Catalina in black - - - history, all done

[perdu]

I was looking through the hard drive's photographs, seeking stuff I could ditch to keep the files down when I came across about 300 or many more pictures of the time I was building my Black Cat Catalina

 

I bought the kit at SMW a few years ago, it was cheap

So am I

This one

 

I had not long rejoined the Birmingham IPMS after thirty odd years absence and in one of the meetings our magazine editor was demonstrating his approach to salt weathering on a Matchbox Privateer

 

I was impressed and determined that I should give it a go some day

(This is a result of a co-incidence chain by the way)

Next there was a discussion here in the WW2 aircraft section about the Black Cat operations during the war, including if I recall correctly the proper 'stopped' position of Catalina props

 

No doubt many of you will remember that

 

Anyway it sparked the build so I got researching, I do love the research aspect of this game, and discovered that the black paint used on the Black Cats was home brewed with soot and dope and BINGO the idea for a salt weathered Cat was ON

 

Now I was determined to build this sitting on its own three feet, mistake number uno

 

Airfix do not give a reasonable version of the under carriage, what I ought to have done was buy this

 

More on this mistake later

 

I got the box open and began fitting out an interior, there are lots of photos of interiors including a magnificent large scale build by JR Wolf

 

Here is a shot of some interior stuff being worked out (with a pencil, it's true)

Bulkheads and dividers being made here and the rib former positions added

Some of these dividers are not quite bulkheads as they can be stepped over without opening doors

These doors here along with the particircular walkways for the rear blister gunners

The walkways have been formed with a conical section which left the gunners able to dash around with the .50cals to follow an attacker

 

The bulkhead got stiffeners strips added before they were fitted and these were made from opposite pairs to aid me getting some symmetry    not always a strong point

 

 

I am off to beddybyes soon so I will drop this in here before I head up towards the cockpit tomorrow, the bulkheaded tail end with its odds and sods in place

The stringers and bulkheads in the blister position have been fitted and the runways are being placed for the gunners

 

OK more tomorrow if you like this one

 

We'll head through the pylon area towards the cockpit pausing by the radio shack and the navigator's table

 

Airfix do not spoil the enthusiast with good informative details

 

That seems to be our job

 

Night all 

Edited January 27, 2018 by perdu

[f111guru]

Count me in for the build. Have a few Catalina's to build. I'll watch with interest.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[Stew Dapple]

Blimey Bill that's some sweet detail work; I'll look forward to seeing how you get on with this

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Beard]

Splendid stuff. I'll be following along.

[Massimo]

Due to the white plastic,  the details you're adding from scratch aren't properly highlighted , but....

...IT LOOKS LIKE A BRIDE!!!

Nice start!!!

I'll keep watching!!!

[perdu]

G' morning folks, I'm up so I may as well do a little bit more

The flight engineer's station is up in the pylon that keeps the wings off the deck, you probably wondered who looks out of that tiny rectangular window up there

 

He sits in front of the engine instrruments and the levers for throttles and props repeated from the ones in front of the 'plane, in a little bucket seat with a plate of heavy armour behind him

 

I made the seat from sections of an old drop tank from my bits box and at the same time I knocked out the instrument panel for him

 

For the IP I printed a copy of the panel from a photo I got off the 'web

You have to like wasted time in this game huh. 😀

 

This is the tank I used being butchered, it has a suitable flat area which became the front of the seat pan

 

I rather liked that, great happenstance, it was exactly what I wanted

 

Before I got too involved I had to provide basics that Airfix didn't, like a nosewheel bay/well

Here's the beginnings of a rectangular box being backed from virgin polycard

 

So many bits to add before you really get started

 

As the great Irish joke goes

" Excuse me sir, but how do I get to Catalina?"

"Well me feller me lad, if I was going there I'd not be starting here..."

