Trumpeter 1/32 TMB-3 Avenger

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
Really enjoy your work. Always neat and thoughtful and the results speak for themselves.
Jim

[Guest]

Barry.
Sorry, rather late, but have just read your blog from the start. Very well written and interesting. As for PE ...... probably the least said better, love in then hate it. Regardless of which glue those thin pieces never stay on.
Have to compliment you on the photos and modelling, both a high standard.
A great build.
John .

[scottie3158]

Barry,
Very nice work so far.

[BarryW]

I have attached the wings, an excellent join as you can see.
[ATTACH]314923[/ATTACH]
It will need a smear of filler in a couple of places tonight but all in all a painless fit.

I did take a pic of the overall model with wings fitted - or thought I did, no pic on the phone this morning. I will do one tonight. With the wings fitted this makes a very big model that is emphasised when moving it around the bench to work on it, now I do have a big bench designed with large 1/32 scale aicraft in mind - but even so...... Just image that 1/32 Lanc though (or B24 or B17.....) Fun and games...

I must get a photo comparison for size against my HKM Mossie - I swear this is bigger... we will see.

[BarryW]

Well I got the Mossie down and they would not fit on the bench side-by side to get a pic. There is not much in it, the Mossie just about has a longer wingspan, the Avenger a bulkier body, a bit of a fatty really compated to a elegant slim super-model.....

[BarryW]

Some progress pics.
[ATTACH]315103[/ATTACH]
I did say she is big.....
[ATTACH]315104[/ATTACH]
I love how the seatbelts look after the pe issues and having applied washes.
[ATTACH]315105[/ATTACH]

[Alun Wells]

Looking good Barry, can see a lot of small differences in this version, compared to mine. Will be back on the bench this weekend. Good job with the wing stiffening, it has kept its shape well.
Cheers
Alun

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
It certainly is big but as you say some of the new 1/32 scale big bombers would need a house extension. But you know you want one :tongue-out:
Glad the wing root fit is good. It can be a real pain if a lot of filling is needed. Your cockpit does indeed look good.
Jim

[BarryW]

I have decided that the rockets look quite poor once they were painted and so I have ordered aftermarket replacements. I also decided to get some different paint masks as those I had did not properly adhere to the turret which gave me a lot of clean up.

I have not been idle though, I have done the prop, finished the undercarraige and prepped some other parts. Here is a pic of the prop and u/c
[ATTACH]315805[/ATTACH]
It looks a little 'washed out' in the photo, sorry a very poor picture of the u/c. I will get another better shot when I get the chance.

[BarryW]

Supplies arrived yesterday.
These were made for the Trumpeter 1/32 P38 but my research showed that the Avenger also used these 5” HVAR rockets.
[ATTACH]315998[/ATTACH]
They are beautifully made and far superior to the kit rockets.
Here are the components
[ATTACH]316001[/ATTACH]
Made up example, except for the straps
[ATTACH]316000[/ATTACH]

But- they are a lot smaller than the kit ones and I thought the kit rockets were these! Perhaps the kit ones are over scale.
[ATTACH]315999[/ATTACH]
My plan was to cut off the attachments points from the kit rockets to use for these but I am not sure now they will look right.
Any views?
Also any tips on shaping the straps to bend them around the rockets?

[Guest]

Measure them up? The body of a 5-inch HVAR should be 127 mm ÷ 32 = 4.0 mm in diameter, while that of a 3.5-inch FFAR should be 83 mm ÷ 32 = 2.6 mm (the warhead should be 89 mm ÷ 32 = 2.8 mm). Overall lengths should be 173 cm ÷ 32 = 54 mm for the HVAR or 140 cm ÷ 32 = 43 mm for the FFAR.

[BarryW]

I will take a look at that Jakko, thank you. My sources suggested HVAR are right for the Avenger and as you can see these are labelled as such. Hopefully they did not label FFAR as HVAR....

[Guest]

Comparing the plastic parts to the metal ones in your photo made me think the latter could be FFARs, if the plastic ones turn out to be sized (more or less) correctly, so I thought it’d help to give dimensions of both, just to make sure you didn’t get a mislabelled set or something.

[BarryW]

Measure them up? The body of a 5-inch HVAR should be 127 mm ÷ 32 = 4.0 mm in diameter, while that of a 3.5-inch FFAR should be 83 mm ÷ 32 = 2.6 mm (the warhead should be 89 mm ÷ 32 = 2.8 mm). Overall lengths should be 173 cm ÷ 32 = 54 mm for the HVAR or 140 cm ÷ 32 = 43 mm for the FFAR.

The plastic parts are about 60mm while the metal are about 53mm so it seems the kit parts are over scale.

[Guest]

By quite a lot, it looks like — especially in diameter. Good idea to get the replacements