Floats and Boats GB 2022, extended to end of 2023

Pits look good - nice added details.  Looks like you're ready to paint!

Sarge, kdog and BK, fantastic work ya’ll!

Both pits are completed, front one got home made seat belts

And the rear pit got the resin MG.

Nothing like spending 3 hours cutting up the tape for masking both canopies

Looks like painting is around the corner.

Sergeant

Thank you, Brandon. After I tried hand painting the cockpit seat belts and harness, I decided to use photo-etched parts instead. Eduard made a photo-etched set of seat belts and harness for the 1/48 Monogram PBY Catalina, but they were discontinued, and I could not find anyone online with stock.

My friend Jack Geratic discovered that Eduard used the same seat belt design for a Revell Consolidated B-24D, and I was able to find that fret. Since the pilot and copilots' seats are about the only interior feature that can be seen through the cockpit canopy, I wanted them to look as realistic as possible.

I disassembled the cockpit with CA remover, then stripped the acrylic paint off with VMS Clean Slate 2.0 and gave the parts a good scrub with Dawn liquid dish soap. I used a Dremel tool and jewelers files to remove the molded belts. Then gave the seats a good brushing with a German 10mm brass wire brush that left a soft fabric like finish on the plastic seat cushions. And finally, after a few hours rework I am ready to primer the parts again.

Harold

 

 

BK

keavdog

Here's where I'm at... I think I need to let the floats set up for a good week or so, they or so spindly.   Got a smudge on the canopy which I haven't done in years... arg, this kit is giving me a bit of grief.  Rotor is just set in position, not fixed yet. 

 

 

 

 

BK

Here's where I'm at... I think I need to let the floats set up for a good week or so, they or so spindly.   Got a smudge on the canopy which I haven't done in years... arg, this kit is giving me a bit of grief.  Rotor is just set in position, not fixed yet. 

Thank you, Brandon. After I tried hand painting the cockpit seat belts and harness, I decided to use photo-etched parts instead. Eduard made a photo-etched set of seat belts and harness for the 1/48 Monogram PBY Catalina, but they were discontinued, and I could not find anyone online with stock.

My friend Jack Geratic discovered that Eduard used the same seat belt design for a Revell Consolidated B-24D, and I was able to find that fret. Since the pilot and copilots' seats are about the only interior feature that can be seen through the cockpit canopy, I wanted them to look as realistic as possible.

I disassembled the cockpit with CA remover, then stripped the acrylic paint off with VMS Clean Slate 2.0 and gave the parts a good scrub with Dawn liquid dish soap. I used a Dremel tool and jewelers files to remove the molded belts. Then gave the seats a good brushing with a German 10mm brass wire brush that left a soft fabric like finish on the plastic seat cushions. And finally, after a few hours rework I am ready to primer the parts again.

Harold

Sergeant

Brandon, Plasticjunkie, Helo H-34 and Keavdog you are all making great progress. I fell behind a little but did get some work done the last few days.

Below is a sample picture of a super cool website that shows several color pictures of a cutaway PBY-5 Catalina. The primary interior color of this World War II flying boat was Chromate Green Primer. That makes sense when you consider the aircraft spent most of its operational life in water. Another interesting fact is the PBY Catalina did not have a traditional floor like most airplanes, it had removable deck plates, bilges and a bilge pump to remove interior water like a Navy ship.

https://worldairphotography.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/consolidated-pby-5b-flying-boat/

Harold

 

 

BK

Brandon, Plasticjunkie, Helo H-34 and Keavdog you are all making great progress. I fell behind a little but did get some work done the last few days.

Below is a sample picture of a super cool website that shows several color pictures of a cutaway PBY-5 Catalina. The primary interior color of this World War II flying boat was Chromate Green Primer. That makes sense when you consider the aircraft spent most of its operational life in water. Another interesting fact is the PBY Catalina did not have a traditional floor like most airplanes, it had removable deck plates, bilges and a bilge pump to remove interior water like a Navy ship.

https://worldairphotography.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/consolidated-pby-5b-flying-boat/

Harold

keavdog

Some progress

 

 

BK

Some progress

 Brandon, that plane is really coming along - dont get distracted! :)

Plastic, cool looking plane, I dont think I've actually seen that one before.

Thanks BK. This kit has been touch and go. Very vague instructions, no mounting points or tabs for the floats or wings, canopies suck, very thick and needing lots of sanding and trimming for them to properly fit.

On top of these shortcomings, the plastic fuselage and float parts fit is not the best either. I almost shelved it but it seems to be falling in line.

plasticjunkie

The Seamew is taking shape. Kind of odd looking wingtips on this one. The floats went on, wings, tail feathers, bottom nose resin part was attached and the front firewall air intakes were drilled out. The nice resin engine is barely visible.

 

BK

Helo H-34

I thought I would airbrush the wing and tail planes / fin leading edges flat black first

I got a bit side tracked and starting looking through the kit stash at wanting to do another flying boat 

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself , there's still plenty to do on the seamaster but I'm quite keen to continue on with the build theme .

there's monogram's SA-16B Albatross with RVHP resin shorter wings / stabilizer and tail planes to build a UF-1 Whidbey Island Albatross

Monogram only supply two cockpit seats , the rest of the interior I'll have to scratch build , I have the Steve Ginter HU-16 book for reference , so that will be very helpfull

There's an Airfix DHC-2 Beaver with floats and suprisingly a good amount of interior detail . The U.S. Army decals still look to be okay

Academy's PBY-5A Black Cat looks like a fun build but disappointingly no cockpit interior other than two seats 

Squadrons walk around book has a few cockpit photos , scratch building could be challenging to say the least .

