TBF / TBM-1 Avenger

Italeri, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Italeri's 1/48 scale TBF/TMB Avenger is available online from Squadron

When Accurate Miniatures released their 1/48 scale Avenger kits during the 1990s, they were frequently hailed as the best aircraft scale models produced to that time. In 2005, the Avenger is still an outstanding model.

Italeri has re-boxed Accurate Miniatures' 1/48 scale Avenger. The moulds do not seem to have suffered at all, as moulding is very crisp and free of any flash.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The kit features superb detail, especially in the cockpit but also including additional comprehensive structures in the rear fuselage, turret and engine. Surface detail is equally good. Panel lines are crisply recessed, while appropriate features such as bolt heads and fabric are subtly raised.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Perhaps the best news, though, is that this release includes all the ordnance and related options  in the same box. These options include four bombs, a torpedo, two depth charges, a radar pod, and radar arrays. These had previously been split up between different Accurate Miniatures boxings. As far as I am aware, this is the first time that all options have been made available in a single kit.

The second unique aspect of Italeri's offering is the decal sheet. This is described on the box top as "giant", and it is. No less than six marking options are supplied - four US, one British and one New Zealand. The only issue is the colour of the ring on the New Zealand fuselage roundel, which is much darker than the centre circle. The blue on New Zealand roundels did fade quickly and dramatically, but I would have expected the circle and the ring to be the same colour.

Clear parts are very thin and free of distortion. The pilot's sliding canopy is supplied in two halves, as is the big spherical turret.

There are a few sink lines as an inevitable result of the ambitious kit design. These are most obvious on the wings, but they are positioned so that they might be mistaken for stressed metal effect. I will probably not bother filling mine.

Other options include positionable bomb bay doors, pilot's sliding canopy and arrestor hook, decal harness straps and alternate instrument panels.

Italeri's Avenger combines the almost legendary Accurate Miniatures 1/48 scale TBF/TBM kit with every available ordnance option and a big, brand new decal sheet.

This kit will look terrific built straight from the box, and also represents great value with a recommended retail price of less than USD$35.00.

Highly Recommended

Thanks to Italeri for the review sample