1/48 Monogram TBF Avenger finished

Just keep in mind that this particular mold is roughly 50 years old. That level of detail was state of the art back then... LOL! Wheel wells and struts should match the exterior colors- on Blue Gray over Light Gray aircraft, they will be Light Gray, on Tri Color scheme, White, on Sea Blue overall, they will be Sea Blue. The arrow symbol was for the Air Group assigned to USS Bunker Hill in late 1944/early 1945. The Yellow cowl ring was added for all Air Groups that participated in the Tokyo carrier raids in Spring 1945, and could be seen as late as the Okinawa operations when the Bunker Hill was knocked out of the war.

Oh wow, I thought you had the Revell Avenger.  You've got the old school Monogram Avenger.  There will be issues and that's to be expected but a good modeler like you should be able to overcome any issues at hand.  Good luck.  I'll be watching!

Toshi

That is a 1988 Monogram issue or close to it as noted by Scalemates.  They depict the CAF version from 88.

Here is a nice WWII era color photo showing the main landing gear and wheel well colors on the tri color scheme -white

Thanks everyone for your replies, The Bunker Hill does ring a bell now that its mentioned. the directions have a copyright of 1988 it looks like the parts included may have at one time had more build options. I'm still debating how to paint it I'd like to do the tricolors

Work lightest to darkest on the tri color scheme. White, then Intermediate Blue, followed by Sea Blue. Then go back and touch up any overspray. If you're gonna do the yellow cowl ring paint and mask that off first.

With the Holidays and me trying to keep my A1C down I haven't been able to spend any time on it. This past Monday (Jan. 2) I actually sat down with it and was able to get the crew coveralls painted and worked to get the fusalage dry fitted with minimal gaps. I would like to do a good job on the canopy are was wondering the best way to mask the panels?

Masking the canopy, particularly on an aircraft like the Avenger, is a tedious process. It is also the part that I typically dread on any build.

Having said that, what I recommend is a new Xacto knife blade, a good cutting surface with a metal straight edge, and if your eyes require, a good Optivisor and a good source of light. I typically start cutting strips of Tamiya tape and affix along a frame. I will usually work along the boundary as defined by the "frames" then fill in the gaps. Working one "pane of glass" at a time.

There are other ways of doing these kind of canopies, so you may do a search on here to find alternative methods.

The kit is an old one but can be built into a good-looking Avenger, but the Accurate Miniatures kit is superior. Good luck on your build.

Aggieman

Masking the canopy, particularly on an aircraft like the Avenger, is a tedious process. It is also the part that I typically dread on any build.

Having said that, what I recommend is a new Xacto knife blade, a good cutting surface with a metal straight edge, and if your eyes require, a good Optivisor and a good source of light. I typically start cutting strips of Tamiya tape and affix along a frame. I will usually work along the boundary as defined by the "frames" then fill in the gaps. Working one "pane of glass" at a time.

There are other ways of doing these kind of canopies, so you may do a search on here to find alternative methods.

The kit is an old one but can be built into a good-looking Avenger, but the Accurate Miniatures kit is superior. Good luck on your build.

 

Thanks for your reply, the only tape I have on hand is painters tape and I did start to use it, it is going to be tedious lol. I did some searching around last night and would love to try Bare Metal Foil. Not sure I can get out today to see whats out there, we got almost 2" of snow and Maryland tends to shut down at the 1st sign of a snowflake, schools are on a 2hr delay.

I'm working on one of these as well. I suggest you prime the blue plastic before you paint the white! It took a lot of coats from my airbrush to cover that blue!  The 2013 rerelease is gray though, so it won't have that problem. 

i masked the canopy with the strips of tape method and then painted the centers with white glue. The turret is tricky because some of the lines aren't well defined. 

GreenStyrene48

I'm working on one of these as well. I suggest you prime the blue plastic before you paint the white! It took a lot of coats from my airbrush to cover that blue!  The 2013 rerelease is gray though, so it won't have that problem. 

i masked the canopy with the strips of tape method and then painted the centers with white glue. The turret is tricky because some of the lines aren't well defined. 

