Airfix GB - 1/72 PBY-5A Catalina *Finished*

[FTS]

This will be my first kit of the GB. I've bought a couple of these from Plain Sailing over the last few years. I'll be building the 'Black Cat'.

[Cimmerian]

Found one of these in the cupboard yesterday. Shall watch with interest.

[Deacon]

This was going to be one of my choices so will be watching for tips mate.

alan

[FTS]

This was going to be one of my choices so will be watching for tips mate.

alan

I'll give you one now. Never copy anything that I do, it is almost always wrong

[Deacon]

This was going to be one of my choices so will be watching for tips mate.

alan

I'll give you one now. Never copy anything that I do, it is almost always wrong

Behave!

[FTS]

With the F3 complete i've got a fair bit done over the weekend and this evening, and this is where i'm at. I'll be moving on to some filling tommorow. I'll need a lot of it!

IMG_0584 by harrison-green, on Flickr

[Deacon]

That's looking great mate.

When you say a lot of filling, where in particular or is it all seams?

Alan

[FTS]

That's looking great mate.

When you say a lot of filling, where in particular or is it all seams?

Alan

Pretty much anywhere where plastic meets plastic . There's a fairly big step between the fuselage halves which is going to require a fair bit of work. The nose fit is very poor in particular. The instrument panel doesn't fit into anything, but there's no detail on it to see anyway so it's not really a problem. The way I see it, it's an old kit so the fit was never going to be good but it's nothing that isn't fixable. I'm going to get a Defiant on the 'bench' as well as i'll be spraying both the same colour and then i'll move on to one of the new tool kits for a break

[farnboroughrob]

I made this beast a few years ago and it is not a fond memory! I mainly remember the very weak main undercarriage that could not support the models weight.

[FTS]

I made this beast a few years ago and it is not a fond memory! I mainly remember the very weak main undercarriage that could not support the models weight.

I've opted to go with gear up and floats down. One thing that annoys me with the kit is that you can't close the blisters. I find it unlikely that these would be left open with the Cat sitting on the water .

[FTS]

I've been tipped off on another forum that the back third of the Cats wing is fabric, so i'll be removing the rivetting in that area.

[FTS]

The construction phase, bar the clear parts and main gear, is complete. The clear parts have no frame work on them and i'm still undecided whether or not to try and mask off the frames or just go for it and hand paint them. As my airbrush is unavailable atm i've started to brush paint the upper surfaces.

I took this picture a few days ago and kept forgetting to post it.

IMG_0585 by harrison-green, on Flickr

[Robin]

Hi FTS

That is looking very nice, I am in the middle of doing my Cat at the moment, just about to glue the fuselage together, done most of the fiddly things, and as the parts are there, I will have both undercart and floats down. As there is very little inside the fuselage, I have tried to dress it up, however, one has to be mindful of the amount of weight to fit inside the nose to prevent a tail sitter. Not too sure of the finish it will have, depends what is in the decal stash.

Robin.

[Deacon]

You really are making a nice job of this mate.

looking forward to the next update.

Alan

[Prime77]

Ahh, I remeber picking one of these up at a jumble sale during the mid 90's at my junior school. Think it's still knocking around my parent's attic. Keep us updated on progress.

[Fumbles]

Sorry I missed this the last time... This may be your best build yet. It does look like a rather large kit when built up?

[FTS]

I've finally finished painting this. It's all brush painted, including the frame work which is all done free hand with no guidelines.

IMG_2071 by harrison-green, on Flickr

[Deacon]

I get the impression that you are a little happy with this one!

And so you should be mate. Lovely job on the glazing frames.

Alan

[FTS]

I get the impression that you are a little happy with this one!

And so you should be mate. Lovely job on the glazing frames.

Alan

Considering its age, it's not a bad kit. I put off painting those frames for ages but once I got going the whole lot was done in less than 10 minutes . The decals are now on, all 10 of them. I'm just letting them set properly before I post another update.

[FTS]

Kleared and decaled. Now to matt it back down and add some weathering.

IMG_2072 by harrison-green, on Flickr

[Graham R]

very impressed so far

[FTS]

Finished. I'll add other pictures to the GB gallery.

IMG_2076 by harrison-green, on Flickr

[Deacon]

Well done mate.

That is a great result.

Alan

[twirl2688]

Great job . Like to see the cat painted black rather than white you usually see.

Scott

[Fumbles]

Mighty fine finish on this one. The flat black came out really well. Excellent work.