1/48 Scale PBY-5A Cat.

rufus has an amazing one he built and proll cany tell you. i was too busy ooh and ahhing it to notice.

My built-up one is a -5, but I have the -5A kit in my stash...along with a corrected resin tail, which is going to make balancing mine particularly nasty...

You can put weight anywhere in front of the plane of the main wheels, but the closer it is to the wheels the more weight you'll need; so there's a tradeoff. Just need to pack it out of sight - directly under the cockpit floor should do, if I recall the way the kit is laid out. I'd also smash some fishing weights with a hammer or get some lead tape and stick it under the small walkway at the forward gunner's station.

Be sure to tape things together and test the gear along the way to make sure they'll hold. (The axles on the beaching gear are particularly weak, and I'd replace them with brass rod if I do another one - great kit.)

These Monogram Catalinas are one of the kits that would be a candidate for replacement metal landing gear, along with Monogram's B-17, B-29, Tamiya's Lancaster, etc:. Hint to the aftermarket folks.

Bill Shuey

I purchased several custom lead balancing weights from Terry Dean at TD productions, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com. To answer your question directly, I checked my stash and Terry makes weights for the monogram 1:48 Catalina

Wow, I can finally save my #8 shot for my reloading press.

Thanx ;-)

AM wrote in news:0bWdnd7lPIZh0xjYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

I bought a 25# bag of the snallest shot I could find. I sold several 1# bags a my local club to recupe some of the cost and cuz I don't know that I'll use it all. It fots almost anywhere so far.

Frank

You can also hide weight behind the engines inside the nacelles or cowlings. Any point in front of the main landing gear, of course the farther foward the less weight needed. Lead shot can be inserted into the nose wheel if it is hollow and of two piece configuration. You can also pack shot (CA'd in place) behind the dashpanel. There is loads of room to hide weight in that kit. Hawkeye