Accurate Miniatures 1/48 scale TBF-1C Avenger

[lgriffin]

Excellent model, Lee. It is a shame that Accurate Miniatures didn't survive. They made some really good products. At least some of their kits are still available, albeit at sometimes ridiculous retail prices from Italeri.

Lee G.

[Ronv]

Lee, Nicely built as always! I was there at the final flight of the F-14 tomcats. Sent shivers up my spine from the sound of all the F-14s in formation!
RonV

[Lee_K]

Thanks Bill.  The F-14D will be in markings seen at the final Tomcat flyover at NAS Oceana in 2006.  All Ds had the three-gray Tactical Paint Scheme, but I agree with you about the beauty of the Gull Gray over white scheme seen on the As.



Lee K

[Bill L2]

Thanks Spanky and Steve.  You are correct that I now mostly focus on 1/32, but I kept this and a couple of other 1/48 kits in my stash for nostalgia's sake.  There's only a couple more left that I might get around to building while taking a rest from the monsters.  And my next project is indeed a monster: the Tamiya F-14 Tomcat converted from an A model to a D.  That one is going to take months to complete.

Lee K

Great build Lee. Fantastic finish as usual.  Have fun with the Tomcat build. What markings are you thinking about doing with the F14? I like the old A model color schemes of white and gull grey. I have always wanted to do a F 14 A in VF 1 markings.

[Bill L.]

Looks great Lee. Your photography is pretty good too!

Bill L.

[Lee_K]

Thanks Spanky and Steve.  You are correct that I now mostly focus on 1/32, but I kept this and a couple of other 1/48 kits in my stash for nostalgia's sake.  There's only a couple more left that I might get around to building while taking a rest from the monsters.  And my next project is indeed a monster: the Tamiya F-14 Tomcat converted from an A model to a D.  That one is going to take months to complete.

Lee K

[Spanky]

Guys,I used to work for Fineline Prototyping and worked on some of the Printapart parts.We did some stuff for Special Hobby and I remember working on the M4 Sherman tracks for Hard Corps.Printapart is no more they sold off all the 3D printing machines.Last year Rob Connely sold Fineline Prototyping to an outfit from Mn. called Protolabs.

Great looking Avenger there Lee.I thought your hands didn't fit 1/48 scale any more
since you are building 1/32 scale stuff.
spanky

[Ryan K]

They where too different companies. AM was out of Charlotte and PAP was here in Raleigh and company heads were different people as I recall. PAP was an offshoot of FineLine Prototyping, Inc. doing 3d printing for the little guy. Fineline does big guy ($$$) printing.

[Herk]

Lee,
Did Accurate Miniatures become Print-a-Part? The majority of the vehicles for my Desert Shield airfield came from Print-a-Part.  I know they went under not long after getting my vehicles.
I should be receiving some 1/700 vehicles from Shapeways next week to update the airfield - it will be interesting to see the quality at that size.  I know Ryan has gotten larger size items from them and has had no problems.
As usual, your TBM is quite good - congratulations.
Regards

[Lee_K]

Thanks for the kind words, Bob and Ryan.

Bill Bosworth bent my ear for about three hours at RDUCON 2011 so he's still active in the modeling community and a very nice fellow to talk to.  You might be able to visit with him in RDUCON 2016, which he very well could attend.  Accurate Miniatures was a company of modeling geeks that catered to other modeling geeks like us -- very refreshing.  It was a shame that internal conflicts and financial shenanigans caused the company to go under.  We are all the worse for it.

Lee K

[Bob S]

Lee - your airbrush work is beautiful... very realistic! I love Accurate Miniatures - I've only built their race cars though, never one of their planes,
but I remember their instructions were super thorough and very friendly to understand.

[Ryan K]

Looks great. Given your small stash I am surprised you had it this long.

[Lee_K]

Just finished this original issue Accurate Miniatures 1/48 scale TBF-1C Avenger. The kit sat in my stash for nineteen years before I decided that it needed to be built before the decals deteriorated. This model is still a magnificent accomplishment that advanced the state-of-the-art for our hobby and remains competitive with kits being released today. That said, it was quite fussy to build and the turret gave me fits in regards to fit and insertion into the fuselage after it had been assembled and painted despite all the helpful tips left by Bill Bosworth. Super Scale decals were used for a TBF from VT-2 aboard the USS Hornet in 1943.









Lee K