The Atom Furnace: Monogram 1/48 TBF Avenger Update

This is a "Glamor" shot of the TBF built in December of 2020. You can review this effort by typing in "Nostalgia" in the Search This Blog box on the right. What follows is a wartime photo:

I found this photo AFTER I completed my build - believe it or not. It was the number 16 that floored me! Anyway, the reason I show this comparison becomes obvious with a little study. The Monogram kit lacked some fiddly details in favor of operating wings, retractable gear etc. That and the fact that my Dad had built this model lead me to build the Monogram as opposed to AM or other more detailed kits. Although I had done a bit of scratch building on the Monogram I just could not get over the lack of the hydraulic gear retractor arm (yep that is the significant difference in the photos.) So how do I add something like this ATF and give up the retracting aspect? Well, here we go.

I began with 0.5mm styrene rod I had on hand. Two lengths joined by thin cement (easy to lift from my glass work surface).

I etched some wine bottle foil and folded it around the styrene. Cyano Gel holds this together.

I carefully pin drilled into the gear legs at the attachment points.

More styrene rod for hinge pins.

Briefly let the Cyano gel dry and then snipped off the excess rod.

I test fitted and trimmed off the excess foil opposite the hinge pin and flattened it a bit to accept a drop of Gel. Then I inserted the hinge pin into the hole drilled in the gear leg and pushed the foil end against the inside of the wing bulkhead. Now I can paint with the interior green to match and add some hydraulic lines. Below is a photo of TBM 17 at the Peru Illinois TBM Reunion this past summer. You can see that the gear is painted with interior green and you can make out the hydraulic lines.