Martin PBM-5A Mariner

[Martian]

Although I am still hugely enjoying my Zeppelin builds, I have been hankering to build something else as well for a while. All Zeppelins and no play makes Martian a dull alien and all that.

 

When Minicraft first released their MartinPBM-5A Mariner kit, I really wanted to get my hands on one. However, I could neither afford or justify the £60 plus price tag for the kit. When the model was re-released by Academy for a much more reasonable £30, that was another matter altogether and an example was obtained in short order.

 

We all know that Martian would not be Martian if he didn't  do something off the wall with a build and I fancied doing a Royal Netherlands Navy example. Most of the Dutch boats were finished in silver but two were delivered in Dark Sea Blue and these appealed to me.. Despite buying a dedicated book on Dutch Mariners there was not quite enough pictorial references for me to build one to the standard I would like. Dutch decal do a set for the Mariner, so a silver one it will have to be. What I will probably do if this model goes together well is to get another kit and convert it to the utility configuration and make an educated guess on the areas that I lack sufficient information on. There are plenty of redundant parts in the kit for the conversion and I think I can adapt some others, Caracal do a sheet of decals that have some blue US Mariners so I might go down that route.

 

All that however, is in the future and seeing as even I don't have access to a Tardis, let's see what we can do with what we currently have to hand. Anyway Mrs Martian says the model will look good in silver, so a silver Dutch cab it will be.

 

I was going to try and keep this build pretty much oob but some after market stuff seems to have teleported its way into the box and when I went to the Martian Cave this morning, I seem to have opened up the hatches in the bow section. The next thing I knew was that there was whirling of multiple tentacles, flakes of enough white styrene to keep even @Navy Bird happy flying around the room and we had the bulkheads for the two nose compartments detailed and fitted. I know that some people have remarked that there are a number of inaccuracies in the kit but all I really want is a fun build and to end up with something that looks like a Mariner so I don't intend busting a gut over them. I shall just concentrate on the areas of kit building that I enjoy.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Martian 👽

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LorenSharp]

Ahhh Martian doing a  Martin. It can't get any better than this except maybe reciting  "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" along the way. Thankfully you're not working on any albatross'.

[Martian]

I forgot to mention one thing  I have the Steve Ginter "Naval Fighters" book on the Mariner and it covers pretty much all you need to know but there is one grey area. It may or may not impact on me as I have yet to decide how far I want to go with this build but does anyone out there know what the stairs from the lower deck to the upper deck looked like?.

 

We all put detail into our builds that we say will never be seen but we know it's there don't we?  but these days we have cameras with macro facilities, you can buy pocket endoscopes and there is always the old fashioned cutaway option. Added to which if I decide to open the rear hatches on the model, quite a lot will be seen after all. Or is this just me looking for an excuse to build as much of the boat's structure into the hull? Like @Navy Bird,I am addicted to carving and fettling white styrene and building aero-structures is one of my favourite parts of the hobby.

 

Martian 👽

[LorenSharp]

Navy Bird, sounds more like @tomprobert but on a vastly smaller scale. But anyhoo Im not sure f this is what you were needing Martian. There is a set of stairs on the lower to upper deck. not sure if this will help but here's the link.

 

[Mal_Belford]

Nice scratch building going on here sir.

 

a question, what tool do you use to get the right profile fot them walls. as they on the pics looks perfect fit.

[Martian]

1 hour ago, LorenSharp said:

Navy Bird, sounds more like @tomprobert but on a vastly smaller scale. But anyhoo Im not sure f this is what you were needing Martian. There is a set of stairs on the lower to upper deck. not sure if this will help but here's the link.

 

Thanks Loren, that is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. The positioning of things like hatches and location of some of the equipment naturally differs between the dedicated flying boat and the later amphibian but I would imagine that the stairs were lust repositioned. Unless anyone comes up with anything to contradict the picture,I shall go with that.

1 hour ago, Mal_Belford said:

Nice scratch building going on here sir.

 

a question, what tool do you use to get the right profile fot them walls. as they on the pics looks perfect fit.

