Monogram 1/48 Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina (Flying boat)

[shortCummins]

she's stunning and I really enjoyed the build log 👍

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Sergeant]

15 hours ago, cardiff guy said:

Really nice job on an aircraft I really like, well done.

Thank you, it is obviously one of my favorites too.

 

Harold

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Sergeant

[Sergeant]

7 hours ago, georgeusa said:

What a wonderful looking Cat you have built.  I have heard the problems fitting the Belcher Bits tail modification, but part of it is finding the exact right diameter of the kit to cut to match the diameter of the replacement tail.  It looks like you have been able to master that feat and the revised tail section looks as if the fuselage sides on one piece affairs.

 

Now the coffee table, you must post the finished table with dio and lights on it.  That is something I really want to see.

Thank you, George. Mike Belcher provided a very complete set of instructions which said to "cut 1/8-inch (3.2mm) forward of the kit panel line". I did exactly what his instruction said to do, and it worked perfectly. There is some body work involved, but that is to be expected. Below is a link to the instructions.

 

Harold

 

http://www.belcherbits.com/images/148conv/bb5inst.pdf

[Sergeant]

3 hours ago, David H said:

i love it!

Thank you, David. Like your quote says: Work that is done well is Love made visible. - Norman Vincent Peale. I loved working on this big airplane even though at times I was frustrated reworking paint that peeled off.

 

Harold

[Sergeant]

8 hours ago, shortCummins said:

she's stunning and I really enjoyed the build log 👍

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

Thank you, John. I know you’re a detail man, I’ve seen your excellent modeling work.

 

Harold

Edited November 15, 2022 by Sergeant

[David H]

2 hours ago, Sergeant said:

Thank you, David. Like your quote says: Work that is done well is Love made visible. - Norman Vincent Peale. I loved working on this big airplane even though at times I was frustrated reworking paint that peeled off.

 

Harold

yeah, it's why i wet sand the crap out of everything, before i paint it.

[Winded Penguin]

More than the sum of it's parts, is my first impression. Wall to wall things to like.

Lovely colour scheme too👍 

[Sergeant]

2 hours ago, Winded Penguin said:

More than the sum of it's parts, is my first impression. Wall to wall things to like.

Lovely colour scheme too👍 

Thank you for your positive comment.

 

Harold

[Spitfire31]

Magnificent Cat!

 

She's really crying out for a diorama, so that she can feel at home in her own element.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Samuraiwarrior]

Superb looking Catalina! 

Looking forward to seeing it on its seascape. 

Thanks for sharing 

Kevin 

[HOUSTON]

Harold,

Exceptional  way to display your model and being admired by so many when they visit you !!

It is one of MY favorites Catalina builds and yoyrs looks STUNNING. 

SPLENDID  workmanship. 

KUDOS. 

 

[Sergeant]

On 11/16/2022 at 2:25 AM, Spitfire31 said:

Magnificent Cat!

 

She's really crying out for a diorama, so that she can feel at home in her own element.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

Thank you, Joachim. I agree with you a diorama is in the future for this Cat.

 

Harold

Edited November 17, 2022 by Sergeant

[Sergeant]

19 hours ago, Samuraiwarrior said:

Superb looking Catalina! 

Looking forward to seeing it on its seascape. 

Thanks for sharing 

Kevin 

Thank you, Kevin. I will post pictures of the seascape as a follow-up to this post.

 

Harold

Edited November 17, 2022 by Sergeant

[Sergeant]

17 hours ago, HOUSTON said:

Harold,

Exceptional  way to display your model and being admired by so many when they visit you !!

It is one of MY favorites Catalina builds and yoyrs looks STUNNING. 

SPLENDID  workmanship. 

KUDOS. 

 

Thank you, Houston. I really appreciate your encouragement.

 

Harold

[nearsightedjohn]

Great job Harold on this Aussie Cat! I built and posted a CANSO build here last summer and have an appreciation for the size this bird takes up on the bench and the amount of paint required to cover it. I went thru nearly two 23 ml jars of white Tamiya FX-2 on mine. Love the camo scheme on yours. You also did a terrific job on the Beltcher tail surgery which really makes a diff (I chickened out on doing this on mine, the required mods and re-scribing looked like quite a project within a project!). Your final wing assembly came out really straight/ flat; did you reinforce the wing with a metal rod/strip or other type of internal beam to add stiffness? 

