Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina..next installment

Jumpie

I wish I woulda found this one a couple days ago!

"Jumpie" was a PBY-5 flying boat flown by Lt.(jg) William Price of VP-72, based at Funafuti in July, 1944.

Uploading as I type...
 
I wish I woulda found this one a couple days ago!

"Jumpie" was a PBY-5 flying boat flown by Lt.(jg) William Price of VP-72, based at Funafuti in July, 1944.

Uploading as I type...

Thank you very much! :applause:

Cheers,
Maarten
 
Atlantic Camouflage Scheme

I've always been fond of the U.S. Navy's Atlantic camouflage scheme of White with Gull Gray upper surfaces. This PBY-5a belonged to VP-63, a unit of Fleet Air Wing Fifteen, based at Port Lyautey, Morocco in 1944. By the end of the war FAW-15, with its PBY-5s and -5As equipped with magnetic anomaly detectors, had virtually closed the Straits of Gibraltar to U-boats.

Since VP-63 flew both the PBY-5 flying boat and the PBY-5A amphibian, there will be a VP-63 skin for the upcoming PBY-5A when it's ready. It will just be a matter of changing the individual aircraft number to one worn by a -5A.

 
Catalina models

Mick,

Great work on the re-paints for this venerable ALPHA model. Somehow I have missed the upload to SOH of the revised models for this a/c ie the armed versions with bombs and depth charges.
Could you give me a link or indicate where in SOH they are?

Thanks again for all the work on this model.

Mal
 
Super cats

Very many thanks TARPSBird.

What an amazing amount of research and sheer effort has gone into re-vitalising this bird.

Mal
 
Crew textures for cats

TARPSbird,

Thanks for the shortcuts to the new wpn models. All OK except I do not have any textures for the revised crew members. Apologies for not being up to speed on this but have been away for a few weeks and out of touch.

Do the crew models utilise textures from another a/c? If so I can probably locate them.

Rgds
Mal
 
Further to the above on cats

Cannot find any wpn textures either. Have I missed an upload of Shessi's wpn and crew textures?
 
"Cannot find any wpn textures either. Have I missed an upload of Shessi's wpn and crew textures?"

Everything is in the zip file on the download list. It's now slipped to the second page, but it's right there. There is nothing missing from the aircraft download or any of the skins. It sounds like you somehow have an incomplete plane; perhaps something was accidentally deleted, or something got lost in the downloading process. Maybe you should just start over with a fresh download of the aircraft, then add any of the repaints that appeal to you. That should give you everything you need (except the extra skins), ready to fly.

Something else just dawned on me, something simple and easier to fix if it's what actually happened. Are you sure you didn't forget to copy the common textures into each additional texture folder? Maybe you're looking at a repaint that only has the modified external texture files in it. Check that first, before you start over from scratch!
 
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RAF Catalina

Here's an RAF Cataina Mk.IVA of No.210 Squadron, RAF, based at RAF Sullom Voe, Shetland in 1944. Coastal Command, I suppose, though I'm not certain about that. It's AlphaSims' stock RAF skin with the texture files edited as required to work with the new model.
 
When I added Mick's WWII paint jobs to Shessi's revised PBY-5 I updated the aircraft.cfg file as required, then copied ALL the files in Shessi's original texture folder over to Mick's new texture folders. When asked if I wanted to replace the files already in the new repaint folder I just hit no, no, no, no, repeatedly until all the original texture files I didn't need were ignored and the ones I did need (aircrew, gun mounts, ordnance, etc.) were copied over. That way you're guaranteed to have all the textures for each of the repaints.
I know I'm explaining basically what Mick already posted, but I was a bit confused at first wondering which files to copy over to which folder. I started to make copies of the original texture folder (?), then the light bulb came on. Was a little slow that day, I'll blame it on lack of coffee... or maybe alcohol. :biggrin-new:
 
Shuffle them textures

Mick and TARPSbird many thanks for your advice and assistance over sorting out the correct models and textures to get your excellent models properly skinned.

My prob was exactly as you explained - missing textures from the base/common textures in the skins from Mick and Shessi.

All sorted now and very, very happy, with your research and resulting skins.

Thanks again guys.

Mal
 
Here's an RAF Cataina Mk.IVA of No.210 Squadron, RAF, based at RAF Sullom Voe, Shetland in 1944. Coastal Command, I suppose, though I'm not certain about that. It's AlphaSims' stock RAF skin with the texture files edited as required to work with the new model.

Nice repaint but the underwing B Type roundels are incorrect. I'm sure there wouldn't have been any roundels underwing at this period of the war and certainly not B Type. Hope this helps.
Mike
 
Nice repaint but the underwing B Type roundels are incorrect. I'm sure there wouldn't have been any roundels underwing at this period of the war and certainly not B Type. Hope this helps.
Mike

Thanks for the information. I'm not very cognizant of the details of British markings in the WW2 period. I would've though that AlphaSims would be, but apparently not. I've come to expect them to make some mistakes when they paint American planes, but I didn't realize they were also error-prone on UK or Commonwealth liveries. If I'd bought the Cat back when it was payware, I'd be rather annoyed. I think when someone sells a product they have some obligation to get it right. But since I obtained it as freeware, I won't complain; as with all payware, I'm grateful for the gift regardless of any imperfections.