 

😇

 

So after knocking up the seat we have to make it a comfortable home

This is basically what sits up in the pylon I had to build a ladder for matey to get up on his pew, it sits in the right side of the pylon to the right of the waterproof door that divides the Cat, front from back

 

😕 not sure if I have a pic of the ladder but I'll find it if I have it

 

I was new to the idea of doing a WIP back then so many of the stages didn't get the photo-op before paint went on

 

Here is a pic of the centre section with bunks the engineers spot and the lino covered navigator's table, all in paint

 

I wish I'd thought to get the in white, bridal looking but I didnt

 

Anyway, after the break we can look in on the pilot and his oppo

 

See y'all laters

 

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by perdu

[bruce bay]

Love the Catalina but have always been daunted by it's size as far as making one goes... So far this looking amazing. Beautiful detailing going in. Looking forward to watching this come along! 

[perdu]

 

 

I'm back, sorry

 

😃

 

Joke, ok

 

I had to pop off to the nurse, very bad back pains to deal with

 

But she's young, she'll get over it 😉

 

Any road up, another wee bit to keep you informed

 

We did mostly the port side of the innards today but there was just as much going in on t'other side

 

Here's the racking in place for the radio shack and the pair of starboard side bunks

 

Apologies for the grim pictures but photos have always been a weak point for me

The floor of the blister bay is in along with the gunnery rings

This side wasn't fitted with any of the bulkheads, but as fitting out went on any trimming needed was worked out

Thee navigator and wireless op needed chairs, these are on swivel mounts

 

And wouldn't you believe it huh, both mounts are different 😬

The chairs

 The Nav's seat hangs on a pivot from the rear side of the table but the WOp gets a four legged mounting

Like this

Making this was a puzzle for a while then I started wondering where I'd seen a similar shape

 

 

Oh, er yes of course

 

Yes that worked

 

An elderly Sparrow missile of Airyfixic origins handed over its cruciform tail feathers for repurposing

Result

Here we have the seats in both halves and radios fitted in the equipment racking

The radios were carved quite easily from an india-rubber and painted black

All the seat cushions were fashioned from the same, easily shaped with a sharp blade, material too

 

 

 

When I come back I will show how I replaced the Airfix 'seating' for the flying fellows and began looking at the armaments

Hope you are liking this, I could easily drop the topic

 

Bill

Edited January 25, 2018 by perdu

[Beard]

The value of a well-stocked spares box is very much in evidence here.

[Hamden]

 

Stunning with your usual attention to detail this is turning into another Perdu CLASSIC! 

Looking forward to more of the same!

 

  Roger

 

[Mutley]

Bill, great build mate, looking forward to the coming updates. Getting ideas for a Cat of my own

[perdu]

OK thanks chaps

 

How about the seats for the chaps in the air

 

The rounded backed chairs for the WOp and Nav had me a pondering for a while, but as Beard says a well stocked spares box is essential for playing this game

 

Take a well thumbed drop tank and begin

viz

find a section like the seat backs (imagination is key here) and begin to remove the pieces that are not like the seat backs

I drilled four holes to make the space the spokes will fill and began with the razor saw and cutaway the hole centre

 

Tidied the hole up and cut the centre of the 'uprights' across

And glued them to pre-shaped seat bases

Again apologies for the daunting pictures, one day I might get it right

Maybe

 

Perhaps

anyway spokes were fitted into the seat backs to make them suitable for long shifts concentrating and then the Nav's seat was fitted to its swivel pivots, I mentioned that before remember?

 

Pieces of Evergreen rod were put into holes pre-drilled in large Evergreen tube cut-offs and the lot stuck to the seat base

The swivel mount allowed the nav to get out of his seat quickly

 

The elsan was by the gunner's blisters

 

The seatbacks SHOULD have five spokes but I censored it for appearances sake, the whole thing looked far too crowded in little scale

 

I found a picture of the ladder to the flight engineer's post taken just before the fuselage was closed up

We saw it up there^^^^^^ 

 

All that detail will vanish never to be seen again, but we do know why we bother don't we 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by perdu

[perdu]

Let me know if I'm boring you, going too fast or slow

These pictures are quite old, no reason to show them except they are stored in a volatile medium which might need reusing some day

 

I thought I would move towards the front now, much of the back end has now been done/glossed over/exposed

The kit comes with a shallow recess into which the nosewheel doors can be dropped but not any kind of proper well for the legs

