Housesparrow's Pilatus PC-6 B2/H4 Turbo Porter, Seaplane, 1:48 scale, Roden kit

[Housesparrow]

My Kursk model is nearly finished, but my F-16 model seem more like a slow project, so I would like to delay that kit for now.

I found this Roden kit for a seaplane version of the Pilatus Porter on Ebay for cheap, and thought I'd get lucky. Previously I had built a regular Turbo Porter with some photo etch, but I was a little unlucky I think with the clear part for the canopy, and to my surprise as I opened this other kit from Roden, the big clear part for the canopy looks much nicer.

I started with the floaters and given the experience I gained from the other kit, I should be well prepared to end up with a great looking seaplane model.

Below is a photo showing some thin bits of styrene, cut from a big sheet. That part went surprisingly well. I had previously added putty the the assembled floaters (or whatever it is called in English) and sanded away the excess putty (Vallejo putty) to get a flat top surface. I also sanded down the detail, so that is why I am adding the styrene.

It was tempting to try custom cut pieces of photo etch that I had lying around, but I don't think I have tools for anything more than very rough cuts and minor work on the PE, so I am trying out using stryrene.

Known issues / interesting things:

• Nose part, front side, have bad molding. Will have to use a power tool again to shape a nice circular cavity, because of how the two big plastic parts don't have a properly molded shapes on the very front where the propeller goes in.

• The kit comes with a lot of tiny parts for the rear seats, but this time, I will leave all those parts unused.

• I think it is best to glue on the two red signal lights with super glue at the very end, after having painted the model, to get the best result.

• Kit is missing the anti static wicks. Photos show these to be rubber like strings that bends a little downward when the airplane isn't moving.

• Box art suggest that there is some wiring beneath the airplane for stabilizing the floater parts of the airplane.

• I must remember to not glue on the spinner before having airbrushed the propeller blades.

• Decals look ok, not Cartograph quality, but ok. I foresee a slight fitting issue for that big long decal, as it nears the spinner, where the fuselage surface seem to split in two directions.

• Build instructions show no indication of any nose weight to be added, however I will add some behind the propeller just to be sure the model doesn't flip backwards.

In order to be more accurate when working with the styrene, I carefully used the ruler to make sure cutting lines were at an angle, and to the proper length. That way I didn't have to redo any of this work.

When making the rounded corners, I made sure to drag my coarse sanding stick seven times across the tip of the corner on all parts (just a straight line), to better end up with a coherent result. I used a medium sanding stick to actually create the rounding.

Update:

The light on each wing tip wasn't that well defined. Luckily, I managed to cut off the lights from some wing tip parts that isn't for the seaplane version. The old lights were sanded down, so only a flat stub was left, and then I glued on the loose parts for the cut off lights:

[Housesparrow]

One thing that has me a little puzzled, is how to best approach masking the round window and the windows on all the doors. My other Turbo Porter project didn't fare well in that regard. I am still not sure what went wrong, presumably, too much Humbrol clear around the recessed windows. This time I want to try place a mask on the outside of the windows, which is why I have primed and painted white around the two round windows here. If I am a little careful in airbrushing on Humbrol Clear, I think it might work.

Nevermind the submarine masts seen inside the tiny bowl on the table.

I bought this cutting mat, from Humbrol I think. Strange that they chose the color gray, making it hard to see the, often gray, plastic. I decided to flip the map around, so that I have a plain gray with minimum distraction, as opposed to using the other side that has a white grid with rulers and patterns.

I intend to color the cabin floor black with steel colored stripes. I have to brush on some Humbrol Clear onto the instrument panel part, to try avoid silvering, though using Micro Sol should help a lot, making the decal stick more firmly to the underside.

The painting scheme says "aircraft gray" for the interior. Not sure I picked the correct color here, but I thought it would do. Some of that same color also goes on the floaters on the top on the walking area.

On the wings tip area, in addition to trying to add some Vallejo putty in the seams, I also put some 'Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer, white' and sanded it flat ofc.

