Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina

Choppa Nutta
looking good so far 🙂
I have the same kit which I've just started last night whilst waiting for the Spitfire to dry 🙂
I hope you've put plenty of ballast in the nose, gonna be a tail sitter for sure

Kelly Wellington
Got ballast...I just don't know if it's enough. A US quarter under the flight deck.

Choppa Nutta
if you mean a 25 cent piece I don't think that will be enough. I'll be stuffing every available nook and cranny in front of the main wheels with plasticine on mine including the front third of the wing and its engine pods, I would rather add too much than not enough, it's not as if it is going to fly 😄

Kelly Wellington
Update...took all the clamps off...You're right. It will be a tail sitter. I can't get even another quarter in and I doubt that other coins will be enough. I could do it with wheels up.

Choppa Nutta
lead pellets ? If you have not glued the wings together yet you could get a fair bit of weight in there as well 🙂
Plan B for is a diorama with a nose tie down or metal pegs in the bottom of the main wheels with matching holes in the diorama.
Plan C hang it from the ceiling 😄

Kelly Wellington
Lessee...I have another Cat kit. And, it's not like they are hard to obtain, or anything. When I started out, I told myself that the kits I muffed beyond my standards would go to the 'toy' bin. So far, three have been passed on as toys. With four hundred kits and limited space, it's no biggy. Plus, I have a thing for seaplanes, so there is no shortage of non-amphibious seaplanes to 'hang' with.

Kelly Wellington
Interesting, though. I haven't done a diorama yet. I've thought of it, and I distinctly assemble with themes in mind (Coastal Command and its adversaries, precious cargo, straight wing jets, Swedish, plowshares), but I've never carried through on it.) I'm pondering picking up a Revell u-boat kit (VII C would be my preference) and build it out as a display piece with the aircraft of the Battle of the Atlantic.

Choppa Nutta
I like the sound of your U-Boat diorama 🙂
anyhow just in case you aint seen this 😄

Youtube Video

Bill Gilman
If it's a tailsitter, just epoxy it to a base. It's simple, doesn't have to be a diorama, it can be just a simple base.

Kelly Wellington
Okay...Thanks. I got sucked into that easily enough.

I love how some of the plodding but reliable craft managed to find niches during and after their military service. The Cat is one of these. The Sunderland also qualifies.

Kelly Wellington
It would be more of a display of antagonists in the Atlantic, rather than a true diorama.

Soeren R.
THe colour looks really great. Really looking forward for the finished Catalina! Can you say something about the Airfix Kit and how it is?

Kelly Wellington
Setback....The clear canopy is junk. Well...the fit is really crappy. I think I'm looking at building up the rear portion of the fuselage roof behind the flight deck, just so I can sand down the back of the clear canopy piece to fit anywhere near snug. I might have to shim one side, too. Plus, I've the entire exercise of 'masking' the clear canopy piece, too. *sigh*

Kelly Wellington
O...That's been my experience with most Airfix kits. They are fine kits, but for one glaring problem. This one seems to be the canopy. A warning about adequate weighting for the wheels down version would be advisable, too.

Soeren R.
Good to know thx 🙂 Because I can't decide if i take the Airfix version or the Academy "Black Cat", but I think I'll try the Black Cat 😛

Choppa Nutta
A simple base is a nice idea, would take very little effort to make it look like a piece of runway 🙂

Also the Airfix version has a few other fit issues and the internal details are extremely simplistic indeed, no bulkheads or walkways, figures are the worst I've seen ever !
Academy kit looks to be a lot nicer, engine and cowl are separate pieces etc. 🙂

Soeren R.
I hope so, because I bought the Black Cat a few seconds ago 😛

Bill Gilman
I have the Academy Black Cat kit. It's very nice, much better than the old Airfix kit.

Choppa Nutta
I looked at the reviews of the Academy kit and it does look good 🙂
I wonder what the Revell kit is like ?

Soeren R.
Hmm don't know, but if I remember correctly it's an old kit (last one is from 2008 )

Soeren R.
And I'm also looking for the Black Cat Kit, but I already have so much models in my tube 😛

Phil Marchese
Clay in the nose gear bay ...there is room. Leave off the nose wheel. It will snap fit to gear fork post assembly. I be built this kit in the mid-60s and it still displays fine on its wheels...but yes, even a pre-1967 US silver quarter as far aft as the cockpit would never have worked. The 21th Century composite tokens are far too light for the size to be useful density model weights.

Choppa Nutta
oh well thought I would ask 🙂
I keep looking at the 1:48 Catalina too, would sit nicely next to my 1:48 B-17 🙂

Kelly Wellington
My 'reserve' Cat is an MPC kit. It's probably white to begin with. Also, I have a set of pre-invasion orange triangles for a Royal Netherlands Navy Cat. And, of course, Cats have been used by nearly _everyone_.

