Martin PBM-5 Mariner

by Robert Leonard

Description

This is my Martin PBM-5 in 1/72 scale from Mach 2. It is painted in Testors Dark Sea Blue, Testors Rubber on the leading edges with light gray exhaust on the upper wings. It depicts a United States Navy machine from VP-49 at NAS Norfolk, Virginia in 1949.

As hard as I tried, I could not get the clear parts as clear as I wanted. They are very cloudy despite the use of Future floor wax and grits of sandpaper up to 3000 I could not get the finish I wanted. I used Superscale Krystal Kleer for the side windows. The prop warning stripes are from the kit and the remainder are from various Superscale sheets. The only real change is that I used brass rod for the guns and the small plastic parts were not with the trouble.

Until Revell AG wakes up and gives us a 1/72 PBM, I suggest you build the Rareplanes version. The only advantage the Mach 2 kit has over the Rareplanes version is that the Mach 2 kits has beaching gear.

I built the model for my Dad who served with VP-49 during 1949. It was one of his old photos that provided the inspiration for this model.

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