[Sergeant]

17 hours ago, nearsightedjohn said:

Great job Harold on this Aussie Cat! I built and posted a CANSO build here last summer and have an appreciation for the size this bird takes up on the bench and the amount of paint required to cover it. I went thru nearly two 23 ml jars of white Tamiya FX-2 on mine. Love the camo scheme on yours. You also did a terrific job on the Beltcher tail surgery which really makes a diff (I chickened out on doing this on mine, the required mods and re-scribing looked like quite a project within a project!). Your final wing assembly came out really straight/ flat; did you reinforce the wing with a metal rod/strip or other type of internal beam to add stiffness? 

Thank you John for your positive comments. In response to your question about the wing assembly, I did not use any reinforcing methods. The parasol wing was assembled according to the Monogram instructions.

 

Harold

Edited November 18, 2022 by Sergeant

[Unfinished project]

Stunning Catalina what an outstanding build the painting is so crisp around the window framing. This type of masking and finish is something I aspire to. 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

[Sergeant]

 

4 hours ago, Unfinished project said:

Stunning Catalina what an outstanding build the painting is so crisp around the window framing. This type of masking and finish is something I aspire to. 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

Thank you for your affirmative comments.

 

Harold

Edited November 18, 2022 by Sergeant

[Sergeant]

20 hours ago, Sergeant said:

Thank you John for your positive comments. In response to your question about the wing assembly, I did not use any reinforcing methods. The parasol wing was assembled according to the Monogram instructions.

 

Harold

John, I looked at your Canso model and you did an excellent paint job. The tail bloat we talk about is not so obvious until it's compared with an actual Canso (Catalina). Then the model's tail appears noticeably different from the actual aircraft, but it is not a bad thing in my opinion, just different.

 

Harold

 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Sergeant

[nearsightedjohn]

Thank you Harold for responding to my wing stiffener question. Interestingly, after adding the wing stiffener on my build, the four wing struts came out being slightly  short (approx 1 mm), likely due to the wing NOT deflecting as much. I ended up having to shim/ putty these gaps between the fuselage and struts - I just wanted to pass on this observation to other readers here that plan to build this kit and decide to add the wing spar reinforcement, a common modification with this kit. Look’s like your build came out fabulous without it so I think I’d skip it if I ever built another one of these big birds.

 

 

.

[Sergeant]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:40 AM, nearsightedjohn said:

Thank you Harold for responding to my wing stiffener question. Interestingly, after adding the wing stiffener on my build, the four wing struts came out being slightly  short (approx 1 mm), likely due to the wing NOT deflecting as much. I ended up having to shim/ putty these gaps between the fuselage and struts - I just wanted to pass on this observation to other readers here that plan to build this kit and decide to add the wing spar reinforcement, a common modification with this kit. Look’s like your build came out fabulous without it so I think I’d skip it if I ever built another one of these big birds.

 

 

.

Good morning, John @nearsightedjohn. I meant to respond to your earlier comment regarding the size of a 1/48 Canso (Catalina). I have a double paint booth where I do my assembly and painting that measures 33-inches wide and 15-inches deep. The photograph below was taken a few years ago and since then I have added three additional task lights. The hull of the Monogram Catalina is 16-inches long and the wingspan is 26-inches. To spray paint the ends of the wing I had to hold my airbrush outside the paint booth. I liked working with this big model, but it pushes the limit of my painting equipment.

 

Harold

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Sergeant

[Far North]

