Catalina PBY-5A - Airfix 1/72

[giemme]

15 hours is plenty of time for milliput to cure - so I have no clue as to why it left residuals on the vacformed plastic.

 

I would suggest, based on my experience that you vacform a couple more, just in case... 

 

Cunning move on scribing the front part

 

Ciao

[keefr22]

Did you use any of the liquid vaseline on the buck as a release agent Ced?

 

Keith

[CedB]

3 hours ago, Hamden said:

 

Nice work on the canopy Ced I'm sure it will fit straight on....................................well with a little help

 

   Stay safe                 Roger

Thanks Roger - a little help was given!  

 

3 hours ago, rob85 said:

That looks a great shape, nice work Ced! Good luck with the little bit of black, if it’s not under the frame maybe stick so PE into it and disguise it as a control panel!

In the time it took me to write this and be interrupted by children the little bit fell out, good news yes?

 

Rob

Thanks Rob  

 

1 hour ago, giemme said:

15 hours is plenty of time for milliput to cure - so I have no clue as to why it left residuals on the vacformed plastic.

 

I would suggest, based on my experience that you vacform a couple more, just in case... 

 

Cunning move on scribing the front part

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio  

 

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

Did you use any of the liquid vaseline on the buck as a release agent Ced?

 

Keith

Thanks Keith  

Er, no… I thought that was just for plaster bucks

I'll try to remember next time.

 

 

Feeling braver, I cut and sanded and cut and sanded and sanded and…

 

 

Dipped it in Aqua Gloss. It's not in the tweezers, it's just standing on its own. Once it's dry I'll stick it on.

 

I've been trying to see what the windows were like and I'm seeing lots of variances in photos of PBY-5As.

I think I'll go with the scheme diagram - central 'roof' ending in a 'V', four small and two long windows on each side of the top.

Mostly glass so I think I'll mask up for the central roof and use Filmoplast for the rest of the frames.

[CedB]

Before sanding the seams I needed to fit other bits, like the front shutter and bay doors.

(Just taken off, remember, so the shutter would be closed I think)

 

The bay doors have 'P' and 'S' on them:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

… and they're shaped for the bow, with rivets (of course).

Fitting it was tricky, especially getting the sides right when upside down and back to front but one's in:

 

 

Bit of a 'Ginger Rodgers' that - same as fitting doors on a normal kit only backwards and in high heels  

 

BTW I've had a response from Flickr support about the new iOS app.

I'd moaned that the new version insists on access to your photos and then pressing the '+' icon shows your photo albums and has a camera icon.

Adds about two seconds to taking photos.

They've told me you can 'hard press' the '+' to go straight to the camera and it works!

Should have RTFM…

[perdu]

5 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Nice vac!

Is that the PETG stuff that comes with protective film on both sides? Whenever I try to use it, it bubbles when I heat it up.

 

Regards,

Adrian

Adrian some good advice I got in here from (I think) Steve Friday was to prewarm the PETg  time or two before you stress it by vacforming it.

 

The bubbles seem to occur under the stress of forming and if you allow it to get hot unstressed it seems to allow itself to relax and take the form better.

 

By doing this I had no stress bubbling at all on the Belvedere nose bubbles and to be honest this was where I might have expected it to occur.

 

Ced do make the roof upper panel with the vee shape towards the front, just dont copy my bent port upper frame

Thinks... sort that out soon

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

10 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Are you sitting comfortably.

This is a sort of follow on from the story about throwing bombs out of Sunderlands from a few threads back. Harry eventually moved on to Shackletons where he spent the rest of his time in the RAF, and the squadron spent a lot of time on detachments to Malta ( I think ) where lots of cheap goodies were to be had. Unfortunately each time they returned they had to shut down on a taxiway where the gentlemen from HM Customs were waiting to search the aircraft, including the bomb bay, and charge the duty on their ‘ presents ‘  until one day one of the crew came up with a solution. He had seen an empty container in a hangar which was roughly the size and shape of a depth charge, so he had a hatch made in the top and some fittings made so that they could hang it in the bomb bay painted green with a red stripe around it. Needless to say, it was always left alone and they supplied the squadron with cigarettes and other items for some time before being told to remove it.

 

Jhn

Well at least they weren't carrying People, imagine having to ride in one of these modified drop tanks. 
 

Dennis

[CedB]

6 hours ago, perdu said:

Adrian some good advice I got in here from (I think) Steve Friday was to prewarm the PETg  time or two before you stress it by vacforming it.

 

The bubbles seem to occur under the stress of forming and if you allow it to get hot unstressed it seems to allow itself to relax and take the form better.

 

By doing this I had no stress bubbling at all on the Belvedere nose bubbles and to be honest this was where I might have expected it to occur.

[snip pic]

 

Ced do make the roof upper panel with the vee shape towards the front, just dont copy my bent port upper frame

Thinks... sort that out soon

Thanks Bill  I guess the Tony method of keeping the PETG away from the heater does a pre-heat? Seems to work for me.

I'll watch out for the framing too, thanks.

 

3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Well at least they weren't carrying People, imagine having to ride in one of these modified drop tanks. 