Like with my other Pilatus Turbo Porter project, in order to glue the two big "cabin" halves together, I made sure to glue on the backside and roof to one of the pieces, otherwise it would be perhaps impossible to get the roof into the cabin if having glued the two big hull parts together.

[Jessica]

You might want to pry open the floats and fill the front halves with weight, too. The rigging is fairly minimal, being a pair of "X" braces between the front and rear struts only.

[Housesparrow]

That was my first thought, however I happily concluded that I could simply put nose weight inside the nose.

[Housesparrow]

I couldn't make up my mind of using either Vallejo putty or try using Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer, so I ended up using both to try level the plastic on the large surfaces. The putty was ofc more easy to work with with large surfaces.

Using 1x1mm styrene beam, I recreated some details I had sanded down on the underside of the nose. I also used parts from a thin sheet of styrene to recreate a couple of panels there as well.

I re-scribed some of the panel lines around the hull, though it might not have been entirely necessary. As for the panel lines on the top just behind where the canopy glass will go, I think I will do a re-scribe, but with a little offset so I don't rescribe trhough the putty or the Tamiya goo. I don't think anyone will notice those two lines being offset a little.

I am having great fun building this kit, being the second one of the Roden's Pilatus Turbo Porter kits I have had. Most parts fits nicely, though some putty/sanding is required to make the flat surfaces truly flat.

The back wall in the interior is about 0.5-0.8 millimeter too short.Though I left it alone. I should have applied some styrene, but I totally forgot about having styrene to work with. The last time I corrected that wall, I used putty and it was a little messy, so I didn't want to bother with that part now.

Ah, I just remembered, that I cut off a ventilation opening of sorts on the top side of the nose, I must remember to recreate that part before adding primer to the model. Oh, I also forgot one more opening on the bottom side.

The door surfaces themselves actually fit nicely onto the model, though the hinges has to be sanded thin here and there, or you risk snapping those part off if you simply try to force the doors to fit into the openings.

Edit: I learned a new thing just now. In order to fill a panel line (or a scratch) with minimal mess, place a drop of Tamiya liquid surface primer on a piece of paper, then dip a blade into the liquid, and then place the blade into the scratch and move the blade. That way the recessed line is filled with minimal mess, as opposed to trying to glob up the line by smearing all over it.

[Housesparrow]

Being familiar with this kit's quirks, I am having an easier time working on the bad parts. This model will end up looking a lot better than my first one.

The nose cowling is pretty much circular, if not simply circular, on the outside. On the inside however, the two molded parts are bad, and I had to use a dremel tool once again to carefully grind away the excess plastic.

For sanding the inside more gently, I put a strip of coarse sanding band, on the other endof my X-acto blade handle, using super glue. Removing the blade at the front, for sake of safety!

I am looking forward to try airbrushing on Vallejo metal color "chrome" on this spinner.

There is some black paint behind the spinner, but the coverage ended up being a little uneven, so that uneven coverage might give the viewer the wrong impression with regard to the shape of this front cowling.

I have decided to add masking tape for covering all the door openings, so that I can work with the doors separately. I suppose I could use some kind of sponge to cover the opening, but I don't think I have any. I also worry if using a sponge would create a good enough seal or not.

Btw, as for that one part at the bottom here, for the air intake, i had that part dry fitted and glued on, AFTER gluing the two big pieces of the nose together, with some goo to try cover the non-flush seams between the parts there inside the air intake.

Aaaah. I forgot to add nose weight in the nose. I can still jam some in there in where the spinner goes. Hm, worst case, I can drill the spiller hole wider, and use styrene to cover it up again after adding some "three green" nose weight (clay like weight, can be made more moist with sowing machine oil I was told, if too dry). Alternatively, I can remove some of the styrene I put on the floaters, make a hole, and cover it up again with styrene.

[Leonl]

Nice start... I'm following this one...

