It's been a while since I have worked on the Avenger. I decided that I would attempt to cut in the different side windows that were found on the very early TBF-1's.

Here's the picture that inspired me to build this early Avenger. It came from my book on the Avenger "in Detail and Scale ".

First order of business was to drill out the window that is located in the rear crew entry side door. It's a very prominent feature of the early variant. Here's how it looks placed on the opening.

If you look closely at this picture you can see that there was also a square shaped side window. I had to carefully cut the opening out. You can see the results of the surgery in this picture. I still have to do some minor cleanup around this spot.

The back side of the door. I'm tempted to pose it open as seen in the first color picture that I posted tonight.

This photo is of the Port side. Here I had to mark and drill out a round side window. It is located one set of frames rearward from the original side window that I covered. Here again another square window was present. This time I was lucky. I checked out how the interior frames and stringers were placed. I found out that the window located perfectly inside one of the squares created by the stringers and frames.

This really helped me to properly locate the position of the side square window.

And this final picture shows the frame work that allowed me to get a good idea as to where this window should be.

Pictures of the real plane and scale drawings indicate that the "Port" side round window and the square side windows were not perfectly centered in the opening created by the fuselage frames and stringers. Instead they were located closer to the aft end of the opening on each side. One the Port side the square window is located one set of stringers lower than on the Starboard side. This causes one window to look lower than the other. In all actuality it is. It's supposed to be.

I tried to replicate this with my build.

Thanks again for watching. Comments are encouraged.

Those windows you did look like they belong there. Good work! Accurate Miniatures did some really fine work, shame they are now history.

Thats a lot of good work also good research for converting, love the engine !

I really haven't built up much of the cockpit areas on the Avenger over the last few days. Instead I have been doing a lot of research about the center cockpit section where the radios were located.

My friend Martin Dytrych sent me a few photos and information about the details of the radio installation on the very early TBF-1's. He also told me that the plane I am building, "8-T-1" was one of the first 10 TBF-1's that were built right after the prototype for the Avenger.

Apparently the radios were different from what is molded in the later dash -1 "C" version of the kit that Accurate Miniatures produced.

That's when I had an idea ...

My online research showed that the 1/48 Hobby Boss Avenger TBF-1C kit had the radio I needed to back date the AM kit to the early "Dash 1". (and I just happened to have a sealed kit in my stash...).

so I had to crack it open ...

and here's the radio part I was after...

Here's the radio set from my AM kit...

as they were on the plastic trees...

and after I removed the two parts...

Coincidentally this HB kit also had the "8-T-1" markings... another good score.

Here's how they show the kit markings for "8-T-1" on the side of the box...

I simply swapped these radio parts out, since the Hobby Boss kit is actually the same "Dash 1C" version as my Accurate Miniatures kit is. The landing light was molded in the same position on the HB kit too, which isn't correct for an early TBF-1, which "8-T-1" was.

Neither kit will make an accurate "Early" TBF-1 right out of the box... but they were not intended to. I was very pleased to find out the early style radio was included in the HB kit.

I also scavenged a second seat that was sometimes used for the radio operator. I "borrowed" this seat from a 1/48 scale Hobby Boss FAA Corsair Mk.2. (I have a resin replacement seat for the Corsair kit, with the proper British style harness, for use in the FAA Corsair). This seat was an extra.

It looks like some of the early TBF-1's had a seat very similar in appearance to the one found in the Corsair, that was located here in the radio compartment. There were also some rudimentary flight gauges mounted on the back of the pilot seat bulkhead, similar to what was used on the earlier Douglas TBD Devastator.

But I have ran into conflicting information about this...

Some sources have stated that the seat was removed by the time these planes reached the Pacific. So far I haven't been able to confirm this, or even exactly where the seat was located...

So here is where we are right now: I built a small section of the cockpit. It has been test fit into the fuselage to make sure the angle was correct for the pilot's seat bulkhead.

In the middle / right hand side of this photo you can see the F4U seat, and the correct style of radio for use in and early TBF-1.

Now I can get busy again...

Comments are encouraged.

Thanks Chuck for the compliments. I have been watching your builds, and they're coming along great too. I especially like the photo etched parts on your TBD.

I have a few of the "Danger Boy" wing fold sets for the AM Avengers. I have used a Danger Boy set on a Hasegawa Hellcat build, and they were really nice and strong. I have never used a KMC set, but I have one for a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. I would be interested to see how the KMC wing fold works out.