Harold

I very much enjoyed your Catalina build and am in awe at the attention to detail and the flawless execution of the final product. Being painstaking and thorough has paid off in spades.
This encourages me to have a go at another version of the Monogram/Revell kit which I have experience of from a previous build.  I have a theme of WW2 Coastal Command aircraft based in the north of Scotland (where I live) and, although this may seem like a very narrow theme, there were a huge number of aircraft types and air forces serving under RAF command in the area with Canadian, Polish, Czech, Australian and New Zealand squadrons being well represented. When
e Bay provided me with a Revell PBY 5A Catalina I decided to model David Hornell’s RCAF Canso A which he flew out of nearby Wick on his fatefull VC mission on 24th June 1944.  I lived in Toronto for 20 years and remember the school in Mimico named after him so this united the two sides of the Atlantic for me. The superb Aviaeology documents (‘The sub-killers of 162(BR) Squadron’) and decals took the hard work out of the research providing the details and photos I needed.  Whilst my modelling skills have moved on a bit, I have posted here some photos of the build of this interesting aircraft. I didn’t find out about the Belcher Bits reworked tail until after I had finished it and didn’t fancy butchery at that stage so have to live with the “thick” look at the tail.
Otherwise a bit of scratch building of parts was needed for this RCAF Canadian built version
    • a full set of ASV MkII arrays along the forward fuselage sides – lots of fiddly bits
    • twin .303 Brownings on Bell recoil mounts in each blister
    • two .303 Browning ‘anti-flak’ pilot fired fixed guns in nose plus glazing
    • four 250lb Torpex MkXI depth charges
    • fishtail exhausts
    • cockpit aerial mast
    • ‘football’ DF aerial
    • crew ladder at blister
As noted by 'nearsightedjohn' a huge amount of weight had to be secreted in the nose to prevent tail sitting so I beefed up the undercarriage with some metal rod to cope! Not only is this a massive model but a heavy one.
Thanks again for more inspiration for my next Canso/Catalina.

Murdo

 

 

 

 

[Sergeant]

Thank you, Murdo @Far North for sharing your photographs of this very nice model. I apologized for not responding sooner, I am somewhat new to Britmodeller and did not think to look back at the Ready for Inspection Forum or I would have responded much sooner.

 

Not only do I think you have done an excellent job in building your WW2 RAF Coastal Command Canso, but I can also tell you have thoughtfully researched the subject and you have a talent for writing. These are two of my personal areas of interest, history, especially military history, and writing.

 

Somewhere in my posts about this Monogram / Revell kit I mention that in my opinion the tail bloat is only an issue if you compare the kit to an actual Canso (Catalina) photograph or a converted kit. As your model so clearly demonstrate the original kit tail does not look bad at all. I also recall a member on another forum who had purchased this kit in 1996 said at $25.00 USD it was never intended to meet the strict standards of more advanced modelers.

 

A lot has changed in the last 25 or 30 years in scale modelling. Today advanced modelers want accurate reproductions and take very seriously every detail down to the panel lines and rivet pattern. Regarding another point you made, I did not need to address the weight distribution issue because my version of the model is a flying-boat instead of the amphibious aircraft with three-point landing gear.

 

For what it's worth Murdo, I would save your money and wait for a new kit to be released. It may take a few more years, but I think there is enough interest in the market that sooner or later someone will release a kit with new tooling. That does not guarantee new tooling will be flawless, but I think the manufactures today can do better than they did in 1995.

 

Harold

Edited December 20, 2022 by Sergeant

[Far North]

Thanks Harold for your reply. I am also rather new to Britmodeller and this was the first time I posted any pictures of a model. Quite a daunting process initially but now that my fear has been overcome I will post more in future. Yes, I agree that awaiting a new tooling is the most sensible thing especially as the old Monogram/Revell kits are becoming rare. Airfix, under their rebirth with Hornby, are putting out some superb 1:48 kits of an accuracy and attention to detail unheard of in older kits. However, I wouldn't like an obsession with rivet counting to go too far so that we loose the spirit of our subject aircraft amongst a forest of detail. It would be a dream come true if Airfix put out a Catalina/Canso. I am just completing their 1:48 Chipmunk T.10 of an aircraft I believe I flew in when I was in the Air Cadets (fortuitously Xtradecals had markings for this aircraft) - great for a stroll down memory lane! I have also grabbed Airfix's 1:48 Avro Anson Mk1 which I will build as the Anson which crashed on a training flight on a nearby mountain. I have always been a bit conflicted about building a model of an aircraft which I know people died in and whose remaining wreckage I have visited a number of times. However, I have decided that modelling this aircraft is not a ghoulish endevour but rather a remembrance and honor to those who died in the same way that modelling Hornell's Canso is a tribute to him and his crew. I like your our quote from Churchill which seems to reflect this sentiment.

Looking forward to following your next project.

Murdo

 

[Pantherhawk27263]

A very lovely Cat. I need to get one of these one day. I love the British schemes, but I also love the USN scheme so one may not suffice!