I agree that the PBY Catalina is a great looking aircraft and it is my favorite flying boat, truth be told.
The problem is the the plain looking H8K2 Emily out performs it by such a staggering margin. The PBY Catalina would be a worse death trap than the Ju88A-4 in AH, whereas the H8K2 Emily would be quite serviceable, if light of payload.
BTW, your daughter got lucky.