Short Empire flying boat

[Glen]

Hi all

Are their any similarities between the Empire flying boats and the Sunderland? I'd love an Empire but the Czech resin kit is a little beyond the budget and having seen an old Airfix Sunderland lying around the loft the other day I was curious as to whether any of it could be used to convert/scratch into an Empire class. The Empire seems to have a much squarer cross section and the front end is obviously different but could anything from the Sunderland be used (wings maybe?)

Cheers

Glen

[Max Headroom]

Totally different beasts.

However armed Empire Class flying boats existed after being impressed into RAF service.

http://www.seawings.co.uk/images/EmpireProfiles%20gal/Latest%20Profiles%20ex%20Mike%20Fletcher/Short%20S23%20AX659%20RAF.jpg

https://c3.staticflickr.com/3/2682/4505465062_d43c4e7311_z.jpg

Trevor

[Glen]

Thought they might be! Shame there are no affordable kits of them. Although vac forms are out of fashion it would be much cheaper tha n the resin kit, especially for an aircraft of that size.

[Max Headroom]

I'm sure that in the 1970's Contrail did a vac form of an S.20 with Airframe doing the Mercury piggyback.

Scalemates drew a blank though.

Trevor

[Glen]

I've seen it on eBay a couple of times but never won the bid! I think it had bigger chines and wider spaced engines to allow space for the Mercury

[Turbofan]

Hi Glen,

Welsh Models do a vacform Short S.23 Empire Class flying boat in 1/144th for £25

http://www.welshmodels.co.uk/yesteryear.html

Cheers,

Ian

Edited June 10, 2015 by Turbofan

[CarLos]

The Sunderland used the same wings of the Empire, although, because of a shift to the back in the center of gravity, they had a different angle in plan view (that's why the engines are not parallel on the Sunderland). In short, you can use the wings, but everything else must be built from scratch. By the way, the Maya had a much different hull, so the Contrail kit cannot be used, even if you could find one cheaper than the CMR Empire.

Airfix wings and a scratch built hull was my plan, I even acquired plans to achieve it, but all changed after buying the resin kit.

Carlos

[Ed Russell]

As others have said, only the wings can be used as fuselage is quite different.

If you are prepared to put up with some small inaccuracies and have really high grade modelling skills it is not impossible, just very difficult

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=243&t=13606

There is a vacform fuselage-only mould that occasionally comes up for sale locally. If you are not up for the above and truly desperate, that would help quite a bit.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/219149/thread/1275271593/What+models+have+you+ever+regretted+not+buying+or+what+kits+in+your+stash+that+you+probabl

I suggest giving up some other vice and putting the money into a CMR kit (:>)

Incidentally we have just about finished work on a conversion which will allow you to do any of the RAAF armed Empire boats (NB - not as in Post 2 which is RAF)

[JWM]

I was considering such conversion - doing Empiere from Sunderland. From net I've got nice drawings and and I spent some time analysing what can be done. In my opinion it feasible, definitely, but it requires double cutting of fuselage, let say two tubes of filler and lot of skills . More seriously - the whole fuselage have to be reshaped but some areas are identical. Therefore cuting them and shifting to right position is only solution. Wings are OK - and that is the most critical when you doing scrtach build. In my opinion wings are more dificult to do as a scratch then the fuselage. I can promise, that if or when I will start I will post it in WIP.

Cheers

Jerzy-Wojtek

[Ed Russell]

There is a vacform fuselage-only mould that occasionally comes up for sale locally

For the really truly desperate I could probably find one.

[Glen]

Thanks for all the replies.

That's a great link Ed, just what I'd been searching for but couldn't find at all. I thought the wings would be close which is a major bonus. I've had no trouble with scratching fuselages before but wings really cause me grief. I was hopeful that some of the Sunderland fuselage was useable which seems to be the case albeit barely!

[cmatthewbacon]

Win the lottery and get a Frog Penguin one:

http://www.frogpenguin.com/pics/img_1938_07_a1_empires02.html

Besteat,

M.

[JWM]

http://www.frogpengu..._empires02.html

Unbelivable. It cames almost from the neolith era ..

[cmatthewbacon]

It's an awesome kit (kits, actually... the cutaway was a real period product as well). I wish someone who had one would lend it to a resin maestro to clone!

bestest,

M.

[Ed Russell]

I wish someone who had one would lend it to a resin maestro to clone!

For the price of a Penguin you could buy several CMR kits - with good modelling skills you could make the CMR one into a superior cutaway.

http://www.cmrmodels.co.uk/cmr72-200/short-s23-empire-flying-boat.html

x

[JWM]

I agree Ed, that CMR model is temptating me. It IS costly, but I will play two months doing conversion, and the result will be likely worse than model made out of CMR one...

Not to be decided today

Cheers

J-W

[JOCKNEY]

Evening all

Blast from the past on this one, I have the Contrail S.20 would it be possible to use it as a mould to make others ?

Cheers Pat

[woody37]

I have the CMR kit, and although not built it yet, looks superb in the box. The only real challenge I can see is the porthole windows that just sit in the recesses and don't have anything to stop them from falling in. If you can save your pennies, you won't be disappointed.