The sheer size is amazing, the Wildcat comparison is quite compelling. Another tidbit is I didn't realize that the kit has engraved panel lines. All these years this is the first time I have seen any details of the kit. Wouldn't have mattered if it did have raised panel lines as this has never been an issue for me. But good to know.

Yes Chuck this PBY is huge in comparison to the F4F for sure. It's a very nice kit and after building this one, I'm surprised that more have not been done.

Thanks for the compliments on my spray painting Paul. Some times I get lucky !

Today I managed to finish up all of the rivet work... There must have been around 10,000 or so that needed some help. (at least that's what it seemed like to me).

Once that was done, I masked off the main landing gear and started spraying the undersides of the plane.

It took a WHOLE bottle of Model Master Light Gull Gray to cover this area. (and that was after thinning it down). Overall it actually took about 2 bottles worth of paint to cover it.

Then I installed the nose wheel...

Here's a close up of the rivet work and re-scribing of panel lines. I'm happy with how they turned out, along with the filling in work on the bottom of the wing where the Yagi antennae's and bomb racks were. The long tubes under the wings were fuel dump pipes. Apparently these were used when the planes did not have self sealing fuel tanks installed.

Calling it a day for now. Later on tonight I may head back out there and do some more. Right now I want the paint to dry more.

Enjoy !

Thanks for the compliments my friend.

Yes it did Bernard ! Two bottles to cover the undersides... This thing is a beast ! I'm really happy how it has been turning out so far.

Tonight I installed the RDF antenna and what I think are the fuel tank vents. These "vents" are located on the top side of the wing just at the aft end of the nacelles.

I then gave the top side of the wing a nice coat of "Blue Gray". It covers better than the Light Gray, so not as much paint was used here.

The trick to getting a nice even paint finish is how much the paint is thinned out. Too much and it will run too easy. Not enough and it will look sort of grainy since the paint dries before it has a chance to flow out more evenly.

I'm sure that each person has their own little tricks based on their own preferences.

I also attached the wing struts on the fuselage

**** DON'T DO THIS JUST YET ! WAIT UNTILL AFTER THE WING IS INSTALLED BEFORE YOU GLUE THE STRUTS ON. IT WILL HELP YOU TO ALIGN THEM UP MUCH EASIER IF YOU INSTALL THE STRUTS LATER WHEN YOU INSTALL THE WING. *****

I nearly had a disaster with the canopy. I didn't bother to take the time to mask it off prior to painting the light gray earlier today. I thought that since it was on the top side and not in the direct line of fire from the spray that it would be OK.

WRONG !

I noticed tonight that a bunch of tiny atomized drops of light gray paint had collected on the clear canopy and all of the little side windows. I guess that the airflow going around the fuselage carried this paint around to the top where it collected.

Luckily I was able to remove it with plastic polish and a Q-tip. However, I somehow managed to put a small hairline crack in one of the window panes... ooops. Since I was cleaning off overspray, I went ahead and cleaned the fuselage as well.

I also noticed that the nose gear strut didn't get a good coverage of paint. I removed it from the mounting hole so that I can re-spray it later. Luckily I had decided not to glue the gear in place just yet...

The next step will be to mask off the fuselage blister windows, canopy and turret, and the demarcation line on the sides of the fuselage, engine nacelles and cowlings between the two colors.

Hopefully this will be tomorrow's project. I'm calling it a night.

As usual, comments are encouraged.

Louis, it looks great! Keep it up, my friend! When are you gonna unveil that old M60A1 model, or have you already done it & I just missed it. FNG mistake, perhaps.

Ha ha ! Good one Jeff. I do that too on occasion. I call it an "Operator Head Space and Timing Malfunction"... paying homage to Ma Deuce.

Thanks for the compliments buddy.

Today I managed to get the wing installed, along with the props, landing gear and wing struts done. This took some time to get things just right with the wing alignment. I ended up using medium CA glue on the wing pylon. Regular plastic cement didn't adhere too well. It was probably because I had the wing panel fit problems earlier on during the build. This allowed the center mounting area to be larger than it should have been.

Also a word of advice if you're building one of these by following this build log:

*** Don't glue the struts on until after you have the wing in place. ****

Mine needed some tweaking to get in proper alignment. There again it was probably due to one of my errors and not the kit. I thought that I would get a better / stronger fit of the parts if I installed them before painting. This was only partly true. The strength was there, but the fit was not...

Here's how the Catalina looks now that it has "Wings and Wheels"...

and as seen from the front quarter:

Here's another size comparison shot: I placed a pair of 1/48 scale F4F Wildcats next to it. I placed one UNDER each wing just to show you how big this monster is...

We are getting closer to having this one wrapped up. I still have the remaining clear parts, exhaust pipes, and blister mounted machine guns to install. This will be followed by decals and some weathering.

As usual, comments are encouraged. It's getting closer !

Great looking trio!

Thanks gentlemen for the compliments. I'm getting closer to the finish line.

Tonight I managed to get the Enterprise F4F-4 done. The Joe Foss plane is done too, other than the weathering on it. Since it's a "Cactus Air Force" plane it needs to be pretty grungy. I'm thinking about dirtying it up in a similar fashion as several of my completed F4U Corsairs are.

Since the Wildcats are done I decided to switch gears and work on the PBY. I detailed and installed the engine exhaust pipes.

Here's a picture without a flash:

And with the flash...

Then I concentrated on the waist guns ...

I had to move the PBY in order to work on the other planes. Right now it's sitting on one of the display cases. That's why the lighting is not quite as it should be.

The next step is to mask off the clear parts / side blisters and front turret then spray them.

As usual comments are encouraged.

Take care.

Impressive build. Went trough the whole sequence during this construction, it proves again that Monogram is the way to go. Even today.
My compliments on the builder.
Regards, Dirk / The Netherlands.