[Housesparrow]

Having forgotten to add nose weight, I came up with this solution for putting some nose weight into the nose in a controlled way:

Edit: This solution didn't really work. Half way, the front part of the thing snapped off, so I just jammed it into the nose cavity and stuffed more nose weight putty in there.

I am not sure how the 'Three Green' nose weight will stick to the thing I made, so I might also have to create some container. Hm, maybe I can just drill some tiny holes in the styrene for the heavy putty to properly latch onto. Hm, I guess I can just stuff the weighty putty onto that thing and put on a band of masking tape around.

[Housesparrow]

I like to take the time here to make the inside surface of the two big doors be near flush with the door openings.

Btw, in this seaplane version, there is here a big sliding door on each side. There are two parts for the tracks to be glued on.

Edit: I have only worked on the side with the added tracks, the ones I had to glue on, and looking how things are on the other side, it does look like that other door is already flush with the hull, so no work is required there.

The sanded-flatter-track that is required for the doors to fit, is sort of re-scribed with my Tamiya photo etch diamond file.

[Housesparrow]

Masking tape added. I have never covered openings in this way before, so I hope this work. Must be careful to not touch the masking tape from now onwards.

[Housesparrow]

Heh, adding nose weight became a mess, but I think I succeeded.

I used bicycle chain oil to moisten the Three Green Nose Weight putty, but I had to use the butt end of a small wrench, with two gloves, to mash the mix of lead into a proper mush, without too large chunky bits. I think I managed to do this without ending up getting too much on my hands.

It was surprising just how much added weight was required on my model. I should have just jammed a bunch of stuff into the nose when I had the chance (but I forgot). Being annoyed at how much weight I had to add, I started adding this led putty + lots of glass balls into both of the float, sealing the front half with some glued-on-stubs-of-plastic and then i poured in wood glue to try make the glass balls fixed so that they won't move around. I managed to fill the front part of each of the floaters via the opening for the main pair of wheels.

Hopefully, this lead much won't end up making the plastic crack or something.

Gluing the floaters to the plane seem tricky, and I don't/can't trust the build guide, have to be very careful.

[Housesparrow]

Masking of canopy glass done. I had to put a thumb on the clear part until the glue dried, but other than that, the fit was very nice I think, close to ideal after having sanded a little bit around the clear part previously:

Next up: Gluing on wings and attaching the floaters. Then some antennas, then it should probably be ready for a coat of white+gray primer. Since I intend to airbrush on plain white, I thought I'd put on a primer color that is neither white or gray, but something in between, making it obvious to see where I am airbrushing on white, and for making the background color more light.

[Housesparrow]

I don't trust the build guide, so I thought I could do it like the following:

I am gluing on a styrene rod to the three connection points that goes onto the hull, and I can probably just yank the rod loose after I glue the three parts onto the hull.

Looks like Tinypic, where I always upload the images to, insert ads or something. I guess the wrong image above will change again, or I'll have to upload another one.

[Boman]

Have the same kit - will be following this one

[Housesparrow]

Great!

I have the impression that the hinge part in the center is shown the wrong way in the build guide. I turned it around and it looks like this will fit better.

Update: It looks like maybe the center hinge part ought to be sanded more flat, where that part is glued onto the hull. Also, the hinge parts seems like they are positioned more towards the bottom of the aircraft, as opposed to upwards towards the door.

[Housesparrow]

Have the same kit - will be following this one

Don't forget to add lots of nose weight. (AND DON'T PUT THE WEIGHT IN THE FLOATERS!!! IT WILL MAKE THE BUILD UNMANAGEBLE)

[snapper_city]

This is going together well.

[Housesparrow]

I am having some fun adding some shapes of styrene to the model:

The thin sheet of stryene is too thick, still, so I have to gently sand this piece thinner. Might have to add some detail on the hinge perhaps. I see on photos that this hatch here is not really flush with the hull surface, though I had a difficult time finding images that were clear enough for me to look at this particular detail.

