Consolidated PBY-5 and Catalina MkIb

[Shessi]

Hmmmm....I think that it's way beyond my meagre skills....saying that, if you give me enough Airfix glue, I'm sure I could bodge something up...

I took a look over it when it was an out-door 'hangar queen' at North Weald. Flypast reported that the new owner will be restoring it to a war time PBY5A/Catalina, hope so!

Thanks for the pics Pete.

Cheers

Shessi

[Tom Clayton]

Is this the one you were thinking of? http://frenchvfr.free.fr/download.php?lng=en&pg=&id=1

I wonder if Mike Stone knows that his panel is being used in this?

[Shessi]

Something for you to paint Mick...

A PBY-1, with early type spinner/cowlings, which with different cowlings/spinners could be a PBY-4 etc.

I pretty much finished the base PBY-5 and now the PBY-5A. Detailing, tweaking etc to go.

Cheers

Shessi

[nigel richards]

That's a serious upgrade to the 'Cat', Shessi - very much looking forward to this! :-)

[Mick]

Something for you to paint Mick...
Shessi

Oh my! I've been busily setting up scenery and AI in my developing sims, but it looks like it's soon going to be time to pick up the spray can and get on those early PBYs. There were So Many squadrons of them, all with their individual tail colors and markings, and each squadron with two to four sections, each with section markings in its own color.

[Milton Shupe]

That's a serious upgrade to the 'Cat', Shessi - very much looking forward to this! :-)

I agree Nigel; great looking work happening on this one. :-)

[Scale Dail]

Wow! That early PBY looks GREAT! Thanks Shessy! And I hope you can do something great with it Mick! Looking forward to it!!!
This is very close to my FS time line! I'll have to update my Rockwell field/North island Lindberg Field to accommodate The new P boat from Consolidated.

[TARPSBird]

This PBY project is just getting better and better. Now a PBY-1! Thank you Shessi for your efforts, I'm really looking forward to your final products and whatever paint jobs Mick sprays on.

[Shessi]

Hi Folks,
Finished the PBY-1/2/3/4. Now as far as I've been able to find out the PBY-1, 2, 3 and 4 were basically all the same, with increased power, equipment and strength (?). So I've gone for a 4, but could be just as easily be a 1,2 or 3.

Re-did the naucelles, made smaller earlier windows and new rear opening sliding doors with interior, also re-did rudder for a better hinge line. Painting next!

Cheers

Shessi

[DaveSHQ]

I think if Alphasim held it together they'd be number 1 in the FSX FS9 world.

[Tom Clayton]

Just to make sure I haven't missed anything, have any of these been uploaded yet?

[Scale Dail]

I've always liked this one, a PBY-2. VP-10 Pearl Harbor 1939. Black diamonds over silver, with black hull bottom! FS9

[Scale Dail]

PBY-4 was unique with spinners. VP-13

[Scale Dail]

Here is a good place to get profiles.

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/h/581/3/0#16

[Shessi]

Thanks for those SD, food for thought.

No Tom, not yet, but getting close (-er).

Cheers

Shessi

[Matt Wynn]

she's looking great, the 'Cat always seems to be one of those 'undersung' aircraft... heck even i'm putting FS9 on my laptop ready to do some work on the old girl!

[Mick]

Hi Folks,
Finished the PBY-1/2/3/4. Now as far as I've been able to find out the PBY-1, 2, 3 and 4 were basically all the same, with increased power, equipment and strength (?). So I've gone for a 4, but could be just as easily be a 1,2 or 3.

Cheers

Shessi

That's pretty much the case, but there were some external differences. The -1 had a different tail that subsequent versions: the -1 tail had cutouts in the elevators, which came all the way in to the vertical tail, to clear the rudder; the -2 and subsequent models had a cutout in the rudder to clear the stabilizers, which started bit outward from the vertical tail and didn't reach all the way to the tip either. Hard to describe but easy to see in drawings or photos.

The nacelles and cowlings varied from model to model, with the carburetor intake on the top of cowl or on the bottom, the oil cooler intake on the cowl or the leading edge of the wing, and all the early versions had different exhausts than the -5 and -6.

I could scan drawings from the "In Action" book if you want to go into that level of detail. I always got into those kinds of details in plastic, but I've learned not to sweat the small stuff in virtual models. Maybe that's because I could do anything I wanted to in plastic, while I have to paint what others give me in virtual models.

Anyway, if you want to do those small details I'll be happy to scan the drawings and send them to you. If you'd rather just make a sort of generic early PBY that can stand in for anything from the -1 through the -4, I'd be really happy with that. Let me know if you want me to scan the drawings for you.

BTW, I've seen it written that the -4 had blister waist gun positions, but that was only one airplane. All the other -4s had the flat sliding hatches.

[Mick]

she's looking great, the 'Cat always seems to be one of those 'undersung' aircraft... heck even i'm putting FS9 on my laptop ready to do some work on the old girl!

I'm glad to see that you're getting in on this! There are so very many Catalina liveries to paint!

