Consolidated PB2B-2 Catalina, QANTAS

[corsaircorp]

Hello ray,

Will vote for the Qantas too,

I was about to make mine as a quantas trainer too but they got the float out !

Sh..... Would have been funny.

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

I have a couple of others I am just finishing for various group builds, hope to get a start in this in the next week or so.

[jrlx]

On 9/6/2017 at 23:28, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

I have a couple of others I am just finishing for various group builds, hope to get a start in this in the next week or so.

Don't worry, I also have a MiG 29 to finish till 1 October. I'm not sure I'll be able to start my Flying Boat in earnest before that.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Had some time this morning at a club build table during the local Model Shipwrights display to get started on the Cat.

 

 

I had to blank the main gear wells so I traced a template onto tape and transferred it to some card

 

 

 

 

After some fettling, it is fit in the opening that had been backed with thinner card.

And repeat...

 

 

 

Then I  removed the rudder and top part of the fin to make way for the new taller tail/rudder assembly

 

 

 

That's it so far

 

 

 

[bzn20]

Where did that new fin come from? Great work BTW. Doesn't card distort due to atmospherics ? Warp, go concave with moisture in the air? Ace bit of fitting !

[jrlx]

Good start,  Ray! Very precise work.

Cheers

 

Jaime

[The Spadgent]

Nice bit of surgery there. 

 

Johnny

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

13 hours ago, bzn20 said:

Where did that new fin come from? Great work BTW. Doesn't card distort due to atmospherics ? Warp, go concave with moisture in the air? Ace bit of fitting !

 

The fin is part of the Red Roo Conversion set, there is a flash obscured picture in my first post showing it.

 

Never heard of card distorting due to atmospherics, so would a whole model distort when the weather changes?   There is a thin layer of card behind the hole and then another glued on top of that to fill the hole, I don't think it will be shrinking or expanding.

 

Had a bit of time to get the part to fit, next will be to rescribe and cut some passenger windows out of the area I just filled.

[The Spadgent]

16 minutes ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

The next will be to rescribe and cut some passenger windows out of the area I just filled.

It's great to see the same kit I'm building getting built in a different fashion at the exact same time. Wonderful stuff.

 

John. 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

With other builds out of the way, I should be back onto this one in the next few days

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Some progress to report,

 

I started on the interior and after checking Johnny's ( @The Spadgent) thread I stole some of his ideas

 

 

Though I added a bit more to the seats, airliner pilots fly in a little more comfort, right? (sorry, bad picture)

 

 

 

I then started on the back end, I figured the gunnery blisters were used to load and unload (from pictures of QANATS Cats I have found on the net) so I just used what was there and filled some spaces

 

 

Next was to add some passenger windows, I marked them out, drilled some pilot holes and then carved and filed the rest out.

 

Two done, two to go on this side

 

 

All done this side

 

[jrlx]

Good progress, Ray! Glad you're back in business

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

some more of the biz...

 

Forward turret removed and replacement fairing test fitted

 

Interior paintwork and cockpit installed

 

Fuselage together and wings assembly started

 

And I found some crew for the cockpit

 

Rear blanking parts fitted

 

and tail glued and puttied

 

That's all for now

[jrlx]

Taking shape nicely, Ray! I'll have to build a Catalina some time in the future, it's such a beautiful aircraft! But I'll build a 1/72 Academy kit.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

[tonyot]

Looking good Ray,.....great subject a brilliant tip regarding the tape and that wheel bay,.....simple yet so effective,.....brilliant!

Cheers

         Tony 

PS,....DK Decals do some nice Aussie Catalina decals,..including these nice civil aircraft;

Edited December 1, 2017 by tonyot

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

6 hours ago, tonyot said:

Looking good Ray,.....great subject a brilliant tip regarding the tape and that wheel bay,.....simple yet so effective,.....brilliant!

Cheers

         Tony 

PS,....DK Decals do some nice Aussie Catalina decals,..including these nice civil aircraft;

Cheers Tony,

 

I happen to have that Sheet

 

It would be nice to have QANTAS wartime Cat next to this one. Unfortunately, one of these builds won't make it in this GB.

 

Our club is planning a 100 years of QANTAS display for 2020, so I am getting a few builds in to spice the display up!

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

So I decided to fill the pax windows with Testors clear cement

 

As you can see it is bit milky when applied, when it dries it goes clear.... most of the time. I did apply a fair bit and it has stayed milky. I suspected the cement as I have had it for about 15 years. So I have bought a new bottle and am trying it out on another build.

 

Masked the major clear parts, boy  I love the Eduard mask sets for jobs like this

 

Got the wing assembled

 

Pilots installed and nose fairing attached

 

Test fit of the canopy, some packing will be required under the front rim

 

...and the clear glue still isn't (this shot was taken 10 days after the first shot in this thread. I will most likely cut these windows out again after painting and reapply the clear cement.

[John Masters]

Looking good.  I predict another fine Cat to match Spadagent's...

 

 

[jrlx]

Great progress, looking good indeed!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[The Spadgent]

Looking goooood. Pitty about the windows but I’m sure you’ll sort it out dear sir. 

 

Johnny.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Clear parts installed and primed

 

 

and some filling added.

 

That was cleaned up and some more priming

 

 

 

Feels like I can get on with this one now

[jrlx]

Good job on the clear parts!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Kahunaminor]

Nicely done Ray,

 

It will look very handsome when completed.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Some priming is done, and I decided to putty the pax windows over and paint them in when the time comes.

 

I also started preparing a base for it

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John Masters]

Looks great!

 

Happy Christmas!