discussion Tim’s Hobbyboss 1/48 Fleet Air Arm Avenger MkI

[Tim Marlow]

Nice one Tim,
It's interesting to see the comparison between our 2 different manufacturers,some are incredibly similar,(i.e. the bomb bay), whilst others are gone about in a very different manner,( for instance the Turret base).
The turret assembly itself,whilst being slightly different to mine,looks just as fiddly!
Interesting to see that you're going with the Torpedo as pay load... that's my preference too. :smiling3:
Good stuff this,I look forward to seeing the painting begin

Cheers Andy. The turret was certainly fiddly. Made worse in my case by less than stellar instructions and poor location of parts. I basically had to build it backwards to the instructions so I could tell what was supposed to fit where. Got to have a torpedo on a torpedo bomber haven’t you though . I suppose the next query is what colour is the torpedo? I’m pretty sure my instructions are for the US version, so I’ll have to look it up.

 

[The Smythe Meister]

"less than stellar instructions,and poor location of parts" eh?!!... Same here mate, different manufacturers,same problem!!
I've had to "reverse engineer" mine too..... In fact,if it wasn't for the internet, I'm not sure how I would've managed!!
As for the Torpedo,I looked into that and discovered, for my version anyway, that it would've been a type Mk 13,and going on the kit's specimen it looks about right,....
..... One of these...

.... Don't know if that's any help?

 

[Tim Marlow]

That’s a good find Andy. Trouble is, my Avenger is FAA, so I’m assuming it used British 18 inch Mk XII torpedoes.
Colours I’ve seen quoted are Black for live, Red for practice drops (no warhead but runs when launched) and Yellow for practice loading (Total dummy, no warhead or running gear). Also seen Red quoted as “for show”. I’m therefore going for black with an oily steel body.
For info, apparently US torpedoes have steel bodies covered in grease which gives them that bronze appearance…..

 

[scottie3158]

Tim,
Sorry mate missed this up till now, just caught up. I will join the crowd if you don't mind.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Tim,
Sorry mate missed this up till now, just caught up. I will join the crowd if you don't mind.

No worries Scottie. Hope you like it :thumb2:

 

[Jim R]

All looking neat and sorted Tim. Good luck with the internal painting - always time consuming. It is a good feeling when the fuselage sides are together.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Sure is Jim. Most of the internals then disappear for ever…..Still doesn’t stop me putting the effort into it though :thumb2:

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi all……long time no update. The reason being, first gig of the new band is looming a bit big in the window, so time is a little limited, and continual niggles in the fit of parts has drained the mojo slightly. Still, progress has been made….


Interior is in, and the second side will be added soon…..
As you can see, there’s a lot going on in here. Fit of parts is very good, but leaves absolutely no room for error. I have therefore spent quite a lot of time scraping out locating slots and tabs to get a decent slightly easy fit for the painted parts. This hasn’t been helped by the Eduard parts all being slightly oversized so interfering with the main part fit. A case in point is the scar on the left side of the fuselage……followed the Eduard instructions and fitted a control board here as indicated, then found during dry fitting that this was already fitted on the cockpit floor…..
All sorted now though…..I hope….the truth will come to light when the second side is fitted…..

As not much will be seen again, here are the detail shots….
Cockpit…the fire wall back won’t be seen, There is a fuselage fillet to be fitted above the IP.


Turret…glass goes on after painting (I hope). Excellent fifty cal barrel courtesy of young Andy…..it’s all fixed in place as I don’t really like moveable parts on my models.


Bomb Aimer and stinger gun position…

Poor bloke must have been bounced all over the place….no belts in images that I could find….

Bomb bay….this will have the torpedo fitted later….

All good fun…wait for the swearing as I try to line that lot up with the other fuselage half….

 

[Tim Marlow]

Well, it was easier than I thought. Though, as usual, I seem to have a slight gap at top Center in front of the cockpit. Taped it as tight as I’m able. Soon sort that with filler though….

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Been looking forward to your progress and have to say that it was definitely worth the wait Tim,looks excellent
Good job on getting the 2nd half of the fuselage into position so easily... especially with so many different "cross bits" to get located.
The difference between our two kits is quite surprising to me, I'll put up a couple comparison pics dreckly....

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Bomb Aimer and stinger gun position…

Poor bloke must have been bounced all over the place….no belts in images that I could find….

Several differences stood out,but particularly the layout of the Bombardier's position when you compare it to my Italeri kit....

VERY DIFFERENT!!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Several differences stood out,but particularly the layout of the Bombardier's position when you compare it to my Italeri kit....

VERY DIFFERENT!!

Cheers mate. Don’t think yours is really that different Andy. The seat is the same, as is the stinger and the aiming kit. Main difference is that yours has left out the big tube things behind him and mine has included the tail wheel and bulkhead as part of the internals. I actually think the bomb aiming kit on yours is far superior even after I added the etch….
Does make you wonder how he got in to operate the stinger gun doesn’t it….his feet and legs must have gone under the seat somehow….

 

[adt70hk]

Tim

Just had a quick catch-up..... That's coming on very nicely.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Cheers mate. Don’t think yours is really that different Andy. The seat is the same, as is the stinger and the aiming kit. Main difference is that yours has left out the big tube things behind him and mine has included the tail wheel and bulkhead as part of the internals. I actually think the bomb aiming kit on yours is far superior even after I added the etch….
Does make you wonder how he got in to operate the stinger gun doesn’t it….his feet and legs must have gone under the seat somehow….

Doh!! ......
When I looked at his seat initially I thought the back of it was against the fuselage side,so 90° off of mine.... Note to self,TAKE MORE NOTICE!!
Those tube things are there...but appear further back from him than yours
Know what you mean about the gun position...no idea how that worked!!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Tim

Just had a quick catch-up..... That's coming on very nicely.

ATB.

Andrew

Cheers Andrew. Glad I can move on to the externals for a while now to be honest. The inside was a bit of a slog….

 

[Tim Marlow]

Doh!! ......
When I looked at his seat initially I thought the back of it was against the fuselage side,so 90° off of mine.... Note to self,TAKE MORE NOTICE!!
Those tube things are there...but appear further back from him than yours :smiling3:
Know what you mean about the gun position...no idea how that worked!!

I think the later version actually did have the seat against the fuselage wall. The Eduard instructions say to move it there. Could find a picture though so it stayed like that…..

 

[Jim R]

Looking good Tim. The internal details are nice as is the painting. Glad the halves went together pretty well. I have also found that some Eduard PE is slightly oversize. Often not important but a real pain when it adversely affects the fit of parts.

 

[scottie3158]

Tim,
All looking very nice mate.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Tim. The internal details are nice as is the painting. Glad the halves went together pretty well. I have also found that some Eduard PE is slightly oversize. Often not important but a real pain when it adversely affects the fit of parts.

Cheers Jim. Glad it’s not just me then…….thought the lap belts in this one were too big as well actually. They were about a scale foot wide!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Tim,
All looking very nice mate.

Cheers Scottie.