"Strawberry 5" PBY-5 (1/48-Monogram)

[generalgrog]

Alright, so I was debating on whether or not to jump in this sig, because I'm 2 weeks behind, and my finish track record isn't that good, but I'm really motivated on this one.

So I have decided to build a PBY-5 diorama based on the famous "Strawberry 5" of naval squadron VP-23. The famous airplane flown by pilot Lt. Howard Ady and with the markings of 23-P-5. Howard Ady was the pilot who had the 2nd sighting of the Japanese fleet during the battle of MIDWAY. An interesting tidbit, about the "Strawberry 5" nickname, as used in the film MIDWAY. This moniker was a complete fabrication for the movie, as the actual navy never used the moniker. In fact they PBY'S communicated to base using Morse code.

Also, the navy used both models of PBY-5's in the battle as scouts, the PBY-5 , and the PBY-5A. The 5-A's were amphibian, in that they could take off and land on both water and land based airstrips, due the addition of retractable landing gear.

Since I plan on building the diorama of the float plane during it's take off from the Midway Atoll, I will be modeling the PBY as it takes off from the ocean, with sea wakes and water spray...

First time doing something like that, but I think it could be a real nice piece when completed.

And one more thing about this thing in 1/48 scale ...It's absolutely massive!!!!

-----------------------------------------------------------
A little bit of background info on the PBY Catalina.

Background

The PBY was originally designed to be a patrol bomber, an aircraft with a long operational range intended to locate and attack enemy transport ships at sea in order to disrupt enemy supply lines. With a mind to a potential conflict in the Pacific Ocean, where troops would require resupply over great distances, the U.S. Navy in the 1930s invested millions of dollars in developing long-range flying boats for this purpose. Flying boats had the advantage of not requiring runways, in effect having the entire ocean available. Several different flying boats were adopted by the Navy, but the PBY was the most widely used and produced.


Although slow and ungainly, Catalinas distinguished themselves in World War II. Allied forces used them successfully in a wide variety of roles for which the aircraft was never intended. They are remembered for their rescue role, in which they saved the lives of thousands of aircrew downed over water. Catalina airmen called their aircraft the "Cat" on combat missions and "Dumbo" in air-sea rescue service.[3]
Development

As American dominance in the Pacific Ocean began to face competition from Japan in the 1930s, the U.S. Navy contracted Consolidated, Martin and Douglas in October 1933 to build competing prototypes for a patrol flying boat.[4] Naval doctrine of the 1930s and 1940s used flying boats in a wide variety of roles that today are handled by multiple special-purpose aircraft. The U.S. Navy had adopted the Consolidated P2Y and Martin P3M models for this role in 1931, but both aircraft were underpowered and hampered by inadequate range and limited payloads.

Consolidated and Douglas both delivered single prototypes of their new designs, the XP3Y-1 and XP3D-1, respectively. Consolidated's XP3Y-1 was an evolution of the XPY-1 design that had originally competed unsuccessfully for the P3M contract two years earlier and of the XP2Y design that the Navy had authorized for a limited production run. Although the Douglas aircraft was a good design, the Navy opted for Consolidated's because the projected cost was only $90,000 per aircraft.


Consolidated's XP3Y-1 design (company Model 28) had a parasol wing with external bracing struts, mounted on a pylon over the fuselage. Wingtip stabilizing floats were retractable in flight to form streamlined wingtips and had been licensed from the Saunders-Roe company. The two-step hull design was similar to that of the P2Y, but the Model 28 had a cantilever cruciform tail unit instead of a strut-braced twin tail. Cleaner aerodynamics gave the Model 28 better performance than earlier designs.

The prototype was powered by two 825 hp (615 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-54 Twin Wasp radial engines mounted on the wing’s leading edges. Armament comprised four .30 in (7.6 mm) Browning AN/M2 machine guns and up to 2,000 lb (910 kg) of bombs.

The XP3Y-1 had its maiden flight on 28 March 1935, after which it was transferred to the U.S. Navy for service trials. The XP3Y-1 was a significant performance improvement over previous patrol flying boats. The Navy requested further development in order to bring the aircraft into the category of patrol bomber, and in October 1935, the prototype was returned to Consolidated for further work, including installation of 900 hp (670 kW) R-1830-64 engines. For the redesignated XPBY-1, Consolidated introduced redesigned vertical tail surfaces which resolved a problem with the tail becoming submerged on takeoff, which had made lift-off impossible under some conditions. The XPBY-1 had its maiden flight on 19 May 1936, during which a record non-stop distance flight of 3,443 mi (2,992 nmi; 5,541 km) was achieved.

The XPBY-1 was delivered to VP-11F in October 1936. The second squadron to be equipped was VP-12, which received the first of its aircraft in early 1937. The second production order was placed on 25 July 1936. Over the next three years, the design was gradually developed further and successive models introduced.

