The Officially Shameless PBY/Halloween '09 GB

I've said this in a PM.........

Frankie! Fabulous badge...........Thank You!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent photos Richie, thanks!  I saved them to my 'puter for reference.

Nam- Glad you liked the badge!

I found this lil bit  about the -5 and -5A on this site:

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_PBY-5A_catalina.html

At first the landing gear was the only significant difference between the PBY-5 and PBY-5A, but during the long production run of the amphibian, which lasted in 1945, a series of changes were made. The engines were changed to R-1830-92 Twin Wasps, but the new engines gave the same amount of power as those used the PBY-5.

Late production PBY-5As had the standard open topped bow turret replaced with a new "eye ball" closed top design. This carried two .30in machine guns, mounted in a plexiglass dome on the front of the turret.

No worries Frank!

Thanks for the help everyone, but I managed to answer my own question. I pulled out my Victory at Sea DVDs and in one episode there is footage of a PBY-5A taxiing out of the water, going up a ramp - with both the floats and wheels down. I should've thoughta that. Thanks anyway guys!

By the way, if you're into Naval Aviation, there is possibly nothing better for your modeling mojo than kicking back and watching some Victory at Sea. Awesome!

Kev

On a PBY-5A, can the gear and the pontoons be lowered at the same time, or is it one or the other? My itty-bitty Cat is going to sit on its wheels, but I'm wondering whether the floats should be up or down.

Can't find anything in the pilot's handbook about floats being down with the gear.  They operate separately, gear's hydraulic, floats are electrical...  All that really matters is airspeed during approach & landing, since the gear and floats have two different max speeds... 122 kts for the gear, 130 kts for the floats.. Both those speeds are well above the normal approach speed... 

Whoops, I take it back... Found something. Pre-flight checklist during walk around, floats are lowered for inspection.  So, techically, gear down/floats down is ok under certain circumstances...

Ah, heck, day late an' a dollar short...

Shoulda used m' head anyway.. When going up & down the seaplane ramp into the water, the floats need to be down....

I had that same "oh, yeah... duh!" moment when I saw the video of it going up and down the ramp. Thanks anyway for the help and the info Hans!

You have a PBY pilot's handbook? That's cool!

Kevin

cf101b wrote:

This is my first post, but I would love to build a monogram 1/48 pby in early wwII markings and this is a wonderful excuse!

 Welcome  cf101b! Sir Nam shall be welcoming you properly soon. He is busy fixin the porch! Then Going to some model show this weekend!  Welcom to the forums as well as to this group! A finer bunch of fellows you shall not come across!

 I can say since I finally started posting myself my skills have improved significantly just by asking questions and seeing how others tackle their work!  Of course now they can't shut me up!

 Great photos and facts the joint use of floats and wheels! Fellows! Bondo you got me whistling that little tune Richard Dryfus did in always every time he got nervous!

I've checked my (limited) PBY print refs.....no pics of a Cat in-flight with both LG and outriggers deployed. Not sure. But on the ground.....certainly.

I AM a bit mystified by the LG/Float deployment question. Once the -5 arrived with it's own retractable LG.....it could land on a runway with no need to deploy floats.

Natch.....previous models had the LG that were attached by groundscrew after the PBY had taxiid to a shallow depth allowing the craft to run up out of water. In those instances the outer floats would still be deployed.

cf101b.......Thank you for looking in! Please let us know what 1/48 kit and any other details! Your entry is going up in a few minutes!

Sir nam,

I have decided after long debate to go with the 1/48 Monogram, still looking into the color and markings I want to do for this glorious bird.

Maybe I will find some goodies for it at the show this Sunday.

Cheers,

Thom

For those of you who have some spare time on your hands, pick up a copy of Clive Cussler's Mediterranean Caper.  In the opening chapter, the book's hero Dirk Pitt flies a PBY air to air against a Fokker DIII.  It's a good quick read, highly recommended.

I've read much Cussler....have to buy that one from Alibris.com.....prolly get a PB for a quarter!

namrednef wrote:

I've read much Cussler....have to buy that one from Alibris.com.....prolly get a PB for a quarter!

Nam,

Go to your local Half-Price or used book seller, with shipping it'll probably be a wash.  Unless you're like me and a trip to the book shop is like a trip to the LHS.  The Mediterranean Caper was his first novel.

lewbud wrote:

namrednef wrote:   I've read much Cussler....have to buy that one from Alibris.com.....prolly get a PB for a quarter! Nam, Go to your local Half-Price or used book seller, with shipping it'll probably be a wash.  Unless you're like me and a trip to the book shop is like a trip to the LHS.  The Mediterranean Caper was his first novel.

Heh! Thanks.....I just bought a copy.....plus a couple other titles I wanted....the Cussler was $.99.

!

sfcmac wrote:

Man o man are those PBY's a calling me! Wish we could just dig in! Oh the suspense!

I get you Aaron! I really don't want to open a box for even the Pearl Harbor GB....but I must!

Now I'm home....so tired that I can't lift a #11

nam,

Did you make it up to GraniteCon today?

Cheers,

Thom

Nope.....never was able to. Sad about that....very.

