Few folks probably realize just how big an Avenger is until they stand beside one. That pic of you, Louis, a few posts back depicts that nicely. Here's just one of the AM TBF's I've finished.

Tonight I managed to get a little more sanding done on the conversion process of the Avenger. Here's a few pictures with a little description of each.

The first two pictures show the upper surface of the wings after the initial heavy coat of primer has been sanded away. Most of the panel lines have been filled in, but more filler is needed.

Picture #3 shows the starboard side of the fuselage after the final wet sanding was done. This section is now ready for the final primer coat.

Picture #4 shows the gun trough for the cowling after it's sanding was completed too. Like the fuselage halves, it's finally ready for a final coat of primer.

5 shows another close up of the starboard side of the fuselage.

6 shows the upper surfaces of the wing after numerous heavy coats of primer were applied. I had another idea and decided to try our a single edged razor blade as a spreader to smooth out the primer, similar to how one would do with ordinary automotive body filler or glazing compound. I did this several times and it looks like it might be a good little experiment. I will know more once the sanding begins...

7 shows the fuselage and cowling halves after the final coat of primer was sprayed. I'm happy with how these areas turned out.

Number 8 & 9 show the interior portions of the fuselage halves. I plan on gluing a small section od thin plastic card stock over these areas where the windows were filled in. Then I can use small evergreen strips to replicate the fuselage stringers. This should look presentable after another coat of interior green.

So now I'm going to let the primer set up over night on the upper wing surfaces. Hopefully tomorrow I can sand those areas down.

Until then... stay tuned. Thanks for watching.

9 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Ok I'll admit it ... I was on a roll and I couldn't stop.

I made an attempt (with my old eyes) at re-scribing the panel lines and one by one restored the missing rivet details. If you look close at the first picture you can see where I slipped a few times on one wing as I was trying to scribe the lines. Hopefully this will not be too visible once final painting is done, since the scratches were pretty light.

So the next step was a quick spray paint session with some US Navy Blue Gray. I gave it a heavy coat the first go and came back over it with a thinned out top coat sprayed on wet to help it flow out more evenly.

Here's the results. The paint is still really wet on the second picture.

On the 3rd and 4th photos things are starting to dry up a little. It should look ok under a few more coats of Blue Gray and some Dull Coat clear.

The last two pictures show the wings after the paint has dried quite a bit. There are no longer any traces of the wing mounted .050 caliber machine guns.

I had a little paint left in the spray cup so I gave the stabilizer assembly a light coat on the top side.

I can live with this, hopefully the rivet texture will tone down a little bit more. Next step is to address the fuselage interior and cover the window plugs.

As soon as I take care of the fuselage interior, cut out the smaller square side fuselage windows, and address the round window opening on the entry door, I can start with the cockpit detail painting and building, since the conversion to an earlier "Dash - 1" Avenger will pretty much be completed.

I have decided to enter this model in the Midway Group Build. Here is a link for this:

http://imodeler.com/groups/75th-anniversary-battle-of-midway-group-build/forum/topic/148-accurate-miniatures-grumman-tbf-1-early-avenger-vt-8-torpedo-squadron-8/

Stay tuned !

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

I'll bet your TBF looks great. 34092 is pretty close but just a little bit lighter in shade. Close enough. I posted pictures of the FS color chips on my other thread. Thanks again my friend.