1:48 TBF-1C Avenger

The Avenger and its unhappy debut

For a carrier aircraft the Grumman TBF was a giant: a stocky fuselage with a bomb bay inside, a crew of three and a dorsal gun turret. It entered combat at Midway and the entry was a cruel one; of six machines a single one returned, and that on its belly. Even so the type became the most successful torpedo bomber of the war. The TBF-1C version added a pair of heavy machine guns in the wing and the option of carrying auxiliary tanks, which turned a slow carrier of torpedoes into a usable attack machine against ground targets as well. The cockpit consists of a long glazed canopy running from the engine to behind the turret.

Inner masks are stuck on blind

It is precisely with a greenhouse as extensive as this that cover from inside makes the most sense and at the same time gives the most work. The pieces are set into the unassembled glazing part, that is before the clear piece is glued to the fuselage. It proves worthwhile to lay a mask dry first, inspect the fit against the light and only then press it down; once the canopy is on the model, no tweezers will get inside. The inner side of the frame can thereby be sprayed in the cockpit color without fogging the glass.

Sheet contents

• glazing covered from outside and from inside
• four sets of masks for the national insignia
• a division according to the bars of the long canopy

Four sets of insignia are above average in this line, which corresponds to the fact that American carrier aircraft carried roundels on both wings and on both sides of the fuselage. The remaining pieces of film are worth putting aside in case one of the insignia floods with paint during spraying.