My last progress post on this build was in late March so this one is overdue, again. That post was on 20 March if you’re interested in looking at it. Below is what I’ve done since then. This is the Accurate Miniatures 1/48 George H.W. Bush TBM-1C Avenger. I’m building the Avenger that he normally flew and not the one he was flying when shot down. Accurate Miniatues provides decals for both versions.
The underside of the port tail plane elevator was lacking the raised detail of the spars or framework that supports the canvas elevator covering. The framework was visible but so shallow that I couldn’t even feel the ribs when I ran my thumb or fingers across them. So to add the detail, I scribed lines in place of the ribs and glued pieces of stretched sprue into them. I sanded the ribs to smooth them out a little and blend the ends into the elevator. I then sprayed with Mr. Surfacer 1000 to fill low spots and further blend the ribs into the elevator.
Once I finished fixing the detail in the tail plane, the Avenger was ready for a primer coat and sanding and fixing blemishes.
Before priming I decided to attach the mounting plate for the pilot’s gun camera. The Eduard PE set I got for this kit has a mounting plate and gun camera but they were too big and not the correct shape. So I scratchbuilt these pieces from styrene and copper wire. The first photo is the plate glued onto the fuselage and the other photo shows the camera sitting on the plate but not yet glued on.
This kit was my first attempt at pre-shading. I didn’t have any problems doing the pre-shading, it was applying the USN Pacific three-tone camouflage coat were I ran into the problems. They weren’t really problems, I was just a little heavy on the trigger and none of the pre-shading is visible through the base coat. I’ll keep at it though.
Now it’s time to apply the Navy Pacific three-tone camouflage coat for the Avenger George H.W. Bush flew. I first applied the underside flat white, then the fuselage sides and leading edges of the wings and tail planes intermediate blue, and finally on the upper portion of the fusleage and tops of the wings and tail planes non specular sea blue. I then sprayed lightened coats of intermediate blue and non specular sea blue on the ailerons, elevators and rudder to show the fading on these canvas covered areas. After letting the camouflage coat dry thoroughly, I sprayed on a couple coats of Future to apply the decals. The kit decals went on great and especially with the Micro Sol and Set . They look like they were painted on. After letting the decals set and dry, I sealed them with another coat of Future for the next step, which was the oil paint wash. I applied the wash but haven’t taken any photos yet. This will be the next post and hopefully will come in the next week or so.
As I’ve said earlier, I’ve been working on this kit for a long time, close to 16 months now, but I’m getting close to the end and hope to finish it by mid to late summer. It’s been a great kit and one that I highly recommend.
I solicit, encourage and welcome comments, suggestions, and criticism. Thanks for looking.
Steve