the original aircraft. The landing gear kit is scale in operation but not an identical miniture to the
full size aircraft. The landing gear is powered by a Robart air cylinder for retraction and extension.
This model is designed with the wheel wells built into the fuselage
so that a scale landing gear can be installed, just like the original aircraft. The landing gear kit is scale in operation but not an identical miniture to the
full size aircraft. The landing gear is powered by a Robart air cylinder for retraction and extension.
The kit includes a Robart nose gear assembly, machined fittings for the articulating joints, and prebent 3/16" wire struts. The load strut is constructed of 4130 chromoly 3/8" tubing. The oleo struts are Robart and the strut plates are also constructed of 4130 chromoly .050 steel. The landing gear comes mostly prebuilt.
Construction entails some grinding and filing of some of the joints, finish assembly and mounting the retracts and the air cylinder in the wheel well. The fuselage has an access hatch in the nose covered by the clear vacuum formed cockpit and nose gunner turret. The fiberglass halves come prejoined and the waist gunner blister holes are already cut open. The fuselage requires no bulkheads or reinforcing. The pylon is integral.
The kit includes full size plans, vacuum formed cowles, nacells, and
wing floats. All wood is included except the 
covering
for the wing. The wing covering is not included because monokote is not the best for a model this big, and there
are a lot of different covering processes that can be used. Various people prefer different methods of covering
wings so I am letting the builder choose his / her process and select their own materials.
I covered my prototype with 1-1/2 oz fiberglass cloth directly onto the wing foam using 2 coats of epoxy resin. The construction video shows this process. The wing floats are retracted with pneumatic landing gear units. The scale float retracting system is very intricate and difficult to do without adding considerable weight to the aircraft so I have elected to use this system. If a person wanted to invest the time into it, a scale system could by built.
The wing has a semisymetrical air foil. The outer panel come off of the center section just outboard of the engine cowls. A socket made of 1/8" and 1/4" ply telescopes around the main spar. The outer panels are then held on by the functional wing lift struts. The struts utilize a steel wire inside the stream line aluminum lift struts and are attached to the wing and fuselage with sheet metal screws. The nose gear operates in a wet well. It features clamshell doors just like the full scale PBY.
The engines are operated by 2 servos. One servo operates the throttle on both engines and the other servo trims the motor servo left and right to enable in-flight engine synchronizing. The plane flies like a pussycat. It is very stable and responds smartly to all of the control surfaces. Take off run is 100 to 150 feet with very little float pulling due to the slightly modified float design. The design also features the correct factory wing and stab. incidences, greatly improving water and take off performance.
| Wing span | 104² |
| Scale | 1/12 |
| Area | 1270 SQ. IN. |
| Weight | 23 LBS |
| Length | 70² |
| Engines | .60 2-CYCLE - .90 4-CYCLE |
| Radio | 7 Channel - 3 control surfaces + motor servo + motor trim servo + landing gear valve servo + float valve servo |
The following parts are included in kit. The number on the left can be found on the coresponding parts.
| Balsa | |
| 1 | balsa block to go on stab for rudder hinge 1X1X1 |
| 2 | " " " " " " stinger for hinge pin 2X3/4X1 |
| 3 | 1/8" balsa for wheel well flange 3X1/8X36 |
| 4 | balsa float doors 1/4X15X4 |
| 5 | leading edge (3) 1/2X1X36 |
| 6 | trailing edge (3) 3/8X1X36 |
| 7 | 1/16" balsa for wing ends and main joints 1/16X4X36 |
| 8 | 1/4" balsa for pylon filler 4X13X1/4 |
| 9 | Cowl stands (8) 2X1X1/2 |
| 10 | stab leading edge 5X8 X36 |
| 11 | stab tips 2-1/2X7/8X12 |
| 12 | elevator trailing edge 3/8X3/4X30 |
| 13 | rudder post block 1X1X1 |
| 14 | water rudder push rod 3/8 X24 Air rudder wood |
| 15 | #5-1/2X2X3-1/8, #6-1/2X1-1/2X3-1/2, #7-1/2X1X2-3/8, #8-1/2X1X2-3/4, #15-9 control horn block-3/4X2x2-1/2, 15A rudder ribs- 1/8X4X14, trailing edge ply-cut from sheet provided |
| Ply | |
| 16 | 1/8" 9 X 48 for the following parts cockpit bulk heads cockpit floor hatch hatch leveler nose gear top nose chine and splash rail float ribs and top motor servo plates aileron servo mount plates receiver switch mount wing bolt plates |
| 17 | main spars wing end panels |
| 18 | main spar for center section |
| 19 | spar box sides |
| 20 | 3/8" ply for gear spacer |
| 21 | cowl rings |
| 22 | tank well sides |
| 23 | stab spar |
| 1/4" Ply | |
| 24 | wing center section main spar stubs |
| 25 | LE spar and firewalls |
| 26 | for pylon nut plate |
| 27 | retract plates |
| Dowel | |
| 28 | dowel for lift struts 1" X 10" |
| 29 | cockpit hold down screw 1" X 1-1/2" |
| 30 | 1/4" stab dowel spar 6" |
| 31 | 1/4" for cockpit rear hold down 1" |
| 32 | 1/4" retract plate anchor dowels (8) 1-1/8" |
| 33 | 1/4" wing align dowels (2) 3-1/2" |
| Sticks | |
| 34 | 3/8 sq. hardwood for lift struts, 7/8"X1/2"X2" |
| 35 | hard point mounts in floats 1/2X1/2X5 |
| 36 | 1/4" for top and bottom of main spar box 20" |
| 37 | cowl and nacelle mounts 3/8 X8 |
| 38 | 3/8" sq. pine 50" nose gear well flange, aileron servos elevator servo mount, air valve servo mounts rudder servo, load strut lever mounts, motor servos, aileron servo lock pulley, |
| 39 | 3/4X1X1 pine for aileron horn mounts (2) |
| Hardware | |
| 40 | plans |
| 41 | cockpit hold down blind nut and machine srcew 6-32X3/4" (1) |
| 42 | 50 # 2 screws for cowls, nacelles, nyrod mounts, nose gear box top. |
| 43 | 1/8" water rudder shaft 1" X 1/8" |
| 44 | " " " tube Brass |
| 45 | 22 ga. sheetmetal for water rudder |
| 46 | water rudder steering arm |
| 47 | 3 control horns |
| 48 | 13 hinges |
| 49 | decals (2) large and (2) small |
| 50 | acetate for windows |
| 51 | strut fairings |
| 52 | shutter doors |
| 53 | 18 ga. steel plate for float mounts 5/8" X 3-1/2" |
| 54 | 22 ga. steel for float door mounts 1/4" X 1-1/2", 1/4"X 4" |
| 55 | Steel elevator horn (1) |
| 56 | stream line tubing (2) |
| 57 | nylon wing bolts (2) |
| 58 | 1/4" blind nuts (2) |
| 59 | strut wire 3/32" X 36(2) |
| 60 | strut eyes (8) |
| 61 | strut #6 screws (8) |
| 62 | fuselage |
| 63 | cowls |
| 64 | nacelles |
| 65 | blisters |
| 66 | cockpit |
| 67 | floats |
| 68 | wing foam |
| 69 | stab foam |
| 70 | stab extension foam |
| 71 | 2 6-32 blind nuts and machine screws for wing retainer |
| 72 | Aileron, air valve servo mount blocks (8) 1 X 1 X 3/8 |
| 73 | 9"X 5" piece of fiberglass mat for installing interior parts |