Reviews : AMT U.S. TBF-1 Avenger Bomber

TLDR: THIS KIT IS NOT FOR THE LIGHT-HEARTED OR BEGINNERS. Even then, experienced, intermediate MODELERS BEWARE: This kit will make you work overtime to make it look good. At that point, you ask yourself, is the time fixing the imperfections on every square inch of the kit worth YOUR time? Or would it be better for you to spend the extra 10 or so dollars to buy a TBF/TBM Avenger kit from a better manufacturer like Academy or Trumpeter? This is my second ever scale model plane kit and has made me so incredibly frustrated. My first kit was a beginner Airfix P-51D and it was leagues better than this. This kit has a lot of issues, the biggest one being that a lot of parts such as the bombs and torpedoes, and even the wings don't fit together well. You will have to cut the pegs they molded in order to fit them properly. There is flashing on every single piece, and the big pieces with intricate details have sink marks. Just about any imperfection you could imagine a plastic scale model kit could have, this kit has. It doesn't matter if the kit is old or not, because in the end, it's a bad kit regardless. The fact that they updated the packaging for the kit in the past decade yet refuse to update the model itself is frustrating yet telling. I don't believe I'll buy a kit made from AMT again if I can avoid it. Maybe I should give this kit 5 stars for how good it'll look as scrap in a diorama!

I've built this kit a couple of times when it was issued in the mid 1970's by Lindbergh and the moldings are still quite good with almost no flash or short shots even after 40+ years. In its present boxing it has been erroneously labeled as a Grumman TBF-1 but the presence of two scoops on the lip of the cowl and rockets under the wings indicate an Eastern Aircraft (General Motors Corp) TBM-3 Avenger. The instruction sheet lacks any useful color references or marking guide but that information is easy enough to find. It's a fairly simple model and it has movable flight controls, retractable landing gear, sliding canopy and opening bomb bay doors. A hollow shaft is evidence that you could have motorized the propeller in older versions of this kit. It isn't 100% accurate but I bought it for the nostalgia more than anything and it's a good model for beginning modelers to learn some detailing skills without a bunch of aftermarket stuff or breaking the bank.