Accurate Miniatures

1/48 Flight 19: Lost in the Bermuda Triangle TBM-1C

Kit Number: 480123

First Look by  Charles Landrum, IPMS# 26328

MSRP: $38.99 Review copy provided by Accurate Miniatures (www.accurate-miniatures.com). It is ironic that the TBF/TBM Avenger had a long and distinguished career routinely going in harm's way and reliably bringing home its crews, military and later civil. Yet, despite such stellar service, the most well know Avengers are those lost in the ill-fated, post-war training mission of Flight 19. Had it not resulted in the loss-without-a-trace of 14 aviators at a time when the nation was again at peace, Flight 19 would have been just another training statistic. Instead, the tragedy and mystery of this incident off the coast of Florida has been the source of so much speculation in the intervening 61 years. As a teen in the '70s, I was caught up in all of the speculation over the Bermuda Triangle. I still remember the narration of Leonard Nimoy on "In Search Of". It was really cool later, when the Flight 19 aviators walked off the spaceship in the movie "Close Encounters of a Third Kind". As a retired Naval Officer I am a bit jaded now, and recognize Flight 19 as just a routine evolution, horribly mismanaged. However, I have to admit that I still became very excited when I received this kit for review. Accurate Miniatures has stirred up some excitement. The Flight 19 kit comes in the new yellow box and includes some of the improvements to an already fine kit. In the box are the sprues for a TBF-1C, a sprue of 500lb bombs, canopy masks (an essential accessory given the complexity of the canopy - my guess is that Eduard did the masks given the new partnership) and a decal sheet with markings for all five aircraft lost. The core of the kit is the superlative TBF-1C kit. These moldings are just as crisp as when they were introduced 10 years ago. I will not go into a lot of detail over the kit, as it has been reviewed many times over. But, I have included shots of the sprues so that those unfamiliar with the kit can judge the contents. One significant change over the original Accurate Miniatures releases has been a complete makeover of the instructions. While all of the old exploded view diagrams have been kept (albeit cleaned up), there are many more added and accompanying narrative steps! The instructions even include the new steps that tell you how to install the turret after the fuselage is together; this was a change which up to now was solely available on the AM website.

As is the standard for AM, a lot of research into Flight 19 has gone into this kit. The research pertinent to Flight 19 is included in the instruction sheet. The false bottom of the box includes profiles of all 5 aircraft, which are provided on the kit decal sheet. This is the first time that I am aware of, that markings have been offered for all of the Flight 19 aircraft. There is only set of national insignia and stencils for one plane, however. Of the five planes in the flight, four were TBF/M-1Cs and so out of the box you can model any one of these four aircraft. The flight lead was in a TBM-3, which requires a different kit - but have no fear, AM makes that kit too! In fact the markings for the Flight Lead's aircraft were previously available in one of AM's TBM-3 kits. However, since that release, much research has surfaced and the decals provided for the aircraft in this kit are more accurate. The decal sheet is crisply printed, with carrier film kept to a minimum; the white is bright with no yellowing. Since these aircraft were on a level bombing training mission, AM has included a sprue of 500lb bombs. The only drawback to this kit is the fact that AM did not include a set of their HVAR rockets and zero length launchers, even though the instructions state that the zero length stubs were retrofitted on these TBM-1Cs - but they do have you open the holes in the wing! The missiles and pylons are available in the AM weapons set sold separately.

I have to commend AM for coming out with such an interesting subject. With the updated instructions, the addition of the canopy mask, and the extensive decal sheet - it is quite easy to build a very nice replica of these tragic aircraft. I cannot wait to see the first display of the entire flight of aircraft based on this kit. If you do not yet have one of AM's fine Avenger kits, I recommend that you add this one to your stash.

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