LDSModeller

Graham Interesting you should mention that about the TropSS, this colourised (modern version I stress) of an RNZAF Singapore MK III in Fiji may fit the bill (I'm guessing the artist was going on the colours in the above mentioned article in my post - I'll have to ask him) Short Singapore coloured Be interested to see how TropSS would look on a model Thanks Alan

Quick question, When did Beauforts repace the Vildebeests? The last action recorded (in books I have) for the Vildebeests shows March 5/6 1942 for 36/100 Squadrons. Singapore fell not long after that. Thanks Alan

Hi Mark Vildebest Only camouflage photo I have is this and it'd pretty non-descript- Photo taken from rear of Vildebeest you can see rear fuselage decking/tailplane From The RNZAF in South East Asia 1941-42 The Vildebeest was used for torpedo duties in Singapore, so I am thinking that the camouflage would be more likely Sea Temperate Scheme EDSG/DSG/Sky (Blue-Green type) with shading on lower wings (DSG/SG) if not then certainly LTS. Short Singapores Mk III 4 of these at Seletar were transferred to the RNZAF being flown to Lauthala (Laucala) Bay Fiji with 5 (GR) Squadron. They remained in RAF camouflage that they arrived in, having RNZAF codes applied I am again of the opinion that the Singapores wore typical flying boat camo of the time EDSG/DSG/Sky (again the blue/green type) Here is an interesting article (found on RNZAF Pro Boards) published in the December 1963 Aviation Historical Society of NZ Journal (Vol.6 No.11) written by Dave Moran. Scroll down to Colour Scheme, and read the comments " Battleship Grey/ Sea green/Light Blue" Sounds probably more like Sea Temperate Scheme (probably heavily weathered in Pacific sun) Short Singapore Article Regards Alan

Hi Glen My post can't comment on all types but, some of the later FN (Frazer-Nash) turrets used in aircraft like the Short Sunderland etc had a swival into which the guns were put and a slide system allowed the guns to traverse up and down These photos will give you some idea Front Turret interior Rear turret Interior The forward turret is fully enclosed so the guuner would not have too much issue with wind. The rear turret has an open back so the rear gunner could have wind/sound issues Edit: found these photos of the ex French Lancaster donated by the Frech Air Force and now at MOTAT, similar to the Sunderland turret mounts Note the forward Turret FN Lancaster Turret FN lancaster Turret Regards Alan

Hi Tony I live in not so famous Glendene, other side of Henderson I too one day would like to do an RNZAF A6M3 in the surrender markings My avatar is of a photo I have in my collection, my late father served with 5 Squadron both on the Sunderland and later P3 Orion, so it's my little reminder of him Regards Alan

Hi Tony 1)Slightly off Topic, what part of Waitakere are you in? 2) A Kiwi modeller asking about an A6M3-22, you wouldn't by chance be planning on building the RNZAF A6M3 in one of it's schemes? Regards Alan

Count me in Have some Sunderlands one or two float planes ( Curtis Seahawk/ Vought Kingfisher/Arado 196) Martin Marlin so yeah I'd be in Alan

Yeah I know what you mean Couple of other options open to you, that are rather more time consuming rather than monetry 1) The Mk III used what I call "Cut off" exhausts as in this photo link Mk III Exhaust w/o porcupine It would mean you could use the front part of the Airfix items and discard the porcupine part. Only downside would be that you would need to check photowise if your Sunderland had these 2) Using the Airfix part cut off the porcupine "quills", build up the exhaust to the right size and shape and add scratch built 'Quills" from styrene. This is most likely what I will do Just some thoughts Regards Alan

Hi Styreno You could consider these Aeroclub parts (EO82) Pegasus collector ring/engine & exhaust Joe's models may have it if John at Aeroclub does not Joe's Models -engines Thanks for the Link- I'll go have a look Regards Alan

