Wally's Pacific Build 1 - 6 (FB) Squadron NZ4013 XX-O Dumbo

Now SeaBees would be good, and pertinent to PTO as well. Good luck with these Wally . . .

David

yes, this is a good one, love the kiwi history!
Grant

Nice choice Wally, I'll be watching this one keenly. I've the same kit & some Aeromaster decals tucked away, somewhere.
Steve.

Nice choice Wally, Be watching this one, Especially with water going on I would like to see your technique
Tiger

Nice ideas Wally. Being a plane guy myself I liked the Kittyhawk and Cat Ideas, but, CB's, what a concept...great idea and a different/fresh one at that. One we don't see a lot of...my vote, CEEBEE's!

D2

Cheers guys.
D2, yes, Seabees is very very tempting. Their construction feats were prodigious during WW2.
I'll do a feasibility study starting with a search for what figures I might use in which scales.
Wally.

Wally, this will be a very cool dio. Look forward to what you come up with.

D2

I haven't actually started yet as I'm still tied up with my Hasegawa 1/32 P-40 Kittyhawk commission build but for PBY Catalina lovers everywhere follow this link (and the links therein) to see what I won't be doing with my 1/72nd Academy PBY-5 but would love to be (even half-way) good enough to do one day with a 1/48 version.
This is scratch building to blow your mind (in my humble opinion) -
www.ipmsdeutschland.de/Flugzeuge/Gaeste/Wolf_Catalina.html
Cheers
Wally.

looking forward to another of your builds Wally

OMG!!...you weren't wrong Wally...amazing detail, all scratch built too...

D2

Thought you might appreciate that D2. Mighty fine ain't it?
It would be a difficult task closing the fuselage halves on that one, with only the blisters and some tiny windows to view through. I experienced that with Acc Mins B-25D Mitchell. All that work and you can't hardly see any of it!
Cheers
Wally.

Holy Smakaroonies Bat Cat, that sure is some Scratchin' !! Stunning.

Thanks for the link Wally

D1

I know. For me that is kind of the ultimate inspiration. Could I ever do that and if so, do it even nearly that well?
I would SOOOOO love to apply such interior scratch building to, for instance -
- Classic Airframes 1/48 Hudson
- Revell 1/48 PV-1 Ventura
- anyone's 1/72 or 1/48 Sunderland .... (oh, just imagine it?)

Found this laying around on page 10 and I am about ready to get back into it.
What I need is - 4 x 1/72 Airfix seated pilot figures plus 2 x other 1/72 pilot figures standing, laying down or sitting? (One sprawled in a liferaft would help ...?)
There must be a current or former 1/72 Airfix builder out there with a heap of those standard Airfix pilot figures stashed away? There is generally one for each seat in the aircraft in each kitset. (I guess I'll get two with Grumman Duck when I buy it?).
I also need large Yellow Code letters 'O' x 2 but I don't know the size in mm so I'll post that tomorrow.
If you've got a box full of 1/72nd pilot figures email me at my address below.
Cheers
Wally.

Anyone got any 1/72 Airfix seated pilot figures? Or any spare 1/72 pilot figures seated or otherwise provided they are reasonably realistic looking, as many are not.
The Yellow Code letters I need are approx 15mm high -



I need 2 x 'N's but would accept the whole alphabet so I can get the XX's and maybe GF- codes too if anyone has such a set for sale...?
They are RAF style rounded code letters, not US 45 degree codes. 48" at 1/72 is near enough to 24" at 1/48 for me.
Since I have 2 x 1/72nd PBY-5 kitsets I am contemplating building a second one for this GB. I was actually hoping to have produced my own offset printed decals in time for these builds but it is now looking unlikely. I can really only build things that don't cost any more (or very little more) money.
Since I've never seen one done, I want to build one of the PB2B-1s with black GF - codes, preferably in Dark Gull Grey over Insignia White, if I can find a reference photo. Otherwise a PA- code one in the same scheme. I have a Ventura Black Code Letters & Numbers sheet.
Dig around in your spares boxes and decal stashes chaps and chapettes if you will.
Best Regards,
Wally.

Oh well, despite the lack of certainty about pilot figures and decals, I launched into this last night. Mandatory box art & sprue shots (and I've named the photo file incorrectly. It is XX-O not XX-N) -









It's a good kitset this Academy PBY-5, the only one I'd build in 1/72nd, and at this tiny scale fine detail is not a great concern for me. However, I'm unable to build a radial engine aircraft with cowl flaps nowadays unless they are open -



- and this "open sea landing" diorama will require the horizontal stabilizers fully extended upwards,



so my session was spent chopping, bending and sanding back where I hacked over the line (so to speak) on several occasions. Some filing will be required too. Tamiya Scriber came in incredibly handy for removing the stabilizers (are they called trim tabs or ailerons?). Just scribe and scribe and scribe along the panel line until its nice and thin then finish with a knife -





I'm filleting in some stretched sprue to give edges or framing to the stabilizers -





- and right on time my Mr Surfacer 500 & 1000 arrived today from Hong Kong. Incredibly quick delivery. Perfect!
Now when I put this aside I can return to Supermarine Walrus.
Cheers
Wally.

