Building Guillow's 1:28 PBY 5/5A kit.

[johnpipe108]

I've been in a slump on the scratch-builds, and decided it's time to start the big PBY boat; I will build as a PBY-5, as per Destination Tokyo, which was much of the inspiration for this particular plane. The PBY series and the Clipper flying boats are my top-two favorites in flying boats.

My last balsa kit-build was sometime in the early 1950's, so this will be quite a challenge! Only started one "rib and stick" model back then, a Russian MIG which I could not finish as I couldn't understand the directions for attaching the wings! This one I hope to finish without too many mistakes!

The official estimated build-time is 60 hours; I expect to take about twice that long.

I started with the 2-piece fin/rudder, but would have done better (after so many years out of circulation) to start at the beginning, from A to Z; I decided to start with the fuselage (the first step in the instructions) next.

Kit parts:



Here the plan is pinned to a home-brew work board:



Next, the outer framing is pinned down, and the core built by cutting 1/16 inch stock and gluing together over the plan:



The ribs, being small, cannot be pre-scored, so must be carefully cut-out by hand from the 1/16 inch balsa pre-printed section, then carefully cleaned up:



I then cut apart on the printed lines, which turned out to be my first mistake! The two-piece construction requires custom cutting, and the text was not clear on this point in the directions.



I had to glue back together and re-cut before attaching to the core frame. Here is the port-side, with leading-edge block and ribs attached:



Another view of the same:



The completed 2-pieces, fin and rudder. Hinging will wait until later.



Next I will be starting the hull; formers are cut and I'm in the process of preparing them. Photos later when I get the first step finished.

I'm building as a static display model, but was a bit incredulous when I found folks building flying versions from the same kit . Here's a link to a forum discussion with two videos of flying builds; check out #361 at page top for flight off of grass, #365 down the page for a flight taking off from the snow.

One Cat.. no bears.. Guillows PBY - Page 25 - RC Groups

Regards, John

 

[Dave W]

Looking good john.Seeing the parts pinned to the instructions brought back memories of making gliders when i was a child.I saw some of these kits in a shop when i was working in Saudi Arabia in the 90's.If i remember right they did a B17 and B25 as well?.

 

[Ian M]

So John the $60,000 question, still going for a static or are you going to make this puppy fly?

Ian M

 

[tecdes]

John that is real model making the basic art.

Fascinating hope you keep us upto date on this as it looks real good.

Can see a lot of time & just wonder if I could keep my patience.

Hope all things are well with you John.

Laurie

 

[mobear]

i remember building a glider when i was young in grandads cellar without realising the instrutions were for pinning on and the wings were made wrong flew in a perfect circle every time lol,apart from that nice start mate

mobear

 

[papa 695]

Nice start John Iv'e never built a balsa plane before when cutting out the parts do you cut to the line or cut out the line I hope you understand the question

 

[johnpipe108]

Looking good john.Seeing the parts pinned to the instructions brought back memories of making gliders when i was a child.I saw some of these kits in a shop when i was working in Saudi Arabia in the 90's.If i remember right they did a B17 and B25 as well?.

Here's their page on the Large Scale Bombers (they have another section on WWII Fighters & Bombers):

Paul K. Guillow, Inc. - Giant Scale WWII Models

Regards, John

 

[johnpipe108]

Nice start John Iv'e never built a balsa plane before when cutting out the parts do you cut to the line or cut out the line I hope you understand the question

I cut to the line, but am unsure about the follow-up. I believe from my rudder experience that it may be necessary to sand away the line, but it's a bit uncertain. Two ribs across that assembly support a balsa sheet-part, but it has to sit into the cut-away in the central spar; these ribs needed a little customizing at their central edges so those sheet edges could fit, and I did not see that they would fit without slight mods. I'm still not completely certain about that fit, might be a design oversight, or might be line in/line out errors, or glue build-up errors on my part.

Regards, John

 

[mossiepilot]

I built a few Guillows balsa kits during my teens, remember it was good fun.

Enjoy the build John.

Tony.

 

[johnpipe108]

So John the $60,000 question, still going for a static or are you going to make this puppy fly?Ian M

Ah! If only I were younger, or had more definite time to live. One has to learn flying first, then acquire all the expensive R/C goodies, motors and batteries (disposable income is now virtually extinct, particularly as I'm on primarily our Social Security pension, and a tiny pension from the last employer, and as everywhere, the economy is in trouble). There are builds shown on other forums, such as both an R/C forum and a Scale Flying forum, and it looks like one of the posts from several years back (2009 IIRC) they were asking the question of whether it could be done, and now it's almost matter of fact (for experienced builder/flyers, that is!).

Regards, John

 

[johnpipe108]

Re: North American B-25 Mitchell, designed for display or flying:

Paul K. Guillow, Inc. - N.A. B-25 Mitchell

Regards, John

 

[johnpipe108]

Beginning the PBY-5 Hull

First step is to separate the die-cut 2-piece formers from the sheet; I found that the deeper partly die-cut notches need to be carefully removed using a sharp implement (sort of "balsa-sprue" attachment in their middle) before pinning the left-hand part, as the side-notches fit the side-keel, and therefore these cut-outs can help align both sides of that part correctly on the pattern. The right side has to be prepped to properly fit the upper/lower keels , by cutting 1/16-inch off the inner edge of that side.

