**** DONE: GB-48 1:48 TBM-3 Avenger - Carrier & Maritime Patrol A/C of WWII

[fubar57]

Username: fubar57
First name: George
Category: Advanced
Manufacturer: Academy (Accurate Miniatures re-pop)
Model: Grumman TBM-3 Avenger Kit Number 12285
Scale: 1:48
Add-ons: decal numbers from spares...I hope. P.E. seat belts I hope

I love the Atlantic Scheme paint work and have wanted to do this on for a long time but the under-wing strike camera always stalled this out. Last week I found in the spares box, something that I think will work. I found this photo somewhere on the webs back in 2015

 

[fubar57]

The innards...

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The almost always impossible to photo clear sprue

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Not sure how I'm going to tackle the clear I.P. yet

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Detail shots, some clean up needed on the engine parts

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Weapons. I might keep the aircraft clean as in the photo in Post #1

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Forgot to mention or photo; sometime in the past I got smart and bought and Eduard canopy mask set

 

[fubar57]

To make this more oddball, note the sliding area of the cockpit canopy; it seems to be the original blue camo colour

 

[Wurger]

 

[T Bolt]

Good one George. Is that pitot tube standard.
? It looks a bit odd.

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice choice Geo.....

 

[fubar57]

As far as I know Glenn, it is. A bit more research could reveal whether this was put on certain models or on all. I'll get back to you. Here's a warbird with it

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice one Geo. As far as I can tell, that pitot tube arrangement was present on all Avengers. My build if this kit, also done in the Atlantic scheme is here: **** DONE: 1/48 TBM-1C Grumman Avenger VC-13 - Carrier Aircraft GB

If you get stuck with finding the right decals, let me know.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks for that Andy. It looks like I have the "3s" covered but I need to figure the sizes. Added innards shots to Post #2

 

[fubar57]

Forgot to take a shot of what I'm going to use as a strike camera. The size looks close enough for me. Not sure where it came from and it looks like lens might slot over the front. I'll look through the spares and see if I can find it.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks a tad big. I'm guessing a bit but it might be a Fairchild K-20 which was quite common. here's a shot of another Avenger being launched and the camera can be seen here as well.

 

[fubar57]

It looks like they used more than one camera

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Worst comes to worst, the camera probably wouldn't be mounted until just before launch so I could just leave it off

 

[Donivanp]

Should be fun working with you on this build.

 

[Dana Bell]

Hi George,

Very cool discovery - I'd never noticed a camera before. A quick scan of my collection seems to show two similar images, but they're not clear enough to add much detail. Anyway, hope they help...

Cheers,



Dana

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

The one in Dana's pics looks more like the one in Geo's subject pic as the mount looks identical.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks for those Dana and I believe your first one is very similar. I blew up my photo...

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To me it seems that it is lacking the dohickey over the lens but has the mounting brackets on either side. I blew this up to try and figure the height of the camera compared to the rocket stubs. This is what I have....

 

[Donivanp]

That looks like the camera in the AM F-6 and 6A. I hadn't thought they looked right but who am I.

 

[nuuumannn]

It looks like they used more than one camera

I like how he is disregarding the 'No Step' warning whilst loading the rocket!

Avenger warbird with prominent pitot tube.

Pitot