Hey Wally,
I gave away all my 1/72 kits and I know most had the little men you need, sorry! Blame my fat fingers and blurry eyes, they can't cope with such a small scale. If you have no luck tho I can just ask my mate (who I gave them to) if he wouldn't mind giving the figures back?

Shes lookin good so far, I reall ylike the Cat. I saw a doco on them the other day, bloody remarkable aircraft!





I've spent hours watching all these old clips on youtube, good ole technology lets me play it on the telly too!

Jim

I have one of these waiting in the wings, so will be a keen watcher of progress...
Nice diorama idea.... look forward to seeing water..
Grant

Duck arrived -



Typical Airfix, a picture on the front with nice smooth panels and inside a kitset with grossly exaggerated rivets.
In true Airfix style it also has ONE-AND-A-HALF PILOT FIGURES. Nicely moulded but one without legs. So if I use him he'll have to be in the water I guess ....? Only post-war decals too but I have a little stash of 1/72nd decals that should provide what I need.
This build had already slipped back to page 3 on here. It's nearly September ... I have a feeling I may have over-committed myself ....
Grant, I too am looking forward to seeing water. I've never worked with it before in a diorama.
A steep learning curve shall follow if I am to make the deadline.
Wally.

It's a persistent bug this detailing & scratch-building virus. I had to try really hard not to infect PBY-5 with it too much, given the scale and my surviving hope to place pilot figures in 4 of the seats. Anyhow, I added some stuff to the cockpit in order to make a tread-plate thru to the front turret, a turret floor, a more realistic control yoke and door frame, seats in the back and then I painted the interior -







But this build and diorama is not going to progress much further unless I can locate some seated pilot figures. Here's my one-and-only chap (from Grumman Duck) in the mocked up cockpit -







I have a Handley Page Hampden commission arriving soon which should supply 2 or 3 pilot figures, so I am considering buying a medium - large Airfix bomber with another 3 - 9 of them in it if I can find a bargain one. There's only a certain amount of time and money a chap can spend on 1/72nd pilot figures, especially when there's a massive open sea diorama to make too ...
Wally.

Comment copied from Tania's P51d thread . . .

Wally, I've just landed two of the Airfix 'new tool' Hawker Typhoon Ib's, which include seated pilot figures. You can have one of those, maybe even both. PM me your address details if you want that one. On the house as it were...

D1

Thanks for the pilots D1. I could still use 2 or 3 more if anyone has any? They don't need to be Airfix. Any 1/72 pilots will do. Email me.
So, while awaiting decals for Harvard & Walrus I made a start on Grumman Duck. I've added some extra cockpit detail of a representative Braille Scale type, seatbelts, a bunk down below, pedals etc. Doesn't look wonderful real close up. I've no idea how people manage totally clean details in 1/72 or like 1/144 scale. It looks good from any reasonable viewing distance though. Anyhow, here's Airfix J2F-6 Duck interior dressed up a little -













With the interior done Duck assembled quite quickly and I have begun a 3 tone camo scheme starting with the Insignia White. Much of the main float and one wingtip float will be submerged in water (effects) eventually and I am also being quite 'loose' in my painting style with this one. I find my shading and effects sometimes disappear along the way with weathering and gloss coats and matt coats etc so I am exaggerating for effect -







I went hunting online for 1/72 life rafts but there appears to be nothing. Sitting at the desk I spotted the similarity in shape between rounded life-raft sides and the kitset bombs and made an (out of scale) mock up -



I've got plenty of bombs (mostly various poundages in 1/48) so I should be able to make a good enough correct scale raft from them.
Fun. Small fun but nonetheless fun.
Wally.

A weekend of almost no model making! Unusual for me.
I am in the honeymoon phase of Freeview, having installed it myself and finally got everything tuned.
Got a fabulous deal on TradeMe, $85 for the lot including shipping!
My old 21" tube TV has suddenly become HD & 3D!
And I got to see the ABs play South Africa (albeit delayed one hour) without having to go out. First ABs game I've seen in a few years.
Are they going to continue having scrums or just give up on them completely?
Frankly, considering the quality of free-to-view TV in NZ, I don't expect this honeymoon phase of Freeview to last all that long ...
DUCK got a coat of newly self-mixed Intermediate Blue and recently self-mixed US Sea Blue. Lots of shading and fading and weathering to come.





Incidentally, a 'stash' of 5 commission build kitsets arrived including an Airfix Hampden - I might post them on Stash Acquisitions - so I now have enough Airfix seated pilots and also two seated gunners. Plenty of crew for the Catalina and maybe even one of the Duck crew.
What I am looking for now is a 1/72 pilot figure either waving his arm or with separate arms (or arm) - or arms not molded onto body - who I could alter to be waving his arm or arms ... if you get my drift?
It's a longshot I know ....
Cheers
Wally.

