Maciej Bellos Following!

Mike Daniels Thats a serious looking tool! Following.

Alec K Congrats! Having your own space to model is important

Gareth Windsor I some how missed your last comment Kerry. Thanks. Once again modellers like yourself are inspiring and help me up my game. I can hardly believe the improvements in my own work since joining this website.

Kerry Cox Gareth. The same applied to me too mate. The information and support one can obtain being part of SM is awesome.
I know, like you, all my modelling has become more worth while as it is out in the world stage now, and that has got to make us a tad more attentive to what we see, and, Do. hehehehe
Thank you too for your comment mate.
Kez.

Mike Daniels Couldn't agree more Kerry and Gareth. You see/learn something new pretty much every day. And then you can get the nitty gritty as well from the masters themselves!! Most places charge for that sort of access.

Kerry Cox Mike. Ain't that the truth. LOL

Gareth Windsor I have managed to drop this model as well as all the other models in the large box I had put them in for the big house move last week. All seems repairable thankfully. On a bright note I watched a great model making video on YouTube about taking photos. I down loaded Snapseed and quite happy with what you can do just on your smart phone.

Spanjaard excellent result and great b/w pictures

bobinspokaloo Very impressive...beautiful and realistic weathering

Gareth Windsor Thanks guys. Hoping to have it repaired soon.

M.Julian Marles thanks for the pics!

Gareth Windsor Calling her done. I'll get another picture once she's on the ceiling.

Konrad Limmer Hell Yeah! What a nice idea!! Like it mate . And your son will love it!!

Michael Phillips Now THAT is really cool! Well done man... Your son will most certainly love this!

Donald Dickson II NICE! Told ya that would work well. Great job sir!

Jos Jansen Great job Gareth...pretty cool touch of that launching sidewinder in flight!

Clifford Keesler Very well done Gareth.

Gareth Windsor Thanks all. I got the "wow, cool" from my son which made it all worth while. Once again I look back at how I was making models a few years ago and how they look now. It has a lot to do with members here. Inspiration, advice and encouragement.

Donald Dickson II "I got the "wow, cool" from my son"

And there ya go. Thats the ONLY comment that matters.

Alan Rush Nice collection. You mentioned service in the Navy and I detect a certain bias toward naval aviation. Nice tip of the hat to the Canadian Armed Forces with the Hawk you have finished.

Gareth Windsor Thanks Alan. Yes, I have quite the collection of Fleet Air Arm models waiting for my attention. I'm 23 years in the Royal Navy and still going. As for the Canadian connection, the wife is from Toronto.

Alan Rush OK. I live in Courtice, just east of Toronto, next to Oshawa. I worked for a time in Scarborough as well. I grew up in Windsor, Ontario and after a few other places have settled here with my family.
I am collecting some kits to mark as Canadian vehicles, especially for the Ontario Regiment, which is based in Oshawa. I volunteer at the Regiment museum and wanted to finish some kits for their time in Italy in WWII.

John E Great stuff, Gareth! I like the pic of the Swordfish on the Merlin. hehe

Kerry Cox What a pleasant surprise to find when logging back in after a few days away.
An awesome collection of aircraft Gareth.

Especially the Swordfish. !
But where did you get that launch controller from. ???

Spanjaard great collection!, yes, the pilot is giving all his attention to the controller, no doubt

Dave Flitton Nice collection

bobinspokaloo impressive....and a nice variety of subjects

Kerry Cox I am SO happy for you Gareth. There will be many happy days ahead mate. And the basement.! ? Yeah, solid gold. hehehehe

Clifford Keesler Cool, I am happy for you Gareth. Nice project. That is one that is on my list.

Gareth Windsor So I found a database of aircraft side numbers and it says that JZ527 (the "Yanks in Roundals" decals i have) is actually a TBF-1C (Avenger Mk2) not a TBM as the instructions say. General Motors started supplying TBM-3's (Avenger Mk3) from JZ635. So my next bit of research....... When the aircraft arrived in the UK they were sent to Blackburn to be modified for the Fleet Air Arm. It appears that this was mostly just radios and seat straps. The Observers seat was also fitted directly behind the pilot (US Avengers have radio equipment here), but it seems that at some point this seat was removed to accommodate the increasing amount of electronics that were being developed rapidly.
I have a feeling I can ignore the extra seat as the decals are for a 1945 aircraft.

