Martin Monterey MR1

[PR19_Kit]

'The Monterey MR1 was the RAF's version of the P6M-3 Seamaster maritime patrol flying boat which was introduced into squadron service in 1963, producing a water-based addition to the Shackleton MR3s that formed the bulk of the RAF's maritime patrol force.'

Just the intro from the backstory that I've had written for about 4-5 years now after buying the Mach2 Seamaster kit. I started it back then too, but got a severe case of 'Mach2-itis' and gave up after two or three days of continuous screaming! 

I've just re-started it, and progress, needless to say, will be slow. NOTHING fits as designed and Mach2's ideas of accuracy are laughable. Goodness knows how the beaching trolley will sit on the ground, it's twisted through around 3-4 degrees as designed! I'm going to have to severely modify it.

The Montereys were re-engined with RR Conways, from the P&W J-75s that powered the USN's P6M-2s, and will need mods to the engine nacelles, amongst a few other things I have in mind, mostly powered by the wonderful Piet & Raithel book on the aircraft.

First two build pics below, but these are dated 2012, and I'll post some more current ones later.



Tip floats and fin top on the right, and the weird thing at the bottom is the main chassis of the beaching trolley. The reason why the other side strut is at the top of the pic is that it doesn't fit the rest of the trolley at ALL!




The bits of the trolley before I tried to assemble it. Looks great, but doesn't work worth a damn.

[Old Wombat]

Rule #1: Have fun!

[PR19_Kit]

Rule #1: Have fun!

I'm not sure that's actually possible with a Mach2 kit........... 

[Thorvic]

Rule #1: Have fun!

I'm not sure that's actually possible with a Mach2 kit........... 

Endure with a positive disposition and may the nasty, rough ill-defined, badly fitting bits be not as bad as they can be 

[PR19_Kit]

Rule #1: Have fun!

I'm not sure that's actually possible with a Mach2 kit........... 

Endure with a positive disposition and may the nasty, rough ill-defined, badly fitting bits be not as bad as they can be 

Thanks, I need all the help I can get. 

[loupgarou]

You should have a buddhist attitude when confronting any Mach2 kit. 

[Captain Canada]

Sure sounds like an interesting build ! Good luck and for sure have fun !

[sandiego89]

Great, looking forward to this.  Love the Sea master, and as we have discussed earlier, you have THE reference book.  Thank you for including the pictures of the Mach 2 kit, first time I have seen one unbuilt. 

That beaching trolly/cradle does look dubious.  I scratched one up for my SeaVictor, and used aluminum (pronounced correctly ) tubing as the floats, and that gave the cradle much more rigidity.

[PR19_Kit]

Great, looking forward to this.  Love the Sea master, and as we have discussed earlier, you have THE reference book. Thank you for including the pictures of the Mach 2 kit, first time I have seen one unbuilt. 

I'll take some more of the rest of the sprues Dave, and you won't believe the shape of them. 

[McColm]

Not to steal your thunder Kit, I used the Airfix HS/BAe Nimrod jet intakes box section and glued them at shoulder height in-line with the wings of the Mach2 model parts. I also scratch built a V-tail. Superglued both fuselages with the cockpit floor.
That's it so far, I also kitbashed my own SeaMaster by using the wings and engines from a Airfix Valiant, fuselage is from a Revell Dassault Breguet Br1150, vertical tail fin is a Airfix Vulcan, nose and tail cones are cut down parts from a Nimrod AEW3 conversion set and the hull was from a Hasegawa Martin Marlin.
I was going to use the fuel tanks as floats but I cut them to fit the gaps created when I removed the two outer engines off a Revell B-17F.

[sandiego89]

I'll take some more of the rest of the sprues Dave, and you won't believe the shape of them. 

Great thank you!  Can't be worse than my MACH 2 SeaDart....or can they?

-Dave

[PR19_Kit]

I'll take some more of the rest of the sprues Dave, and you won't believe the shape of them. 

Great thank you!  Can't be worse than my MACH 2 SeaDart....or can they?

-Dave

Oh yes they can, take a look at this lot.



Needless to say, the sprues are MIND bogglingly thick and I had to use a razor saw to remove some of the parts! I've obviously used some of the parts, thus the gaps on the sprues. There's also two smaller tri-angular sprues that had the small parts attached.

Here's the build progress this evening.



The two fuselage halves obviously. I'm going to model it with the crew access door open, thus the door having been cut out from the port fuselage. I also plan to build it with the upper fuselage weapons loading hatch open and the crane deployed, thus the part missing from the starboard fuselage, the port side will be similar and the two cut parts used to make the loading hatch side platforms.



The somewhat basic cockpit. Mine will have some Aeroclub MB ejection seats, especially as I'm using the Anigrand vacform canopy, which is correct for a production P6M, unlike the Mach2 canopy which is a) opaque and b) that of the prototype and pre-production Seamasters.



The RAF Monterey MR1s were powered by RR Conway RCo-42, as used on the VC10, and as such need a higher air mass flow, so I've raised the engine cowlings with a strip of 20 thou under each side and cut back the tailpipes to increase their diameter. Not the easiest job in the world and it shows up Mach2's woeful moulding, each side of the cowlings are anything but similar, and are totally different sections toward the rear, but I've hacked them about a bit and I'll improve them later on when they're in place on the wings.

[PR19_Kit]

Oh dear, I've just realised that some of the parts of the beaching trolley have gone missing, or rather, they weren't in the box when I resurrected it.

Looks like some scratchbuilding will be in order, especially the long tubular floatation tanks. 

[PR19_Kit]

Lots of cutting, sawing, filing and sanding today, not to mention the application of lots of putty too, but no sanding so far.



Both fuselage halves have had their bomb bay doors cut out, and those in turn have been glued together with suitable formers to act as the tanker pod, when I find, buy or trade the tanker bits. That's the red outlined part in the pic.

I gave up trying to twist the side bars of the beaching trolley and decided to 'adjust' the forward circular main frame to be more parallel to the rear main frame. I made three saw cuts in the top of the frame and then glued it and strapped it up to the correct width, as seen in the green framed part of the pic.

The rest of the parts, wing, tailplane, engine etc. show othert work I've done today, and outside the box are the essential tools for building Mach2 models, Duct tape, putty and a BIG file!

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks for hopping on the grenade, brotha!       I picked up a Mach 2 Seabee a couple months back to see what the fuss was about. I of course saw the nearly opaque, tank armour-thick glass. I think the "2" in Mach 2 is because the glass is 2 feet thick.

Anyway....... bonne chance.. and... well.. I like what you have going so far at least! 

Methinks maybe someone hasn't been scalded by a shop keep or harassed by the local constabulary in some time or something in order to invite such punishment. 

All jokes aside, it makes one wonder why the kits are so expensive and seem to be so sought after? Is it because they're all limited runs? Obscure subject matter?