I ordered Guanli Catalina from HobbyKing a month or so ago. I wanted something I could fly off of grass and also get my feet wet, so to speak. The Canadair was heavily back ordered, so I ordered this one instead; I've always liked Catalinas.

Progress will be slow, but I will update my mods as I plug along.

-Nose turret added
-Glassed the bottom
-Added faux-wheels to the side of the fuse in the appropriate places
-Reinforced wing-screw plate in the fuse with gorilla glue
-nacelle fire walls made to mate onto stock wooden stick mounts

Hello there..Im thinking of buying one too..Can you tell me how and why you are changing the engine pods?? I also like your nose mods..I might just do the same and busy a wheel and 1/2 it to make it look more scale...Any more info on the finished project?

Originally Posted by byxnplanes

I ordered Guanli Catalina from HobbyKing a month or so ago. I wanted something I could fly off of grass and also get my feet wet, so to speak. The Canadair was heavily back ordered, so I ordered this one instead; I've always liked Catalinas.

Progress will be slow, but I will update my mods as I plug along.

-Nose turret added
-Glassed the bottom
-Added faux-wheels to the side of the fuse in the appropriate places
-Reinforced wing-screw plate in the fuse with gorilla glue
-nacelle fire walls made to mate onto stock wooden stick mounts

Originally Posted by agedflier

Can you tell me how and why you are changing the engine pods??

Hi agedflier,

The idea behind adding firewalls to the nacelles instead of going with the stock stick mounts was to stiffen up the whole area. As soon as I dry-fit all the stock parts together, I could tell the nacelle structure wouldn't be very strong. I could envision easily damaging the structure during transportation, as I plan on making the wing detachable to fit in my car. By attaching in the stick mount to the firewall and attaching the fire wall to the inner diameter of the nacelle foam, it will all be quite rigid, decreasing the motor vibration and adding support to the nacelle structure. Gorilla glue is the attachment method of choice, since it will expand into any little void and bond very securely once it's crept in there.

Note: if you want to attempt this mod, the most important part is aligning the stick mount and the firewall, square to the direction of the nacelle. I did this by tracing a ring on the inner diameter of each nacelle, where the firewall should line up. I added gorilla glue to base of the stick mount and the stick-firewall connection, then dry fit the nacelle pieces in place, making sure I kept the firewalls aligned with the traced ring in the nacelle, as the glue cured.

Not much progress in the last few weeks, as I am a mechanical engineering student and spend most of my time at that... The latest progress was getting the firewall/stick mount aligned and glued, and making channels under the wings for wiring to the nacelles and servos. I'm waiting for a sh*t load of wire from Hobby King so I can start planning the plumbing soon.

This guy's video is a good reference. He did a nicer job on his cockpit windows. And lots of other details that I probably won't get around to. Had I seen this before my build I would have used a few of his ideas... oh well.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpanA...ure=plpp_video

If you haven't seen this build it's also a good reference. Orion Pax did a great job building MERLIN V16's catalina. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1120564

Cheers,
Neil

Hello byxnplanes..Thank you for your advice..That idea did come to me when I decided to electrify my Guillows DC-3 ....The Guillows "Cat" in the forum seems to be a big project but lots of clues there on "how to" Hope you like the DC-3 so far..