Building a particular TBM Avenger

KnightTemplar5150

Bob- 

It's pretty clear that this is a deeply personal project for you and I'd like to help you along with a little advise and perhaps a few clues to help you in your research.

When it comes to questions about a highly specific detail on a very specific airframe that is relatively obscure in nature, you're most likely going to have to do your own homework.

Thank you for the link. I may have visited there previously; I've searched many times for information about N6447C. One of my first leads came from a fellow student taking a Simon Fraser University outreach course titled "Novels of Flight,"* based on Beryl Markham's memoire of flying in Africa, West With the Night. That was when I learned that the TBM had been restored and was now a museum exhibit. 

I had some faint hope that some Finescale member with more knowledge about aircraft might be able to offer some suggestions about the purpose of those features, but I can live — easily — never knowing what they are, or rather were. It's been interesting to see the many variant tankers that were based on various TBMs. The aircraft in question, N6447C, apparently went through many "upgrades" before being purchased for restoration as a torpedo bomber. And, apparently, with every upgrade, the paint scheme was changed to lesser or greater degree.

Bob

PS — The SFU class I attended was interesting. For one class, the instructor brought in his flight instructor, who regaled us with stories about lessons he had taught. One time a student was instructed to land the plane himself, and as he approached the runway he froze, and wouldn't relinquish control to the instructor, who had to punch the guy, hard, in the face. He never saw that student again. Flying a tanker sounds safe by comparison!

Hello Bob!

While I can't help you with those details (I know this stuff is important to you, this is what makes a good model), I'm looking forward to seeing this one and your other builds done!

One idea that I have - I used it on my projects - would be to find a forum where actual firefighters post and trying to ask there. They call this internet 2.0 - not finding the fact itself, but finding people who might know. This really works!

Good luck with your projects and have a nice day

Paweł