Yep, that's definitely an eye-catching Beaufighter! Love the paint scheme.

I'll echo Gamera with the nice work on the canopy as well. Always a bit scary cutting those vacform ones out, but that looks to have come out OK.

darrenshinn

Harold - have you found a ready-made colour for the blue grey, or are you mixing your own? I went with a mix of Tamiya paints from Doogs Models build of an F4U Corsair. It needed some lightening for scale, but seemed "close enough" to my eyes, and any over-lightening could be written off as sun bleaching. (Mix is 80% XF-18 Medium Blue, 18% XF-12 J.N. Grey and 2% XF-71 Cockpit Green).

Darren, I did a 180 on the Catalina paint scheme. The RAAF aircraft serial number Jack Geratic and I decided to represent was A24-17 which according to the paint chart below should be the blue gray colour we have been talking about with a black (night colour) bottom. However, DK Decals has made a mistake, A24-17 never had this paint scheme.

After research we learned that A24-17 was diverted from an RAF contract with Consolidated Aircraft Manufacturing in San Diego, California that specified a Temperate Sea Scheme (TSS) made with camouflage pattern of dark slate grey which is greyish-green and extra dark sea grey which is dark grey. The underneath was Sky type S paint colour. This aircraft also had RAF markings until it arrived in Rathmines, New South Wales, Australia on 22/10/41 where the RAAF serial number was applied.

A24-17 was assigned to 20 Squadron 03/01/42, then transferred to 11 Squadron 09/07/42 still in TSS paint. Then sometime between January and March 1943 was repainted in RAAF Dark Ocean Blue (DOB) paint scheme and transferred to No. 3 Operational Training Unit (OTU) on 29/03/43. A24-17 had the RAF Temperate Sea Scheme for several months while still on active duty.

The following information describes how the RAF Temperate Sea Scheme and RAAF Dark Ocean Blue scheme looked during the Second World War.

Harold - I laughed at the comment about the later deliveries (A24 69 to A24-119): "PBY-5A amphibians were stripped of their landing gear". That explains what my Catalina's been trying to tell me ! The kit knows it shouldn't have landing gear . (Based on that reference material, if/when I go back to it, I'll seal up the landing gear bays and look at adding some beaching gear)

Which scheme are you going to go with?

darrenshinn

Which scheme are you going to go with?

Yesterday I received the TSS Vallejo paint I ordered and to accomplish the correct markings will use a combination of DK Decals for A24-17 and 1/48 RAF Catalina decals ordered from Above and Below Scale Graphics in Victoria, Canada.

I also completed assembly of the wing yesterday and was pleased to see it is as straight and strong as 26-inch wingspan can be without the struts or spars. I found an instruction sheet online for a 2014 Revell 1/48 PBY-5A Catalina which showed step by step assembly of the wing that I think made a difference in how it looks after assembly.

Temperate Sea Scheme - Vallejo Model Air Paint #71.309 Dark Slate Grey is a greyish green colour, #71.110 Dark Grey is Extra Dark Sea Grey (EDSG) and #71.302 is Sky Type S for the underneath colour.

Sorry for late responce but this VERY slow p/c of mine drives me insane .

Patrick. Nice work on the Brewster its a neat plane.

Piers. Awesome paint a very eye catching beaufighter.

Harold. The PBY looks great so far so good.

68GT. Cool camo on that spitfire not to often seen .

crown r n7

Sorry for late responce but this VERY slow p/c of mine drives me insane .

Patrick. Nice work on the Brewster its a neat plane.

Piers. Awesome paint a very eye catching beaufighter.

Harold. The PBY looks great so far so good.

68GT. Cool camo on that spitfire not to often seen .

 

Yesterday I applied the first coat of dark slate grey which is greyish green, a nice colour of green, I think. I have let is dry for 24-hours in a warm room, so it should be ready for finish sanding with a 3000-grit sanding sponge today. Then I will apply a second coat of dark slate grey and let it dry another 24-hours.

I ordered more AK Camouflage Elastic Putty for airbrushing that will arrive in a few days, so I'm not in a hurry to start the next paint colour. I used this putty on my Spitfire and really like the product. You are supposed to be able to reuse the putty, but I decided to start with a fresh tin or two on this Catalina.

