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PBY Catalina (Vintage Plans) Build Thread

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PBY Catalina (Vintage Plans) Build Thread

Old 01-02-2019, 05:20 PM
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Eldher
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Default PBY Catalina (Vintage Plans) Build Thread

I'm starting a build thread for a PBY Catalina. 108" WS version from Vintage plans and laser cur parts.
I will be modeling after a Canadian PBY, who, of all the many countries that operated the PBY chose to call it the "Canso"
Here's picts of the plane I'm modeling.
Old 01-02-2019, 05:25 PM
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Eldher
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Basic framing up of the core structure of the fuse.




Old 01-02-2019, 05:27 PM
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Eldher
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Adding the formers.

Old 01-02-2019, 05:28 PM
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Eldher
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Planking the bottom of the forward hull.

Old 01-02-2019, 05:33 PM
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Eldher
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The Vintage plan was drawn in 1970 and planned on fixed gear. No provision for retracts. To put them in, most of F7 will need to be removed. Unfortunately F7 also carries much of the load between the wing and fuse. F5 and F8 will need to be updated to accomplish the same goal, but latter. Let's get the gear in first.

Old 01-02-2019, 05:37 PM
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Eldher
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Here's the retract just mocked up as I design the necessary mounts. Finding retracts was a challenge with Century Jet out of business. I got a set from G&P Sales.
G&P Scale Models


Old 01-02-2019, 05:39 PM
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Eldher
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Partially complete permanent mount.

Old 01-02-2019, 06:08 PM
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Thanks for sharing your build. You are going all out in your build, LG and all! I have the same plans and hope to oneday make use of them. This is my favorite among many flying boat/amphibian aircraft. Your top view in the color scheme seems out of scale to me. Wing chord too wide, fuse too. Is it accurate? I love that you are going the extra mile with retractable LG. I anticipate seeing it in action. Lots of hours ahead...
Old 01-02-2019, 06:09 PM
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You are really moving fast on the build. I was amazed how much you have done.
I'm hooked for the duration. I'll be watching.
Dave
Old 01-02-2019, 06:20 PM
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Default Retracts

When I do build my PBY, I wasn't planning on retracts. Now you hsve me thinking about them.
Can you give me an idea what it would cost me to add retracts? I've never used them because our grass field seems to break them all the time.
Dave

Last edited by Dave in Detroit; 01-02-2019 at 06:29 PM. Reason: Rephrase question
Old 01-02-2019, 08:04 PM
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Eldher
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Originally Posted by aerospot
Thanks for sharing your build. You are going all out in your build, LG and all! I have the same plans and hope to oneday make use of them. This is my favorite among many flying boat/amphibian aircraft. Your top view in the color scheme seems out of scale to me. Wing chord too wide, fuse too. Is it accurate? I love that you are going the extra mile with retractable LG. I anticipate seeing it in action. Lots of hours ahead...
Great question! First point is that the color scheme is just that, the color reference, not the outline reference. That said you have a good eye, indeed the aspect ratio in the color ref is a little off. My outline reference is a copy of William Wylam's drawing that I found online.
Old 01-02-2019, 08:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Dave in Detroit
When I do build my PBY, I wasn't planning on retracts. Now you hsve me thinking about them.
Can you give me an idea what it would cost me to add retracts? I've never used them because our grass field seems to break them all the time.
Dave
I bought them for $380 + shipping.
Old 01-03-2019, 08:56 AM
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Nice project, quick start, beautiful work. I have signed on, thanks for sharing your build. Not many good builders do this web site.

Thanks
Rich
Old 01-03-2019, 03:12 PM
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Default Retracts

Originally Posted by Eldher
I bought them for $380 + shipping.
Thanks for the quick reply.
I can't justify that much for a landing gear. Where we always fly, the shore is mostly golf ball size rocks so the gear will not be used to taxi the plane back to shore.
They are really impressive, but I'll have to pass on them.
Old 01-11-2019, 08:02 PM
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Continued work on the main landing gear. Views showing the underside of the mount.
Old 01-11-2019, 08:05 PM
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Mounting the load bearing arm. Also retracts the gear.

Old 01-11-2019, 08:06 PM
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Complete the other side and check that it all works!


Old 01-11-2019, 08:16 PM
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If you look at the load bearing strut, you can see it is driven by a torque rod with a long arm. That torque rod and ply mounts take all the landing loads and the asymmetric loads of raising and lowering the gear. Me thinks the holes in the ply will wear in an oblong shape rather sooner than later. Here's a close-up view of the mount.

Old 01-11-2019, 08:23 PM
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To prevent the wearing and make the gear easier to move I am doubling the width of the ply mounts and adding stainless steel bearings at each end. The end closest to the lever arm has a needle bearing and the other end has a ball bearing.


Old 01-11-2019, 08:25 PM
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Starting on the nose wheel retract.


Old 01-12-2019, 06:48 AM
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Here beefing up the structure to make up for the loss of the F7 former. Will need to make upgrades to both sides of F5 and F8.




Old 01-12-2019, 11:38 AM
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Default Retracts

Nice job on the retracts.
They really dress up the build.
it will be impressive to see it taxi back up on shore after landing on the water.
Old 01-13-2019, 07:44 AM
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A Beautiful Build - Glad to be "Follower". Smile Chic
Old 01-13-2019, 06:38 PM
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Thanks for the comments guys!

For anyone who wants to use the same gear and setup you will need to modify the lever arm/torque rod. The instructions that came with the gear indicate that they were to be set up to _not_ fully retract. Doing so would result in the locking arm on the gear moving into an over center position and locking in a position that the air cylinder would be unable to move. This fuse is slightly larger, so I am able to have the gear travel through it's full range of motion. The instructions also say that you will need to full stroke of the air cylinder to get 90% of the movement. This leads to a problem for me as I need 100% movement of the gear. So you need to shorten the lever arm length.



Old 01-13-2019, 06:45 PM
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After a couple hours of figuring out alignment and positioning to get full motion of the gear I have them both working well.



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