I have the inter-war US Navy squadrons pretty well covered. The US Navy between the wars was a specialty of mine in plastic for fifteen or twenty years before I ever discovered FS, so I have all the research material right at my fingertips, along with graphics for squadron insignia and such. As you may know, the Navy had a very complex and detailed marking system in those days - no two planes of the same type had quite the same colors and markings. There were section colors and markings, squadron colors and markings, with solid tail colors, horizontal bands, double bands, vertical bands, and even checkers, and there were enough PBY squadrons that most of the patterns were used in all six colors of the pre-WW2 Navy color palette.

I don't have much on civilian Cats (there were some even before the war, and many afterwards) and I'm not very good with civilian liveries anyway. And I'm hopeless on wartime camo schemes. I have a lot on post-WW2 US military liveries, but very little on Cats in the service of other countries.

I expect to paint a plethora of early models in pre-war US Navy colors, and I will probably paint some post-war American -6s.

I do NOT mean to ask you to avoid the areas I plan to cover; just letting you know what I have in mind.

[Mick]

I've always liked this one, a PBY-2. VP-10 Pearl Harbor 1939. Black diamonds over silver, with black hull bottom! FS9

I like it too! There were six colors of checkers (red, white, blue, black, green and yellow) and if my memory serves me, they were all applied by Catalina squadrons before the onset of camouflage.

I tend to paint section leaders rather than wing men (like in the photo) because I like the extra splashes of color provided by the section leader band on the rear fuselage, and the cowl color all the way around.

There were six section colors too (same six colors) but no PBY squadron had all six sections. Most had two or three sections, a few had four, and one had five. These early PBYs are going to be some very colorful airplanes!

[Matt Wynn]

no worries Mick, i'd be glad to handle anything RAF Coastal Command or Civilian ones... anything you don't touch really

I'm off to Greece on Friday (Nigels neck of the woods to be precise!) to do some property hunting but the laptop and my external drive along with Photoshop is coming with me! so I can start redrawing the elements at least

[Shessi]

Thanks SD, the problem is that confusion reign-neth. Many aircraft pictures get incorrectly ID'd, especially during the war, and so people have just copied that info thinking it would be accurate, when it wasn't!

Thanks for the offer Mick,
I've just got a copy of PBY Catalina In Action, and great, as you state it explains it well.

I think the PBY-1 is out.

The difference between the PBY-2 and 3 were where the carb intakes were, otherwise the rudders were the same.

The PBY-4 just had coned spinners, the intakes were as the 3, and again the same rudder as the 2 and 3.

So I don't mind, 2,3,4 easy to do, all that they need are changing where the intakes are, and the 4 adds coned spinners. Obviously 3 to 4 only need spinners adding.

Thoughts?

Shessi

[Motormouse]

I'm off to Greece on Friday (Nigels neck of the woods to be precise!)

Oh-oh, Nigel, quick lock up your daughter and hide the Ouzo!!

ttfn

Pete

[Matt Wynn]

Oh-oh, Nigel, quick lock up your daughter and hide the Ouzo!!

ttfn

Pete

think he's well ahead of you on that one to which he knows to my mind that just means "Game on" in avoiding the roadblocks, patrols and thermal systems he'll no doubt have in place just around the Ouzo stash!

[Scale Dail]

It is so interesting watching these creations making progress with all the little scale details! I have always been really big on scale modeling. My medium is wood and fiberglass RC models, usually WWII heavy metal. It takes up to a year to finish usually.
In FS I really like the late 30's. Mick I think I have everything that you have put out there for pre WWII! Thanks! And your work is amazing Shessi!

Corey

[Mick]

Thanks SD, the problem is that confusion reign-neth. Many aircraft pictures get incorrectly ID'd, especially during the war, and so people have just copied that info thinking it would be accurate, when it wasn't!

Thanks for the offer Mick,
I've just got a copy of PBY Catalina In Action, and great, as you state it explains it well.

I think the PBY-1 is out.

The difference between the PBY-2 and 3 were where the carb intakes were, otherwise the rudders were the same.

The PBY-4 just had coned spinners, the intakes were as the 3, and again the same rudder as the 2 and 3.

So I don't mind, 2,3,4 easy to do, all that they need are changing where the intakes are, and the 4 adds coned spinners. Obviously 3 to 4 only need spinners adding.

Thoughts?

Shessi

That plan sounds great! I won't mind at all painting -1 skins onto a -2 model, if I even find it necessary, which I may not. Only three squadrons flew the -1, so there aren't that many potential skins for it anyway.

If I put their liveries on a -2 model, one would have to look pretty closely, and know what to look for, to spot the differences. The full-width elevators are the only gross difference between the -1 and later versions, and you can only see that in plan view. I don't think many of us see our planes in plan view in the sim; I know I don't. You'd have to peer into the corner between the vertical and horizontal tails to see the difference in how the two surfaces are cut to allow rudder and elevator movement, and I don't think many of us peer that closely at models in the sim.

I think we can do quite well without a -1 model. There will be no complaints from this quarter!

I have to stop writing now. Rowdy the kitty is here on my desk to "help" me type, so I'd better post this before it turns to gibberish, or gets deleted.