These are what the real ones look like Sunderland Mk III Porcupine Exhaust Quickboost do a "Porcupine" Exhaust that would suit (see QB 72 101) it's for a Bristol Beaufighter but would suit the Airfix Mk III Sunderland - it's not perfect, as the end of the exhaust is a little more rounded than in the photo but its very close. (as a note I haven't used these but I probably would) You may need to replicate the the pipe from the collector ring if the QB exhaust is larger in diameter than the Airfix part Quick Boost Porcupine exhaust II I have seen some models (magazines and web), where the modeller has used the wrong type of exhaust, and it just doesn't look right (too bulbous) As an aside the leading part of the exhaust should be connected to the collector ring, not back where Airfix would have you place them -the above photo link gives you a good shot on the outer engine Collector ring Collector ring Edit Quickboost website Quickboost website HTH Alan

I wonder if Hobby Boss and Trumpeter had the same designers for the circular mounting for the engine to the bearers for their respective TBF-1's. Both have it wrong when it should look like this None the less have fun with your build Regards Alan

Hi Guys Had hoped and promised to post some photos this past week but it seems Uncle Murphy has intervened again.... I wanted to take some photos to at least update, when I found out my dear wife had loaned out the camera to my sister in law I hope I will get it back again this weekend and post something!!! Regards Alan

Hi Jim/Deacon Thanks for asking- I hope to have an update this weekend of progress. The last 4-5 monthe of 2010 were just not conducive to model building I did get some done during the Christmas break so I'll update the build with what I have done then and what I can get done this week. Regards Alan.

Yes- Graham you are right, my slip up These photo links give a good pictorial view Sunderland Exhaust Collector ring Sunderland Mk III exhaust Regards Alan

Hi Deacon Glad to be able to help I'll go through my references to see what I have that is say a UK based Sunderland, that has markings easy enough to replicate (for the RAF code and serial). Edit - this photo is an RAAF boat from RAF Mount Batten Code Z serial W4004 circa 1943 http://www.aviastar.org/gallery/picture.ph...derland&p=8 To be honest if you were to use the port hole transparecies from the kit and painted a 1mm circle around the outer edge, your portholes would be perfect. If you were to buy two sets of Aeroclub props (Aeroclub PO55) they will give you the right props, you can use the kit engines, just move the exhaust to the townend ring from where Airfix would have you place them Depends on whether you want to make a Yagi aerial Mk III (WEM set is nice) or a Mk IIIa with the ASV domes under the wings? The interior can be just some bulkheads postioned in the fuselage to stop the empty interior look The Bow/stern turret may be a bit harder to do, as you probably will need to crash mold some new ones, as the Mk III/IIIa had a twin gun bow turret and somewhat different stern turret from the kits offerings I'm sure your Sunderland will look fine, I have seen some really nice builds on Britmodeler this last year or so, where the builder hasn't gone the whole hog like me, but the model still can look really nice Regards Alan

Hi Deacon There is aftermarket stuff available, depends on what you want to do? (basic OOB or ramp up your build some) What Mark (/III/IIIa/), What Squadron? What part of the Atlantic? (Sunderland Mk III's differed in some respect in different parts of the Atlantic) As Graham said, Aeroclub do engine/prop sets Falcon do a repacement set for the kit parts But the forward/rear turrets are only for a Mk I/II if doing a Mk III/IIIa then you will need to make your own Falcon Set The WEM stuff, cockpit set is Ok but really only for Mk I/II or early MkIII The bombay is actuall wrong in that it's to high. I have seen builds where the upper forward Bulkhead has this acute angle to it (whether this is the modeller or WEM instructions?) but the real aircraft is nothing like that. If the WEM stuff is out of your budget then you can build the interior like I have http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47663 If you have any queries or need technical info let me know Regards Alan

Pacific based aircraft in WWII such as this RNZAF F4U-1, after a while in operations, started looking very tatty (as in photo) but they were well maintained. Coral dust played havoc on the paint schemes even so much that some F4U-1's started to look a pinky grey colour. One item that contributed to the paint lookng scruffy was that the afore mentioned coral dust was cleaned from the airframe by ground crew using rags soaked in aircraft fuel. Note: I'm not game enough to build one of my F4U-1's with that pinky grey colour, would be hard to replicate Regards Alan

ANA 621 Dark Gull Grey when new, -though with the type of weathering associated with the Atlantic, probably leaning toward Med Gull Grey after a period of time Regards Alan

Hi folks Under New Zealand you would also have 489 Squadron RNZAF (who initially flew the Hampdens) Beaufighter (anti submarine/shipping role) 490 Squadron RNZAF - Jui (Near Freetown West Africa) credited with damaging a U boat Consolidated PBY 5 Catalina Short Sunderland Mk III Regards Alan

