I built this back in 2004. It was my first model by Accurate Miniatures. The detail is fantastic. I added the Eduard interior and flaps photo etch sets.
I also wired up the landing gear brakes and the bomb bay. The 50 cal barrel in the turret is from a Polish company and has all of the cooling holes drilled in it. This model took a long time to build – about a year. I was just about finished with it and was just spraying on the final finish of clear flat when the plane turned white. It turns out I used Tamiya flat base – bad choice!! I exercised extreme restraint and set the model aside for a month. I finally had to soak the whole thing in brake fluid to remove the paint – and decals too. A lot of the parts fell off and I had to replace the wire in the bomb bay. What a mess. It cleaned up pretty well but took some work. I learned a few lessons there. Be careful what you paint and don’t rush things.
This plane is supposed to represent one my Uncle Dale flew as a pilot in WW2 from the USS Bogue – a jeep carrier in the Atlantic. He flew anti submarine patrols there. I just can’t imagine landing a big plane like this on those little jeep carriers. I used Superscale 48-740 decals. This particular set depicts a Tbm-3 from VC-42 on the USS Bogue during Anti-submarine operations in the Atlantic in 1944. My uncle was in VC-42 so these decals and the described paint scheme should be a pretty close match to what he flew.
I think the plane turned out pretty good in the end tho. I has never won any awards – but I really like it and I guess that’s what counts.
5-14-08 Update – after judging for the first time at the SVSM model show this year – I learned a lot. I went back and examined this model and corrected the following:
Horizontal stabilizer was drooping – fixed that
Engine slightly off center – fixed that
Top of rudder – seam evident – fixed that
Still to be fixed:
Seam evident on dorsal fin
Scribe line on top of engine cowling
Here the TBM is on display at the April 2007 SVSM model show at the Santa Clara Convention Center:
