Grumman TBM-3W Guppy

Sword, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

Airfix's 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk. Vb will be available online from Squadron.com

These kits are essentially identical apart from their decals and a small change in parts for the USN version in SW72114, so I will treat them together.

This version of the big, powerful torpedo/bomber Avenger of WWII fame came into service in 1946. Changes from the TBD included the massive radome between the main undercarriage legs ( hence the ‘Guppy’ soubriquet) and the faired over rear canopy area to enclose the two radar operators in the darkness required of their jobs. The massive radome created yaw issues which were corrected by the addition of large fillets at 3/4 span on the elevators. Initially, 40 joined the USN as AEW and Radar jammers. After 1950 some 160 additional airframes were produced on the same platform for ant-submarine operations. These were operated by the USN and sold to Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and France, all of whom are represented in the decals in these two kits. (details gleaned from the instruction sheet)

To my knowledge no injected kit has been released in the ‘one true scale’, although Falcon did a nice vacform fuselage conversion as part of a 3-piece set back in the 1980s. As such it will be a  welcome addition to the shelves of many modellers. 

These are fairly simple kits moulded in a darkish grey plastic with lovely fine engraved and relief detail, presented in rather flimsy end-opening boxes with rather nice illustrations on the top and colour profiles on the back. Simple in the sense that there are no resin, PE or masking embellishments, but the level of moulded fuselage and undercarriage bay detail is more than adequate in this scale.

Readily available resin and PE after-market sets from the likes of Pavla, Eduard, and Aires for the Avenger should offer the detail fanatic the bits they require for the front cockpit, engine and undercarriage areas. The rear radar operators’ station is non-existent but would be invisible anyway.

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Both review kits suffered a small amount of fine flash around wheel wells and all parts will benefit from a light trim with a sharp blade to remove the visible moulding seams. As with most short-run kits there are no locating pins and holes so care should be taken in aligning parts before committing to glue.

Transparencies are clearly moulded but only the closed position is catered for and decals are well-printed with good colour density.

Instructions are clear with colour call-outs in each of the 12 steps. All aircraft are identical except for the swap of parts 18 for 20 in the USN version as shown here.

Markings

Decal choices are as follows:

SW72114 

1. 489471, “25 ST” of VS982, USN in o/a gloss Sea Blue with a cream radome,

2. 491537 “412” of VS851 of the RCN in Dark Sea Grey over Light Sea Grey,

3. ‘2251’ of the JMSDF in the 1950s in o/a  Gloss Sea Blue.

SW72115

1. “056” of Sqn 2 of Kon Marine on HMS Karel Dorman in 1959 in Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky,

2. 4.F14/ “14” in the Aeronavale on ‘Arromarches’ during the Suez Operations in 1956 in o/a Gloss Sea Blue  with yellow and black Suez stripes on wings and fuselage.

This is a really nice kit of an ignored version of the Avenger with more than enough detail for most of us but a canvas for the detailer to go to town should he/she wish. Plenty of schemes should encourage the purchase of more than a single kit.

Thanks to Sword Models for the review samples.

Text and Images Copyright © 2018 by Graham Carter
Page Created 30 July, 2018
Last updated 31 July, 2018

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