Hi Nick Thanks for the relpy NZ3119 was a batch of early P-40M's received in standard RAF (US equivalent) camouflage but stayed in NZ. It would have been repainted in the Dk Green/Blue Sea Grey circa 1944. The lower wing/fuselage may have been repainted also in (NZ) Sky Grey (as per my earlier post) The P-40E you mention NZ3094, was one of the Tongan USAAF P-40E's given over to RNZAF 15 Squadron in Tonga Oct 1942, to my knowledge they were in USAAF colours (OD/grey), repainted in RNZAF colours upon being flown to NZ when 15 Squadron upgraded to newer P-40's Regards Alan

With out knowing the serial number of the aircraft in the photo you cannot difinitively say whether it was one of the original P40E's or, one of the P40'E's taken over from the USAAF in Tonga by 15 Squadron and eventually flown back to New Zealand and repainted in RNZAF colours When I checked with the RNZAF Museum on the paint schemes for the P 40E's, the gent (official title Keeper of Records) who assisted me had the Curtiss documents which had been kept by the RNZAF. The Curtiss Documents were quite specific in stating that Dupont paints were used and even gave colours for the roundel colours. How more specific can you get for that? The above picture whilst showing it in the Dk Green/Earth camo had been painted previous (you can see remanants over the Dk Earth near the rear window panel) in (NZ) Blue Sea Grey BALM S13-934 (sometimes called 'Ocean/Pacific Blue). The other issue not taken into account, is that the RNZAF had paints which were mixed either locally or in Australia during WWII to match (as close as possible) paints used on foreign imported aircraft. You have "Duck Egg Blue" and also "Sky Grey" which actually was a Blue/Green/Grey Colour (I believe the name is based on the Dupont paint SkyType S-Grey (Dupont 71-021)). This P40E at MOTAT has been painted in those colours in which the aircraft was received in 1942, from RAF (MAP) aircraft stock ex USA MOTAT P40E Regards Alan

Having read that second IPMS article, talking about the RNZAF P40's, I would like to know where they gathered their info from???? Whilst our records are not complete the RNZAF has some very good information on it's aircraft from WWII PTO. The IPMS aricle stating that the RNZAF did not keep the Dark Earth/Dark Green/Sky very long, is misrepresentive. The RNZAF received in April 1942 the first Curtiss P 40E's in Dark Earth/Dark Green/Sky(Duckegg blue) (these were British MAP aircraft from stocks in the US, records held by the RNZAF museum state that the paints used were Dupont). The change to Dk Green/Pacific Blue did not occur till 1944, all these P40E's remained in New Zealand for training purposes with 14 Squadron. Early P 40M's were received in Dark Earth/Dark Green/Sky (circa March 1943), with 14/15 SU were sent to operational areas and did not receive any repaints (if any) in Pacific Blue until they were replaced in theatre in 1944 by F4U'-1s (circa March 1944) The comments on the P 40 spinners made me roll my eyes, spinners were either painted Sky or white. A WWII veteran named Wally Ingham was an RNZAF Airframe Fitter. He wrote a book called "We Also Served". In his book Wally states, that RNZAF aircraft (Pacific based circa 1942-43) were painted the same as RAF aircraft with Dark Earth/Dark Green and Duckegg Blue. This all changed later with lend lease aircraft received in US Navy/USAAF colours circa mid-late 1943 Regards Alan

Daniel Nice photos, thanks for sharing The 5th photo from the bottom has been developed/printed in reverese, as the Short Sunderland never had a Starboard main hatch in the bow. If you also look at the LHS of the 5th photo, you can see a crew member at the open Galley hatch, pulling in the drogue, the pilot obviously had deployed the drogue(s) to slow the aircraft down while taxiiing to the bouy trot Thanks Alan

Hi Pierre If you scroll down on the following link to Hu 118/119 both are linked to FS 30219 Humbrol Colour Chart Regards Alan

Hi Mental The Firefly in your posted photo carries similar markings to a Firefly given to the RNZN (Royal New Zealand Navy) when HMS Theseus visited Auckland in 1947 See link Kiwi Firefly Cool find Thanks Alan