[snip pic]
 

Dennis

Cripes Dennis, who were those designed for? Joy riders?!!  

 

 

I've fitted the other bay door. A tight fit.

What's that? Water tight? Oh, seaplane, got it  

I've also filled some gaps with my first thought filler, sprue gloop:

 

 

Some of the windows weren't flush either. I think it might have been the ones where I experimented with different 'Clear' stuff. I've now filled them with the BluFixx:

 

 

Sanding the seams tomorrow, then fit the canopy, mask up and prime.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

8 minutes ago, CedB said:

Cripes Dennis, who were those designed for? Joy riders?!!  

I believe they were for “essential personnel” or in Layman's terms. Someone who was volunteered by a higher rank to travel to a forward area.  

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Im quite sure many a prayer was said that the pilot wouldn't hit the wrong switch while flying. I plan on building one of these soon actually. 

[hendie]

coming along nicely Mr. B and great success with the vacform

 

[The Spadgent]

Spectacular work on the canopy Mr B. That’s a hell of a lot of work combined with the warpage and glue conundrum. I thee away the tubes of plastic cement I did have as I never used it. Maybe I shouldn’t have. 😶 as for glue it the TET is cloudy I tend not to mix it in a new bottle for no other reason as it’s soooo clear. I wait until that one looks crappy too then mix. 🤗 oh and sanding sticks, give em a wash before you throw them away. You’ll be surprised. Keep it up kid.

 

Johnny.

[CedB]

10 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I believe they were for “essential personnel” or in Layman's terms. Someone who was volunteered by a higher rank to travel to a forward area.  

10 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Im quite sure many a prayer was said that the pilot wouldn't hit the wrong switch while flying. I plan on building one of these soon actually. 

That'd be a great model Dennis  

 

9 hours ago, hendie said:

coming along nicely Mr. B and great success with the vacform

 

Thanks hendie  

 

1 hour ago, The Spadgent said:

Spectacular work on the canopy Mr B. That’s a hell of a lot of work combined with the warpage and glue conundrum. I thee away the tubes of plastic cement I did have as I never used it. Maybe I shouldn’t have. 😶 as for glue it the TET is cloudy I tend not to mix it in a new bottle for no other reason as it’s soooo clear. I wait until that one looks crappy too then mix. 🤗 oh and sanding sticks, give em a wash before you throw them away. You’ll be surprised. Keep it up kid.

 

Johnny.

Thanks Johnny  

As Bill recommended the tube glue is good for where you need a quick grip and a bit of wiggle room. Fnaar!

Wash the sanding sticks? Before and after:

 

 

 

I think the Milliput has got that well filled  

I will try washing the others though. That said I think my rotation (new > sanding filler > bin) is going to continue for a while; new sanding sticks are so much better.

 

 

The ninja scraper and sanding sticks have been used on the seams and the empennage parts cut off:

 

 

They're horrible. Only the elevators have been glued so far and even then I had to cut off some locating pins to get them aligned:

 

 

Typical 'old Airfix'; flash and ejector marks:

 

 

I'll come back to them later.

[Heather Kay]

6 minutes ago, CedB said:

I think the Milliput has got that well filled  

Not wishing to add another tool to your "tart list", if you have such a thing as a brass wire scratch pen, you might be able to partially resurrect clogged sanding sticks. 

[AdrianMF]

8 minutes ago, CedB said:

flash and ejector marks:

The kit that keeps on giving. Battle on, Ced!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Heather Kay]

1 minute ago, AdrianMF said:

The kit that keeps on giving. Battle on, Ced!

It does, doesn’t it. It does seem to have been in production far longer than the moulds should have been.

[Paulaero]

On 28/04/2020 at 13:49, TheBaron said:

Airfix there very nicely catching him midway through mutating into a Bigsworth board...

Does make you wonder just how many times that mould has been run though...…...

[Heather Kay]

7 minutes ago, Paulaero said:

Does make you wonder just how many times that mould has been run though...…...

Scalemates says it was a new tool in 1964. The latest boxing is very recent. The quality of the parts Ced is working with strikes me as long past the best before date.

[Paulaero]

Sad thing is though if it was remoulded today it would be all scribed panel lines and no rivet's but it should come under maybe a 'classic mould' banner for those not in the know.

 

If you bought one of these straight after building say one of the beautiful new Blenheim's you'd get a shocker …... 

[Marklo]

I get my sanding sticks from Dealz emery boards which are hard and finishing boards which are spongey and you get loads in each pack for €1.50 so there is no guilt in throwing them away.

[CedB]

1 hour ago, Heather Kay said:

Not wishing to add another tool to your "tart list", if you have such a thing as a brass wire scratch pen, you might be able to partially resurrect clogged sanding sticks. 

Thanks Heather - never worry about adding tools, I love 'em!  

I have a fibreglass scratch pen that's really good at removing ejector marks in awkward places.

I have a set of brass/steel/plastic brushes (like big toothbrushes) but even they didn't shift the filler from the sanding stick. Time to order some more.

 

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

The kit that keeps on giving. Battle on, Ced!

