Building the Academy 1/72 PBY-5A "Black Cat"-Update 3 Painting and Final Reveal 

Here is the link to the playlist for this build. Thank you everyone for watching! ru-vid.com/group/PLJY-VsfeP2T-wf1wJ5hVRS4byjGDuYqGs

These flying boats are awesome. Great job , Drew. Sweet work , buddy.👍

My wife's uncle George was a flight engineer in WW2 on Cats in the Royal Australian Airforce. Lovely old fellow. he got awarded the distinguished flying medal for the huge number of operations he went on. We've got his personal flight log. Makes for some interesting reading, impeccable handwriting.

Great job Drew. I like the subtle salt water effects

David R Lentz, Columbus, Ohio, USA (Wednesday, 3 July, 2024) Drew, you give us a lustrously effective nocturnal camouflage scheme for the most widely known night patrol bomber of its time. Thank you. If one has completed assembly of a model aircraft with a tricycle landing gear, and you have the undercarriage extended (as we can see on your video is the case), yet it oddly persists upon being a tail sitter, I have a work-around suggestion; you can determine for yourself whether or not it would serve in your case: 1) position your replica upon a sturdy, hard, flat surface (e.g., a relatively thick sheet of polystyrene) large enough to encompass the entire model (or bigger) generally near to the centre. 2) Gently rotate your model’s fuselage forward (for an actual æroplane in flight, this would be the “pitch”; if an aviator means for the aircraft to climb, one essentially would have the plane “lean back”, to cause the nose to rise and the stern to drop in relation to the entire airframe, which is “positive pitch”; conversely, if the flyer wishes to have the aircraft descend [or to dive], one would have the plane “lean forward”, to cause the nose to drop and the stern to rise in relation to the entire airframe, which is “negative pitch”). As I had begun (above) to explain, you next rotate the model forward so that it seems to start its descent, till its nose wheel touches the sturdy, firm, smooth surface on the exact location where you want it, pressing firmly enough that it holds in place. 3) Where the very bottom point of your nose wheel’s rubber tire touches this flat, horizontal workspace, use a permanent ink marker to make a readily visible, brightly coloured spot. 4) Set your model aside, then place the sturdy, polystyrene sheet atop a wooden board round a ¼ inch or 1 cm thick (a moderately soft material, e.g., pine, balsa, plywood, Masonite, etc., will serve; if you know a carpenter or one skilled in various types of wood or lumber, show him/her my suggestion, to seek his/her greater hands-on expertise) of the same size, or larger. 5) Bond together both sheets, securing them with clamps at all four corners (or the equivalent) whilst the bonding agent cures. 6) Thoroughly sand the edges to eliminate any chance of splinters (wear eye protection, a mask against dust, work gloves, etc.). 7) Trim the edges, if you have the proper tools (including eye protection, masking, gloves, etc.), and the ability, so that both layers closely match in plan and form. You would do well to frame the entire perimeter with slender hardwood strips. The upper surface must be smaller than the thicker, lower one, for the stability of this supportive arrangement of your model. 8) Once the bond has cured (the container will provide that information), locate the coloured spot you marked to indicate where the nose wheel goes (you now can make moderate adjustments, if you wish; the mass of the plane must remain close to the centre of this base, however). 9) Make a length of steel rod 1 mm (0.04 inch) in diameter, and in length ¾ the diameter of your nose wheel plus 1 inch. 10) Invert your model upon thickly plush terrycloth towels, bubble-wrap, or similar absorbent padding for especially fragile breakables. 11) Ask another model-builder to hold the aircraft upon his/her lap covered in the shock absorbing padding. 12) Carefully, slowly (friction-precipitated heat can melt the plastic, reducing the sub-assembly’s structural integrity, and therefore its capacity to bear the weight of the æroplane’s lead-filled nose) drill into the base of the nose wheel a thin pilot hole to a depth sufficient to transect the axle at the precise centre of where it attaches the wheel hub. 13) Follow this effort with a drill bit slightly greater in diameter than its predecessor. 14) Follow this with a drill bit of the same diameter as the ad hoc steel rod (here, 1 mm [0.04 inch]). 15) Test the steel support rod for its fit in the hole entering the nose gear assembly. 16) Carefully set aside your model, making certain of its stability and safety whilst inverted. 17) Paint your base in whatever scheme suitable for your purpose. If it is on a Pacific atoll under the hot sun, you might include a few along one side; these would extend from 40 to 90 cm, though for the trade-winds would some lean over, or even seem sinuously to recline. Another worthy option you could add would be for you to incorporate onto the board several portions of “Marston Mat, more properly called pierced (or perforated) steel planking (PSP)” (source: Wikipedia, “Marston Mat”). Eduard (Czech Republic) and I think VLS: Verlinden, Letterman, & Stok (Missouri, USA) offer photo-etched metal sheets representing it; keep a close watch upon the scale of the latter, as one would need sets matching one’s kit. One company makes a square piece of black polystyrene round 20 cm on a side and perhaps 1 cm high with recesses resembling golf course cups rather than even perforations in a row; this to my judgement looks too pristine and even: the interlocking steel sections round 0.3 m × 10 m in actual size soon have bends and dents, rust and scrapes, cracks and creases, and worse, from extensive use: war-weary planes weighing several tonnes dropping upon them at well over 100 km/hr. Next 18) drill a hole the same diameter as the steel rod-the anchoring pin-in the board where you intend to secure the Catalina replica’s nose wheel. 19) Have the portion of the metal dowel stand about ¾ the diameter of the tyre above the board’s flat surface; the front wheel must cover the entire exposed part of the rod. 20) The remaining portion will penetrate down into the base for your model. Use a permanent marker to indicate upon the steel shaft the exact point where it meets your display board. 21) Remove the anchoring pin, and with a pair of pliers, grasp it firmly at the point you marked upon it. 22) Press the steel rod against a hard surface to bend it to a ninety-degree (90°) angle. 23) Reinsert from below the upper portion of the metal shaft. 24) To test the fit of all the components, bring your aircraft model to the anchoring pin, slipping the hole in the nose wheel down upon the metal dowel. 25) If the fit works well, remove the seaplane replica. 26) Apply some cyanoacrylate onto the steel rod, and 27) re-seat the nose wheel down upon the metal dowel. 28) Apply a small amount of accelerant, 29) Set aside to dry, and to cure. 30) display prominently, and take a bow as billions applaud your mastery in polystyrene, cyanoacrylate, acrylic paints, etc. Just for fun-I so wish I could! (that is a long story!)-continue with my list: 31) assemble Academy’s 1:72nd-scale kits of the earlier Consolidated PBY-2, -3, -4, and -5 Catalina USN Seaplane kits; 32) build the model-maker’s 1:72nd-scale kits of the Consolidated B-24 series Liberator USAAF Heavy Bomber kits; and their Consolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator USN/RAF Convoy Patrol Bomber (the U.S. Navy’s version of the B-24 Heavy Bomber); 33) convert Academy’s B-24D kit to a replica of Consolidated’s C-87 Liberator Express USAAF High-Altitude Cargo Transport; 34) build the model-maker’s 1:72nd-scale kits of the Boeing early B-17B, -C, -D, -and -E Flying Fortress USAAF Heavy Bomber, and their Boeing SB-17G Flying Fortress USAF Search & Rescue Aircraft (Korean War); 35) to complete the series, add a B-17F, an early B-17G with the chin turret and the stinger tail gun, and a late-war B-17G with the Cheyenne tail, in natural metal.

