. And this is when the catastrophe struck - something happened to my semi-gloss cote, and this was the result:
I fixed this by water-sanding (using 1600-grit sanding paper), which was followed by another navy blue painting session... Everything seemed OK, so I went again with wash...
Instead of using kit's oval windows (made for British Tarpoon, actually) I've created my own with Bison's epoxy:
Final assembly was followed with a semi-gloss cote over wings and horizontal stabilisers and silver drybrush over mostly exposed and used areas. You can see the final result in the beginning of my post
Antenna is the only thing left, but it'll wait until I finish my other project...
This one I've built almost OOB, while once I'll get a proper one...
Assembly was pretty straightforward although I had to cope with both cockpits, dorsal turret, ventral gun and tail gear at the same time... Fuselage and wings went together nicely, and I needed just a little Mr. Surfacer to get everything perfect.
Since I work with paintbrush only, I had to paint some 5 layers of white (Humbrol 34), 2 layers of intermediate blue (Hu144) and 3 layers of navy blue (Hu77)...
Afterwards I have thrown out back seat and put radio-equipment, as it was from TBF-1C onward... This was followed by Model Master's Gloss Cote, as a preparation for decals and wash. Academy's decals (at least these 12 years old) were true horror so I used much of solvent setting solutions to make them proper...
Then went acryllic dark grey pin-wash. And this is when the catastrophe struck - something happened to my semi-gloss cote, and this was the result:
I fixed this by water-sanding (using 1600-grit sanding paper), which was followed by another navy blue painting session... Everything seemed OK, so I went again with wash...
Instead of using kit's oval windows (made for British Tarpoon, actually) I've created my own with Bison's epoxy:
Final assembly was followed with a semi-gloss cote over wings and horizontal stabilisers and silver drybrush over mostly exposed and used areas. You can see the final result in the beginning of my post
Antenna is the only thing left, but it'll wait until I finish my other project...