Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 (edited) I shall be joining with the venerable Catalina. Starting with the Academy 1/72 PBY-5A kit I will add the Red Roo PB2B-2 conversion. I would have preferred to start with a PBY-5 kit but the 5A is all that is around and easy to find these days in the LHS They come with locally added RAAF decals, though I will not be using them. The Red Roo conversion includes the resin parts to make a wartime or civil PB2B-2 and the set I have includes decals for an 11SQN RAAF machine among others. Though since it also has the parts for a civil aircraft I could be tempted to build a QANTAS one! Perhaps I could do both as I have another PBY-5A kit and conversion in stash Edited August 29, 2017 by Romeo Alpha Yankee QANTAS it is! 14 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greggles.w Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Ah- excellent! This was a project from my mid-teens never realised ... I finally saved enough and bought the kit, got it home, opened the box & that giant parasol wing (1/48) was warped! I didn't know what to do with it back then & there was no forum such as this to turn to .. My grandmother had told me of travelling on one of these from Sydney to Lord Howe Island. That's what had got me interested. I had gone so far as to contact Qantas (wrote a letter!) & they invited me into their headquarters in Sydney. Met their in-house historian who took me up the skyscraper to the floor where they kept the old photos. He left me alone to rummage through them for reference. Not sure the same request would yield the same response these days!! So there's my bias! My vote for the Qantas version. Whichever you choose, all the best for the build. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Hi Ray, Welcome to the GB! A Catalina is a superb choice! If you have the time, please build both versions. We can't have too many Catalina's, you know? Cheers Jaime 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Love the QANTAS one!!1 Didn't know they used them or the existence of the decals and conversions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 After looking at the decals, while the 11SQN aircraft would be slightly easier I am tending towards the QANTAS aircraft. In addition to the conversion itself I would have to cut the 8 extra pax windows in the fuselage. There is quite a good website on Civil Registered Catalinas in Australia with plenty of history and photos. I need to get a couple of other builds out of the way before I attack this one, so I have plenty of time for research and ruminating! 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexN Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Hell Ray, The QANTAS one looks lovely! The RAAF one looks intersting too! I'm glad that I'm not the one making his mind up - but on balance I would possibly tip in favour of the QANTAS version if it were me. Or, as Jaime said - do both, and you can never have too many of 'em... no pressure or nuffin', though . Cheers, Alex. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperService Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Nice choice of plane and I couldn't decide which I'd do either. What are the Hawkeye Decals like please? They do a sheet for Aussie Huey's I'd like but I've had a couple of bum steers recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 They're not wrong Ray. The QANTAS scheme will look superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 7 hours ago, SleeperService said: Nice choice of plane and I couldn't decide which I'd do either. What are the Hawkeye Decals like please? They do a sheet for Aussie Huey's I'd like but I've had a couple of bum steers recently. Hawkeye Decals are fine, I have used a few sheets. They are laser printed on continuous film. Some colour decals that go on dark backgrounds are supplied with screen printed white backing decals. Fortunately for these QANTAS decals, the aircraft is basically white so I would just lay the decals straight down on the model. So the consensus seems to be for QANTAS, looks like I am doing a civil Cat first. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperService Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Thanks for that Ray. I'll order a set then. The white backing suggests they care about their product which is always good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 I built this UH-1H with Hawkeye decals (quite appropriate for this GB as well) Sorry for the thread drift, will get back to the Catalina sometimes after the 2nd of September! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Another one that's on my 'must build' list! Also another one that I've got all the bits for, but have yet to make the effort to start. To he honest, I keep making excuses about the cowling size and putting off finding ways to effect improvements... Good luck and a fair wind, and I'll follow along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 I look forward to watching this build unfold. As an aside I am 90 per cent certain my grandfather flew RB-P in WW2, though before it had that radar attached. I must check his log books when I get home at Christmas, but I am very sure. I'm going to do my own "Black Cat" for this build but in1/144. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bianfuxia Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Oh, my mistake. It was RB-L. Before he died he told me that was him flying it in this photo (which I believe he provided originally to the person who subsequently put it in Catalina Chronicle). I think I thought RB-P because P was the first initial of my grandmother. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mjwomack Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Oh my days, I've gone weak at the knees, good job I'm not Jean Michel Jarre and have to sit down at a keyboard! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 (edited) Go QANTAS , like that and it will make a really nice change. One day the question will be asked. Do you remember that QANTAS Catalina somebody did ? They will, possibly the only one made ! VH-EBA and EBU registrations were recycled for a couple of 707s -138B and -338 respectively in the 60s, -EBA 747 in the 70s and later A330. -EBU later a 747-338 covered in Aboriginal art. Edited August 30, 2017 by bzn20 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Stuart Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 I'd add to the clamour for the QANTAS Catalina, IMO, that'd be a good looking model 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperService Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 8 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said: I built this UH-1H with Hawkeye decals (quite appropriate for this GB as well) Sorry for the thread drift, will get back to the Catalina sometimes after the 2nd of September! That was you in the Huey GB then? Pity all the pictures disappeared. Your model got me thinking about doing one here but I'm going Staggerwing. My Huey entry never got off the ground LOL but the decals still haven't shown up for it. That turned out very nicely indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 6 hours ago, SleeperService said: That was you in the Huey GB then? Pity all the pictures disappeared. Your model got me thinking about doing one here but I'm going Staggerwing. My Huey entry never got off the ground LOL but the decals still haven't shown up for it. That turned out very nicely indeed. Yes indeed. I might go back and update some of the pictures at some point. 8 hours ago, bzn20 said: Go QANTAS , like that and it will make a really nice change. One day the question will be asked. Do you remember that QANTAS Catalina somebody did ? They will, possibly the only one made ! VH-EBA and EBU registrations were recycled for a couple of 707s -138B and -338 respectively in the 60s, -EBA 747 in the 70s and later A330. -EBU later a 747-338 covered in Aboriginal art. VH-EBA is currently worn by an Airbus A330-212 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 (edited) I can't wait to see all these Catalinas...definitely try to get to the QANTAS ship...that would be a nice balance of military and civilian... Edited August 31, 2017 by John D.C. Masters oops 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 Cool looking build. Watching with interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 (edited) Talk about coincidal..My daughters future father in law.. Getting married tomorrow !! Got the speech ready.. warned not to mention aeroplanes!.. Flown over from Oz actually saw QANTAS Cats flying ! Couldn't believe it. Just showed me a bunch of photos on his I phone from the QANTAS museum in Outreach...Brilliant. He saw QANTAS Cats flying.. I'll let that sink in ! I went a shade of green ! edit It might be at Longreach ,not Outreach ! Edited September 1, 2017 by bzn20 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 23 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said: Airbus A330-212 I mentioned that, its in that quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 3 hours ago, bzn20 said: I mentioned that, its in that quote Ahhhh so you did, must have skipped over that and I re-read your reply a couple of times too. Talk about domestic blindness! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 Like the QANTAS Cat idea I believe that EBU goton a DC-3 as well Looking forward to your start Martin H 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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