Thanks Mal. I just take a few measurements, mark them out on some plastic card and then just eyeball the rest. ; The result of having been modelling without a break for over 55 years, I guess. I do think that using either five or ten times magnification spectacles custom made to my optician's prescription has helped a lot though; the smallest of imperfections in fit look enormous under that sort of magnification and consequently that much easier to eliminate.'

 

Goggle-eyed of Mars 👽

[LorenSharp]

Sounds like a plan me man! Engage!

[Pete in Lincs]

Love that boxtop picture!

As if you don't have enough to do man Martian! Still, it might give your eyes a bit of a rest.

I'll pull up an ex cross channel Dinghy I found cheap on ebay and watch, whilst also doing lifeguard duty. 

That's odd, These survival ration packs are full of rice and bits of frogs...

[Mal_Belford]

56 minutes ago, Martian said:

 

Thanks Mal. I just take a few measurements, mark them out on some plastic card and then just eyeball the rest. ; The result of having been modelling without a break for over 55 years, I guess. I do think that using either five or ten times magnification spectacles custom made to my optician's prescription has helped a lot though; the smallest of imperfections in fit look enormous under that sort of magnification and consequently that much easier to eliminate.'

 

Goggle-eyed of Mars 👽

Thanks, tried few profile tools, they were like so so, yes worked but damn fuzz.

 

Then damn gold eye and experiance here, love it.

 

damn i go back to my lego brick B-17G lol....more experiance for me to work out then. :). myself im a novis in building.

 

keep yore work with updates, ill be wathing this for sure, as you got my attention and i like it alot sir.

 

/Mal

[Snafu35]

Hello Martian,

 

Here's a job that's going to be very interesting. Good luck with the rest.

 

I built the PBM Mariner Mach2:

(It's perhaps a little too deep in the water. OK, we'll say it's full petrol!

And the two shades of blue merge, unfortunately.)

 

You can imagine that you can't see anything when you close the fuselage!

I built the interior and the first floor:

 

 

The stairs go up between the navigator's table and the electronic cabinets on the left side.

 

I was also inspired by the photos of Eduard 73499 PBM-5/PBM-5A interior S.A. Minicraft:

 

I couldn't find a photo of this staircase, just a model maker's interpretation:  

 

I dropped the diorama a few months ago (two kilos of transparent resin to represent the sea, that's heavy!).

I can see the kitchen again, which I haven't finished fitting out:

 

That still leaves me with fish:

 

Have fun in modelling!

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

 

[corsaircorp]

A Martian building a Martian Mariner.... What's not to be loved ???

Now that you had a look at the brilliant job of @Snafu35, you no longer can do it OOB 

Well, start at will my Dear Alien !!

@LorenSharp is definitely right, Rhymes of the ancient Mariner is the perfect sound to build it...

I hope that Mrs Martian enjoy Iron Maiden...

What ?? No paint yet ???

Did you have a Shin Meywa to go with the Mariner ??

Sincerely.

Le Wibble  

 

[Martian]

8 hours ago, Snafu35 said:

Hello Martian,

 

Here's a job that's going to be very interesting. Good luck with the rest.

 

I built the PBM Mariner Mach2:

(It's perhaps a little too deep in the water. OK, we'll say it's full petrol!

And the two shades of blue merge, unfortunately.)

 

You can imagine that you can't see anything when you close the fuselage!

I built the interior and the first floor:

 

 

The stairs go up between the navigator's table and the electronic cabinets on the left side.

 

I was also inspired by the photos of Eduard 73499 PBM-5/PBM-5A interior S.A. Minicraft:

 

I couldn't find a photo of this staircase, just a model maker's interpretation:  

 

I dropped the diorama a few months ago (two kilos of transparent resin to represent the sea, that's heavy!).

I can see the kitchen again, which I haven't finished fitting out:

 

That still leaves me with fish:

 

Have fun in modelling!

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

 

Great work Eric, and on a Mach 2 kit to boot! The stairs seem to have been moved to the port side on the amphibian but  I will check my references again before committing to plastic.

7 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Did you have a Shin Meywa to go with the Mariner ??

 

No, but it has crossed my mind, as has a Marlin.

 

Martian 👽

[heloman1]

Now this is going to be an interesting build. Great subject. I built he 1/144th kit a while back and plonked it on a plaster sea base. Tommy Thomason from Tailhook Topics helped out with images of the ROTAG fit aft of the rear doors/hatches. Maybe have a look on his site.