Kelly Wellington
The wingspan is most definitely close to that of a Liberator. The wing area easily outstrips the Liberator. At 1:48, it'd be impressive.

I have dispensed with the gunner figures at the waist blisters because the clear blisters would not go on with what they'd provided. By that time I had the fuselage joined and working on 'shortening' the figures would be too much trouble. The gun mounts allow the weaponry to to removed during assembly, rather than losing them in the body....on the up side, the blister panels move as they are supposed to.

Kelly Wellington
Heh...In my first attempt at spray painting surfaces before joining them, I've spray painted 'above and beyond' or just the plain wrong piece. But here, with the ailerons, I spray painted the white surfaces, then camo finished one side. Well....I picked the wrong side to camo. *sigh* I stripped those off and I'll put them into place and _then_ repaint them.

Choppa Nutta
lol, I recently made a similar error on the Spit, got my grey and green the wrong way round on one of the elevators, doh !!
I think I'll be leaving the crew out he back on mine as well but I will have the guns in the stowed position for a suggestion of some detail in there, I was also thinking of using a fine black marker pen to draw in some panel lines on the inside just to suggest a bit of something going on as it does look so blank on the Airfix kit.

Choppa Nutta
very neat canopy

Choppa Nutta
just did a nose weight test to see what it will take to get it sit right on the wheels before I glue my fuselage up 🙂

2 and a half ounces in the space behind the pilot !!minimum (70 grams)

Choppa Nutta
hows this model coming along Kelly ? 🙂

Kelly Wellington
Still sanding.

Wim van der Luijt
If I may I'd like to join the sanding bonanza 😄 or at least watch it's progress here

Choppa Nutta
Yeah this turd of a kit does require a lot of polish 😄

Kelly Wellington
The struts still do not fit, but they are getting closer, as I continued to attempt to sand down the pylon. What I should do is go to the hobby shop and get some bigger grit.

Wim van der Luijt
If the frustration levels rise to high, reach for the angle grinder 😉

Chris Parsons
A lot of sanding going on there?
This is probably waaay too late to even suggest but, I built the Revell 1/48 PBY a while back and made my own struts from plastic strip, I did put 2 screws in the pylon to make sure it stayed together then fitted the struts after all the painting...
A kind of 2 cents worth opinion but, it might be quicker or easier than rubbing the fingerprints off your hands getting the pylon down to the struts length?
in any case, I like what you have here reguardless, it's a good looking plane.
I whacked myself in the head a few times, knocked a work lamp off my bench and knocked over a bottle of water turning my 1/48 PBY around on my bench while working on it...long wingspan...longer than a 1/32 Ju88 even.
Keep up the work it'll look great when done!
Chris

Kelly Wellington
Heh...Thanks, Chris. I considered handmade struts, but have avoided committing to that route. The sanding is working...sorta. It's not taking off my fingerprints, as I've adhesive patch sandpaper and just hold the fuselage and press the pylon down on the patches. It could go faster if I'd get off my lazy behind and get some more authoritative grit patches.

Kelly Wellington
Okay...I've tired of trying to make the provided struts work and I'm now experimenting with fashioning my own struts from styrene strips and rod. Curiously, the single size of strips I have is exactly the right width. I just have to glue two together with a rod between them and to one side. I think.

Kelly Wellington
Woo-hoo...breakthrough! I set up one handmade strut and then started attaching other struts where I had ones that fit. One I had to shorten a bit to get it to fit in, but I ended up with three of the provided struts going on and one being too short. That was my ready homemade. So the wing center is attached to the pylon and the struts are on. I'll have to buff up the homemade and repaint the white, but I'm on the home stretch for sure. I've even attached the flight deck canopy.

Kerry COX
What did you "Mask" your clear parts with ?

Kelly Wellington
Tamiya tape.

Kelly Wellington
Funky fit on the clear canopy led to my doing additional clear part cement infill on the copilot side at the back wall. Ended up running a bead of clear part cement around the entire front joint. *sigh*

Kerry COX
Youtube Video Check it out.

Gordon Sørensen
Looks good! Very Nice job on the canopy masking! My wing center section was a little warped, so I hope my wing ends up straight. Yours looks good.

Kelly Wellington
The fit is not the best, but there is no real warp. I've just finished adding the wingtips with the floats down. They _can_ be placed in the up position, but I'm not convinced that it would either easy or desireable. One of the machine guns has gone missing (cats...), but at this point nothing about this excites me except finishing it and moving on to something else.

