Grumman Avenger

KIT COMMENT
ROVEX REVIVAL
ACCURATE AVENGER

The recently released Frog Avenger is a very good model with high standards of accuracy and detail. In fact there is little to criticise. Luckily the version modelled is a Grumman Avenger Mk.II which differs slightly from the aircraft produced by Airfix in that the cowling shape is different and the Frog model has two large transparent blisters just aft of the wing root.

The other advantage, although both Airfix and Frog kits are roughly the same in quality, is that the latter misses out the rivet retail so favoured by their competitors. In the Frog offering the panel lines are extremely well done and the mould makers are to be congratulated on an excellent job.

The decals provide markings for similar aircraft in the same squadron at different periods. Both depict aircraft of No 857 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, although one has British Pacific Fleet markings when attached to Task Force 57 on HMS Indomitable whilst the other shows an Avenger in service with No 857 at Macrihanish in 1944. We used the Pacific markings for our model and can report that each item stuck firmly and moulded well over the surface detail. The matt quality blended well with the painted areas.

One point worth mentioning is the matt black walkways on top of the wing alongside the cockpit. These are shown in the colour illustrations on the kit box but are not included in the decal sheet. They will have therefore to be painted on and care, plus masking, should be used to get straight lines along the edges.

A very good kit, well worth 28p.

Aviation News Vol 2 Num 2 8-21 June 1973

NEW AND IN VIEW
FROG Avenger. Red series UK Price 28p.

Sample supplied courtesy Jones Bros. Chiswick. A new Frog kit always takes us by surprise. We hear various goodies are on the way but no one ever seems to know when, then all of a sudden just when everyone is saying the new Frog Whatnot is due any day, out comes something different and the Whatnot is still months away. This kit provides a TBM-I Avenger I with markings for two aircraft in the Pacific theatre. The model is accurate in outline with good surface detail. Parts fit quite well apart from some gaps around the lower wing/upper wing halves. The major fault is one which is usual with Frog offerings.. horrible thick trailing edges to the wings. With the split wing method used there is absolutely NO excuse for this as the whole trailing edge is moulded in one piece and knife edges can be produced. The proof that this can be done is in the Tamiya 1/lOOth scale kits so excuses that the process does not permit are no avail. There was no instruction sheet in our kit and we essayed to assemble without one and had one or two problems which would not have existed if we had waited for instructions to arrive.

The kit compliments the Airfix TBM-3 which is getting a bit old now, so will undoubtedly have it's uses in a collection and Naval Aviation enthusiasts will certainly want one. Box art is good and decals good quality.. one of the better features of Frog kits. Frogs saving grace is that they must now have one of the lowest price ranges kit for kit in the UK, but unless they can improve on the consistantly bad points such as thick trailing edges, they could well be pushed back by their competitors, who are now most willing to learn from mistakes. It has been said that some companies are not concerned by reviewers opinions. Perhaps not, but in the long run quality pays and countries overseas learn VERY quickly!

The IPMS magazine, june 1973

MODEL ENTHUSIAST
Seagoing and shore-based

Two US naval aircraft that have reached us recently are the Grumman Avenger II from Frog and Hasegawa's Lockheed P-2H Neptune (the latter having been received via VHF Supplies) both kits being to 1/72nd scale. The Avenger makes a welcome addition to Frog's steadily expanding line of naval aircraft and while this 47-part kit moulded in medium-grey plastic has no pretentions towards being a super-detailed masterpiece, it builds up into a thoroughly competent miniature reproduction of this shipboard torpedo-bomber. The surface detail, while finely done, is unfortunately of the raised type rather than engraved, and cockpit detail is barely adequate, but the transparencies are excellent, being crystal-clear and featuring raised frame detail to facilitate painting. Engine detail is confined to the inside of the cowl front but is quite effective, and apart from the revolving airscrew and gun turret there are no moving parts, although alternative components are included in the kit enabling the undercarriage to be assembled in either extended or retracted form. The fine moulding of the undercarriage parts is noteworthy. The instruction sheet is functional but adequate and the decal sheet is good—but out of register in the case of our sample copy — and offers markings for two Royal Navy Avengers, both from No 857 Squadron. One represents an aircraft land-based at Macrinanish in 1944 and the other an aircraft operating from HMS « Indomitable with the British Pacific Fleet in the following year. It is a kit well worth having at its UK price of 28p in Frog's Red Series.
F J HENDERSON

Air Enthusiast 1973-08 vol.05 no.02

SAM Vol.2 p133

NEW NAVAL AIRCRAFT FROM AIRFIX

The Airfix company's latest releases in its three shilling series depict two Allied carrier-borne aircraft nearly as well-known as the Hellcat and certainly longer-lived than the Grumman fighter from the service viewpoint, these being the Fairey Firefly and the Grumman Avenger. The Firefly, which represents a Mk 5 in service with the Royal Australian Navy during the Korean War, makes up into a really beautiful little model. II is accurate, the component parts fit together with extreme precision, the detailing is fine, and the kit includes a number of items not found in appreciably more expensive offerings, such as separate spinner and exhaust pipes, and wings that may be assembled in either folded or extended positions. The only feature which is not quite up to standard is the instruction sheet; some of the drawings are extremely small and the instructions accompanying them are by no means easy to follow7. We suggest that the component parts be studied with extreme care before a start is made on assembly.

