Profile Photo
Jim Sullivan
45 articles

1/72nd Hasegawa P5M Marlin

March 30, 2015 · in Aviation · · 43 · 3.2K

This is my 2010 build of the old 1/72nd kit of the patrol seaplane. It's built just as it came in the kit with the exception of the markings which were replicated from a photo. The kit itself is old dating back to the late 60's or early 70's and sat in my stash for several decades before I finally decided to build it. Certainly not up to today's standards of kit quality but a fun build for sure. Perhaps someday we'll see one of these offered in 1/48th.

Reader reactions:
8  Awesome

7 additional images. Click to enlarge.


43 responses

  1. Very nicely finished, Jim...imagine the size of this kit if it WERE in 48th scale! It'd have to be a "ceiling queen" for sure I'd think. Great job on the build and good to see you back on the forum. 🙂

    • Thanks Craig...I'm thinking that perhaps somewhere down the line, Trumpeter or Kitty Hawk may eventually take a look at producing it. However I'd prefer to see the PBM-5 Mariner and P2V-5 Neptune done in 1/48th...it really doesn't hurt to dream !

      • Oh yeah. A Mariner in 1/48... Amazing dream. That and a Short Stirling... 🙂

        • Sanger Models of England does do a Stirling in 1/48. It is a vac form, but the plastic he used (if they're all molded like his B-47) is as thick as an injected kit and quite easy to work with! Combat Models does make both a Marlin and a Mariner, but judging from the YB-48, the plastic is much thinner than Sanger's and quite fiddly to work with. I am hoping Trumpy steps up, and they just may. After all they've given us a Vigilante and Skywarrior in 1/48!

  2. Jim, thanks for doing my favorite scheme, seaplane gray and white!

    Somebody donated a built one to the Martin Museum (you'd be amazed what shows up) (we've got a lamp with an Aurora B-26 impaled on it) and painted the wings white with a gray fuselage. It's in the archives, with others, awaiting space.

    I'm thinking the one with the sharks mouth on it, myself. Saw it in an old Air Combat, shucks, just last week, wasn't it?

    Hey, if we've got a Hawkeye and a Stoof, can a Neptune be far off? Or a Mars or Coronado? Or (chuckle) a Mercator!

    • Hello Bernard...How I would love to see the P4M Mercator in kit form. Even in 1/72nd it would make a nice-sized model and a great companion to the P2V Neptune. Both of those birds have beautiful, graceful lines.

  3. Looks impressive Jim, even at that scale.
    Nice work sir.

    • Thank you Simon, it was a fun build for sure. The hardest part of the build (for me) was getting a straight demarcation line of the colors around the nose section. Taping an angled, curved surface was a challenge.

  4. Hi Jim. I have this old kit in my stash for years. I think you have persuaded me to build mine. It looks magnificent in the blue/white scheme. You did a stellar job on this kit! Well done indeed!

  5. wonderful choice and build jim...my dad flew those also...i remember playing with one of those big heavy resin desk models dad brought home about 1958

  6. Unusual aircraft, nicely modelled.

  7. Given that the old pigboat has a wingspan slightly less than a B-29, a1/48 kit is unlikely. I would think that's particularly true given that all the re-releases of the kit Hasegawa has done in the 43 years since it first came out in 1972, the plastic in the box has been original-mold (nice and brittle, unlike later plastic. (In other words, it hasn't set the world on fire sales-wise.)

    As the person here with perhaps the greatest first-hand association with the old girl in 1:1 scale, I can tell you that the surface detail of the kit with the raised lines looks very much like what she looked like. You could put the seat in the old tail turret, but there was nothing else there after 1958 or so when they removed the guns (it was a nice place to sit since it was as far away as one could get from the two R-3350s in an un-soundproofed airplane, but it was otherwise totally empty). The one area that needs a little finesse for the fit is putting the wing onto the fuselage, but if you test-fit carefully, you can do that with no filler other than a bit of cyanoacrylate.

    • Hello Tom...thanks for the interesting first-person info on the Marlin. It was indeed a big bird. I'd agree with you that we'll likely never see one in 1/48th.

  8. Jim. Very nice build, and a very attractive and interesting scheme. hmmm, does this posting have anything to do with our conversation form last week ?

    • Hello Terry...I was rearranging some models on my shelves to try to make a bit more room and when I got to the P5M, I realized that I had never posted it before so I decided to go ahead and do so.

  9. Greetings :
    It has been a long time since I last saw a Marlin. Very impressive and well done. Thanks for the images and the little stroll in memory lane.

  10. Many thanks for your kind comments.

  11. Wonderful build, I have often thought of building one of these, but never have gotten one. I have the Shinmeiwa PS-1 of the same kit vintage and still need to do that one. I used to love watching the PS-1s at NAF Atsugi. Yeah nice build, love flying boats!

  12. Very nice job. Ugly is beautiful. 🙂

  13. I picked up this old kit at a contest last year - haven't done much research yet on paint schemes but I like what you chose! Nice and clean, and a bit different than the usual. Thanks for the (well-done) inspiration! Looks very nice.

    • Thanks Greg, it's a fun kit to build and I think you'll enjoy it. You have three paint schemes to choose from, all glossy sea blue, white over seaplane gray or white over gull gray.

      • I bin thinking, and we need a 1/48 Sunderland.
        It could do alternate duty as a gerbil habitat, so the wife would be on board. Yeah, that's it!
        Sign me up, I love flying boats. I used to see Marlins flying around near the Martin factory.
        Shame about the Seamaster, she was a beauty!

      • Actually it's white over Light Seaplane Grey, a more "blueish-toned" light grey than Light Gull Grey. Many people make that color mistake about the post-1963 scheme.

  14. Jim,
    Gorgeous as usual. A definite tribute to all that flew them and crewed on them. Your models are an homage to the USN and USMC.

  15. Amazing aircarft i've never seen. Excellent work !

  16. Jim
    Exceptional version of the "Marlin" you nailed the paint scheme, very clean. I finally built my 1979 Hasagawa kit just a few years ago as the USCG version, it goes together very nice for an older kit.

    • Thank you Mike and I'd love to see your Coast Guard version of the Marlin. I had thought about that too but decided to stay with conventional Navy markings.

  17. Its a beautie, Jim and not often seen ! Well done, the U.S Navy had catapult ships for this type, right ?

    • Hello Bernd and thanks for your kind comment. If I understand your question correctly, you're referring to seaplane tenders (ships) that had the capability to lift that twin-engine patrol plane from the ocean and position it on the aft deck of the ship for maintenance and/or repair work. When the work was done, the plane was craned back off the deck to the sea surface. During WWII, those tenders maintained seaplanes like the PBY and PBM.

Leave a Reply