Lastly there's Hasegawa's SP-5B Marlin and again only two seats supplied for the cockpit , more scratch building a console and control column and wheel

There's some nice after market decals for the Marlin , I like the sharks teeth version .

Anyone have a preference in what they might want to see as my next build ?

 

BK

The Seamew is taking shape. Kind of odd looking wingtips on this one. The floats went on, wings, tail feathers, bottom nose resin part was attached and the front firewall air intakes were drilled out. The nice resin engine is barely visible.

I vote Marlin as I don't think I've seen one built.  They are all great subjects though so you can't go wrong.

I thought I would airbrush the wing and tail planes / fin leading edges flat black first

I got a bit side tracked and starting looking through the kit stash at wanting to do another flying boat 

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself , there's still plenty to do on the seamaster but I'm quite keen to continue on with the build theme .

there's monogram's SA-16B Albatross with RVHP resin shorter wings / stabilizer and tail planes to build a UF-1 Whidbey Island Albatross

Monogram only supply two cockpit seats , the rest of the interior I'll have to scratch build , I have the Steve Ginter HU-16 book for reference , so that will be very helpfull

There's an Airfix DHC-2 Beaver with floats and suprisingly a good amount of interior detail . The U.S. Army decals still look to be okay

Academy's PBY-5A Black Cat looks like a fun build but disappointingly no cockpit interior other than two seats 

Squadrons walk around book has a few cockpit photos , scratch building could be challenging to say the least .

Lastly there's Hasegawa's SP-5B Marlin and again only two seats supplied for the cockpit , more scratch building a console and control column and wheel

There's some nice after market decals for the Marlin , I like the sharks teeth version .

Anyone have a preference in what they might want to see as my next build ?

plasticjunkie

This kit is simply frustrating to work on. Nothing fits without sanding and scraping plastic. The resin pits will barely be visible because the clear parts are one piece and VERY thick. I thought about cutting the canopy sections to leave them open but they are too thick and will not slide back and properly stay down. I have spent a good 2 hours sanding, cutting and measuring to get a half decen canopy fit. 

I will polish the canopies with Novus and then dip them in Future to improve clarity and transparency. Hopefully that will help out in being able to see the pit details.

 

 

BK

This kit is simply frustrating to work on. Nothing fits without sanding and scraping plastic. The resin pits will barely be visible because the clear parts are one piece and VERY thick. I thought about cutting the canopy sections to leave them open but they are too thick and will not slide back and properly stay down. I have spent a good 2 hours sanding, cutting and measuring to get a half decen canopy fit. 

I will polish the canopies with Novus and then dip them in Future to improve clarity and transparency. Hopefully that will help out in being able to see the pit details.

Helo H-34

I've had a busy week at work and haven't had any time at the bench this week .

I did order some acrylic paint from an online hobby store for the seamaster and only some of it came in the post during the week . I stopped at another hobby store on the way home today and could only get limilted jars of another brand . I think I have enough to airbrush with 

Definitely masking this evening and painting first thing in the morning .

 

BK

I've had a busy week at work and haven't had any time at the bench this week .

I did order some acrylic paint from an online hobby store for the seamaster and only some of it came in the post during the week . I stopped at another hobby store on the way home today and could only get limilted jars of another brand . I think I have enough to airbrush with 

Definitely masking this evening and painting first thing in the morning .

plasticjunkie

Lots of gret work going on with the entries. I finally painted both pits and the IP will be next. 

Also painted the radios at the rear pit location. They look big in the picture but are actually small.

 

BK

Lots of gret work going on with the entries. I finally painted both pits and the IP will be next. 

Also painted the radios at the rear pit location. They look big in the picture but are actually small.

BrandonK

Ya, I got it, just being lazy. Here it is. And thanks for the outstanding effort in correcting and making it better.

Harold

Ya, I got it, just being lazy. Here it is. And thanks for the outstanding effort in correcting  and making it better.

BK

BrandonK

If anyone has downloaded the badge, please delete it. A new badge is being worked on and will be ready soon. 

Thanks,

BK

 

If anyone has downloaded the badge, please delete it. A new badge is being worked on and will be ready soon. 

Thanks,

BK

BrandonK

Sure, assuming that the PM's are even working. BK Edit: they are not working. What's you Email?

Yes pm's are still not working. Has been reported for a while but nothing has been done to correct the problem. 

Sergeant

Helo H-34 you've made great progress, I look forward to seeing your SeaMaster painted.

Keavdog, clear plastic parts always stress me little for one reason or another.

This morning I completed rough-in of the Belcher Bits resin tail. I followed the instructions, and everything worked out. The new tail has a realistic profile, but it's from the top and bottom where you can see a big difference. Next step is the interior because the new tail cannot be added until the hull is glued together.

Harold

 

 

 

 

BK