 

I just bought a can of primer so I'm set for that :) any painting I do will either be rattle can or brush. I've got about half the canopy covered and trimmed, I ended up switching tapes and am now using medical tape that I have an overabundance of. lol I'm not really looking forward to the turrent.

On a side note my stash just increased lol, my son(he lives 50ish miles away) is working on a pair of detailed cornhole boards and needed some paints so he went to Hobby Lobby  called me asking if I had said that I wanted to build a B17 and I said yeah someday, next thing I know he said he bought me a 1/48 Revell B17G. My boy rocks!

After a few misfires I'm finally moving forward on the canopy and it is tedious lol. The camera shows more then my eyes can see but this is a learning experience for me.

I was able to get to Hobby Lobby last night and picked up some Tamiya tape, a real exacto knife and a cutting board, wow what a difference all that made. First coat is on once it dries I'll decide on whether a 2nd coat is needed.

Tools and materials can make a huge difference! You did not exactly pick a simple canopy to try your hand for masking. Lots of framework cutting. But you're doing great! And learning along the way.

Tamiya tape really makes a huge difference in masking a canopy.  Make sure you always have a sharp blade when cutting the Tamiya tape during masking as you're doing correctly now.  You'll collect tools and other paraphenilia along the way in building kits as you go along.  It's a great and fun learning experience and I'm still learning from FSM Forum members.  Great job!  Now you can assemble the fueselage and the real fun begins!

Toshi

iampiper13

I was able to get to Hobby Lobby last night and picked up some Tamiya tape, a real exacto knife and a cutting board, wow what a difference all that made. First coat is on once it dries I'll decide on whether a 2nd coat is needed.

 

 When I used to brush paint canopies, I had better results with 2-4 light coats than 1 thick coat. Tamiya tape is good, but it will sometimes still bleed. BTW I am just finishing my AMT Ju 88. Actually a fun little build.

 

Thanks everyone, I'm slowly learning and I'm really enjoying seeing everyones work you guys are amazing!

I got the 2nd coat on and am going to allow it to dry overnight. I've started on the turrent which so far has been quite interesting.

The canopy is done, at least tfor my skill level lol. The scratches are from my previous attempts but it was a good learning experience. Now to finish the turrent.

 

As noted in a earlier reply the lines on the turrent are very faint,anidea I wanted to run by those much more knowledgable then me: if I took a fine tip marker and traced the lines on the inside on the turrent to make them easier to see and then clean it out once I get it masked off?

Before you do that, try to cover the turret with Tamiya tape and see if you can burnish it with a toothpick.  Go over the faint lines and that should give you a ideal cutting pattern.

Toshi

Stik's got you covered it seems, so I guess the only thing left to say is I'll be watching. =] It'll be fun seeing this old kit come together. I love the Avenger.

And the turrent is painted, I had a lot of problems bringing the lines up so I ended up googleing pics of it and doing my best to copy off them. It's been a learning experience and on one hand I'm pleased but on the other I see room for lots of improvement.

 

Primer is down and geez it's cold out.

I finally got it assembled for what I hope is the final layer of white, had a lot of tweaking with the wings the fit was atrocious and it was my fist attempt with putty. Also one of the landing gear came out at an angle and I didn't catch it in time.

 

 

Coming along fine.   You don't realize just how big the Avengers are until you see one next to an SBD and Wildcat.  The Ericson Collection has one of each, and they are beauties, though the 'cat is in reality an FM2 cropduster that has been restored to fighter looks.

True that!

Intermediate blue is on, masking in place for the dark sea blue.

Not only do I recommend Bare Metal Foil, I'd highly recommend investing in a scalpel and disposable blades.  You can get them inexpensively from Amazon.com.  Compared to a scalpel, hobby knives don't know what sharp is.