The Avenger, which depicts a TBM-3 of the US Navy, is also an excellent model if not quite up to the standard of the superb Firefly, Detail is a little coarser, some of the surfaces are slightly wavy, and the fit of the parts is not so precise. Nevertheless, these faults are minor, and in making these criticisms it should not be thought that we are deprecating what is, in fact, an excellent kit, incorporating as it does such features as a highly-detailed two-row radial engine and alternative markings on the transfer sheet.

RAF Flying Review April, 1966, Vol. XXI, No. 8

SCALE MODELLERS' MARKET PLACE
THIS MONTH'S NEW MODELS REVIEWED BY EXPERIENCED MODELLERS

LOCKHEED VEGA PV-1 VENTURA
Manufacturer: Minicraft Models Inc (Academy)
Scale: 1:72nd
Price: £7.99
Type: Injection moulded

I've had this kit For a few months and not had ihc opportunity to make it. That's the trouble with this job, one cannot always produce the kit one wants to because of the limitations of the editorial task and other calls upon one's spare time. Nevertheless, it has now been completed and has come up to the expectations that one would imagine from a lineage like Minieraft Inc and their previous associations with Hascgawa.

The background is interesting because after the Hasegawa agency was lost, Minieraft sought other ways in which to make an honest buck eventually settling on the production of their own kits, but in Korea. Hence the name Academy associated with this kit.

My anticipation and enjoyment of putting it together was borne out to the full as I can report that this model is a very good example of what should be the standard for all injection moulding manufacturers and, as was expected, fitted together with the absolute minimum of effort.

The only time that elbow grease in the form of rubbing down any difficult part needed to be applied was in the engine nacelle area where I did apply a little body putty to overcome the joint line and ease the fit between the upper and lower sections.

There arc 67 parts, including the clear transparencies. These arc moulded in a mid-grey plastic which is a good base colour for the US Navy colour scheme and decals provided.

Although the name Ventura is applied to this kit it is slightly different from the Royal Air Force Ventura which was used on short-range bombing missions during 1941-43. This had a transparent nose and a rear turret reminiscent of its predecessor, the Hudson. The Minicraft model is of the PV-1 which was used for patrol duties over the Pacific by the US Navy throughout World War 2 until it was followed by the Harpoon in late 1944. By contrast it had a solid nose and an Emerson turret with two .50 inch calibre machine guns and of a much flatter profile than the RAF one.

Obviously one immediately thinks of making a conversion but the Rarcplanes vacuform model of the RAF Ventura is still around and it is rather pointless to go to the trouble of cutting this one up whilst a perfectly good vacuform requiring just as much skill to put together is available.

I was particularly pleased with the way in which the fuselage windows, transparent nose panel and the turret fitted so exactly into their allotted places. This made a lot of difference to the final look of the model mostly around the cockpit area. Both the bomb bay doors and the undercarriage doors arc joined together and must be cut apart if either is to be placed in the open or down position. I chose to leave the bomb doors closed as this would have meant building a complicated interior about which I had little reference and on that point it would have been nice to see a little more detail in the wheel wells. The cockpit interior on the other hand has quite a few bits and pieces to fit in. Two spectacle-type control columns are provided along with seats, an instrument panel and suitable decals, plus the rear bulkhead. The upper turret detail is also good but the underside one lacks a lot. One simply pokes the twin guns through the transparency and adds a little adhesive to keep them in place.

The paint scheme suggested is non-specuLar sea blue, intermediate blue and white, which is, I always think, an attractive paint job and gives the chance for some neat airbrush work where the three colours meet. The markings provided are for an aircraft of VB-135 operating from Attu in the Aleutians. To obtain the semi-matt finish that most of these aircraft had on leaving the factory. I painted the model in matt and then gave it a full gloss coat of varnish onto which the decals were applied. This overcame decal outline film and they were set well in place when I gave a simple coat of matt varnish to complete the job* This knocked the gloss back far enough to provide the semi-matt finish I wanted.

The whole model was fairly simple to put together and painting provided a full weekend's work as plenty of time was needed to let paint and varnish dry before the next coat was applied. An enjoyable experience and a model that is generally available through the direct mail advertisers in this magazine.
Alan W. Hall

Scale Aircraft Modelling Vol 10 No 09 1988-06