The aircraft eventually bore the name Catalina after Catalina Island; the name was coined in November 1941, as Great Britain ordered their first 30 aircraft.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roles in World War II

Around 3,300 aircraft were built, and these operated in nearly all operational theatres of World War II. The Catalina served with distinction and played a prominent and invaluable role against the Japanese. This was especially true during the first year of the war in the Pacific, because the PBY and the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress were the only aircraft available with the range to be effective in the Pacific.
Anti-submarine warfare

Catalinas were the most extensively used anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters of World War II, and were also used in the Indian Ocean, flying from the Seychelles and from Ceylon. Their duties included escorting convoys to Murmansk. By 1943, U-boats were well-armed with anti-aircraft guns and two Victoria Crosses were won by Catalina pilots pressing home their attacks on U-boats in the face of heavy fire: Flying Officer John Cruickshank of the RAF, in 1944, for sinking U-347 (although the submarine is now known to have been U-361[9]) and in the same year Flight Lieutenant David Hornell of the Royal Canadian Air Force (posthumously) against U-1225. Catalinas destroyed 40 U-boats, but not without losses of their own. A Brazilian Catalina attacked and sank U-199 in Brazilian waters on 31 July 1943. Later, the aircraft was baptized as “Arará”, in memory of the merchant ship of that name which was sunk by another U-boat.[10]
Maritime patrol

In their role as patrol aircraft, Catalinas participated in some of the most notable naval engagements of World War II. The aircraft's parasol wing and large waist blisters provided excellent visibility and combined with its long range and endurance, made it well suited for the task.

A RAF Coastal Command Catalina, piloted by Ensign Leonard B. Smith of the U.S. Navy and flying out of Castle Archdale Flying boat base, Lower Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, located, at 10:30, on 26 May 1941, some 690 nmi (1,280 km; 790 mi) northwest of Brest, the German battleship Bismarck, which was attempting to evade Royal Navy forces.[N 1][11][12][13][14][15] This sighting eventually led to the destruction of the German battleship.

A flight of Catalinas spotted the Japanese fleet approaching Midway Island, beginning the Battle of Midway.[16]

A Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Canso flown by Squadron Leader L.J. Birchall foiled Japanese plans to destroy the Royal Navy's Indian Ocean fleet on 4 April 1942 when it detected the Japanese carrier fleet approaching Ceylon (Sri Lanka).[17]
Night attack and naval interdiction
Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall aboard a Consolidated Catalina before being shot down and captured near Ceylon by the Japanese

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also operated Catalinas as night raiders, with four squadrons Nos. 11, 20, 42, and 43 laying mines from 23 April 1943 until July 1945 in the southwest Pacific deep in Japanese-held waters, bottling up ports and shipping routes and forcing ships into deeper waters to become targets for U.S. submarines; they tied up the major strategic ports such as Balikpapan which shipped 80% of Japanese oil supplies. In late 1944, their mining missions sometimes exceeded 20 hours in duration and were carried out from as low as 200 ft (61 m) in the dark. Operations included trapping the Japanese fleet in Manila Bay in assistance of General Douglas MacArthur's landing at Mindoro in the Philippines. Australian Catalinas also operated out of Jinamoc in the Leyte Gulf, and mined ports on the Chinese coast from Hong Kong to as far north as Wenchow. Both USN and RAAF Catalinas regularly mounted nuisance night bombing raids on Japanese bases, with the RAAF claiming the slogan "The First and the Furthest". Targets of these raids included a major base at Rabaul. RAAF aircrews, like their U.S. Navy counterparts, employed "terror bombs", ranging from scrap metal and rocks to empty beer bottles with razor blades inserted into the necks, to produce high pitched screams as they fell, keeping Japanese soldiers awake and scrambling for cover.[18]

Catalinas were employed by every branch of the U.S. military as rescue aircraft. A PBY piloted by LCDR Adrian Marks (USN) rescued 56 sailors in high seas from the heavy cruiser Indianapolis after the ship was sunk during World War II. When there was no more room inside, the crew tied sailors to the wings. (The aircraft could not fly in this state; instead it acted as a lifeboat, protecting the sailors from exposure and the risk of shark attack, until rescue ships arrived.) Catalinas continued to function in the search-and-rescue role for decades after the end of the war.

My next post will have box and sprue shots..

GG

[generalgrog]

A real nice youtube video on the history of the PBY.
[youtube]R1gNSIlQpkI[/youtube]

ON to the sprue shots..


Massive box!!




Fuselage











The decals are really nice, and the only thing I will need to change is the side lettering.



Really nice canopies





The only aftermarket part I have ordered is the the corrected resin tail piece from belcher bits. I'll explain that part when I get to that point.

As far as the kit goes, for a monogram kit from 1995 my first look over is that it is pretty fantastic. Fully recessed panel lines, and did I mention this thing is huge!!
I'm stoked...gonna start on it tonight.

GG

[generalgrog]

OK first update... is the completed wing assembly. This looks like it will be a fairly straight forward build, as the wing sections went together with no issues whatsoever.


The wing is made up of 5 pieces. Two wing lower "wing ends" that are glued to two longer upper pieces, and then a center engine wing section.



Dry fit...



After glue and assembly.