 

Regards,

Adrian

1 hour ago, Heather Kay said:

It does, doesn’t it. It does seem to have been in production far longer than the moulds should have been.

58 minutes ago, Paulaero said:

Does make you wonder just how many times that mould has been run though...…...

48 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

Scalemates says it was a new tool in 1964. The latest boxing is very recent. The quality of the parts Ced is working with strikes me as long past the best before date.

41 minutes ago, Paulaero said:

Sad thing is though if it was remoulded today it would be all scribed panel lines and no rivet's but it should come under maybe a 'classic mould' banner for those not in the know.

 

If you bought one of these straight after building say one of the beautiful new Blenheim's you'd get a shocker …... 

Thanks Adrian, Heather and Paul  

I have it on the best authority (hendie, our plastic injection guru) that moulds should last ages and any wear is sloppy handling. It is an old kit and the worst thing for me is that the new red Airfix box fooled me - 🎶 I won't get fooled again 🎶

 

5 minutes ago, Marklo said:

I get my sanding sticks from Dealz emery boards which are hard and finishing boards which are spongey and you get loads in each pack for €1.50 so there is no guilt in throwing them away.

Thanks Mark - can't find those, is it a local thing?  

 

 

The rudder has been eased in as a dry fit:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

I'll try 'moving it down' but some shim may be required on the bottom (snigger).

 

Tailplanes have been trimmed and glued:

 

 

The canopy has dried and I'm happy with the fit after all that careful sanding:

 

 

Might need a gentle clamp on the back

[AdrianMF]

Nice canopy! Tailplane looks good too - don’t know what all the fuss was about...

[malpaso]

I suspect the problem is the soggy soft plastic Airfix use in Red box kits.  I’m building the old F-84F from a late 70s boxing and the silver plastic is beautiful to work.  I built a 74 Vb alongside a Red box one.  The new one wasn’t bad except in comparison to the 40 year old.  Sprue gates to the parts on the seventies one were perhaps 1mm diameter whereas the Red box were massive 6mm dia hexagons 2cm long parallel to the part, making far more clean up required.  Those massive gates are a function of Airfix poor material choice which is down to penny pinching either at material, mould reworking, or moulder sub-contractor.  Almost every other manufacturer manages to find moulders who can work in harder polystyrene.

[giemme]

Look at that canopy! Excellent job there, Ced!

 

Ciao

[Ruskin Air Services]

On 5/22/2020 at 12:35 PM, CedB said:

Thanks Heather, Bill, Keith, Terry, Trevor, Ben and Adrian  

 

You can see the problem here:

 

 

Touch-N-Flow for me:

 

 

Their 'weld' stuff is hotter than TET and seems to dry faster than anything (apart from CA).

I do use tube glue (at Bills' recommendation) for things that I need to wiggle (fnaar) and TET for small parts.

Of course I've got the others too (as you'd guessed) but they've moved to the back of the bench:

 

 

Plenty of spares too:

 

 

Closed up now and drying - we'll see what we have later…

Haven't used tube glue for decades! Mainly a tamiya extra thin or for larger surfaces humbrol liquid poly 

[CedB]

59 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Nice canopy! Tailplane looks good too - don’t know what all the fuss was about...

Thanks Adrian

See below for more great dry fit…

 

52 minutes ago, malpaso said:

I suspect the problem is the soggy soft plastic Airfix use in Red box kits.  I’m building the old F-84F from a late 70s boxing and the silver plastic is beautiful to work.  I built a 74 Vb alongside a Red box one.  The new one wasn’t bad except in comparison to the 40 year old.  Sprue gates to the parts on the seventies one were perhaps 1mm diameter whereas the Red box were massive 6mm dia hexagons 2cm long parallel to the part, making far more clean up required.  Those massive gates are a function of Airfix poor material choice which is down to penny pinching either at material, mould reworking, or moulder sub-contractor.  Almost every other manufacturer manages to find moulders who can work in harder polystyrene.

I suspect you're right Will  

Poor material? What, like the inside of the rudder?

 

 

Looks like they were saving on the heating bill…

 

20 minutes ago, giemme said:

Look at that canopy! Excellent job there, Ced!

 

Ciao

Awww thanks matey, much appreciated

 

7 minutes ago, Ruskin Air Services said:

Haven't used tube glue for decades! Mainly a tamiya extra thin or for larger surfaces humbrol liquid poly 

I know, using tube glue was something I remember doing in my youth and getting it all over the place.

Like many I had relegated it to the drawer and, like you, moved to TET for most things and Liquid Poly for wings and other flat joins.

THEN our own perdu said it was really good where you wanted a part to stay where you put it but also allow a wiggle about.

Of course he's right and it's back at the front of the bench. Try it on your next aerial…

 

 

So how's the fit of the empennage?

Stop laughing at the back:

 

 

 

That's after some trimming to get the tailplanes to even go in the slots. More needed methinks.

Definitely need some shim on the bottom of the rudder:

 

 

I want to put it on the bottom of the rudder but that would mean cutting off the hinges.

It'll have to be done though I think.