DBMiller's Cousteau 1/72 PBY

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Tue May 03, 2022 5:28 pm

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

His series “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” (1966-1976) was one of my favorite shows back in the 70’s. I has his book “The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea”. I wanted to be part of the crew.
In 1977 I went off to Roger Williams College in Bristol Rhode Island to study marine biology!

Sadly, I was not the scientist I wanted to be. In fact, I was a terrible scientist! Oh, well, we can’t all be what we hoped to be when we were kids.

This kit is one I built way back when it came out and was thrilled to find it at the NOREASTCON@50 show on 30 April 2022 - and at a good price! I was going to build a submarine but this changed my mind.

A camping / diving vacation at Lake George New York! Back in 75 or 76 - I think. Way back. I was thin and had hair. This is my tent and tanks!

Sun rise out my dorm window after studying all night for final exams! Overlooking Mount Hope bay in Bristol, RI.

Ah, memories. On to the kit.

1976!

No interior at all. And the cockpit is less than basic! Less for me to mess up!

All those rivets! I'll have to be so very careful while sanding!

Quax · Post by **Quax** » Tue May 03, 2022 6:28 pm

Ooh now that's different! Good luck with it.

Paul

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Tue May 03, 2022 7:03 pm

Awesome subject!!
Cool topic and owner

i watched this as well as Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom

Loved those National Geographic TV shows as a kid

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Tue May 03, 2022 7:07 pm

EDIT: I forgot to include the decals. What to say? They are old and brittle. I scanned them into my computer in hopes I can
salvage them by printing a new set. I also coated them with decal fixative but I don't think that will help.

BigWall · Post by **BigWall** » Tue May 03, 2022 7:38 pm

Very cool!

I remember watching this and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom as a kid too. Things were definitely different now. I remember them pis**** off rhinos with a car covered in tires and getting it to ram the car. Today's hippies would fall over dead if they saw that footage.

I built a model of the Calypso a couple times. I'd love to find that somewhere again.

aur0ra145 · Post by **aur0ra145** » Wed May 04, 2022 1:19 am

This should be a great build!

Post by **Tomcat64** » Wed May 04, 2022 9:59 am

Wow - that's brought back loads of memories.

Good luck with the build

Garion77 · Post by **Garion77** » Wed May 04, 2022 11:18 am

Wow an another cool and different subject ! This GB is bringing really nice subjects along to follow !

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Wed May 04, 2022 1:34 pm

aur0ra145 wrote: Wed May 04, 2022 1:19 am This should be a great build!

This is my look after seeing the decals start to disintegrate in front of my eyes as I tried to seal them!

HOWEVER, I found a company on Facebook - CCS Decals in Brazil, that make replacements for this kit! The have them in other scales too if you want to convert a PBY to this version! I contacted them last night and already got a response asking what scale I want and where to ship!

Carles · Post by **Carles** » Thu May 05, 2022 6:18 am

I´ve got this kit many years ago !
Really love it !
Let us see the progress...
Carles.

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Tue May 24, 2022 3:53 pm

Yes, I'm still in. Working slowly putting together sub-assemblies and hoping I don't mess up.

The cockpit is almost void of details - if you can call any of this "detail". The rest of the interior is empty.

Ooops! Forgot to add the wheel wells!

The nose gear doors. I don't think they were ever designed to be closed without the hull in water to hide the mess.

Middle of the wing.

Some of the parts laid out.

"Cockpit" glued on one side. Fuselage taped shut to hold it in place.

Window frames glued in. One of them broke; you can see the front laying flat when it should be straight out. Easy fix.

Engines. What a mess.

Outer wing surfaces glued at the root. The outer section is unglued so I can add the pontoons once they are painted.

Post by **Tomcat64** » Wed May 25, 2022 2:33 pm

Nice to see you've made a start on this one but the kit is definitely showing its vintage - hopefully you can knock it into shape

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:14 pm

A bit of priming work. Also added the interior windows.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:18 pm

Keep at her DB, she is coming along in due time

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:48 pm

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:18 pm Keep at her DB, she is coming along in due time

I swear I will finish this one!
Really.

Post by **digger303** » Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:54 am

Thank you DB for saving me from buying one of these cause it was in the back of my mind. However you seem to be taking it in your stride with grace. It's coming together and those engines as you said are a bit messy.

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Tue Jun 07, 2022 2:51 pm

digger303 wrote: Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:54 am Thank you DB for saving from buying one of these cause it was in the back of my mind. However you seem to be taking it in your stride with grace. It's coming together and those engines as you said are a bit messy.

You could buy a better quality kit and get the decals online. This kit though needs someone better and more patient than me!

Post by **Tomcat64** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 11:36 am

Keep plugging away at it DBM, it's coming along nicely despite the challenges

RangerNeil · Post by **RangerNeil** » Thu Jun 09, 2022 1:42 pm

100/100 for perseverance on this one. Despite the fight its looking good, should be a beauty when you finish.