One of the three hinge parts went missing somehow. I have no idea how that happened. It isn't in my trash can, and I can't find it anywhere on the floor or on the table. Apparently, this one part was cut off from the sprue for sure. I will have to recreate this part from scratch. Luckily, it is a very simple shape and I should have no difficulty creating that one part from styrene.

[Housesparrow]

Looks ok I think. One trick with working with styrene, is to glue a styrene part onto the model, and then continue further sanding that part into a desirable shape (otherwise it can get tricky trying to hold such a tiny part with either finger tips or a tweezer).

Btw, I have wondered if the alternative landing-gear-parts at the center in the image above is there on the seaplane versions or not. I have been unable to find out about that, though it does look like the crossed wires are fastened at that position. So I simply let these two parts on the hull remain, and then I cut off the two bumps that also was molded onto this bottom piece on the model.

[phildagreek]

[Housesparrow]

This won't be my magnum opus, but I suspect it will turn out good.

I sanded the pieces of stryene more flat, and sanded the edges on the styrene to make them stand out less.

Things missing now, are small stuff, that are best glued on near the end of the build (antennas). I want to glue on the wings before I glue on and align the eh uh rear part rudder.

The photo etch set for this kind of airplane, has somewhat different plates on the top of each wing. I forgot about that, and simply copied the plating pattern seen on the top of each wing.

Hmmm. I suspect that the landing gear will maybe buckle under the weight of the model. I will consider having the wheels retracted, though the plan was to have the landing gear deployed.

Not sure what would work the best, regular glue, or super glue, for gluing on the four larger tires at the center, and the two smaller tires at the front.

Oh, wow, according to the ScaleMates website, Airfix has a 50+ year old model of the Sunderland. Reboxed ever since apparently if I am to trust the data there.

[Housesparrow]

It is all coming to me now as I look at the result of having glued on the two wings.

I remember, that with the other Pilatus Porter model from Roden that I made, there was a fitting issue, an issue that I forgot about this time around. No wonder I ended up with a slight gap at the wing roots:

• The tracks for the door on the side, collides with one of the hinges on the wing for the flaps. Sanding this hinge is probably required, but I forgot, so I had to add some filler at the wing roots. Should look ok still though.

I made sure to end up having the two glued on wings perfectly symmetric. Now that they are on, I can glue on the rear rudder part, and align it perfectly to the wings.

The supporting beams for the floaters have been glued onto the floaters. I will have to bend them a little to eventually make them fit the six hinges on the bottom side of the aircraft, though bending them just a little inwards should be easy.

This model should be ready for a layer of primer some time tomorrow. Will glue on the small parts last before adding primer.

[Jessica]

Yes, the Airfix Sunderland is getting pretty ancient these days, but Italeri has Sunderland I and Sunderland III kits which were released within the last couple of years, and can be built into excellent models (although some people complain that the panel lines are comically overdone). You can find a few builds here in the Britmodeller fora.

[Housesparrow]

Ah, interesting. Somehow I thought (wrongly) that the Italeri kits was based off the Airfix moulds.

The one you linked is according to scalemate website, a new tool from 2012, which seem nice.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/258984-italeri-1352-short-sunderland-mk-iii

[Housesparrow]

I forgot about having to finish the work on the wing roots here, so I won't be airbrushing on primer this morning.

Hm there was something I was supposed to mention, hm what was it.. Ah, yes, like with the other Pilatus Porter model I worked on, the tail rudder thing is not easily aligned, as it tend to tilt to one side, not really being horizontal at all, so some detective work is needed to figure out how to sand the plastic so that the big rudder piece stays horizontal with much less effort when gluing it on.

Hm, the pieces of styrene on the floaters suddenly look too thick now. I will sand them down a little.

I wonder if the landing gear will buckle or not under the weight of the model. Place your bets!

Some parts will be glued on at the very end with superglue. A tiny pitot tube (I think) under one of the wings) and the two lights, for the top and bottom side of the cabin on the exterior surfaces.