Academy PBY-5A Catalina

[snappercity]

Hi Guys

This will be my entry to the GB. The Academy PBY-5A Black Cat.
These aircraft were legendary during WWII staying in production throughout the entire war and used in every theater. Their immense range and endurance were two of its attributes that helped to close the mid-Atlantic gap on the German U-boats. These same attributes along with the aircraft's rugged construction were used to tremendous effect by the Americans in their island hopping campaign across the Pacific. The aircraft's primary duties were anti-submarine, Patrol bombing, reconnaissance, search and rescue. As long as the 'Cat' could avoid enemy fighters she ruled the skies against Japanese shipping. To help avoid fighters altogether some were painted all over black and fitted with radar to search out the enemy. These aircraft were called 'Black Cats' and were very affective in attacking ships with machine guns, bombs, torpedos and depth charges.

This should be a simple build that I will probably complete OOB. I could add aftermarket resin engines and props etc but I have no plans to at this stage. The main point of this build will be the paint job. I will be trying a few new techniques to me including liquid masking and salt technique. This is one I have wanted to build from the stash for a while and now have the chance.


IMAG0794 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


All un-started. The wings and fuselage have been removed from the sprue's. Taped together for my own giggles to see what she will look like and get a gauge of the size.

IMAG0795 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


She is quite a decent size for 1:72 posing next to a half built Airfix Spitfire in the same scale.

IMAG0796 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


I will be cracking on with this over the next week.

[Vleugelmoer]

Very nice kit have read good reviews about it, they way it read you are not going for the blue or nmf finish on this then ??

As always happy modeling and keep sticking styrene.

Paul

[snappercity]

I'm thinking about doing the blue then a worn black on top with the blue showing through.

[Lysus]

One of my top five planes ever.

[Willem]

Love this aircraft. Very much looking forward to following your progress.

[snappercity]

I have made a start. The outer portions of the wings with the floats raised are all glued. The centre part of the wing, rear horizontal stabilisers, wheels and radar bulb are all glued.
I am away for a long weekend from tomorrow and will be taking this with me. Hopefully I will have some more to report on Monday along with pictures.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Awesome looking kit.
The black with the blue showing trough it sounds great, looking forward to that!

[snappercity]

I have been looking around at reference pictures and they seem to show no painting underneath. I will keep looking because the idea of the original blue showing through sounds cool. I thought that in the middle of war they would have just painted over the original scheme but I could be wrong. I'll see what I can find.

[snappercity]

Hi guys

Here is where we are up to.

The fuselage halves have been cleaned up. The wheel wells have been installed and the blister gun positions have been added.

IMAG0888 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


Nice ejector pin marks across a lot of this kit. Some on the reverse out of view sides and some in plain view. Strange engineering. In the wheel bays they are being filled with Tamiya extra thin and styrene 'soup' as the position of these will be very hard to sand or clean up with plastic putty. The soup self levels but does shrink in the middle creating a dip. Here these have had 3-4 applications to bring it all together.

IMAG0889 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


Here the wings are all glued. The outer portions are still not attached to the centre part.

IMAG0890 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


The wing tip floats in the folded up position.

IMAG0891 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


The rear horizontal stabilisers.

IMAG0892 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


Wheels and radome.

IMAG0893 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


The highly detailed cockpit and rear crew section. I may scratch a little detail into this to try bring it to life a bit more.

IMAG0894 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


The other odds and sods awaiting paint. Blister guns, control panel etc..

IMAG0895 by Mark Inman, on Flickr


Thanks for looking.

[Les]

This is a really cool looking plane; have you ironed out the paint for the bottom of it yet?

[snappercity]

I haven't looked into the painting side of things yet. The build has stalled as I am finishing off another kit that is deep into paint. I have also been busy for the last couple of weeks. I should be back into this in the next week or so.

[Les]

Hi there snapper city! Any updates on the Catalina?