Accurate Miniatures 1/48 TBM-3 Finished

Thanks Jay Jay.

As to building your ship, there are many different practices in building 1/350 ship models but the main thing is to go through all the instructions thoroughly - (in my case several times) - to familiarize one's self with the order of construction and to plan ahead for the painting, attachment of any PE, and the final details. Some suggest generalizations such as starting with inside to out, bottom to top, etc., etc. but, as logical as that may appear on the face of it, some steps may have to be done out of that order to be successful. You simply have to practically build the kit in your mind as much as you can envision before commencing the actual build. But, since you likely knew all this, I can't really be of much help with your resin kit since I've only worked with resin a bit on this Avenger and one or two other kits with minor AM parts in that material.

As to the ship herself, can't help you there - ask in the ship forum and you may get more helpful responses. You might try The Ship Model Forum. I noticed you'd jumped in one of their threads back in 2013 and mentioned your kit. Also try the Steel Navy and try to find the CL-81 there.

I think you did a very good job on this Avenger. I hope mine (which is on hold )will look near as good. I finally started my first ship ( A resin 1/350 scale CL-81 Light Cruiser Houston )and I will be building it for a long time considering how many parts are involved. Any tips would be extremely helpful.

Brandon, Thanks for the kind words. (I try not to show too many boo boos in the images I post ).

Toshi, Thank you. Guys like you give me the impetus to continue trying to better my skills - I am always amazed at the speed, volume, and care with which you complete your kits.

Bob, Thanks!

Tim, Thank you. I hope you post pictures of yours when you've built it! Although the Avenger is not my absolute favorite aircraft, it's right up there among my favorites so your words mean a lot to me.

Steve, Thanks for the thoughts. I'm taking much longer than I'd thought I would in the world of model aircraft but I'm enjoying it. Back to ships by the end of the year.

mike

gee I wish I could stuff up a project like that ,  that is some very nice work mate

steve

Mistakes happen to the best of us but if you had'nt said anything we would have never known!

I still cannot tell anything went wrong. Thats a testement to your skills. I know the fault is there but cant find it. BRAVO!!

I'm not saying this just because the Avenger is my favorite plane (it is ) But when I get around to building mine I'm definitly going to be using your photos for reference!

I concur with Brandon K!  All these issues you so described are not visible and your build is just superb.

Toshi

Well Mike, you mention all these mistakes and corrections but I honestly can't see them. It looks pretty spectacular to me and I'm a tad picky. So, Kudos to you on a fine build, it is beautiful.

BK

Sorry for the slow updates. I've had lots of self-induced problems with this build. I have screwed up the decals (some of them) badly and attempted to fix them by painting in the white - just didn't want to strip everything and start over. Also I used several decals from my third TBM-3 kit which, if I ever attempt to build it, will need aftermarket decals. It's always the white ones I mess up - if I'd needed to do the black ones I'd have printed my own on my clear decal paper. In addition I was out of white decal paper when I had my problems with them. Anyway I probably wouldn't have attempted to do my own white decals - just not good at cutting that close to the image.

I'm almost there with the aircraft part of this dio but have also made some unforgivable errors with the forward section of the canopy. I've attempted to bend it so it fit properly on the fuselage where it's supposed to sit but in doing so I cracked it. I have stripped it, re-Futured it, and painted it and tomorrow I'll see if I can get away with using it.

You fine folks here on FineScale simply have to understand I'm in the amateur leagues with this hobby and aspiring for class "A" modeling - not "AA" or "AAA" and certainly not "The Show", but I do try my best and have a lot of enjoyment along the way.

Next update will be a small one when I get the canopy on.

Very nice!  You literally reminded me I broke a piece of the Sabre Dog, and forgot to glue it back on!  I'm great a knocking off pitot tubes, or anything else sticking out even the slightest bit.

A little more incremental progress. Some decals (wings are done) and a check for the fit of the wings to fuselage - for the umteenth time. I added the landing gear and the starboard and port wing lights along with the landing light under the port wing. I'm saving the pitot tube and under the wing radar for near the finish since I don't really want to break them too many times .

The fit of the wings seems OK. They're a bit too close to the vertical stabilizers/elevators but c'est la vie - nothing I can do about that and it still seems good enough for me. I just stuck them in the very shallow recess on the fuse for taking pictures. Fortunately they held in place for a few minutes.

On to the remaining work on the fuselage.

Since you're already having to paint/repair the decals anyways, you may consider using TET to snuggle the decals down. Just be prudent with the applications. 

It will help give you that painted-on look for the decals you're already getting from your current repairs.

