Depicted as NZ2522 operated by No. 30 Squadron / No. 30 Servicing Unit Royal New Zealand Air Force from Bougainville around April /May 1944.
This kit was built as part of my annual build off with Bruce from Bruce's Scale Models. A couple of other guys joined in this year, AP and from Sprooby-Doo models and Lukas from Lukas the Light Miniatures. The models are going to be displayed at ScaleACT 2026.
This kit has been in my stash for a long long time so it was good to get it made and add it to my RNZAF Pacific / SEAC Theatre Collection.
The Kit
- 1/48 Accurate Miniatures U.S. Navy Bomber TBF/M Avenger Lt. (jg) George H. W. Bush, VT-51, USS San Jacinto (Kit No. 480120)
Aftermarket
- Eduard Resin Seats
- Eduard Look Panel
- Eduard Tail Wheel (from their wheels set)
- HFM 3D Printed Tyres
- Quickboost Exhausts
- Eduard mask Set
Decals
- Ventura Decals RNZAF TBF Avengers Pacific Theatre and Post war (V48101)
The Build
The build of this kit did cause me some frustration. Not because the fit was bad, it's not, in fact it's very good. The biggest issue was the vagueness of the instructions. It did help that I was the last of the group to finish the kit so I could ask the others when I got confused - which was often.
The Eduard Seats are lovely and do add to the finished build IMHO. The Eduard LooK Instrument panel is also a good investment. Some generic placard decals were used , just because I could.
Everything was painted as per the instructions with Mr Color supplying the interior green (C351) and bronze green (C15) . Vallejo / AK supplied the detail colours.
Advice from Bruce (brave I know) led me to fit the bombs to the bomb bay early in the build.
There were only 4 yellow rings on the kit decal but references showed there should be 2 rings per bomb. To resolve this I cut the kit ring decal in half as you're never going to see the top of the bomb.
The kit instructions have you join the forward cowl halves together, then attach this to the fuselage assembly. I chose to join each half to the completed fuselage assembly first, then glue the centreline.
The main reason for this was I wanted to ensure a perfect join around the sides of the fuselage and deal with any issues on the centreline. I did have to adjust the fit slightly to get a good join around the sides, but ended up with a join with no filler needed.
A tiny bit of filler was used on the centreline seams and the wing to fuselage joints, but overall the engineering of this kit is pretty good and you don't need much filler.
As I intended to have the bomb doors open, and after advice from the group, I cut rather than bent the bomb bay doors along the line indicated in the instructions (and in the parts). This results in open bomb day doors that better resemble the real thing.
I also assembled the bomb bay doors and hinges into an assembly that could be dropped in later (more braveness as this was also advice from Bruce).
The moulded on raised lights on the upper wings and fuselage were removed and holes drilled so clear plastic ones from the spares box could be used
Painting
With this much glazing a mask set is essential. I had purchased a Eduard Tface (two face) mask set as I wanted to paint the inside of the clear parts. I subsequently found that the kit did include vinyl mask set but it was old and wasn't convinced it would adhere well to the curved surfaces.
Prior to painting the centre glazing was tac-glued with a white glue. Do not attach it permanently at this stage or you won't get the Turret in. I nearly found this out the hard way.
The Gloss Sea Blue is Tamiya AS-5 decanted and sprayed through the airbrush. The variation is simply different blues and mixes of the AS-5 sprayed through splatter masks and/or randomly on the model.
Although probably not accurate I like decanted Tamiya AS-5 for USN gloss Sea blue. Mr Color Gloss Sea Blue is to dark for my taste, although it may be more accurate.
Intermediate Blue is Mr Color C366 and the same technique for variation was used on it, although not the extent as the dark blue.
White is SMS Insignia white. I simply applied this in light coats over a dark grey undercoat.
Reference photos appear to show the aircraft quite roughly sprayed freehand. That suited my poor airbrushing skills 😃
Decaling
Prior to decaling a wash a gloss coat was applied before a wash of ABT 502 Sepia. This was left to dry and then removed with a paper towel. I prefer to do an initial wash before decals than sort out the decals later in the weathering stage.