Anyone got any .....? Ahhhh, forget it ...
A little more very slow progress on NZ4013 XX-O Catalina. I am getting ready to close up the fuselage having painted and installed pilot figures although my figure painting at 1/72 scale does not withstand close scrutiny. Since I had a Duck's gunner half-figure I added an engineer peering out the tower window -







I added a representative ammo box and toilet in the blister compartment but I will forgo other details like a stowed ladder and ammo belts. The blister canopies will be completely closed, not only for landing but because Academy doesn't provide an open option -







The folded-down seats (copied from the folded-up one's in Monogram's 1/48 Cat) are redundant now since I found out that all crew apart from pilot and co-pilot occupied the central enclosed Nav/WO/Engineer compartment during take-off (and presumably landing...?). Folding the seats up is going to be a hassle now so I may just leave them down. They probably should have at least lap belts attached though ....
Regarding pilot figures, I have one of D1s pilots left and 2 identical Hampden gunners, who are in a kind of fetal or praying position and ballooning with Northern Hemisphere high altitude uniform. I might be able to make something of them but if anyone has any 1/72 pilots to give away or swap .... please let me know. I've got an awful lot of decals (see my Harvard and Walrus posts)
Duck, which doesn't appear in any photos this time, has had its wheels attached and considerable fading and weathering done. To make a descent fist of Duck I will need to do some rigging on her, so my initial rigging experience on the larger 1/48 scale Walrus becomes even more important.
Later
Wally.

:hairpull: Yesterday Catalina came so close to becoming a DA Mustang-style abandonment. Half way through cementing the fuselage halves using KM Weld I dropped the bloody thing on the floor! The entire cockpit came away inside, as did the engineer up top and the IP. I had to prize the fuselage halves apart, causing some damage, reassemble, clean up the surfaces to join and try again. The result is there's considerably more filler in the top of the fuselage than I would have liked. I also built in a piece of sprue as a potential mounting point onto the base -









This doesn't say a lot for my forward planning I know but I guess if I don't use the mountings I can cut them off, fill and sand back to the hull.
Last night I turned my hand to rigging, starting with Grumman Duck's floats and upper wing struts, using the elastic thread I got from my local general store, a whole large bobbin of it for like $2.80 or something. I gather this is what is recommended on Wing Nut Wings. I decided not to try to split it - which apparently can be done for a much smaller size - and the outcome on 1/72 Duck I thought must bode well for 1/48 Walrus. Sure, it's out-of-scale but it's not too grossly over-scale ..... is it?





I dunno what it's called but this stuff stretches taut, responds quickly to superglue and accepts enamel paint no problems. I've used Humbrol Gunmetal here, applied by brush afterwards. Every single one of the articles I downloaded about rigging talked about how tedious it is and I can sure understand that. A complex biplane rigging will take quite a long time.
Anyhow, despite my dropsy calamity, I'm reasonably again.
Cheers
Wally.

That's looking awesome Wally. I really like how you added the engineer! Cant wait to see this finished.

So glad I am not the only one who does things like drop stuff!
I've got quite adept at catching things on my foot or between my thighs ( ), but the best thing I ever did was start wearing an apron....first one to say "get back in the kitchen" gets it!
It's actually a Tamiya one, a sort of canvas material with a couple of pockets. It's great for stealing from the carpet monster!

Tania
Thankfully I don't drop things (perhaps I should say "yet") when I am working on patients in the back of the ambulance or handling valuable artwork at the gallery and I hope you don't when you are piloting an aircraft ...? It seems to be an "at home" thing.
The apron idea is a good one I reckon. I might get me one of those.
Like a Chef's apron .... and for some strange reason this makes me think of a reality TV show .... MASTER MODELER
Oh dear .... Watched one too many Americas Cup races ....

jimmy07 wrote: Hey Wally,
I gave away all my 1/72 kits and I know most had the little men you need, sorry! Blame my fat fingers and blurry eyes, they can't cope with such a small scale. If you have no luck tho I can just ask my mate (who I gave them to) if he wouldn't mind giving the figures back?

Shes lookin good so far, I reall ylike the Cat. I saw a doco on them the other day, bloody remarkable aircraft!

I've spent hours watching all these old clips on youtube, good ole technology lets me play it on the telly too!

Jim

Hey Wally I think you may have missed my reply i sent a while ago about figures. If you are still looking for some 1/72 seated pilots, by pure luck I found a couple kits I didnt give away, I think 'cos they're half built, but theyre rubbish now and i have 3 seated pilots- one from a corsair and two from airfix tigermoth. Send me a PM if you are still on the hunt




Jim

Thanks Jim, I have enough of these fellas now. What I really need are a couple of standing pilots for the Grumman Duck crew. I'd like to have one pilot waving at the Cat as it touches down. I think my best chance are a couple of standing Allied Pilots from the Hasegawa 1/72 Pilots set.
When I have an hour to spare I'll watch that video.
Many Thanks
Wally.