PBM-5A MARINER

Kelly Wellington
A minor delay on the Bristol Blenheim brings on the need to break out this baby, just waiting there on the shelf, staring at me. I opened it and, boy does it look nice on the sprues. I hope it goes together as well as the parts look good. The decals, however, are less than impressive. I wonder, has anyone made an aftermarket set of decals for this craft? I haven't opened my Mach2 Martin Mariner to look at those decals....

Kelly Wellington
Best fitting clear windows I have ever dealt with. The bombay constructs are a mite tricky come the wing assembly and I'm having to sand a bit.

Kelly Wellington
Okay...So I've assembled the fuselage and the wings and the tailplane. This is a very nice kit. Fairly forgiving for a novice like me. I've had to do some very minor fit fiddling, but all in all, it's great. Now, I'm at the point of assembling the engines and cowls....I have a choice on the cowl flaps of up or down. I'm no sure which to choose, as I'm not clear as to the meaning of the flaps in the two situations. I'm probably going to do it as a 'beached amphibian'...with landing gear out and down.

Gordon Sørensen
Looks good so far! Do you mean cowl flaps at the rear of the engine nacelle? They are open for better engine cooling on the ground, usually closed while in the air.

Kelly Wellington
So...fini.

I would recommend this kit to any practiced novice. It goes together quite well. Satifying fit; top rate kit.