Starting the Catalina

Many moons ago, I started a 1:144 scale AC-130 Spooky as support for my Team Yankee Marines. I was stoked to discover in a local hobby store, a 1:144 PBY5 Catalina, just as I was working through clearing up my Pacific War Australians, an army that will rely on Air Support for serious AT now that the British 3" AA gun has been removed from Flames of War. So here we go: 

This is the hull after a solid six or seven hours work over the course of the week. It has NOT gone together as well as I'd have hoped. The hull parts themselves dry fitted together really nicely but once I tried to fit the cockpit, many swears were had. The tiny little windows don't fit all that well either. Well, one did. There's a strong possibility they'll get filled and overpainted as they just don't seem to be adding a lot to the styling of the kit - the big bubbles windows are the important bit.

I'm way happier with the wing assembly so far but I imagine sticking the struts in between the wing and the hull are going to make me super mad.

So overall she's been a tough run so far. I had a lot of trouble with the AC-130 kit as well due to some frustrating design choices in the kit and this kit is no different. While I found the nose wheel covers immensely frustrating on this kit, I think I'd have been even less happier had I tried to build the Catalina with it's landing gear down. Too many parts, all too fiddly. 

Limited Palette Painting Projects

When I painted Saskia Waldlaufer as my character in WFRP, I tried to do it with a very limited palette, just a dark red, orange and dark yellow. I've got a bunch of models from Reaper and others that will go around her for a Frostgrave crew (and for other RPGs) in which I am trying to do the same. 

On the right is my fighter-type, who's getting a palette only of blue and a barbarian, who I'm thinking will only be brown. The inside of the fur coat basically set me down that path. I'm also starting work on an obvious ranger-type in shades of autumn, so I'll use dark green, dark orange and a pale yellow but haven't got past the fleshtones on that one.

Next Time

I'm definitely taking the Regia Marina out for a run against Blogger Pooch's Yanks. Should be great for a laugh as I learn to use submarines. I'll also be looking to finish the Catalina build and do the paint while I wait for the transfers to arrive.