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

The winjeel canopy has been dipped in Future and is being left to dry for a week before masking, so i will switch to other builds.

Harold, super to see some colour on the Cat. That was really good research on the Catalina schemes, what is the reference you are using there?

And how many of the Model air paints do you think you will get through? It will take a few to cover all of the Cat. I did go through four Gunze bottles trying to get the yellow right on the Beaufighter.

That massive wing is sitting very nicely on the fuselage too.

Harold: Sorry to hear you had to change direction at such a late date. But the results look good!

lostagain

Harold, super to see some colour on the Cat. That was really good research on the Catalina schemes, what is the reference you are using there? And how many of the Model air paints do you think you will get through? It will take a few to cover all of the Cat. I did go through four Gunze bottles trying to get the yellow right on the Beaufighter.

Cliff it was hard for me to change direction because I had my mind set on the blue gray paint scheme and when I saw that DK Decals was using a blue grey scheme I went ahead and purchased the paint.

However, Jack Geratic in Ontario who has been my build partner on this Catalina project from the start kept asking me to use the RAF Temperate Sea scheme and finally he resorted to providing a chronological order of events leading up to how serial number A24-17 ending up in RAAF service. Cliff, I had tunnel-vision for a while, once I took the blinders off, I could see what Jack was saying is right. I also didn't want to do another multi-colour camouflage paint job like I did on the Spitfire. But I got with the program and purchase different paint.

Now you may be wondering what is so special about serial number A24-17. It was attacked by a U.S. Navy fighter aircraft because the 'extra dark sea grey' piant had faded and the red and blue roundel on the top of the wing was mistaken for a Japanese aircraft. No one was killed, but what happened caused the RAAF to change the center of their war time roundel from red to white.

A24-17 is also believed to be the first RAAF aircraft to receive the dark ocean blue (DOB) paint scheme in early 1943. The only reason we didn't use that scheme is right after A24-17 was repainted it was transferred to No. 3 Operational Training Unit, and we wanted to represent the aircraft while on active patrol in the south pacific.

Piers, I should have provided a reference for the information I posted, thank you for asking. Jack found this article, don't ask me how. He is one of the best researchers I have ever known. The document is called 'ADF Serials Telegraph Newsletter, Volume 10 - Articles for those interested in Australian Military Aircraft History and Serials'. The PBY article starts on page 33 and continues to page 107. The link below will take you to the article and provide a reader that you must have to view the article online. The reader is free unless you want to upgrade the service.

https://issuu.com/adfserials/docs/adf_telegraph_vol_10_issue_1_autumn_2020

Below are pictures of what the cover and pages 32 and 33 look like.

Piers, I addressed your question about paint usage at the end of this post.

Yesterday I completed the first phase of camouflage painting with a final coat of dark slate grey. The next color is extra dark sea grey which will be applied as close as possible in a pattern like the Temperate Sea Scheme camouflage shown in my April 18th post.

What you see in the photographs below is five coats of paint (two primer and three finish coats) of Vallejo Model Air paint that have been applied in thin layers at 20psi, from a distance of 8-inches (20-cm).

My objective in this painting sequence is to preserve as much detail as I can and still have good paint coverage.

To apply five light coats of paint to the 16-inch-long hull I have used approximately one 17ml bottle of Vallejo Surface Primer and one and a half 17ml bottles of Dark Slate Grey. The problem with knowing exactly how much paint I'm using is the paint cup on my spray gun holds 130ml so each time I use the spray gun I pour an entire 17ml bottle in the cup. When I'm finished painting, I empty the paint cup back into the paint bottle.

G'day all, 

Just wishing you all a great ANZAC day.

25th April is the date in 1915 when the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps stormed Gallipoli beach for the start of a gruesome campaign.

It is a day of commemoration of the sacrifice made by the men and women of our combined countries and services, across all conflicts.

Fittingly I am in Albany, Western Australia, the last Australian port seen by many service people as they shipped out to Europe and Africa in WWI.

Lest we forget

Hey Piers and Ferg: Happy ANZAC day guys- if a bit beleted. Sorry, you guys are about 12-14 hours ahead of us- it's still the 25th here. God bless all the Aussies and Kiwis who served! 

Harold: Keeps going so well, great work! 

