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Accurate Miniatures TBM-3D


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Trying my hand at building the Accurate Miniatures 1/48 TBM-3D OOB.  Getting close to having the cockpit done and ready to button everything up.  The seat belts are scratch built with tape and lead wire.  This was my first attempt at this, and I am pretty pleased with the result.  Still need to weather the seat, hopefully in the next day or two and then I can put the fuselage together.  

 

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those seatbelts look great. I've been making my own for 1/32 scale but struggled with the latches and buckles, so I've been using Eduard PE ones. Your really came out extremely well, so I'm going to borrow your method next time I need to make them.

 

Joel

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6 hours ago, Joel_W said:

those seatbelts look great. I've been making my own for 1/32 scale but struggled with the latches and buckles, so I've been using Eduard PE ones. Your really came out extremely well, so I'm going to borrow your method next time I need to make them.

 

Joel

 

Thanks Joel!  I used a method I found on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBywmDt7-Ks&t=4s).  It was a little tedious, but once I got the hang of it, it went well.  It doesn't help that I am getting up there in age and it is harder to see stuff that small.  I had to use my reading glasses AND my magnifying lamp.  I have used PE belts, but found them difficult to shape the way I want to.  I thought these laid on the seat a little more naturally.  And of course, they are way cheaper, but more time consuming.

 

 

3 hours ago, dnl42 said:

How did you form the ends?

 

I managed to find a rectangular-section brass rod that works well for 1/48 adjustment buckles.

 

I have a triangular file in my set and I used that to form them, then once I got the tape wrapped around it, I used tweezers to squeeze the points.  I used some 1/16x1/32 brass strips to form the adjustment buckles too.  For the shoulder belts, I thought they were too big, so after forming them I cut off the one bend and rebent it to make them smaller.  In all the references I have seen, the shoulder harnesses look narrower to me and I just thought these would look better.  One thing I did different on mine than in the video above was on the shoulder harnesses.  I attached the buckle to the upper portion, then attached the triangular buckle to the lower harness, then folded the lower harness in half, slipped it through the adjustment buckle, then pushed the lead wire through the fold and pulled it down to tighten it and glue it.  I thought it looked a little more accurate.  Next time I want to make the shoulder harnesses even a little narrower.  

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  • 1 month later...

Started closing up the fuselage today after spending some more time on the interior.  I intended to take some shots of the interior before I closed it all up and in my excitement, forgot.  So these will have to do, I guess.  These were just quick shots before work.  I still need to weather the seat, but other than that, I can call this portion pretty much done.  I am actually gluing the fuselage in stages and ran out of time before work, so will probably finish that tomorrow.  I will have some seams to clean up and fill, but the fit is not too bad.  And sorry for the pic quality.  I used my phone camera and I thought my settings were right, but they just don't look too good.

 

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And I also started painting the engine.  I used Vallejo Gun Metal on the the cylinders and sprayed a mix of Tamiya Neutral Gray XF-53 and Tamiya Medium Blue XF-18 on the crank case.  I will clean up the rods and wires this weekend and get everything put together and weather it this weekend/week.

 

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Tom,

  The Pit does indeed look nicely done and weathered. And those seatbelts really look like the real deal.

  I do have one suggestion, and that's to darken the color of the crankcase. I've seen restorations literally all over the gray spectrum: 

Way to light, while the reduction casing in the rear is even darker. 

lO8PWU.jpg

 

this I believe is pretty close to what rolled out of the plant in Bethpage NY

7rkUQu.jpg

 

Here's a F6F-3 in B&W, but you can see how dark the crankcase was

 

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  To tell the truth I learned this lesson the hard way. I've got more engines wrong then right by a wide margin. 

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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11 minutes ago, Joel_W said:

Tom,

  The Pit does indeed look nicely done and weathered. And those seatbelts really look like the real deal.

  I do have one suggestion, and that's to darken the color of the crankcase. I've seen restorations literally all over the gray spectrum: 

Way to light, while the reduction casing in the rear is even darker. 

lO8PWU.jpg

 

this I believe is pretty close to what rolled out of the plant in Bethpage NY

7rkUQu.jpg

 

Here's a F6F-3 in B&W, but you can see how dark the crankcase was

 

mk18cD.jpg

 

  To tell the truth I learned this lesson the hard way. I've got more engines wrong then right by a wide margin. 

Joel

 

 

Thanks Joel.  I have seen them all over the spectrum also and got the idea of using neutral gray mixed with blue on another forum.  But then, I was looking up the Pratt and Whitney and it dawned on me that Grumman used the Wright engine on the TBM and not the P&W.  Do you have any recommendation for what paint to use?  I prefer the Tamiya line, but do not have anything darker right now, or rather dark enough for what I think it should be, and will have to buy something regardless, so am open to suggestions.

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Tom,

  I've been basically a Tamiya man since I got back into the hobby nearly 10 years ago. These days I'm getting lazy and have been migrating to Mig acrylics and even looking at the Akan line, as I'm trying to get away from having to mix so many colors.  For the crankcase a few years ago I literally stumbled across the Model Master enamels at a LHS and found Engine Gray  FS36076 Engine Gray. This led me to believe that the actual color of the crankcase was called out in Navy specs and not left up to the manufactures. Of course during the war they used the closest color locally they could find. So any darkish gray will do nicely. 

 

 I've had way more issues trying to figure out exactly what Grumman's used for Grumman Gray. Everyone I knew that worked for Grumman's back then is gone now except my Mother in Law, who hardly remembers those days.  Dana Bell has worked out a FS number, and that's what I use these days.

 

Joel

 

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Sounds good Joel.  I will check out the MM engine gray.  I have only tried MM one time with some interior green and it was a disaster for me.  I thinned it too much I think and it was not pretty.  I will play with it some to see what happen.

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If you can find it, it's well worth printing out the Accurate Miniatures guide to installing the turret, it may help ease some frustration that can occur.

Try here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070716095942http://www.accurate-miniatures.com/builds/avenger/avengerturret.shtml 

Edited by DonSS3
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15 hours ago, JesusNut said:

Sounds good Joel.  I will check out the MM engine gray.  I have only tried MM one time with some interior green and it was a disaster for me.  I thinned it too much I think and it was not pretty.  I will play with it some to see what happen.

Tom,

  I'm old school. I use their small Red can of Universal thinner rather then big box Mineral spirit. I thin the MM enamel paint 1:1 and shoot it about 16-18 psi flow rate, not static when the air isn't moving through the AB.  I also don't bother with primer as the enamel paint has sticking qualities that are 1st rate.

Joel

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