Attached is a fix that removes the roundel from below the wings. Just drop the two texture files into the 210 Squadron texture folder, overwriting the originals.
 
Thanks for the information. I'm not very cognizant of the details of British markings in the WW2 period. I would've though that AlphaSims would be, but apparently not. I've come to expect them to make some mistakes when they paint American planes, but I didn't realize they were also error-prone on UK or Commonwealth liveries. If I'd bought the Cat back when it was payware, I'd be rather annoyed. I think when someone sells a product they have some obligation to get it right. But since I obtained it as freeware, I won't complain; as with all payware, I'm grateful for the gift regardless of any imperfections.

Attached is a fix that removes the roundel from below the wings. Just drop the two texture files into the 210 Squadron texture folder, overwriting the originals.

Thanks for the update. As you quite rightly point out the model is now freeware and so the issue isn't that important.
best wishes
Mike
 
Hi Shessi! :)

At very first, thanks for your wonderful work on the Catalinas, it's unbelievably great to see its updated for the flightsim! :applause:
Anyway I'd like to ask you modestly, if you have any plans to do the Norwegian PBYs too, maybe with the radar-bubble on the roof, the Canadian Canso with its special nose or a PBY fire bomber?

attachment.php


(http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/h/581/9/0)

Thanks a lot again for your work, it's a pleasure!
Elmar
 
Hi Elmar,
Thanks, and don't forget a big thanks to Alphasim, without the initial build and generosity of setting them free, they wouldn't be here.

Well, yes to some of that. I've got to admit I've been a bit PBY'd out, so been fiddling about with another project. The Coastal Command Cat MkI, will be next, then a radar MkIb and IV, I don't think there were many US PBY-5's fitted with radar, but that's another, if so. Then the PBY-5A's, then a PBY-6A. The Canso was a non-amphibian PBY-5A and the Canso A just a PBY-5A. I think it's the Nomad that you may be thinking of with the 'special nose'. A few of those you mention will be down to skins, so no doubt they will be done, at some stage.

That's a lot to do, so any other special like a fire-bomber is only a far off maybe!

Cheers

Shessi
 
Hi there! : )

You're entirely right, if Alphasim hadn't have published the PBY as freeware some time ago, we wouldn't have the fortune to fly your newly made derivates.

About the "special nose" I'd like to say some more, I guess it was a little unclear what I wrote here yesterday. The Canadian warplane hertitage museum operates a Canso which has a slightly modified nose, as far as I can see it, the turret was removed and the well was aerodynamiclly covered. But I attach a picture of the one I meant.

I wonder if there is anything in which we could support you, if you like so. I'm in an apprenticeship about CAD design in Catia, I don't know which 3D program you are using and if you're working in part/solid design or in sheet design.

Canso5.jpg

(http://www.warplane.com/vintage-aircraft-collection/aircraft-history.aspx?aircraftId=11)

Best regards,
Elmar
 
Hi there! : )

You're entirely right, if Alphasim hadn't have published the PBY as freeware some time ago, we wouldn't have the fortune to fly your newly made derivates.

About the "special nose" I'd like to say some more, I guess it was a little unclear what I wrote here yesterday. The Canadian warplane hertitage museum operates a Canso which has a slightly modified nose, as far as I can see it, the turret was removed and the well was aerodynamiclly covered. But I attach a picture of the one I meant.
...
Best regards,
Elmar

That nose is a very common civilian conversion. It replaces the turret with a simple hatch and provides a place for the weather radar. It's almost a universal fit on civil Catalina conversions. I don't know if Shessi plans to model it, but I hope so. There is potential for a lot of very attractive civilian paint jobs.
 
... I don't think there were many US PBY-5's fitted with radar... Shessi

I think you're right about that, though I'm not certain. I don't recall seeing any photos of -5s with the bullet radome. If there were any, I suspect that they were uncommon.

Something else I've been wondering about on the -5A is the combination of bullet radar/no bullet radar and cheese box/eyeball turrets.

It's clear that early -5As had cheese box turrets and Yagi (wing-mounted) radar, and that late -5As had eyeball turrets and bullet-domed radar. In between, I'm not at all sure. I don't know if the radar and the new turret were introduced at the same time, or if not, which came first. I quickly perused the In Action booklet and didn't notice any combinations of cheese box/bullet or eyeball/Yagi, but it was a quick perusal, and I haven't studied any of the many other reference sources. The In Action booklet shows both radars and both turrets in detail, but I couldn't find any mention of when those features were introduced. Hence my wonderment.

Aside from curiosity, I don't think it's an issue. For modeling purposes, to provide a good survey of the plane's development and a palette for representative skins, I think it would be plenty adequate to have an early version and a late version, and never mind about what might have happened in a few probably uncommon cases in between.

If there was to be just one -5A, I would suggest a late version, since that would show the most differences from the -5 flying boat, and would also provide a canvas for post-war skins.

I hear you about needing a break from the Cats! Take you time and keep it enjoyable! A few years ago I made the mistake of trying to push out too much too fast and getting too focused on the current project to the exclusion of all else. I soon became so burnt out that I had to step away from FS for more than two years! Don't let it stop being fun. We can wait.
 
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