1:32 TBF-1 Avenger

Baptism of fire at Midway

Six machines of the first production version reached Midway in June 1942 and five of them did not come back. It was an unhappy debut for a type that later became the most successful carrier torpedo aircraft of the war and in later years took part in sinking Japanese battleships as well. The first form had modest armament: a single small-caliber machine gun fired from the cowling through the propeller disc, a heavy weapon sat in the turret above the fuselage and one more light one was in the rear fuselage for defense from below. Only the following sub-version moved the firepower into the wing.

List

Two films for the glazing, five sets of national insignia and a pair of turned metal muzzles for the heavy machine gun.

Armament as the distinguishing feature

On the Avenger the version is not determined by the shape of the airframe, which stayed practically the same, but by the placement of the weapons. Anyone building an early machine has to have different holes in the nose and different ones in the wing from someone doing a later machine, and a photograph with the armament swapped round is spotted at once by those who know the type. The metal parts make that difference real by being fitted into holes you drill according to the chosen version; nothing is pre-molded, and so it cannot be confused with a shape the kit manufacturer molded for another sub-version.

Five sets of insignia and what to do with them

Five sets of national insignia is above average in this series and it opens the way to building a machine from a particular squadron, not just a generic example. Spray the insignia only after the base coat has dried and leave enough time between the individual colors; overpainting a fresh coat is the main cause of frayed edges. Any adhesive left after the film is peeled off is removed by a soft eraser or a cloth moistened with alcohol.