Thank you Pat.

Mike Brindos said: "Heck, mail 'em to me and I'll paint 'em for ya! LOL."

No thanks Mike - you know as well as most of us here that learning is a major part of the fun of model building - but I appreciate the humor and do understand how it was intended . I will certainly be picking your brain on how to paint these little guys. That won't be too long now - maybe a month or two . I certainly thank you for volunteering to help me in an area about which I know next to nothing. I'm very grateful to you.

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.

Hi,

That's looking great.

Pat

You beat me to the punch (re figure painting), I was gonna say Mike Brindos is here to help, but you are a step ahead of me. Next time I try, I think I'll slow down and ask Mike for help.

TJ, John, Joe, and Greg - Thank you.

Greg, Yes it's a great kit AFAIC! I love the detail and the aircraft in general. I still have some "tricky" (read: scary for me ) building to do with this WIP - re-installing the turret, attaching the landing gear (the folded wings may present me with a bit more of a challenge in that regard), etc.

Then I'll have my major challenge - painting figures . Although I've done some basic painting of a 1/48 pilot - see here:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/170707.aspx

I don't pretend to know how to make these figures stand out as "realistic". I have several figures that I'll most likely be using in this little diorama so I'll have to rely on people in this forum (Mike Brindos comes to mind) to help me with suggestions on how to proceed when I get to that stage.

This is some very nice work. Take it from a real, true duffer....you are quite good.

One thing I've tried with fair success on masking clear parts - after masking them brush a coat of Future on them. If there is seepage, it will be clear and it should seal the edges.

You're doing a fine job on this TBM, Mike.

This is a great kit, isn't it? (I built the Bunker Hill version back in '13 as my first build back from sabbatical and I'll never forget it) It is great fun being able to watch you build yours.

Keep up the great work.

Nice progress.

Some painting and decaling done.

Another small update. Just some masking and puttying. Getting ready to paint the intermediate blue.

Hi Mike, I actually live on Staten Island, not Manhattan.  But if you lived in the upper east side, then you must have visited Jans Hobbys?  They moved a few years back further uptown, but it is still there.  As is the Red Caboose in the mid 40's, still in the same basement with shelves crammed with stuff.

Thanks Mike.

I'm not really at a stage where I'd worry about scratch building - I know you are though and I empathize.

Waikong, thank you.

In what part of the city do you live? (I lived on the upper east side in Manhattan most of my young life).

What I've always found even more frustrating is spending an hour scratch building something more detailed than the PE or resin AM parts only to have it dissapear into oblivion. Either start again, or use the AM after all.

Everything is looking top notch so far, Mike. I like it!

Iampiper13,

Thanks. Although the interior of the Accurate Miniatures kit is very nice I am using lots of the Eduard PE to add even more detail. It does make a difference - I think. Unfortunately in my hands PE doesn't always turn out well but I just leave it out if I screw something up.

Gamera,

Thanks. Yes, it's the fate of many modelers who have a hobby room carpeted. I've found little parts on kits I'd finished years ago lying on the carpeted floor. I've also found small parts inside the body (hull/fuselage) of models I've been working on when I thought they'd been shot out of my tweezers to the monster. C'est la vie.

Sorry to hear about the mask leakage but the canopies look great now. 

And love finding the lost part in the photo after you've scratchbuilt a replacement- yeah been there, done that, got the T-shirt... 

I've only built one of these but as I remember it seemed to fit together fairly well as long as you followed the instructions to the letter. Looks like you've got everything under control and she looks good! 

Very impressive, I love all the interior stuff the ancient Monogram was very basic.

Thanks Toshi!

I'm slowing down now - Oregon weather is turning - for the better - and I'm contemplating what I should be doing next .

Everything looks fantastic.  I'm really excited in seeing your progression in this build!  Good job sir!

Toshi

Brandon, thanks for the link. However I have already intalled it and taken it out again. It's not that difficult once you get the turret & turret canopy together correctly. I just wanted to make sure that I could install it and I can. Had I left the masking on the turret canopy I probably would have left it in but I'd already taken off the masks so that masking the installed turret would have been a problem for me. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever learn !

Not sure where exactly you are in the turret process but I have a link here that explains how to install the turret in this kit. Hopefully, you will find it usefull. I love what you're doing, it looks great.

BK

http://web.archive.org/web/20090327114353/http://www.accurate-miniatures.com:80/builds/avenger/avengerturret.shtml

About the closing up of the two fuselage halves ... A real PITA! Probably all my fault but I had to use 3 sets of clamps and a rubber band - all at the same time while the glue was drying. That didn't get the top part of the fuselage just behind the pilot's head to close. I had to do that separately after the process I've just described was finished. It required a clothes pin which was just barely holding on - a little vibration and it would have shot up to the ceiling!. Fortunately it seems as if all is well for the moment.

Then there's the story of the turret "guts"... #$%&@!. After gluing the parts together and tearing them apart three times I finally got the unit to fit into the turret canopy. I don't have any idea why it was so much more difficult for me this time than on my last TBM-3 build of a month or so ago - just bad karma I guess .

Lots more work to do. Looks like the weather up this way is going to be getting better (read Spring like) this week. Probably out hiking rather than working indoors. Next update whenever I can.

Looking good so far. As to why did you paint the tailhook striping? Because it's there of course

I'm at a stage where I usually become frustrated. That is closing the fuselage halves. I've dry fit the two halves several times along the build and sanded and filed and popped out a glued in part and repositioned it so the two sections would fit better. Still, I worry. There's one section that I'll have to hold with my fingers (I think I'll wear latex gloves) because it's not going to come together without considerable pressure and none of the clamp, rubber band, or vise implements will work. I'll probably have to hold it together for a couple of minutes -at least. Here's hoping...

Anyway, here are the two fuselage halves ready for mating. BTW, why did I bother to paint the black and white striping on the arrester hook if it's not going to be visible? Such are the questions of a modeler.

Looking really good Mike. Thanks for the acknowledgement. The Accurate Miniatures 1:48 simplifies the canopy build by not having all the separate pieces. I should have not attempted to glue those two rear parts together as Trumpeter showed in the instructions. I should have just let them stay together by being glued to the air frame on their bottoms. Sometimes more pieces is not actually better.