Things were humming along quite nicely with the Ventura publications decals going down nicely. Right at the end of the session I noticed I'd misplaced one of the wing roundels. It's had been a while since I had a visit from the f%^& up fairy.
If you have used Ventura decals you know they stick and stay stuck. I tried to reactivate the decal and work it off but no luck. Even packing tape wasn't removing much of it so out came the Mr Color thinners.
While waiting for the replacement decal set to arrive I repainted that area of the wing and as well as sort out the fiddly bits.
When the replacement decal sheet from Ventura Publications arrived I made sure I put the wing decal in the correct location.
Ventura decals bed down pretty well but do take some work to get them into the detail. Toothpicks, fingernails and mechanical pencils are my weapons of choice for this sort of thing.
Some kit decals were used for some stencilling but being these are early 2000's in vintage they didn't perform that well.
Once I was happy the decals were sealed with a semi gloss coat of Mr Color before weathering.
Weathering
For the topside I used Mr Color Weathering colors, Shade Brown, Sundy (Sandy) wash, Matt Umber, Multi Black, Multi White, and Grayish Brown.
These were applied on a semi gloss surface after the surface had been dampened with Mr Weathering Solvent. Some light rubbing with a piece of Zona 1 Micron Polishing Paper (something I'd found in a draw recently) kept things nice and smooth.
Washes of ABT 502 Sepia were reapplied into the panel lines to add some contrast. A panel liner pen (think fountain pen) was used to do this rather an a brush to keep the oil in the panel lines.
One thing I had forgotten to do was paint the wing walkways. Usually I'd mask these out and paint them earlier on, but for some (Hamfisted) reason I'd not done it. I wasn't looking forward to masking over the few stencils on the side of the fuselage so I masked the wing section and used the AK marker Rubber Black to paint them in. Once dry I gave them a light rub with the Zona polishing paper and then they were weathered. This worked better than I expected.
After completing the first session things were looking good so a flat coat of Mr Color GX 114 was applied. Annoyingly this really killed the effects on the dark blue areas, to the point where it was hard to see much of what I had done.
The next session was a repeat of last. When finished I probably could have left it as is as the Weathering colours dry very flat. But I was curious to see if a flat coat, applied with a little more care (less Hamfisted) would have the same impact so I sprayed a really light coat of GX 114.
It did dull down the effects but not as much as the heavier coat on Saturday. Next time I will not bother sealing it in or using a semi gloss.
Finishing Touches
As usual these dragged on. The main undercarriage gear had been fully assembled of the model and was then fitted. Again the vague instructions didn't help but with some help, googling and thought I managed to get it all assemble. I'm not entirely convinced about the pose of main gear doors but they are similar to all the other builds I looked at.
Turret assembly is also a bit voyage of discovery due to the vague instructions. I had cocked it up initially and I couldn't get the clear parts to fit. It was un-glued and reassembled correctly.
Fitment of the turret is also interesting. Bruce has a good explanation on one of his builds. See here.
The Quickboost Exhausts are vast improvement over the kit parts but there is no positive fit arrangement. I used AK Ultra Glue, let it go tacky then pushed the exhausts in and adjusted them so they resembled a reference photo I had.
In hindsight I wish I'd finished the model with a more semi-gloss finish rather than the Gunze Flat GX114.
Conclusion
Instructions aside the Accurate Miniatures Avenger is still an excellent kit. Fit and detail overall is as good as most manufacturers today and better than many. Notable exception is the exhausts but this is minor. The treaded tyres aren't bad, but not good either.
The engine comes with an ignition harness, albeit an overscale one but It still looks good.
The panel lines in this kit are as good an anything anyone today is doing, in fact I'd argue they are better than many of todays. They are sharp, deep and do not disappear around curves.
The only downside is the instructions and the even the Italeri re-boxing don't appear to have improved those. Not sure what the Academy boxings are like but they would be worth a look.
Overall I can definitely recommend this kit and will happy do another one day.
The Photos
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