On the kit the leg glues straight into a hole and is then forgotten, taint like that in the real bird

 

I made the box you saw the beginning of earlier and cut an oval hole in it, then push moulded a bulge that encloses the tyre and wheel when retracted

 

This is then stuck to a front bulkhead wot I done earlier

seen here with the rear bulkhead and the beginnings of the pilot and copilot seat mounting frames

The shapes which look a bit like birds with cutaway wings are the rear cupola infills being scoped out

They changed a bit before they were put on the model

The nose wheel box and all the bulkheads were put in place

 

 

then the innards got coloured

Then the halves became one

[perdu]

and

Before the glue went in

[bbudde]

Oh, nice scratching orgy. I will look at this. Very good start.

[Martian]

Good start and as I have this kit in the stash, I shall be following with interest.

 

Martian

[Massimo]

It's a real shame all that all that detail is gonna be hidden, but...that's life!

Anyway I don't understand why you painted it green , then white , then green again!!!

[perdu]

You get pictures of the gree oh heck you know why

 

 

Should I do any more?, Might as well now we're here

 

I thought armaments tonight, OK?

 

.50cal first

 

In the blister, parked

 

I bought some brass MG barrels which are beautifully made, look at that huh

 

The gun bodies were cut from 0.060" plasticard in pairs, one set of .50s and another set of .30s for the front turret

 

The 50s were mounted on swivelling frames which carried the gun, and the gunner's shield and allowed the ammunition to run up from a pair of floor mounted ammo boxes up a curved trackway

 

Here the frames ready for the weapons to be mounted

Almost

Bent Evergreen rod with Evergreen bars drilled to suit

50s on the left 30s on the right

These were made to suit some drawings I found out there, better than the Airfix blobs the kit had but truly only just!

This is the pair of 50s with shields cut from drinks can metal, painted and ready to mount to the frames

Here are the frames ready to mount the guns

 

like so

Again apologies for the blurs 

 

is it any clearer in a smaller view?

 

Oh well you see what I meant anyway

 

I could only find one set of mounted weapon pictures back then but I have a nagging feeling the shields and frames may have differed between port and starboard but I just had to go ahead with plan A, make what you see

 

Here is the port side gun mounted within its blister

 

I began this build intending to use the kit clear parts exclusively but that fell slowly by the wayside as it went on

 

First though I made the  blister units into moulding bucks with lots of Milliput

 

and pulled the clear blisters out of them

They were not bad at all but then I discovered the Falcon Catalina set which were better shaped than Airfix's mouldings

 

So

 

But that meant I had to remove the spurious moulded on surrounds and mask the glazing accordingly

 

It worked out nicely though so I am not displeased with it all

 

This is the floor mounted ammunition supply system for the rear gunnery positions, a pair of ammo boxes and the guide rails to feed rounds up to the guns

ciao for now

Edited January 25, 2018 by perdu
missed a couple of photographs, sorry

[perdu]

I ought to point out, at this point

 

I am not General Tomochenko, I cannot POssibly make chains of linked 50 cal ammo

[krow113]

...small plastic tie wraps have been used to good effect for ammo belts...

[perdu]

Aircraft parked

Ammunition safely stowed back in the armoury

 

 

Phew

 

[bbudde]

Looking great on the blisters: I guess flashlight and macro keep it a bit blurry. Maybe some shots in natural daylight?

[The Spadgent]

Like a blast from the past. I love it.  really great seeing this come together. Did you end up putting weight in. (I know you did) and I know the outcome but it’s going to be fun watching the process. Wonderful scratch work Bill. A lot more detail than in mine. 

I’ll follow along with a knowing grin if that’s ok.

 

Johnny Cat.

[perdu]

Johnny welcome mate, any comments any time, that is the rule in my threads 

 

Doesn't matter if the build LOOKS over either

 

This one has fresh work coming along in a few days, something has had to change 

However Benedikt, the pictures were taken a few years ago and I am in no mood to retake them, I just try harder in the future to get nicer pictures

 

The finished pictures were much nicer, can you wait?

 

[06/24]

Always liked big cats. Fascinating to see the elderly Airfix plastic hewn into something spectacular.