Recently I attended a USN Squadron Disestablishment Ceremony, both VS's
38 "Red Griffins," and VS's 29 "Dragon Fires" at NAS North
Island, Coronado, California. Outside the hanger sat an immaculate Grumman TBM-3
in the Gray/White Atlantic scheme. I was able to climb up inside this a/c
through the crew door and experience the sight and smell of this old warbird...see
this motivated me to get the half built TBF-1 finished and done!
I built this
kit basically out-of-the-box but with one important exception, I replaced the
kit prop with a prop from the Tamiya Birdcage Corsair. It fits perfectly. In my
opinion, the kit's Hamilton Standard Hub/Dome does not appear to have the
correct proportions and that unique Hamilton Standard look associated with
Hellcats, Avengers, T-Bolts, etc.
Construction followed
the instructions, but I kept the wings and horizontals off during the painting
process. A word of caution about the aft side cabin windows -- fix them in place
BEFORE you paint, and then sand and file them lightly to fit flush. It looks
much better. I did it the hard way after I painted the tricolor scheme. The
wings and horizontals fit well and true. The a/c "squares up"
perfectly. The canopy was masked with a set of EasyMasks, and fixed with white
glue. Wing gun ports are covered with Tamiya masking tape, and painted
PollyScale Linen. The turret fit tightly, and I think next time I will paint the
turret after assembly as I think the paint caused binding in all the moving
parts, even after scraping and such. The main wheels are delicate, and I glued
them at the near end of finishing to avoid were and tear on the small glue
joint. Photoetched belts finished the cockpit.
I finished the TBF in
the markings of future United States President George Bush, whom I believe at
the time of his shootdown was the youngest Naval Aviator in the USN at 20! The
Decals were from a defunct company name "AeroScale," and provided the
name "Barbara lll" in yellow, side number "3" and the
correct bunos. for this a/c. The sheet was printed by MicroScale, and went down
perfectly over a glossy coat of Future. Paint is Aeromaster Enamel Dark Sea Blue
and Mid-Blue, and Xtracolor Gloss White. The Interior "Bronze Green"
was Floquil's Enamel USAAC Medium Green 42. The Blues was both lightened 25% for
a better scale, and Central Pacific "finish." Final finish was 2 very
thin coats of Polly Scale Clear Flat, thinned with Windex. Once the gloss white
is flattened, it takes on the perfect seagoing "dirty white" that I
myself have seen on ships and a/c that go to sea. Panel lines, wheel wells,
etc., are done in a light black brown water color wash. The antenna wires are
down it stretched black sprue for a better scale appearance than monofiliment.
Jim
|
|