Sunderland Mk.I DA-G

[malpaso]

The other night I finished my Italeri Sunderland which has been on the stocks since February - thus messing up my plan of a model per month for 2018.  There has been some (a lot of) frustration along the way.  If you'd like to read more about how I built the kit please see my article in this issue (pages 31-33) of our group newsletter.  

 

I assume early war bombs were painted in an early "its health and safety gone mad" bit of bureaucratic nonsense - bombs are dangerous so paint them yellow?

A good portion of a tube of Squadron Green was used up on the plane, trying to level out the nose in front of the cockpit and even worse on top of the wings.  The mainplanes are 1-2mm thicker than the stubs on the fuselage, so the filler was slathered on, for some reason I forgot to tape off the good side of the joints to ease clean up.  Oh well.

The top and bottom half of the wings weren't the same chord either so brute force was used!  I didn't recall ever using such brutal methods when I read about them on Britmodeller, but obviously I had previously attacked models with this file as there was a goodly amount of squadron green on it...

Another niggle was that the guy who did the panel trenching on one side of the aircraft was very heavy handed, whilst somebody else with a much lighter touch did the other side!  Once the camo paint was on I also discovered there are very faint lines where there are mould inserts to change from Mk.I to Mk.III - needless to say I decided fixing these by that time would cause more damage than would be justified, but worth watching out for anyone else - I wonder whether the Mk.III ends up similarly afflicted?  Although you get a good selection of decals, Italeri obviously didn't look closely enough at the famous photos of DAG as the code letters should be wider and the tail stripes thicker - at least as an emergency unit level paint job there are no stencils.

 

Overall I'm pleased with the look of the plane, but I think it will be a while before I do another large flying boat.  I usually avoid weathering, but I'd like to think I made a reasonable stab at the appallingly dishevelled state of DAG in period photos.  I don't know where I'm going to put it now though.  My main annoyance was clouting bits of it on the light or whatever in the workshop area, as it takes up so much more space when manoeuvring compared to a 1/72 Spitfire.

 

Cheers

Will

 

PS for those concerned about such things I cut the grass tonight!

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Your perseverance paid off.That looks the part.

[Terry1954]

This looks very impressive indeed. I particularly like the extra wear and tear around the lower fuselage where water impact has had its toll.

 

Terry

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Beautiful Porcupine 

[tonyot]

Very nice Will...... one of the nicest Sunderland models that I have seen,.....love the weathering too,

 

Cheers

         Tony

[LDSModeller]

Hi Will,

 

That is one very nice Sunderland Model - well done!!

 

I read through your Newsletter and comments - It's unfortunate that Italeri chose to design their

Mk I/III the way they did - As I commented not long ago on another post/thread, you cannot make a one size fits all

Sunderland. Sunderland's Mk I/II , III, V were all different beasties.

 

Re: your Anti Submarine Bombs, Buff is probably a better colour but if you are happy with them?

If you check out this photo of the same bombs on a Mk I (N9027 - famous for the photo of Burning in Valletta Harbour),

note the colour, even though black/white

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Sunderland#/media/File:Royal_Air_Force_Coastal_Command,_1939-1945._CH808.jpg

 

Thanks for sharing your build and model with us

 

Regards

 

Alan

[stevej60]

Excellent finish,great to see a different scheme to the usual white!

[CedB]

Lovely model Will, good job Sir

[cngaero]

That's a great looking Sunderland Will.

Your weathering is top notch, especially on the waterline.

I've got a soft spot for the old girl as my old instructor who guided me through the ground based components of my PPL was Sunderland captain during the war.

[FAAMAN]

Nicely done, great waterline weathering

[neil5208]

well  worth the effort nice Sunderland 

[Kev The Modeller]

Lovely build mate, the weathering is excellent   Got a real soft spot for these aircraft, I just wished there was one still flying. 

[Courageous]

A lovely BIG flying boat 

9 hours ago, malpaso said:

I don't know where I'm going to put it now though.  My main annoyance was clouting bits of it on the light or whatever in the workshop area, as it takes up so much more space when manoeuvring compared to a 1/72 Spitfire.

Something many modellers don't think about when they build their big birds...

[mick]

great work

[kiwitrogg]

Nice build, and it looks great in brown/green for a change.  I love what you've done below the waterline and general dirtyness.

I dunno what's wrong with your grass....it's not knee height yet is it !  

 

Cheers

Gaz

[Andwil]

It might be coded DA-G buts i't's certainly no dag!  Lovely model well done.

 

Andrew

[JWM]

Very nice indeed!

Regards

J-W

[Buzby061]

Well wrestled into submission.

 

Pete

[malpaso]

20 hours ago, LDSModeller said:

Re: your Anti Submarine Bombs, Buff is probably a better colour but if you are happy with them?

Thanks for all your comments and likes guys.  I’m glad the model is appreciated.

Alan, I can see buff for bombs, I’m sure I’ve seen various ammunition in that sort of colour in museums. The photo you linked was one I’d seen that convinced me not to go dark green or olive.  Besides which I fancied them standing out from the grot.  I may give them a brown wash to done the yellow down though.

Cheers all

Will

[qn30jEkPz7]

Gorgeous (in a battered and careworn kind of way)

[RMCS]

Cracking job

[Convair]

Very nice Sunderland.

[russ c]

Really nice Sunderland there, love the distressed paint around the water line. Great job

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Nice work Will

 

Great to see you got this one over the line. Weathering looks very effective. 

[Vinnie]

Very nice indeed. I like the dark green/earth camo. Don't think I've seen one in that scheme. It's one I'd like to build but space is getting to be an issue with all of the multi-engine types I have waiting under the bench already.