Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina Mk IIIA 131 OTU, RAF Coastal Command 1943-44.



This has been one of those "reliving your childhood builds" and also fits perfectly into my 100yrs of British Naval Aviation theme. RAF Coastal Command may wear a different colour of uniform, but they evolved from and operated very much in the tradition of the first (land-based) Naval Aviators.

I always wanted an Airfix Catalina as a child, but never managed to get one, so I'm making up for lost time by building the current Airfix release. In fact this one came for free, after I cashed in a few of the Airfix Club "flying hours" tokens from the stash.

The Catalina is perhaps the most successful seaplane ever built and played a key role in the Battle of the Atlantic, attacking surfaced U-Boats in the North Atlantic and Bay of Biscay. It was a Catalina of 209 Sqn (originally formed during WW1 as RNAS Naval 9 Sqn) that located the Bismark in May 1941, enabling her final destruction by the ships and aircraft of the Home Fleet and Force H from Gibraltar.

Scottish RAF Catalina pilot, Flying Officer John Cruickshank of 210 Sqn RAF, was awarded the Victoria Cross, one of four VCs awarded to Coastal Command during WW2. As of 2009, John Cruickshank is the last surviving recipient of the VC for air action in World War II.

On 7 May 1945, a Catalina of No.210 squadron RAF (another ex RNAS Sqn - Naval 10 Sqn) sank the 196th and last U-boat claimed by Coastal Command during WW2.



This is another recent Indian produced Airfix issue, which means soft and well moulded plastic, although this one seems to have a bit more flash than the others. It also has, believe it or not, useable, in-register transfers/decals for once; looks like Hornby are responding to the criticism of their early releases! I guess that Airfix chose the PBY-5A to appeal to a wide international audience; but even though one of the options is the RAF Coastal Command aircraft shown on the box-top, the Catalina Mk IIIA was actually one of the least numerous marks in service - the RAF possessed a total of only 12 or the amphibian variant of the Catalina. The alternative option is a "Black Cat" US Navy PBY-5A from the Solomon Islands.



There is minimal interior detail, which is a shame because you can see a lot of the interior through the main cockpit windows and also through the side gun/observation blisters, so a little basic scratch detailing will work wonders here. There are also numerous working features (e.g. turret, floats ailerons & elevators) which detract somewhat from accuracy, but are actually quite good fun.



Fit was generally OK, although I had some difficulty with the centre wing section, which didn't fit well to start with and was also slightly warped (those Tesco £1 spring clamps have proved their worth once more!); if this were a Russian ex-Frog kit, I would suspect that the moulds had become corroded. The elevator halves were a poor fit, with very thick trailing edges. One area of real disappointment is the large forward undercarriage bay , which is completely open, leaving the cabin floor and hollow fuselage in full view. The cabin windows are also a rather poor fit and do not fit flush with the fuselage; in common with all the clear parts, there is no framing detail, which makes painting a bit of an adventure, especially on the blisters.



Attaching the fuselage halves revealed some fit and alignment issues, but these were largely overcome by using the spring clamps, with the remaining gaps and ledges filled with Tippex. The wings come in 3 parts - an inner section holding the engines and two outer sections including the folding floats. These all fitted together without problem, but attaching the wing to the fuselage and placing the struts in position was a fiddly job, which ideally would have required a third, and perhaps fourth pair of hands. I also left painting the struts until after they had been attached, which was a mistake, as access is not easy once they are in place.



The Airfix painting instructions are rather vague, with only a large indistinct drawing of the aircraft. The box cover reveals a lot of potential for further detail painting, but also seems to be a different paint scheme, as it has white upper wing surfaces rather than the camouflage suggested by the instructions. The RAF's Catalina Mk IIIs were mainly employed on transatlantic ferry duties (delivering crews to collect new Catalinas!), and Airfix provide markings that the box (but not the instruction sheet) tells you are from 131 OTU in Northern Ireland. In both cases, I am not convinced that live depth charges would have been appropriate (or even if these are British weapons), but I have fitted them anyway!





In summary, this was not the easiest or best engineered kit I have built. Parts fit is OK, but not much more than that. Transparent parts are a disappointment, with poor fit and no framing detail. However, as a 're-living your childhood' build it was perfect, it looks good on the shelf (actually it doesn't fit on the shelf) and it is, without a doubt, the largest kit I have built in the last 30 years (I built plenty before that), which has allowed me to revisit a few lost tricks and techniques for larger models, that may come in handy as I work my way through some of the other "biggies" in the stash!

FredT

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When in evil company,try to blend in.-Wild Bill Donovan

And a great posting, gives me a good idea about the interior and the size of the rivets on the fuselage (seems to be not too bad) - I never build the Airfix Catalina - so far - but maybe one day...

Good work on th ekit by the way, painting looks excellent, and I like the ladder at the back

* *
William De Coster / Belgium

Current Airfix GB projects :
1/72 Ilyushin IL-28
- Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Part VI - Part VII - Part VIII
1/72 Focke Wulf Fw-190F-8
- Part I - Part II - Part III (new)

Thanks William, The ladder comes with the kit and is absolutely essential to stop the kit tail sitting!

The rest of the gear/undercarriage is a little "flexible" and I reckon if you managed to get enough weight into it to stop it tailsitting on its own, then the gear would collapse!

FredT

I'm sure you have discovered as the rest of us have this reliving and rebuilding from our childhood is very habit forming.
I think I can speak for the rest of us here, we are very much looking forward to your next build.

Thanks,
Allan



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