BlrwestSiR Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 The pilot figures looks fantastic. Can't believe they're 1/48! Carl 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Wow, you did marvels with these pilots Chris, they do look very natural in their poses and are painted very convincingly. Cheers Rob 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted February 20, 2023 Author Share Posted February 20, 2023 Gentlemen, thank you!! In 1/48 scale the figures are so small so it is more showing the gist of what they pilots are doing. Thanks for the comments!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 Chris Aces for sure on working out an ingenious solution to the cockpit figures and they do look quite natural, seated in their flying positions. Nice to approach, going one step at a time and you're starting to get the juices flowing about adding a figure or two to my next build. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy1 VX-4 Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Those figures are great 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 Those are looking awfully good Chris. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 Thanks gents! Took a break for a week to try and get caught up on other things, but hopefully will be a bit more consistent for a while. Nice to get back to the bench actually. Working on both ends of the plane tonight, After getting the resin tail attached and blended into the fuselage, time to work on the rudder. Cleaned up the join as that is where the pour plugs are (sorry no picture of that). As you can see, the fitting is VERY tight - too much so - and big gaps. There are a number of points that need to be cleaned up on that resin tail. Have not tried to fit the elevators yet. A little bit of sanding and things look a bit better. More sanding resulted in a better fit. After getting the rudder fitted to the tail and ready for paint, moved back to the nose of the Catalina. After taking a mm or two out of the pilots, the canopy fitted better, but was sitting proud towards the rear. Had to do a bit of sanding on the bulkhead behind the pilots. Now the canopy fits pretty much flush to the fuselage. The nose turret fits pretty well. The Eduard masks are only for the observation nose glass, not the 'bug-eye' nose turret. So this is just ZM tape cut to match the panels on the clear plastic. But yeah, hamfisted sanding the bulkhead and knocked over one of the pilots: Drunken pilot! Did some test fitting to see what the waist blisters would look like and how they would work with the windows retracted. This is going to work! There are not really any positive attachment points inside the blisters for the retractable window so it will be interesting to see how the windows will ultimately get attached. But there is plenty of clearance for the waist gunner. So that is fun - Should work out! And since the rudder can be dry-fitted, maybe its time to see the silhouette of the big bird. Not sure the resin tail makes that much of a difference without a direct comparison. Maybe will pull out the 1/72 Cat in the display case to compare. The tail looks almost as big as one on a Helldiver! More to come! Chris 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Chris Terrific progress on the Big Cat. Lot of tweaking and sanding did the trick and the rudder and fits so very well now. After having gone through what seemed liked endless days of masking on the Kingfisher, I know how you must feel seeing all the glass on and looking so good with the masks in place - thumbs up on such a tedious procedure. You're getting closer and closer to priming and the paint shop. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 Thanks Peter. Can't wait to get the airbrush out again. Now that the canopy is 'fixed' the nose is close. Have assembled the Radar dome and will need to paint that before attaching it to the fuselage - trying to paint the undersides and rear will not be too easy once it is attached. Also need to get my butt working on the engines and get those cowlings painted so still some work to do. I'm still a little fearful of attaching the wing. On the 1/72 Cat the wing supports were too short by a few mm and it took a lot of work to keep the wing level. On this bird, I'm hoping the job will be easier because if not, the out of alignment will be glaring. Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Stunning Chris, she a large lady. When I did my Lysander in 48th I read every where that the struts were in the wrong place. So I moved the location holes to find out they were in the right place all the time……this build is going to be gorgeous…… 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Chris Just take your time, you're making terrific progress. Old kits have a lot of extra work as we use to accept so much as acceptable as compared to today and now having to make all those adjustments is a lot of work. You're over the hump and on your way to the paint shop in the not to distant future. 😉 I'm sure with some test fitting, the wing will not have the same issues as your 1/72 Cat did. 🤞 I always look at once all the glass is fitted and masked, the toughest part of the build is over and the fun begins: air brushing and decals. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 Thanks guys!! Test fitting will definitely be the order of the day. The Cat has moulded in pockets for the struts so worst case may need to add some material if needed. Or they may fit perfectly! Who knows? And I agree, once the canopies are in place and painted, definitely can see the finish line from there! Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 Wow, Chris, Pilot, crew, and bird all coming along fantastically. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 That's some great progress with the Cat, Chris. The pilots look perfectly well, drunken or not and the blisters are great with the figures in. This will be absolutely stunning when finished. Cheers Rob 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 1, 2023 Author Share Posted March 1, 2023 Thanks Gary and Rob. I appreciate it!. I'm happy the bird is coming together but wish I had more time on the workbench. Hopefully this weekend. Time to get back to the spray booth and get the clear parts painted and attached. Then there is that wing... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belugawhaleman Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 Great work so far Chris. Figures look great and I'm anticipating a great finish for your Catalina. As this is one of my favorite aircraft. I remember seeing the Catalina used by Jacques Cousteau in his tv specials in the 1970s as a kid. Always liked this bird. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy1 VX-4 Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 1 hour ago, belugawhaleman said: Great work so far Chris. Figures look great and I'm anticipating a great finish for your Catalina. As this is one of my favorite aircraft. I remember seeing the Catalina used by Jacques Cousteau in his tv specials in the 1970s as a kid. Always liked this bird. I remember Jacques Cousteau PBY flying over my elementary school when I was a kid! Such a graceful looking aircraft this kit coming along real lovely too 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 JC had a Catalina?!?!! I'll have to look that one up! I watched his shows all the time, and started diving back in 1972 after watching his dives. Very cool!! On to the build: So, the resin tail is the gift that keeps on, well, 'GIVING' is not exactly the right phrase. Finally test fitted the elevators (after clipping off the locating tabs, per the Belcher Bits instructions) and found the profiles of the tail and the elevators are VASTLY different. Yay. The original tail has grooves to fit the elevators. The resin tail's surfaces are flat. This is a pretty big difference and the fit of the elevators, after correcting their profile, is not terrific. The tail surfaces are curved, it is just that the resin tail's curve does not quite match that of the styrene pieces. Something that will take a bit of thought on how best to adapt. An additional challenge is that after having to cut the tabs that were on the elevators, the entire mating surface is this mis-matched curve. It will be necessary to carefully fit the elevators in order to make a strong join. And as with the rest of the build, the elevators are not small. Oh yeah, started work on the engines as well! The cowlings are pretty tight, so not a lot will be seen. Started with a base of aluminum, then did a black wash over the cylinder heads to pull out the detail. Painted the push rods with a gloss black and the covers with a medium/dark gray. Tried two things here I have not tried before: Tried the Molotow Blackliner pens on the pushrods but found the 'ink' or whatever it is, tends to bead-up on the existing silver paint. Really beads up on bare plastic. And the black is very flat. Then was going to use the Liquid Chrome Molotow pen to pick out the bolts on the cover, but the point is far too big for that task and I wasn't willing to take a razor knife to cut it down. So not great progress this evening. Sometimes that happens! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 The Catalina is progressing along nicely Chris. If I recall, the main wing is a fairly solid fit and I didn't have any alignment issues with it. For the tailplanes, it may be a good idea to run a brass rod and pin them to get a more solid mount. Revell did a boxing of Cousteau's PBY in 1/72 along with his Calypso. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Chris Making some mighty nice progress and yes, the resin tail does seem to be the gift that keeps giving. The horizontal stabilizer fit is surely going to need a lot of TLC, a brass rod or two for strength at the attachment points and the miss-match of the curvature is going to take a lot of thinking. No question you will work it all out - just a lot of work getting it all to blend together. Sometimes you wonder what the AM makers were thinking and if they ever did a few test fits before selling the AM parts. Engines are looking good and it sure seems the old school way of hand painting the details is the best way to go. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottsGT Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Co-Pilot fall asleep or is it just cuddle time? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Bromance in the cockpit Excellent work Chris, your note about JC brought back lots of memories. My favourite shows back then. Cheers Martin 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandy1 VX-4 Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 Jacques Cousteau Son Was actually killed in that PBY 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 Whoa, I dont think I've ever seen that aircraft, or that model for that matter. I didn't realize one of his son's was killed in the plane. ugh... Thanks for sharing. Chris 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 Quick update, and sorry but no photos, yet. Working on getting the parts ready for paint, starting with the cowlings and the props. Want to get paint on the clear parts so figuring out the strategy for how to deal with those blisters and the windows in the blisters. The props were a lot of work with LOTS of clean-up and mold lines to deal with and an injector mark on the inside of each prop blade. Each prop also had a line to designate where the yellow tips go. Now gone. Amazingly, Monogram did a really nice job with where the sprue attachments points are on the engine cowlings : NOT on panel lines! So much easier to deal with. The other work area was working with the elevators and the resin tail. working with the elevators I think the profiles match with the tail now. I could not figure out how to hold them in place and take a picture, without a ton of tape. The tail is wider than the kit tail, which means it will be sticking out a bit wider than the kit tail/rudder combination. We will have to see how much of an issue that becomes - and after trying to find some pictures showing how wide the tail/rudder actually is. Sorry for the lack of progress! Chris 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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