Post by **digger303** » Fri Jun 10, 2022 12:22 am

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:47 pm

Here are some of the parts with some white primer and a coat of Tamiya flat white.

It was going to take quite a bit of paint - and I was also low on white - so, I brought out the big gun! I figured that since it doesn't have panel lines to clog up and other fine detail I need to preserve (the million rivets don't count) I'd use this.

First coat results look pretty good.

The outer wing with the pontoons going in. No primer yet.

Post by **Tomcat64** » Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:55 am

That paint has gone down really nicely and the millions of rivets are still clearly visible in some of the photos

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Thu Jun 16, 2022 2:05 am

Not much of an update today but I was so happy with how the spray can paint came out that I glued the middle wing section onto the fuselage pylon!
It needed quite a bit of sanding the pylon to get it to fit - and it still doesn't fit too well - but super glue and filler hides most of the problem areas.

BigWall · Post by **BigWall** » Thu Jun 16, 2022 2:19 am

it's looking good friend

Post by **digger303** » Thu Jun 16, 2022 5:45 am

I can see it's going to look good.
All those raised rivets give it a interesting look.

aur0ra145 · Post by **aur0ra145** » Sat Jun 18, 2022 12:32 am

That's a million rivets!

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:28 pm

Horizontal stabilizers on!

Outer wing sections primed and given a first coat of gloss white.

I keep putting off masking the windows but I'll have to get to them soon.
I'll also have to do something about the decals.

What's done so far next to my other 2022 build!

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Sun Jun 26, 2022 10:24 pm

I was so happy about the white spray paint that I moved forward with the outer wing sections! The fit, as might be expected, stinks. Even after much sanding they still didn't settle flush.

Here are both wings attached - showing the seams. I used superglue to attach them and will use filler for the rest.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Mon Jun 27, 2022 6:27 am

Great progress
Impressed with your paint work from a big spray can

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:36 pm

It has wings!

Engines installed into the nacelles.

Now it has engines! No props though. Or wheels. Or windows. And I have to repaint the cockpit.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:18 pm

Post by **Tomcat64** » Mon Jul 04, 2022 2:38 pm

Nice work sorting those wing joins out - that's quite a wingspan on that big ole bird!

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:06 pm

Obviously I didn't make the deadline with this one. Again.
These are the last shots I took before the end of August. It was a rotten, hot month and I didn't get much building done at all.

Here are the wing struts and dive platforms under the bubble windows on.

Parts primed.

Scary canopy to mask.

More work on the props. They are silver with yellow and black tips.

Little Zodiac!

Decals. Sigh.
I made a test print on photo paper with a Canon Selphy printer. I've use it before for decals and it worked great. This time not so much. It really hated the decal paper I used. The upper one is the photo paper and the lower is the Selphy print. It didn't even print the green!

More white on the plane. It's almost done except for the landing gear and a few clear bits. After that it's the trim paint, cockpit re-paint, and decals.

This time I tried my regular Canon printer and it worked great. Except this print came out a bit too big. How does that even happen? Then I tried again and printed it the wrong way around. Third time lucky and printed two sets. They just need sealer then I can try them out.

Post by **Tomcat64** » Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:26 am

Great to see you back at the bench after the tropical summer weather

There was a rumour that the closing date for the Maritime might be extended so you may not have missed it after all

ForeverPlasticKits · Post by **ForeverPlasticKits** » Fri Sep 02, 2022 7:21 pm

Nice tribute to the Commandant Cousteau who is more and more forgotten even his huge work for Nature is always a reference!

I can't wait to see the next steps!

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:28 pm

ForeverPlasticKits wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 7:21 pm Nice tribute to the Commandant Cousteau who is more and more forgotten even his huge work for Nature is always a reference!

I can't wait to see the next steps!

His shows were such an inspiration to me as a kid.

ForeverPlasticKits · Post by **ForeverPlasticKits** » Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:09 pm

DBMiller wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:28 pm
ForeverPlasticKits wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 7:21 pm Nice tribute to the Commandant Cousteau who is more and more forgotten even his huge work for Nature is always a reference!

I can't wait to see the next steps!
His shows were such an inspiration to me as a kid.

Me too, with my sister we didn't want to miss one of this TV shows!

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sat Sep 03, 2022 1:30 am

Deadline IS extended to end of September
Keep at her

DBMiller · Post by **DBMiller** » Sun Oct 09, 2022 2:37 pm

Even with the extension I couldn't seem to make it work. If there is a hard way to do something and an easy way guess which way I choose?

I really (I mean REALLY) should have painted this in sections.

Fixing the interior (such as it is).

Masking for the yellow. I still have the belly to do and that will be a real challenge!

Masking for the black. Ask me again why I didn't pre paint in sections. Go on.

Still a long way to go but I will finish this one! My printed decals even came out pretty good!

ForeverPlasticKits · Post by **ForeverPlasticKits** » Sun Oct 09, 2022 5:50 pm

Nice result on the paint, and yes we all love to make the things more difficult!