Cockpit view curticy of the Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola.
navalaviationmuseum.org/nnam/virtualtour/?s=pano728

Kerry Cox WOW. ! Holy dooley. What an experience doing that. I am going back for more. Thanks for the link there Clifford.

Gareth Windsor If you are revisiting yours Kerry here's a nice little website for Ozzies and Kiwis .

adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nzavenger.htm

adf-serials.com.au/home.htm

Gareth Windsor
Credit must also go to Dana Bell. His article in the October 1997 FineScale Modeler magazine. His 3 volume set Air Force Colors contains some useful info.

"TBF-1 / TBF-1C, Avenger. Cockpit: FS 34058 Bronze Green forward from the bulkhead with the window (in front of the turret). FS 34151 Interior Green for the rear crew areas. Light Gray (Grumman Gray) inside the cowling, (FS 36440 is very close) and accessory area. The stainless steel 'Dishpan' firewall was unpainted and often quite bright. Torpedo bay: FS 34151. Remember on all of these a/c the general rule is that the wheel bays, landing gear struts, wheel centers, landing flap bays, etc. are the under surface color. On the Avenger the inside of the flap itself was the upper surface color with the inside of the flap well on the under surface of the wing being the bottom color."

Kerry Cox Thank you again Gareth. These links are fantastic.
Cheers mate.

Wim van der Luijt Thanks for all the Intel, saving it all as I plan to build one too....post war strike or warner version most likely.

Gareth Windsor Not that this was going quickly anyway, but all projects are on hold as I'm packing everything up. The wife and I are in the process of buying a new house, big move is September 27th, but we need to sell our place too. New place has a great space for a man-cave, so for the first time in my life I am going to have a work bench for modelling. For me, the most exciting part of the move.

Maciej Bellos Good for you Gareth! Send us a pic of your mancave when it's ready!

Patrick Hagelstein Whoah.... Man cave!!!

Spanjaard good for you Gareth! I hope to join that club one day too

Gareth Windsor Thanks guys. I'm pretty excited at the prospect of having a bench and not just a tv table under the stairs.

Patrick Hagelstein So now you're modeling like Harry Potter did before venturing into magic?

Gareth Windsor "You're a modelling nerd Harry!"

Patrick Hagelstein

Frank Krüger Fantastic!!!! Looks really great !! Love it ....

Gareth Windsor Thank everyone. I have a few more Star Wars models to build in the stash. TIE fighter, speeder bike, pod racer, maybe the ERTL "Cantina Action Scene".

Spanjaard i did not know of that "Cantina Action Scene" that would certainly make a very nice (and challenging) dio

Gareth Windsor Cantina Action Scene (AMT/ERTL 8205, 1:72)
I'll need my watchmaker's glasses for sure on this one

Spanjaard i did not realized that it is 1/72...

Sören Reifert Great work! Didnt thought that you can build those Revell Easy Build kits in something that good.

Gareth Windsor Thank's Sören. The basic details are all there, so it's down to being a little adventurous with the paint. I have an Easy Build Jedi Fighter to try and make pretty too.

Sören Reifert Sounds good.
Maybe I will give these Revell kits a try, because right now only Bandai is for me the one and only true Star Wars manufacturer

Rene Scheiblich Nice work!

Timothy Heimer Looks good!

Gareth Windsor Thanks guys. Shouldn't be too long and she'll be finished.

Gareth Windsor Calling it "Done"

Rene Scheiblich Very nice work Gareth. Looks like it had a few run-ins with the rebel scum

Gareth Windsor Ha ha, yep, couple of dabs of oil paint streaked back with a pease of kitchen towel. I think I need to finish my Boba Fett next......or maybe the 1:6 STRAP droid....... or maybe the speeder bike.

Timothy Heimer I think the force is with you!

Rene Scheiblich Speeder bike sounds awesome