First hull-formers in prep:



Repairs to delicate section which split along the grain while clearing the die-cut notch:



Here are the two F4 segments, which have part of the wing-pylon core:



Hope to start some more notches tonight when the weather cools off (don't like to run the air-conditioner other than as

required, as it's noise can be annoying to me).

I was a little surprised, when reading one of the flying-construction posts, that the builder did the basic hull

(less stringers) and wing in one night! Of course that goes with mucho experience.

Regards, John

 

[johnpipe108]

I've finished the prep on Hull Formers F1 through F4.



Lots of patient work just to get this far! The stringer notches are tricky, they are die-cut along their rear only, a little wider than the finished notch due to manufacturing tolerance on this in balsa; this makes it tricky, as bits can break out on the outside of the perpendicular cuts to open-up the notches, especially in certain grain directions.

Now have F5 through F11 to finish, before beginning to attach the left (port) sides to the upper and lower keels. I goofed on making up a pinboard, and have to rig up a longer one to attach all the left-hand formers to the hull keels.

Regards, John

 

[tecdes]

You have a lot of patience John.

Not sure I could do all of this with out losing it. All very fascinating.

As a young boy I used to cut out balsa to patterns & construct things cannot remember now what they were. No plastic kits about at that time at least that I can recall.

Regards Laurie

 

[johnpipe108]

I've done a "mess-up" by trying (too late!) to organize the model photos in my airplane gallery into their own two sub-folders, but this hasn't worked! It messed up the post links, and I can't edit the posts to correct! I'll have to stop "re-organizing" old photos until I find out how to fix this!

Regards, John

 

[johnpipe108]

Build Images, Group I

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

 

[johnpipe108]

Second group of images for previous posting.

H.

J.

K.

L.

Next posts will be OK!

 

[johnpipe108]

Hull Assembly!

I finished the prep-work on the hull-formers, and pinned down the upper and lower keels (glued from A1, A2, A3, A4, and at the after-end). After that I got the first F1 Port-side half-former glued down and braced:



Here's a close-up at the nose-end of the hull:



The second (F2) former goes on, while the first is protected from accidental bumping by me, with the aid of maple blocks!



I got as far as F5 tonight, but more pix will have to wait until tomorrow; I just looked at the time, 11:50pm here ... my, how time flys when one is having fun!

Regards, John

 

[tecdes]

Morning John no doubt you are still asleep.

Nice progress & this must be very rewarding. This takes me back to the forties when there were no plastic models just balsa wood & the fun I had as a small boy building in balsa. The smell of that glue not sure if it is the same glue now I think it was called Balsa Cement.

With the Gillows here & another article with a Billings boat I think that I am being lured into trying one of these alternatives to plastic. Something refreshing here. But have I the patience.

Watching with interest John.

Laurie

 

[johnpipe108]

OFF TOPIC: Full-Scale Model, Movie Camera Magazine!

Morning John no doubt you are still asleep.Nice progress & this must be very rewarding. This takes me back to the forties when there were no plastic models just balsa wood & the fun I had as a small boy building in balsa. The smell of that glue not sure if it is the same glue now I think it was called Balsa Cement.

With the Gillows here & another article with a Billings boat I think that I am being lured into trying one of these alternatives to plastic. Something refreshing here. But have I the patience.

Watching with interest John.

Laurie

Hi Laurie,

I remember when plastic kits were the newest thing, and my interest in models began both by a Drug Store window display of nicely finished balsa flying models by local modelers, and hanging out at the Smithsonian museum, a collection of the world's most gorgeous models (at least then, when I was young); the Drug Store also sold plastic and balsa model kits when the nearest actual hobby-shop was a 20 to 30 minute drive away.

I have a pair of WWII issue flying (rubber-powered) airplane kits, one a "BILD-A-SET Mustange No. 252" (a Joe Ott design), 30in wing span, and the other is a MODEL CRAFT Boulton Paul (Defiant), 20in wing-span, when balsa was un-available due to war-time shortage, and the parts are printed on what looks like Fir or some grade of Pine or Spruce, with hardwood stringers, and no wire for axle nor rubber-bands for the propeller (which was two printed, pre-twisted slips of yellow poplar!)

These remain un-built, for the succeeding generations.

I clicked on your icon, and saw some of your other interests; I can't resist sharing this photo of a 16mm 1939 Kodak model E with a full-scale model 200-ft magazine, made of MDF, bits of wood, and paper mache!



A project on hold for the past 50 years! MDF, Oak, Papier-mache from brown paper bags and white glue (brown bags are virtual MDF!)



Never quite complete, as I didn't want to modify the antique Kodak to provide a film slot, and I would need to build a separate housing for the camera mechanics, to make the magazine work without destroying the original condition of the Kodak!

A new housing would be an even more challenging project!

Thanks for your comments!

Regards, John