Paul J Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 I think I am going to have a go with this one. Minicraft 1/144 Catalina and CanMilair decals. It will need some surgery too and alterations. But will deal with those as and when. Slight blemishes on the upper wing parts.A tad on the fabric surface to the left and a bit on centerline. Among the alterations will be the blanking off of the blister positions, the top of the rudder and create the odd looking 'balance horn', open up a vent just forward of and above the undercart bay and represent new windows. Then there is the painting.Those white stripes should not be too much of a problem but CanMilair do do them as a separate set but I feel a bit expensive for just white stripes so I will use other white stripes to suit. I think I know of a way to blankof the blister openings but does anyone else have an idea of how they would do it? Cheers. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 Hi Paul, Welcome to the GB! Nice choice, we can't have too many Catalinas The orange and green livery will look quite striking, I'm sure. Regarding the white stripes, I think they're not to difficult to paint. I'd suggest to paint the white coat first, then mask the areas corresponding to the white stripes, and paint the orange coat in the end. Good luck! Looking forward to seeing taking shape! Cheers Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 Always liked this scheme. i think some plastic card to blank off the blisters, maybe with some tabs behind to help keep them in place. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 By the way, I found this about an aircraft similar to the one in your decal sheet: http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/canadians-band-save-restore-consolidated-pby-canso.html Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted September 27, 2017 Author Share Posted September 27, 2017 9 hours ago, jrlx said: By the way, I found this about an aircraft similar to the one in your decal sheet: http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/canadians-band-save-restore-consolidated-pby-canso.html Cheers Jaime That makes interesting reading and inspiring. Re the plastic card for the blister cover up it makes sense. I think I will fix strips to the insides and strips cut to size and shape to the outside thus kind of laminating. Some filling and filing should do the trick. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted September 28, 2017 Author Share Posted September 28, 2017 A couple more pics of a bit of work done. Not a lot though.... Cockpit area in plave. Will try and get on blanking out those side blister positions. But then... the covered area where the nose turret was. Wing done. I'll leave the tip floats off until later on. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted September 28, 2017 Author Share Posted September 28, 2017 More progresss in the last couple hours: Some plastic card strips on the insides o blank out the side opening..outside and ....inside views Here, I glued in place some odds and ends to fill up the shallow recess and ready it for filler... Here, some filler in one half to demonstrate how I tackled it. A view of the nose wheel bay with some lead bits for nose weight...... ... and a piece of plastic card cut to shape to hold the weights up front should they come loose later. Fuselage all together. Attention turned to the rudder top. It looks to be a bit less on top but with a protrusion to the front. Like an extended balance horn. So I'll try and replicate it. And at the bottom corner edge there is a cut out so where you can see a knife cut, which was easy to do because a fine pael line was there, the tiny remainder will be lopped off. From the pics on the decal insert, it is hard to tell whether it is a cut out or if the rudder chord was extended. But to make it easy and much reduce mucking up the build I decided for the cut out option. Next phase is to tackle the nose area where the turret would have been. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 Fast progress and we already see a flying boat taking shape Cheers Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Great work sir. I love the orange and green scheme you have picked. good idea adding all that nose weight too. ill pop along for the ride ride if that's ok. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Great choice Will be watching Martin H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted October 1, 2017 Author Share Posted October 1, 2017 Update. Some success with the turret and blister areas blanking off. Also the slight reshape to the rudder. Nose filled with filler over the lead and scrap plastic. Port side faired over... ...and starboard side... ... and looking like something from Area 51!! New rudder forward tip in progress. A couple pieces of plastic card laminate fashion and cut to a suitable size. Left to harden for a few hours to make sure it wouldn't come adrift while shaping it. And completed. Looks the biz I think... ... with another view against plain back ground. Feel quite pleased how it turned out. With this done its back to the wing. Tipfloat in place. Going by some pics I see I could do it with them up. It will mean a bit of gap filling but would also make it easier to apply the white stripes later at painting and decalling stages. So I may well re work the area. A general view of sub assemblies etc. I will probably paint and decal the fuselage and wings as separate entities and unite them later. I think it will be easier doing them this way to save grief etc.. