Avenger II, 857 Squadron, FAA, HMS Indomitable, December 1944, Group Build.

[Micdrow]

You may or may not find this interesting Terry. Bomb bay of a TBF Advenger. Great job on the TBF. Cant wait to see it finished.

[Airframes]

Thanks guys! Nice shot Paul, it's given me an idea to maybe add the long-range fuel tank.
Anybody got any info/pics/drawings of the forward-firing gun arrangement?
The kit has no provision for the cowling-mounted .30 cal, and only shows a gun port in the starboard wing. Far as i can tell, the TBM -1C (Avenger II), dispensed with the cowling gun, and had a Browning .50 cal in each wing, but I've only found a cutaway showing a .50 cal in the port wing so far!
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[Micdrow]

Thanks guys! Nice shot Paul, it's given me an idea to maybe add the long-range fuel tank.
Anybody got any info/pics/drawings of the forward-firing gun arrangement?
The kit has no provision for the cowling-mounted .30 cal, and only shows a gun port in the starboard wing. Far as i can tell, the TBM -1C (Avenger II), dispensed with the cowling gun, and had a Browning .50 cal in each wing, but I've only found a cutaway showing a .50 cal in the port wing so far!
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Thanks Terry,

I will do some digging and see what I can dig up. Like you I thought it had a browning in each wing but could be wrong. Intersting!!!!

[Micdrow]

In the mean time you may find these intersting.

[Micdrow]

The TBF-1 had a 30 cal mounted in the fuselage and was later deleted to 2 50cal machine guns. One in each wing. Source Squadron Signal Detail and Scale on TBF & TBM.

Bottom picture is the TBF-1 layout. Hope it helps

[Micdrow]

For even more range Terry a bigger internal bomb bay tank

[Airframes]

Marvellous stuff Paul, and extremely helpful. Thanks very much indeed.

[Micdrow]

Marvellous stuff Paul, and extremely helpful. Thanks very much indeed.

Your welcome Terry, any thing else you need feel free to ask!!!

[Airframes]

Just one thing Paul! Do you happen to know if Avengers used smooth tyres, or block-tread tyres for carrier operation. Both are supplied in the kit, and logic (?) tells me smooth tread, to minimize friction, or 'skipping'.

[Micdrow]

Just one thing Paul! Do you happen to know if Avengers used smooth tyres, or block-tread tyres for carrier operation. Both are supplied in the kit, and logic (?) tells me smooth tread, to minimize friction, or 'skipping'.

I beleive you are correct Terry as far as the friction logic goes but its really up to you as both were used on carriers as you will see in picture below. Ive found a couple of more pictures that I was able to make out the tires and they also are block tread tires. I havent found any smooth ones that will scan well enough for you to see. Wojtek and I went through a simular process on the corsair for the tail wheel on wheither the tail wheel was solid or air inflated and ended up both were used on carriers.

Also found this on internal bomb bay fuel tank if you really want to scratch build one.

[Micdrow]

And of course after I posted the tires I find a picture. Two more for carriers. One with treads and one without.

[Lucky13]

Could the last one be a landbased Avenger for training or? Thinking of the windows in the background. This is confusing.....you'll need a pic of the crate that you're doing Terry old boy, to get it right....

[Airframes]

Great stuff again Paul, thanks very much!
A picture really is worth a thousand words, and I think the second one just might offer some form of explanation. The Avenger on the crane is an early model, as borne out by the earlier US Star on a Roundel, whilst the pics showing treaded tyres are later variants. So, I'm guessing that smooth tyres were used originally, changing later to treaded tyres. Despite my thoughts earlier about friction, or 'skipping', the treaded tyre would fall into line with the 'solid' tail wheel tyre, designed to prevent, or at least minimise, bouncing. A treaded tyre, particularly the block tread as shown, would, by the very nature of it's construction, have a thicker sidewall, and a thicker, more dense tread area, making it stiffer overall. Therefore, this would also help in reducing bounce on landing, and it might be that the tread also reduced the possibility of skidding on a wet deck. Might not be the actual reasons for fitting treaded tyres, but it seems convincing enough to me!
Jan, the only shots of FAA Avengers on the ground/deck that I've seen aren't clear enough to show the tyres in detail, but I'll go with the treaded option. It may be that the 'smooth' tyres in the kit are intended for the FAA 'Tarpon I' version, which, although the decals are included, couldn't be modelled OOB, as the cowling lacks the gun trough, and the wings have the .50 cal ports and case/link ejector slots. (I found them after opening my eyes and looking closely!)
BTW, that aint a 'window' in the back of the pic, it's an open sponson deck gangway, with the ship's rail visible.
Thanks again Paul, and I'll have a think about the bomb-bay tank, although it'll be the smaller one if I go for it, as th big one must be a ferry tank, taking up virtually the whole bay, interfering with the bomb racks.

[109ROAMING]

Beaut shots Paul

[Wayne Little]

Excellent stuff Paul...you da man!