Just need to go over and work the join lines, as they didn't line up 100% perfect, but they lined up real close, that it won't take much work to get perfect wing surfaces. This 1/48 scale wing is over 23" long, with out the pontoon ends.

I decided to test fit the fuselage with the wing section to get an idea of what I am going to need for the water based take off diorama I plan.

Did I mention this thing is huge?



I put in my 1/48 scale spitfire, for scale, so you guys can get an idea of how large this thing is.



I'm going to move on to working on the wing matelines, and then I'll move on to the cockpit, and internal area.

GG

[generalgrog]

This update will show the progress on the interior, among other news.

As I want to do a diorama, of the plane taking off from the water, I realized that I needed some crew. When I started this project I didn't realize that Monogram only put crew into a few of the versions of this kit. So I went on ebay and purchased another kit, albeit the 5-A version. And to be honest, this kit is so good, I didn't mind one bit, as I can see myself building another one of these, albeit the amphibian version one day.

Below is the kit that comes with the crew, the other kit is the pro-modeller kit.



Pictures of the crew.. 2 Gunners and 2 Pilots.












I also received the replacement tail from belcher bits. Upon first glance,I really can't tell much of a difference, but I'm gong to go ahead and assemble the tail and see if it's going to be worth the effort of sawing off the kit tail and replacing it with this one. My only gripe about this resin replacement is that it isn't as fully detailed as the kit tail. I will have to rescribe all of the tail rivets! We shall see.






Ok so now onto the progress. I went ahead started on the interior. There are some really nasty sink marks on the interior. I only removed and filled the marks that I thought you could see.











All filled in..wasn't too bad of a job with the right tools.






Assembled the interior pieces...pretty straitforward.



Pilot compartment.



Gunner platform.



I went ahead and glued the vertical stabilizers, and the wing floats. Pictures shows them and the main wing prepped for edge sealing.





I'm ready to start putting some paint on the interior, and crew.

Next update will have some color on !


Thanks for looking.
GG

[generalgrog]

So this update will show the interior part of the build.

Interior of the Fuselage painted and weathering is complete.





Cockpit, painted up. I left the seatbelts on, since the pilots will cover them, and you won't see them.





The gunners bay..





Interior pieces glued in place.









The pilots, are not complete yet, so I will not be gluing the halves yet in time for this update.

I wanted to test fit the two halves, and they go together almost perfect.











A picture to show some of the windows..




So.. since this build is going to have all of the canopies closed, you will not see much of the interior, therefore I didn't super detail the interior. I will spend some extra time on getting the pilots real nice, but after that,I am going to button it up.
Believe it or not, there isn't much more to the build phase. Just need to button the fuselage up, add the engines to the wing, and some other details, and this baby will be ready for paint!

Thanks for looking.
GG

[heel]

Very nice GG. The Catalina is a cool looking plane with a lot of great history.

[Willem]

Nice work General Sir.

This is going to be good.

[generalgrog]

Thanks guys.

This plane is certainly huge...gonna have to build my own display cabinet I think.

GG

[generalgrog]

Alright, int his update the Pilots are done, and the fuselage is glued together.

I decided to only paint the pilots, since the during takeoff the gunners would almost certainly be in the cabin strapped down. I've seen some videos of the PBY on take off from the ocean, and it's extremely bumpy, until the flying boat starts making the transition from boat to airplane.

I'm ok with how they came out, again once the canopy goes on and its painted up, not going to see much of them.




Pilots..glued in place.



Fuselage glued together









I masked up the observation windows before mating the two halves of the fuselage, just in case the windows were to fall out while masking, I would rather they fall out before I put the halves together.



So I got to polish up the canopies, as they are scratched up fairly bad, from not being in protective bag by themselves. Then I'll mask them. Also I think I need to put another coat of matt varnish on the figs, because I think they are too shiny right now. They aren't that shiny when you look at them, but the camera really brings it out.

GG

[Willem]

Nice one. I like the crew figures. Looks like the pilot is reaching up to an overhead switch. Nice touch.

[MarkVerploeg]

Very nice work so far
The Catalina is a plane that is on my wishlist for a while now
Allthough i want to build a Blackcat version with the extra cannons in the nose
Is that a option in this kit by any chance ?
Anyway , keep up the good work

[generalgrog]

Mark...if you buy one of these revell kits you won't regret it. It is falling together. If you can get past the tail section inaccuracy, which I'm still debating on whether or not if I'm going to spend the extra time on the corrected tail...I really can't tell much of a difference between them to be honest.

The PBY-5 that I am building, for this SIG, does not come with the "bug eye turret" or nose turret guns, but the PBY-5A that I purchased in order to get the crew does.

GG

[MarkVerploeg]

Thanks for the tip
I found one at a shop and for a decent price too
I guess that it will be in the stash soon

[generalgrog]

Bad news, guys...real life stuff has come up, and I will not have time to finish on time.

one of these days I will finish one of these on time.

GG

[Aliktren]

Can you post pics when you do? Always wanted to build strawberry 5