Italeri (Accurate Miniatures) 1/48 Grumman TBF/TBM-1 Avenger

ITALERI (ACCURATE MINIATURES) 1:48 GRUMMAN TBF/TBM-1 AVENGER
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: James Garnett (rec.models.scale)

Kit Details: Italeri No.2644 1/48 TBF/TBM 1 Avenger

Aircraft History: The prototype Avenger, the XTBF-1 first flew on 1^st.August 1941 and saw action at the battle of Midway on 4^th.June 1942. It replaced the TBD-1 Devastator in USN service. The FAA received a total of nine hundred and twenty one aircraft of which three hundred and thirty four were Mk.IIs that were similar to the TBM-1s and TBF-1s. The FAA named them Tarpon but soon changed the name back to the original, Avenger. They were armed with forward firing machine guns as well as one each in the turret and ventral position. They could carry a 22.70” torpedo, 2000 lb of bombs or a 270 US gal fuel tank internally as well as rockets and other loads under the wings. Powered by a 14cyl Wright R2600 Cyclone engine, the Avenger had a span of 54’ 2” and length of 40’. Undoubtedly, it was one of the most successful aircraft of WWII and soldiered on for many years after in various roles including water bombing.

The Kit: The Italeri box looks familiar as being from another company and it is not long before one realises that this kit is a reboxing of the excellent Accurate Miniatures (AM) kit. The box looks excellent and also has a statement in providing six colour versions, presumably two from each of the three air forces it provides icons for but later we find that is not the case.

Inside the box is a lot of plastic, there are eleven sprues to fondle including transparencies which are beautifully crisp, distortion free but also quite thin. The plastic parts is what we have always been told about AM in that it is well engineered, very well rendered and a fantastic amount of surface detail, most of which is delicately engraved while raised detail includes fabric and rivet sections. The kit oozes superb quality and the parts look great. The ten sprues of plastic parts include everything from bombs to antennae and total number is about 107 and is crisply molded with only a few small mold imperfections.

As mentioned the clear parts are excellent and come on their own sprue, totalling about 25. There are the instrument panels molded in clear plastic along with the main canopy coming in three parts, allowing for rear gunner position to be open. The turret is also molded in halves.

Decals: You have the choice of six aircraft to replicate from three different air forces, although most of them are USAF. There is a New Zealand NZ2509, Royal Navy JZ217 and remainder USAF to choose from. The decal sheet is quite large and features excellent clarity and is typically high Italeri quality. There is a good amount of stencilling provided. I only had a query on one of the NZ roundels, four feature light blue outer and inner rings, but one pair had a navy blue outer ring and light blue inner ring, so best check your references.

Cockpit/Wheel Bay Detail: I could spend hours talking about the detail of the kit in these areas, it really is excellent. The cockpit is very well fitted out with seats, alternate instrument panels, sticks, guns, internal bulkhead and excellent molded sidewall detail. The floor and radio decks in particular have all the boxes and pipes you could expect to find in a kit of this nature. The wheel well detail is also superb with structural and plumbing detail all well rendered and even the gear doors are covered.

Optional components: The kit has plenty of optional components which include open canopy, arrestor hook, positionable rudder and open bomb bay. Stores options include a torpedo, depth charges, two pairs of underwing bombs and radar antennae. If I recall correctly the original AM release did not include all the stores options.

On the Sprue Impressions: The detail is really a high point of this kit and there are now enough reviews out there of the AM kit to cover most of this section for you. The reissued moldings by Italeri look as good as the original AM version. The fuselage is split into halves and incorporates the tail to the nose where there are internal structural struts that will later accept the cowling. As a well engineered kit everything has been molded to fit perfectly although little tolerance is allowed and as is the case with other AM kits it is advisable to follow the instructions in sequence.

The engine cylinders etc are molded in three parts and the wheels are molded in halves with separate hubcaps. The 3-blade propeller is one piece and the gear struts are all separate components. The wings are molded into upper and lower halves, as are the tailplanes. All the stores are well rendered and look authentic - the kit really looks great on the sprue.

Accuracy: It is often touted that Accurate Miniature kits are by name and nature, and I have nothing that seems to suggest this kit fails significantly in any category.

Conclusion: The reboxed version of this kit by Italeri is as good as, if not better (decal sheet and inclusion of stores) than the original AM version. There are plenty of reviews of the AM kit around and all these give the kit a high thumbs up, I have no problem doing the same for the reissued Italeri version.

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