Gamera

Hey Piers and Ferg: Happy ANZAC day guys- if a bit beleted. Sorry, you guys are about 12-14 hours ahead of us- it's still the 25th here. God bless all the Aussies and Kiwis who served! 

Harold: Keeps going so well, great work! 

 

ANZAC Day - Remembering Gallipoli, April 25, 1915, and all the battles Australia and New Zealand have fought together as Brothers-in-Arms.

Second Boer War (1899 - 1902)

Boxer Rebellion (1900 - 1901)

World War 1 (1914 - 1918)

Russian Civil War (1918 - 1920)

World War 2 (1939 - 1945)

Korean War (1950 - 1953)

Malayan Emergency (1950 - 1960)

Borneo Confrontation (1963 - 1966)

Vietnam War (1965 - 1973)

Gulf War (1990 - 1991)

War in Afghanistan (2001 - 2021)

Iraq War (2003 - 2009)

Operation Anode (2003 - 2013)

Operation Astute (2006 -2013)

Operation Ocean Shield (2009 - 2016)

American-led Intervention in Syrian Civil War (2014 - 2017)

War on ISIL (2014 - Present)

Nearly completed the Temperate Sea Scheme camouflage on the hull, there are a few places that need touch-up. The next colour is Sky Type S on the hull bottom and underneath the wings.

Harold

Hi Harold,

The cat is looking great. It does seem an out of place scheme for the north of Australia, but as you said most were painted over quickly. Seen on my phone the EDSG looks a little purple, is that right of just the display at my end?

The Vallejo air has laid down beautifully, do you use it as it comes, or a bit of thinner - required for their metallics.

That is a great reference for your build. I know I have used the adf-serials.com.au as a start off to look at individual RAAF or RAN aircraft, but it's not as detailed as that.

lostagain

Hi Harold,

The cat is looking great. It does seem an out of place scheme for the north of Australia, but as you said most were painted over quickly. Seen on my phone the EDSG looks a little purple, is that right of just the display at my end?

The Vallejo air has laid down beautifully, do you use it as it comes, or a bit of thinner - required for their metallics.

That is a great reference for your build. I know I have used the adf-serials.com.au as a start off to look at individual RAAF or RAN aircraft, but it's not as detailed as that.

 

Jack Geratic provided this illustration of an RAF Temperate Sea Scheme.

Thanks Harold, 

It can get frustrating when you take photos of your model and it looks different to what you see in front of you.

That does look like what I would expect

lostagain

Thanks Harold, 

It can get frustrating when you take photos of your model and it looks different to what you see in front of you.

That does look like what I would expect

 

It certainly gives you great results Harold. I have to develop my consistency on painting. I paint out in my shed which is prone to dust and temperature and humidity variation.

lostagain

It certainly gives you great results Harold. I have to develop my consistency on painting. I paint out in my shed which is prone to dust and temperature and humidity variation.

 

Y

Sergeant

 Jack Geratic provided this illustration of an RAF Temperate Sea Scheme

 

Great paintwork Harold, your preparation work pays off again.

Your discussion of painting booths was interesting, didn't realise you could get them working both ways, i always figured they were negative to draw the solvents away; like you I do use acrylics (still not healthy to breathe in of course) and so I am more focused on the dust in the shed. My shed is unpowered so I have to run power cord out each time - and I am not going to get it powered until we have finished the garden, but that's another story...

Now I am back from vacation, the vac form canopy has been masked and installed. I used tabs of Dymo tape to keep it in position while the white glue set.

After that, I faired in with filler and put the interior colour black over the framing. Next it will be a coat of grey primer to show any points for further action. I have also got the wing lights in place. I was aiming to do the wing lights too, but the base of the lights is wider than the leading edge, and way bigger than reference photos, so I will have to stretch some clear sprue for that.

lostagain

Great paintwork Harold, your preparation work pays off again.

Your discussion of painting booths was interesting, didn't realise you could get them working both ways, i always figured they were negative to draw the solvents away; like you I do use acrylics (still not healthy to breathe in of course) and so I am more focused on the dust in the shed. My shed is unpowered so I have to run power cord out each time - and I am not going to get it powered until we have finished the garden, but that's another story...