Was able to help a Buddy in a crisis though. Built a whole porch in a day-and-a-half.....and me being the only one under 300 lbs, was able to shingle it. No time for a 4 hour drive........but some quality bench-time tonight!

sfcmac wrote:

What's bad is I think I just took a nap you needed. Stuffed with All that fried food eh lewbud?

Nope, slept like the dead last night though.  One of the good things about going to the fair is you do a lot of walking.  One of the bad things is that you do a lot walking.  You get to walk off some of it, but you also make room for more.  I told my dad as we were looking for a place to park, you could eat yourself to the point of sickness, but if you parked in the right (or wrong depending on your pov) lot you'd be ready for more by the time you got to your car.

Simpilot aka Ritchie:

I haven't bought a Cat kit yet.

I need a kittie with landing gear things, and the Airfix -5A will do.

Also, Red Roo makes a conversion kit for a "Super Cat". But the vertical fin looks wrong for my subject: we'lll see what RR has and we may have to SCRATCH A LITTLE.

I'll put up a PBY5, Academy if you please, and away we go. Wright 2600s replace Pratt R1830-92. NBo difference in cowling(?).

bondoman wrote:

Simpilot aka Ritchie: I haven't bought a Cat kit yet. I need a kittie with landing gear things, and the Airfix -5A will do. Also, Red Roo makes a conversion kit for a "Super Cat". But the vertical fin looks wrong for my subject: we'lll see what RR has and we may have to SCRATCH A LITTLE. I'll put up a PBY5, Academy if you please, and away we go. Wright 2600s replace Pratt R1830-92. NBo difference in cowling(?).

Sounds like a fair trade to me Bill!

The Super Cat has more of a B-25 looking cowl with the numerous fairings around it. If you have a B-25 I'm wondering if you could swap cowls and engines with it? Of course it's probably not that simple but it's a start.

Those sure look like B-25 engine cowls to me... but I wonder if you'd have to modify the nacelle to accept the larger cowl? It looks to me like there is no 'step' between the cowl and the nacelle, which you would get if you just stuck the larger cowl on the existing nacelle... I think. I'm not sure how much larger the diameter of the R-2600 is than the R-1830.

That Super Cat is awesome, by the way! If you're up for the extra work, the end result will be great... and unique!

Kevin

Thanks for that great ref Kevin! I've sent off for another PBY ref book......maybe learn something!

Bondo! Welcome aboard! (Finally!)

We have 22 builders now! I am exceedingly gratified! Thank You All! I will try and recruit some more. I've had some PM feelers, mainly from people needing to finish current GB's. I hope the belated start date doesn't turn some folks off. The reasoning was to allow those who needed it time to finish commitments. If there seems to be a problem, please post and maybe something can change!

I broke the main hull parts away from sprue over the weekend for the Pearl Harbor GB. I'll avoid posting pics until this GB gets underway, but I will report some things that I find or learn. For instance, the attach points of the sprues to the fuse parts on the Revell Cat vary from normal to 1/4 and 3/8 inch wide! Clip carefully! Also, a little bit of interior clean-up may be required.

Has anyone given any thought to a 'subtext' theme for this GB? Such as.....in the FAW GB.....we drink and play pirates!

James Bond girls are interesting.....but aside from adding the various Catwoman villains, I can't put a finger on anything.

Thanks again,

YBD

Nam- I would be OK with moving the start date up a bit, as I am very excited to start on mine.  I wonder if the generous build time frame would still allow those who wish to wait a bit ample time to finish other projects up before starting.  Just my ...Your thoughts?

As for a subtheme, my guess is that one will show itself eventually.  I really can't think of one off-hand either...  

Hi and Thanks Frankie! I'm not averse to moving it up.....let's test the waters and see!

Guess who was at my buddy's (new porch) door this a.m? The Town building inspector! Some nosy type had called and left a msg over the w/e. We got the siding on the new thing by last night. (Whew!)

The guy obviously noted the new pressure treated underpinnings, but he just kicked a couple things and pronounced it sound and winked at my pal. Permit? Puh-lease!!!!

Sooooooo sorry I didn't hook up with the guys at SYRCON21......but as the Yankees say these days....there's always next year!

I was really hoping to get this PC in the shop over this w/e so I can start posting pics again. Was not to be. I have to drop it during this week so I shall be away for a couple days. I can't even use the 'turn off the computer' button to work! Have to shut down manually. Scary!

The build seems to have taken off now!

nam,

I'm with Frank I would not mind seeing the start date move up a little bit as well.

Are you going to the Poughkeepsie HVHMG Show this upcoming Saturday?

Cheers,

Thom

Would the end date still be the same?

I have 2 I need to finish before I get started on the PBY.

Josh

I wiki'd the two engines and I came up with 48" dia. for the 1830 and 55" for the 2600. Don't know how much different the cowls would be. That would theorettically be only a 3.5" diff all the way around. Just pulled out my B-25 and PBY and my initial thoughts are that I don't think it would take very much work to graft the B-25 cowls onto the PBY. They aren't that much different in size. I think the B-25 cowls are just a bit longer is all.

I don't mind if you guys move up the start date at all. I still won't probably start my build until after the first of the year anyway do to other builds. Watching other builds is inspiring to me to get crackin' and finish other builds so I can start.