Once I get this one (and the PBY done) I may try to build another AM Avenger, but it would be a later version so I wouldn't have to scratch build and modify the kit parts to an early TBF-1 plane.

It looks like I found the exact information needed for the middle cockpit section on the early TBF-1. I was looking for photos on just how the middle seat was installed... and the gauges used on the back of the pilot seat bulkhead.

Turns out I had this vital information right here in Bert Kinzey's book on the Avenger, "In Detail and Scale".

Here's an original Grumman photo that is in the book. It shows the instruments clearly and the location of the seat.

This original Grumman photo found in the book, also shows the seat directly from overhead. I also noticed that I will have to scratch build arm rests similar to the ones on the pilot's seat...

Finally this is another useful picture from the book... It shows a second crew member directly behind the pilot... Now I don't think I'll be using the radio set that I took from the Hobby Boss kit, since this was a modification done after the time period that I want to make my plane from.

* UPDATES ** DO NOT USE THE TORPEDO FROM A MONOGRAM TBD DEVASTATOR ! IT IS TOO LONG AND WILL NOT ALLOW THE BOMB BAY DOORS TO BE INSTALLED PROPERLY... *** USE ONLY AN ACCURATE MINIATURES TORPEDO ***** (ask me how I know)...

I had been thinking about a torpedo for use in the Avenger. Since I recently finished up the TBD Devastator and didn't use the one from it, I figured why not... (NOPE, DON'T DO IT ! ) You'll be sorry if you do...

Prior to installing the torpedo, I added the bomb bay racks since now they are easier to get to...

So I cleaned up the seams, drilled out the lifting hole at the front of the warhead, and painted it. Once it was dry I used some fine strand copper wire to replicate the hoisting cables that were in the bomb bay of the Avenger. I drilled out four holes for the wire to pass through and secured the torpedo in place.

This photo below shows how I secured the ends of the copper wire with super glue. I twisted the wires to make them tight.

Then I glued the upper half of the cockpit in place...

and cut away the square box that was located in front of where the seat will go. I also squared up the area where the seat will eventually be secured. These things should have been done before I glued the two cockpit sections together. It was tricky to do this and not accidentally knock the torpedo loose...

I'm going to keep plugging away at this one...

As usual, comments are encouraged. Thanks for watching.

Using this photo as a guide, I fabricated a new secondary instrument panel...

Here's the part I made using sheet plastic. I used my Waldron punch set to knock out the holes.

This photo below shows the instrument panel temporarily in place... It actually fits pretty nice.

another view from the Port side looking Starboard...

and from the Starboard side looking Port...

This picture shows hoe the seat is actually offset a little...

Once I was satisfied with how the new panel would fit, I decided to give it a coat of Bronze Green...

Now I will let this part dry, then later I will apply some decals to represent the instrument gauges...

That's all for now.

Comments are encouraged.

Thanks Bernard.

The Bronze Green is a custom color that I mixed up. It's pretty close to FS 34058 but not quite. I used the original colors I've seen in person on several Warbirds as a guide. It's really close to the real stuff... I even sprayed out a small test panel on a small plastic card and compared it to the real color. It's almost spot on...

As far as the instrument decals, follow along and I have a picture for you at the end of this post...

Tonight I made the actual instrument panel for the second cockpit.

I used my small Waldron punch to knock out the instrument holes.

Here's the completed plastic panel after the shape was completed and the holes punched out for the instrument dials. It's not very hard to do, but it is very time consuming to get it right...

Then I gave the panel a light spray coat of flat black.

Here's the part after I removed it form the tape that was holding it secure as I sprayed it. If I didn't tape it down, it would have flew away at the first blast of air from the air brush.
If you look closely in this picture you can see that there is also a clear lens that I made from plastic... it's just to the right side of the panel.

Then using white glue, I glued the clear plastic behind the black panel. This will represent the glass lens covers that were on the real gauges. You can see the reflection in this photo below.

This picture shows how you can see through the places where the gauge decals will eventually go...

This photo shows the instrument panel placed temporarily against the other part that I completed earlier today. This gives you an indication as to how it will eventually look once completed.

Finally to answer your question Bernard, I am using Air Scale decals for individual instruments. I'm going to place these behind the clear lens material on the pilot's instrument panel (shown in the top right hand side) and the panel I just made.

The decals I'm using are at the bottom of the picture below.

Calling it a day... Hopefully tomorrow I can get the instrument panels completed.

Take care.