Now I am back from vacation, the vac form canopy has been masked and installed. I used tabs of Dymo tape to keep it in position while the white glue set.

After that, I faired in with filler and put the interior colour black over the framing. Next it will be a coat of grey primer to show any points for further action. I have also got the wing lights in place. I was aiming to do the wing lights too, but the base of the lights is wider than the leading edge, and way bigger than reference photos, so I will have to stretch some clear sprue for that.

 

Your resin model is coming along great, and the canopy looks perfect. I have never worked with a vacuum-formed canopy, so I will be watching to see how it turns out. The body work I see in your photographs looks very good, the primer coat may reveal some areas that need attention, but it looks like you did a great job so far.

Harold

Harold, your PBY just keeps looking better each post-great paint job!  And thanks for the info on spray booths.

Piers-you're a braver man than I-I've worked with vacum formed canopies on a few occassions and it was not a good experience.  And I've not been brave enough to try a 'limited run' kit-yours is coming together quite nicely.

Been pretty much watching the Kittyhawk gather dust-keep hoping the cat will finish it one night while I'm asleep.  But seriously, first set of decals broke up, even after topcoat-found second set-coated with Microscale coating-better but still the red 'U' broke up on one side and was not 'adjustable' on the other....but I'm going to live with it. 

Found some canopy masks on eBay at a reasonable price so I'm waiting for those to arrive-had hoped they would be here today but....

Anyway, here she is with clear coat & decals-not sure if I'm going to add the small info decals-maybe. Hope to have her flat coated, oil dot filtered and done by next weekend.

bobbaily

Harold, your PBY just keeps looking better each post-great paint job! And thanks for the info on spray booths.

Harold

At Jack's recommendation I reworked the Temperate Sea Scheme camouflage pattern to better represent the lines that would have been seen on A24-17 in 1942. I wanted a soft edge on the pattern lines, but at the same time I wanted the pattern better defined. Finding a balance required trial and error. Painting camouflage is also challenging for me because it requires more artistic skill and I tend to be mechanically oriented.

Jack Geratic and I have worked on this project for five months, he is the researcher, the reviewer, my sounding board. Jack often makes me see things I would have overlooked without his knowledge and insight. I am the mechanic, the plastic-surgeon, the painter, but I have learned more with Jack's help than I would have ever learned on my own.

The hull painting is almost ready for a gloss coat in preparation for decals. Once the hull, canopies and decals are finished I will go back and work on the wing.

Harold

Nearly there. Wehave been away on holiday, so I have had to do a bit of reading to catch up.

Patrick: Your Buffalo looks fantastic. All that glazing scares the pants of me, but you did a great job. Love the camo and weathering.

Harold: The paintwork on your Cat is superb and the research incredible, you have a great mate in Jack! Thank you very much for the offer of the cannon for the Spit. As I was away I didn't see it until today, but I think I got away with it in the end.

Piers: The Beau is sublime! A very, very impressive model and the Winjeel is coming along nicely.

Bob: That's a bugger about the decals, but the new set looks great! Fantastic paint job too.

This was a complicated project. At times I loved it, and at others, well I'm surprised that I persevered. Apart from various construction issues, things constantly breaking and getting lost, the paint job gave me great grief. I tried out new techniques such as dot filters and washes, but did not get the results I wanted. I also had problems with the Tamiya gloss and flat varnishes. The gloss seemed very flat and took a couple of attempts. The flat came out more satin. Still I learnt a lot and overall had a lot of fun, although I think it's a 2 yarder! 

So , I tried to represent a weathered appearance, (some of these aircraft weathered very heavily). Anyway, for all it's faults, I'm calling it done. My first completed GB, how appropriate it's an Aussie GB.

Thanks for all your work and encouragement Piers, it's been fun and educational. Thanks also to the rest of you for all the tips and support.

Cheers, Ferg.

Piers: Great job there on masking that canopy. I've worked with vacuum formed canopies on some limited run kits- they're okay but not my favorite thing. 

Bob: Sharp work! I'm looking forward to seeing her finished! The decals look fine from here!  

Harold: The camo looks perfect! 

Ferg: Looks pretty darn good to me! I'd say she's at least a one metre model! 

All joking aside, nice work! I think we're all our cruelest critics, I'd be proud to turn out such a sharp looking Spit!