Popcorn and comfy chair pulled up for the performance,

 

Colin

[Snafu35]

9 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

 

Did you have a Shin Meywa to go with the Mariner ??

Sincerely.

Le Wibble  

 

 

1 hour ago, Martian said:

No, but it has crossed my mind, as has a Marlin.

 

Martian 👽

 

As for me, I'd love to build a PB2-Y Coronado...Mach2!   

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[JWM]

I watch with interest - few years ago I build both Mach 2 Mariner (as PBM3s variant) and Coronado and I love them both.

Since the Academy kit was not available for years a year ago I bought it in the well known Schipol airport internet shop the Academy Mariner, which appeared suddenly there, aiming to do a PBM5 variant. I paid 125 euro, what was the higher price paid by me for a kit ever, and after a year they appeared in shops in Poland  with price of 125 zloty, what is about 22 % of price I have paid... Love hurts... Anyway - I will watch with deep interest!

Regards

J-W

 

[David H]

5 hours ago, JWM said:

I watch with interest - few years ago I build both Mach 2 Mariner (as PBM3s variant) and Coronado and I love them both.

Since the Academy kit was not available for years a year ago I bought it in the well known Schipol airport internet shop the Academy Mariner, which appeared suddenly there, aiming to do a PBM5 variant. I paid 125 euro, what was the higher price paid by me for a kit ever, and after a year they appeared in shops in Poland  with price of 125 zloty, what is about 22 % of price I have paid... Love hurts... Anyway - I will watch with deep interest!

Regards

J-W

 

Even in the States, the kit was eye-wateringly expensive when it first came out.

[Martian]

From the number of redundant parts in the kit, including the transport nose and banking panel for the dorsal turret, looks like a number of Mariner variants was originally planned for this kit.

 

Martian 👽

[Ad-4N]

My dad was a crewmember on PBMs with VP-49 in the late 1940s.  I built this Mach 2 kit for him as a labor of love.  I spent hours trying to make the clear parts "clear."  Decals cobbled together from various Microscale sheets.  I got it done but I will never again touch another Mach 2 kit.  Which is a shame since they do interesting subjects.  

 

 

 

[David H]

26 minutes ago, Ad-4N said:

My dad was a crewmember on PBMs with VP-49 in the late 1940s.  I built this Mach 2 kit for him as a labor of love.  I spent hours trying to make the clear parts "clear."  Decals cobbled together from various Microscale sheets.  I got it done but I will never again touch another Mach 2 kit.  Which is a shame since they do interesting subjects.  

 

 

 

i suspect Mach 1 was even worse...

[Navy Bird]

On 28/03/2024 at 14:10, Martian said:

 Like @Navy Bird,I am addicted to carving and fettling white styrene and building aero-structures is one of my favourite parts of the hobby.

 

I deny everything. I'm more of a putty man nowadays anyway.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Martian]

3 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

 

I deny everything. I'm more of a putty man nowadays anyway.

 

Cheers,

Bill

Fortunately, we already have your confession to the white styrene addiction in multiple threads. There is a place in rehab reserved for you should Mrs Navy Bird wish for you to take it up.

 

Helpful of Mars 👽 

 

 

[LorenSharp]

Yes and they teach allll kinds of things like cutting out long strings of paper people and,  and, and paper airplanes! But everyone still tries to add detail to them. But Thursday is ICE CREAM DAY!

[Martian]

2 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

Yes and they teach allll kinds of things like cutting out long strings of paper people and,  and, and paper airplanes! But everyone still tries to add detail to them. But Thursday is ICE CREAM DAY!

There's the voice of experience for you!

 

Martian 👽

[LorenSharp]

👍

[Martian]

I was waiting for some glue to dry on the Mariner earlier today and started looking at the "redundant" parts in the kit. I can now confirm that the kit includes all the parts necessary to build both the utility and the dedicated flying boat versions of the Mariner. There are even flashed over location holes for the latter but sadly no beaching gear. Having presumably taken over the moulds from Minicraft, will we see other variants from Academy?

 

Curious of Mars 👽