Go slowly and cautiously. It can be scary, but you must let the TET dry between applications or it will do more harm than good.

***Edit:  CAUTION NEEDED

One last thing about using TET. Don't flood the area. Be sparing with your usage. The TET has a habit of melting through paint if you flood an area.

Brandon,

Thank you. I'd love to see what you do with yours. Please post a WIP when you get to it.

Toshi,

Thanks for the kind words. I must tell you though that I'm not really on the home stretch yet - at least as far as my normal pace of building goes. I have hours of decals to do, then sealing them, then touch ups (I've already screwed up the fuselage stars and bars and will have to use some paint to "heal" the torn decal and can't get the "bubbles" out of them. I've used more Solvaset than I believe is prudent and I'll just let the ridges/bubbles go) and then I have to work on the landing gear, re-attach the turret, attach the bomb bay doors, attach the canopy, prop, and all the final details.

After all the above I have to begin working on the figures - I'll be asking Mike Brindos for help there - and setting up the aircraft on the flight deck for a small diorama. I'd say I'm about half way to where I hope to end up. 

Steve,

Thank you but I've not done any "surgery" except for cutting off the wings spars on part #19. That's not really "surgery", it's just a simple saw cut so that the resin folded wings from the set I bought at Lone Star Models will fit into the very, very slight depressed area on each side of the fuselage. No, I didn't use the styrene wings in the kit - I used the resin kit I mentioned above.

I really like how this is coming along. You really are making me think about moving mine higher on the list of must do's. Well done on the paint.

BK

You're on the homestretch it seems.  Everything is pulling together just fantastic.  I love what you're doing!

Toshi

You are doing a heck of a job on it Mike! I have the AM TBF-1 Atlantic version in my stash so I have been following along with great interest. Although I do not have the guts to attempt the surgery you have done.

Steve

The wash you used is just right, it makes the details really pop with out being too obvious.

your doing some really nice work mike . looking forward to seeing this baby done .

Got the folded wings painted, decaled, washed, and glued together. Next is the landing gear. After that I'll finish working on the fuselage - decals, future, wash, flat clear. Then re-install the turret and install the canopy.

Here's an example of my progress from my last post: "two steps forward and one step back ..."

In trying to be conservative when masking the model for airbrushing I suppose I did not cover enough of the fuselage. At any rate I wanted to paint the white under the horizontal stabilizers/elevators which I'd forgotten to do in my last paint session. The result was a bunch of white speckles around the fuselage near the tail on both sides. A result from my not paying enough attention to where I was aiming the airbrush while I was painting.

Being annoyed no end at myself for this lack of concentration, and not wanting to screw things up more but with a desire to get it fixed NOW! I handbrushed the white speckles out. Today, after several light coats of Future on the offending area, it looks OK.

Concentrate, concentrate.......

Steve,

Thanks - and I hope you know that I'm learning from you about rigging ships!

Chris,

Thank you. I just keep bumbling along hoping that I'll retain some inkling of the lessons I've learned from my previous builds. Sometimes it's two steps forward and one step back but that's life in a learning curve.

Mike, 

Really nice work on this build.  But I just gotta say - your photography and the way you've taken time to explain things will be a help to anyone who uses this as a reference to build this kit in the future.

Thanks Man !

Chris

really nice work mike , learning a lot .

steve

Blackdog62,

Thanks very much for the compliment.

I didn't have much of a problem this time but I do recall having some problems with the two fuselage halves closing properly on my last build of this same kit a few months ago. I'm not sure what my problem was but I suspect it may have been because I wasn't careful enough to make sure the cockpit floor lined up correctly with the "alignment projections" or shelf-like protrusions on the inside of each fuselage half. It's tricky to line them up since you're really working "blind" when attaching the final half of the fuselage. You sort of have to go by feel and by checking all around the seams as you're holding the two halves together and before you walk away to let the glue set with your clamps, rubber bands, etc. now holding both halves together.

I wish I could be of more help but I'm still learning and trying to better each build.

This is just a fantastic build. And for the rest of us that have this buil so much info.

I'm having a problem with the fuselage halfs fitting together under the engine bay lots of sanding on the engine mounts. Did you have this problem or have made a mistake somwear.

M. Brindos

Hahahaha! 

Seriously, you guys know I'm here for you.

 

Yep, and it is much appreciated, Mr B.

Hahahaha! 

Seriously, you guys know I'm here for you.

M. Brindos

I will be more than happy to help. You guys know that. Heck, mail 'em to me and I'll paint 'em for ya! LOL.

 

What?!?..... and miss all the fun of cursing, sweating, throwing stuff and junk???