Martin Mariner

[64Comet404]

I wanted to start off the new year by starting and finishing a model. Therefore, I went digging through a small collection I recently picked up, and came up with a bagged Revell kit of a Martin PBM-5 Mariner. The original plane flew in US Navy service from the early 1940s up until 1956. The kit was first issued in 1957, and tooled in the ever-popular 1:118 scale. I assembled most of the airframe one afternoon while watching TV, and then began seam filling soon afterwards. More to come...

[bismarck]

Always has been one of my favorites. Good start!!! I love the lines of that aircraft. One of these aircraft disappeared without a trace searching for flight 19 on the same day.

[Snake45]

Very cool! I have one of these in the stash and have been wanting to build it for years. Looks like you're off to a good start but is your right vertical stabliizer leaning in just a little too far? Doesn't look like it matches the left one. 

[Mike999]

That will be a labor of love!  Looks like you're off to a good start.  I wimped out and bought the 1/72 Minicraft Mariner, released a few years ago.  Hobby Lobby usually has this kit.  I saw it on clearance at an HL not long ago., but managed to restrain myself from buying another one.

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by Mike999
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[64Comet404]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Very cool! I have one of these in the stash and have been wanting to build it for years. Looks like you're off to a good start but is your right vertical stabliizer leaning in just a little too far? Doesn't look like it matches the left one. 

Thanks for the comments. The stabilizers are a close match when you look at them from the front of the plane, but the angles really do look off-centre in that picture. For a kit tooled over 60 years ago, the parts fit is pretty good, but you do miss out on the detail found in today's kits. I'm in the midst of painting and decals, so I hope to post more pics shortly.

[64Comet404]

I sprayed the plane with Tamiya grey primer, followed by a coat of US Navy Blue. The colours listed by Revell are a bit of a mixed bag, since the decals represent an aircraft from the end of USN service (1955-56), which would be a gloss dark blue. The instructions ask you to paint the model in blue with grey undersides, which is more of a WWII appearance. The blue I painted it is a compromise, since a gloss dark blue would make it look like a Corgi toy. The model is an issue from the early '60s (H-175), but I had access to a set of decals from the mid-1990s SSP issue. I realized my mistake in using the newer decals as soon as the insignia was applied. Whoever did the colour match was obviously a stranger to a Pantone chart, because the shade is way too bright (closer to Ford engine blue). I have a bottle of Insignia blue, so some painting will be in order.

[64Comet404]

The aircraft is finished! Decals are touched up, and an airbrushed coat of Future seals everything in. There are some small details which I could refine, but it's good enough for a shelf model.

 

[Jim B]

Nicely done.

[Snake45]

Looks great! I hope mine looks that good when I get around to it! 

[Hard_2_Handle_454]

I've been wanting one of these, but the kits are way to expensive. 

[Roadrunner]

Looks real nice. I've been wanting the Ginter book on the Mariner for some time now, but have no idea when I'll ever actually get it. And for me, the Minicraft kit, will be the way I'll go.