Thanks, Kerry. I'll have to see how available it is in town...or, is it reasonably priced online? I've got just the project to test it out on...The Republic Seabee I'm working on.

Kelly Wellington
Ah...Science supply outlets. Excellent.

Ben STONE
Moving on to the next project was what I got out of it also.

Kelly Wellington
I just posted up the final whitewash of the hull and undersurfaces of the wing. I just have the radiator grill, the antenna and other protuberant pieces (there are two I can't identify...but, hey). As big a headache as this kit has been, I still like the look of the Cat. What a durable rig. Stodgy and an underperformed, it was durable and reasonably reliable. That sucker is BIG. Almost as big as a B-24 Liberator.

Chris Parsons
Awesome work mate
I'll agree with it being big as well, in 1/48 it's bigger than a 1/32 Ju88 (ask how I know)

Kelly Wellington
Whoo-hoo....It met the Future and the decals have been applied. So far as I can see at this point, the decals were really quite decent, even though I'm still not clear why it is necessary to make the red center dot of the insignia separate from the roundel. Now I'll wait for the dry before sealing them with more of the Future.

Kelly Wellington
Also...I ordered some Parafilm M on line. My solstice present.

Gordon Sørensen
Sommetimes the center red insignia is a separate piece, so that if it is not centered, it is your fault, not the decal makers. Nothing ruins a decal like not being in register!

Kelly Wellington
It's done to shift the blame? When they put the thin yellow circlet around the outside? Hmmm....

Phil Marchese
The process is involved the red I believe would be a subsequent pass than the white and blue. if the ink is not substantially opaque, the red will blush. HIS AIR DEC separated layers in the 60s as one of the first aftermarket decal companies.

Kelly Wellington
Ah...now that sounds likely. I'm not familiar with the medium, but in dealing with pigments, bleeds could be a major reason to do something like that. Thanks, Phil.

Gordon Sørensen
The following was copied from the UAMF...
When decals are printed, one colour is printed first and then the second colour is printed on top of that. If the paper or machinery moves during this process, then the second colour will not be placed exactly where it needs to be.
For example, an RAF roundel is printed onto a white disc, beginning with the blue outer ring. If anything moves, then there will be a white outline around a part of that ring. The red central dot is then applied and, if anything moves, then the dot will appear off-centre. This decal would then be described as being out of register and is best consigned to the waste bin.
To reduce the chance of this happening, many decal manufacturers will print the central dots of roundels as separate items. That way, if the dot appears off-centre, it is the fault of the modeller and not the decal maker!
Some decal manufacturers, such as Cartograph, are capable of producing very finely printed decals, in perfect register. Fortunately for the modeller, many model manufacturers are buying their decals from the likes of Cartograph. This may increase the cost of the model, but it saves the modeller having to source alternatives from elsewhere.

Phil Marchese
Bleed will be a factor in perfectly registered printings if the inks are insuffiently opaque.

Kelly Wellington
'Tis done.

Lots of little headaches with this kit. Still, I think I coaxed a decent result out of it.

Phil Marchese
Nice results. Certainly looks the part!

Kelly Wellington
Well...It was originally intended to be completed wheels down. That died when I failed to weight before joining the fuselage halves. The closed nosewheel compartment hatches are goobered. The landing gear hatch covers are goobered, too. The cabin had to be extended with a plank shim to get the clear canopy to even fit, so there's a new 'bulkhead' behind the pilot/copilot seats. The attempt to include the waistgunners failed when their heads impeded installation of the clear blisters. And then there was the infamous strut fit issue which necessitated building one anew from scratch. One float folds up and becomes a wingtip, the other is glued into place. One blister door swings up and stays in position, the other falls back. Luckily, the machine gun mounted on that side also moves, where the flappy door side gun wouldn't stay in place and had to be glued.

I like the finish I got on the paint job and the decals were just fine.

Choppa Nutta
nice one Kelly 🙂
I really must finish mine now 😄

Chris Parsons
Nicely done!

Phil Marchese
The ol' girl comes off nicely under your hands. nice model; nice scheme. Congrats!

Kerry COX
Phil, What a perfect comment about his work. 🙂

Kelly Wellington
Thanks, mates. As a relative novice, I'm feeling a bit more confident with some skills, but others remain...in need of upgrading. One of these days, I'll actually fit myself with an airbrush.

Kerry COX
Getting your first air brush is when modelling takes on a whole new meaning, and won't you have fun !!! 🙂. Just remember, keep your gun clean. 🙂

Kelly Wellington
Before that, I need to learn how to attach prop blades to hubs in those kits (like Special Hobby, Pavla and MPM) where they come as discrete parts. I have only done it once and the result is not especially impressive.