Grumman TBF-1C Avenger, RNZAF

Started by Michael Turner · 77 · 1 month ago · 1/48, Avenger, Italeri, RNZAF, TBF-1C
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    John vd Biggelaar said 7 months, 1 week ago:

    Your Avenger is progressing nicely, Michael @michaelt
    Looking forward to see how you deal with the chipping on the wingroots.
    It must have been impressive to see an airworthy Avenger.

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    Michael Turner said 7 months, 1 week ago:

    Here mare some photos I took at the 2018 Tyabb Airshow.


    And a warbird flypast with a Lockheed Hudson, P-40N, P-51D, Boomerang, Spitfire Mk VIII and a Grumman Trojan.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 7 months, 1 week ago:

    Fantastic pictures, Michael @michaelt
    Those days are unforgettable.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 7 months, 1 week ago:

    Amazing pics, my friend @michaelt!

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    capt. R said 7 months, 1 week ago:

    Fantastic photos!

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    Tom Cleaver said 7 months, 1 week ago:

    Not a complaint, but here's some advice from an aviation photographer: when shooting airplanes, people should set their camera to shutter priority instead of aperture priority, and put it at 1/125, so the prop turns. Propeller planes "hanging there" look weird.

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    Michael Turner said 4 months ago:

    G'day Tom (@tcinla),
    Normally I'd agree, but I rather like that "frozen in time" aspect of the avenger photos.

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    Michael Turner said 4 months ago:

    So, after a pause to finish other things I'm back on this.

    As a first, and because the wings and horizontal tail fit so neatly, I'm planning on painting this aircraft before it is fully assembled. I'll complete masking the fuselage and then paint.

    The wings are assembled and the clear bits masked.

    The wingtip navigation lights were masked with masking fluid, but first I attached small strips of Tamiya tape to make it easy to peel the mask off once painted.

    The other lenses (and fuselage windows) were masked using Polymide Hi-Temp tape.

    My paint plan is something I've not done before.

    First, the wings and horizontal tail are primed with SMS Black Primer.

    The next step is to "colour in" the panels, but not the control surfaces, with green chromate primer colour, leaving traces of black along the panel lines.

    Then I plan to spray random white dots and squiggles on the under surfaces before a light coat of the final white.

    Hopefully that will give a worn look with traces of primer.

    The upper surfaces will be similar, but perhaps using a lighter blue for the random dots and sea blue final coat.

    The control surfaces will be the same but without the primer layer.

    The fuselage will be done in a similar manner.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 4 months ago:

    Super progress and nice painting so far, my friend @michaelt! Awesome that fit is so tight you will just plugin the wings and tail planes!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 4 months ago:

    Black primer looks good, Michael @michaelt
    Your painting approach with the chromate primer and dots and squiggles sound promising.

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    Michael Turner said 4 months ago:

    G’day John (@johnb),
    Let’s hope so.
    I’ve never used this approach before and it is based upon what I have seen others do on this site (and others).
    Fingers crossed.

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    Michael Turner said 3 months, 4 weeks ago:

    Underside primer applied.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 months, 4 weeks ago:

    Primer looks great on, my friend @michaelt!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 months, 4 weeks ago:

    Nice primer session, Michael @michaelt

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    Michael Turner said 3 months, 3 weeks ago:

    Top of the wings…


    …and under surfaces.

    I had intended to do the latter in two steps but ended up just randomly spraying the Insignia White until I felt I had done enough.