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Great progress! The blanking off and the reshaping of the tail fin iis very well done Cheers Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Hello Paul ! Holly Molly, You're fast !! Very good job indeed in modifying the Catalina ! May be the 1st Cat on the gallery if you keep up that pace ! Sincerely. Corsaircorp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 Cheers for the visits and comments everyone. Didn't get a lot done last night other than priming the fuselage for painting which I hope to get done this week. I also retracted the floats to make things easier for painting and decalling. Not that you can see them clearly on my photos, but I also cut out a rebate just above slightly and forward of the main wheel bays to represent what I think are overflow outlets for the water bombing. I had intended to open these out fully and box them in from inside the fuselage halves but forgot to when I joined said fuselage halves together. But By careful use of sharp scalpel blade was able to kind of gouge out the rectangular opening. Since the priming I found it looks OK. Hope to add a couple more pics tonight. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Thanks for reporting, Paul. Looking forward to more pictures Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 This evenings(03/10/17) work and update: White primer sprayed on(Halfords) "Ever been Tangoed?!" Orange acrylic airbrushed on. Wing done both sides and fuselage all over except the lower planing bottom which will be light grey with lower fuselage sides in green. The Orange paint used. I found it in my tool chest drawers that I keep my Humbrol in. Its a Testors/ ModelMaster sachet style. I had forgotten I had these(I have a few other colours). Must have had them at least a dozen years!!! But it opened OK and airbrushed without thinning! I have started some of the green, just to the lower rear fuselage area, by dusting down a tin of Humbrol No.2 Brunswck Green I think they call it. It looks a bit light but its the closest I have that almost matches the colour pics. And we all know how colour pics can vary and not be true... Didn't do pics of the green as its still wet but will post pics up over the week. But first I need to mask out the separtion between the green and orange accurately so the decal white trim line will fit. Also the zig zaggy shape by the nose area needs to be masked right. Cheers for now. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Fast progress continues and the orange paint looks great! Didn't you mask the cockpit opening? There are some orange painted parts inside, is it accurate? Cheers Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 8 minutes ago, jrlx said: Fast progress continues and the orange paint looks great! Didn't you mask the cockpit opening? There are some orange painted parts inside, is it accurate? Cheers Jaime Ha!! Yeah I realised that but I was too keen to get on with it and the paint dries fast!!! I had to stop spraying part way because there was a bit of filler still to be rubbed down at tailplane roots! But no dramas. I'll wiggle a brush in the cockpit with a grey colour which will be OK for this scale and the fact the canopy is a bit thick and none too clear. I also need to paint the wheel bays a light grey too. What I should have done was to be more patient, think what I was to do next such as paint the cockpit, fix the canopy and mask it.... THEN paint the Orange.. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Thanks for the clarification, Paul. Looking forward to the next post! Cheers Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 Loving the carrots. Now bring on the peas! Jont 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 Bah!! After browsing the web found pics that confirmed my effort at re profiling the turretless nose is wrong !! So I have built up the areas either side of the 'stepped' appearance to make it more 'rounded', Just hope I can restore the orange finish. Wasn't happy but it looks quite obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 (edited) I'm sure you'll sort it out. honestly that orange is just too good. is there an anchor on this kit? Are you fitting one if not? I saw @tonyot 's walk around post of the Cat and noticed it had an anchor at the front. Not sure if it needs adding or not and wondered what you were doing. Thanks for any help. John. This one. Sorry for posting in your thread. Let me know if you want it removed. J Edited October 5, 2017 by The Spadgent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Just caught up with this one. Great work on the modifications to the Cat. I love an unusual colour scheme - particularly civil schemes on military aircraft, and vice versa, so this one really floats my (flying) boat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted October 5, 2017 Author Share Posted October 5, 2017 2 hours ago, The Spadgent said: I'm sure you'll sort it out. honestly that orange is just too good. is there an anchor on this kit? Are you fitting one if not? I saw @tonyot 's walk around post of the Cat and noticed it had an anchor at the front. Not sure if it needs adding or not and wondered what you were doing. Thanks for any help. John. This one. Sorry for posting in your thread. Let me know if you want it removed. J I don't think so. Not in 1/144!!! In any case I don't see any visible on any of the pics of the fire fighter Cats. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 On 05/10/2017 at 12:46 PM, Paul J said: I don't think so. Not in 1/144!!! In any case I don't see any visible on any of the pics of the fire fighter Cats. Ahhh ok cool. I didn't know if the all had them or not. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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