I really enjoyed watching your model build on the Academy 1/72 PBY-5a it was excellent. I just ordered an Academy 1/72 PBY-5a "Black Cat" model and should be getting next week. I have always like PBY-5a that was built before and during WW2. My Dad was in the NAVY during WW2 and he served on Carriers from 1940 until he retired. Growing up I lived in Washington State, San Diego, CA and Corpus Christi, TX which all have a history with the Consolidated PBY-5a Catalina's. In the 1950's we lived on NAS Corpus Christi and I got to see the PBY's when my Dad took me into work. My wife has a relative who wrote a book on his experiences as he was a pilot on a PBY based in the Philippines in 1945 and flew Missions over Indochina and the South China Sea.

The PB came out amazing Drew! The wash really did make those panel lines and rivets pop! Nice work sir.

I'm totally amazed by you guys who can mask canopies and get such a great job on plane kits! Great job!

Hi, Sorry it's very late but wanted to add that I really enjoyed this series. Just got the Hobby 2000 rebox of this after watching your videos am very much looking forward to building it. Liked and Subscribed

Another great build , Drew ! I'm glad that the Print Scale decals behaved ! Heard bad stories about them , I have a few of their sheets, they have very interesting subjects. Hope you and your loved ones have a Great/Safe Thanksgiving ! Take care, Tony

Turned out great 👍🏻

Beautiful model... :) :) One day I hope to build a Swedish Air Force Tp 47 Catalina, but it will take a bit of conversion work, as they didn't have the big blister windows on the rear fuselage.. :) A Tp 47 infamously got shot down by the Russians over the Baltic..

That turned out pretty cool! I might have to get one sometime. Such a cool-looking plane. Some of the options on the Print Scale sheet looked pretty cool as well.

Awesome!

another good job sir.

What paint you use?