Short Sunderland iii

[Defiant911]

I’ve always liked the look of this plane and again it’s something slightly different.
Ideally I would
Have like at least a 1:48 scale but I struggled to find one if in deed they ever made one?
In the end I found an Airfix 1:72 scale to build.
Looking at the parts it looks rather rough, lots of spru and some pretty poor mouldings plus the fit in finish looks far from great,
just dry fitting a few parts. Also the interior detail is pretty much the most basic two seats and steering wheels I’ve ever seen in a model to date.
All that said I’m not too fussed about the interior as you really cannot see it anyway through the tiny port hole windows so the real challenge will be just getting a nice paint job for the exterior so it looks something half decent hanging on the wall.
[ATTACH]393913[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Apparently, there were at least six 1:48 scale kits of this plane:
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?q=Short+Sunderland&fkSCALENORMALISED[]=%221:00048%22&fkSECTION[]=Kits&fkTYPENAME[]=%22Full%20kits%22[/URL]
… but all are resin or vacuum-formed.

[Neil Merryweather]

No wonder there's lots of flash- I had this kit for my seventh birthday in 1964.................
I shall be watching fondly

[Defiant911]

Given that the interior consists of a small cockpit floor, two steering wheels and two seats I’ve moved swiftly on to putting the main body together. I’ve masked up as best I can the various glass turrets although the masking I had was designed for the Italeri mki variant so they did not match that well so I had to use a bit of artistic licence
[ATTACH]394197[/ATTACH]

[flyjoe180]

This is a classic, nice work Carl

[boatman]

WHATS HAPPENING ON THIS BUILD ?
CHRIS

[BarryW]

No wonder there's lots of flash- I had this kit for my seventh birthday in 1964.................
I shall be watching fondly

My grandad bought this for my birthday that year as well. I loved this kit at the time.

[Defiant911]

WHATS HAPPENING ON THIS BUILD ?
CHRIS

I think a combination of work and heat has slowed it but I did start masking a little yesterday so hopefully will be some
More progress over the next few weeks.

[Defiant911]

So I haven’t spent any time modelling the last week or so due to work and heat but I managed to mask the plane up today whilst it’s a bit cooler and applied a coat of green on. I’m away for a few days so will add some Blutack worms when I return ready for the second camo colour. At least it’ll give the first coat a few days to cure properly.

[Defiant911]

Added the worms and tape,lol

[Neil Merryweather]

Oooh it's a beast.
looking GOOD, Carl!
I've just remembered attending a local fete of some kind aged 7 or 8 (back in the dark ages) and some guys had rigged one of these up on a wire with a bomb-dropping gadget, and you could pay to have ago at dropping the bomb (soda siphon cartridge , I think) on a model ship in a tin bath. How fantastic was that?
I remember it made a brilliant splash.
I'm loving this build!

[Defiant911]

Oooh it's a beast.
looking GOOD, Carl!
I've just remembered attending a local fete of some kind aged 7 or 8 (back in the dark ages) and some guys had rigged one of these up on a wire with a bomb-dropping gadget, and you could pay to have ago at dropping the bomb (soda siphon cartridge , I think) on a model ship in a tin bath. How fantastic was that?
I remember it made a brilliant splash.
I'm loving this build!

Thanks Neil, I always liked the look of these planes. I’d love to have flown on the real thing. Taking off on water sounds amazing. Not sure this will be my best build but hopefully it‘ll turn out ok when complete.

[tr1ckey66]

Great subject Carl, I too love the Sunderland.
Looking good so far.
Cheers
Paul

[Guest]

Always liked these kinds of flying boats, About twenty years ago I was at the RAF Museum in Hendon, and I remember they had a Sunderland (I think) you could get inside of, which was very interesting. Too bad large parts were blocked off with plexiglass sheets

[tr1ckey66]

Always liked these kinds of flying boats, About twenty years ago I was at the RAF Museum in Hendon, and I remember they had a Sunderland (I think) you could get inside of, which was very interesting. Too bad large parts were blocked off with plexiglass sheets :smiling3:

You’re right, the Sunderland at Hendon is accessible to the public. Although it is a really large aircraft I seem to remember that it felt smaller than I expected inside. It is a great looking thing though and I’m looking forward to Carl’s rendition of it.