LDSModeller Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 (edited) Hi All, Place Holder for Saturday Kit box Bit of a dialogue: I actually wasn't planning on buying this kit, however I changed my mind. I am planning on doing a kit review (haven't seen one on Britmodeller yet), and I will build as technical build, as an RNZAF MR5 (Maritime Reconnaissance), based at RNZAF Lauthala (or Lacala Bay in Fijian) where my Dad was based for a time in the 1960's Main Hangar (Photo are my Dads, but Copyright is mine) Aerial view of Lauthala Bay (Photo I believe is RNZAF -Used for illustration only) I Hope to build as a diorama with the Sunderland sitting in the braby (you can make it out RHS of photo) Sunderland in Lauthala Bay Braby (Photo I believe is RNZAF - Used for illustration purposes only) My Dad also served at RNZAF Hobsonville, where I grew up, and got to see Sunderland's in Service and see and do things on Sunderland's that aircraft lovers can only dream about Hobsonville or more colloquially Hobby And as far a technical build, I have the real thing to use as a reference (yes I have crawled over every possible inch of this aircraft) As far as Kit sprue shots go, you'll have to wait for Saturday, as SWMBO won't let me have it till then. (Birthday Pressie ) See you Saturday Regards Alan Edited August 31, 2019 by LDSModeller 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Hi Alan, I am really looking forward to your build. This sounds great. Will be good to see how the Special Hobby kit looks and goes together. I would like to get my hands on one of these one day, but my money is awaiting the release of their 32 nd scale Westland Whirlwind. Good luck with your build. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 On 8/28/2019 at 5:11 PM, bigbadbadge said: Hi Alan, I am really looking forward to your build. This sounds great. Will be good to see how the Special Hobby kit looks and goes together. I would like to get my hands on one of these one day, but my money is awaiting the release of their 32 nd scale Westland Whirlwind. Good luck with your build. All the best Chris Thanks Chris, It will be interesting to see what's what in the kit, and how it does/doesn't go together. Kick off is tomorrow ...... Regards Alan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Looking forward to seeing a state of the art Sunderland that isn't the Italeri one! * Regards, Adrian (*) I hope it's good news... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 6 hours ago, AdrianMF said: Looking forward to seeing a state of the art Sunderland that isn't the Italeri one! * Regards, Adrian (*) I hope it's good news... Except from what I’ve seen of the sprues it’s closely related! Not that my Italeri Mk.1 was a bad kit, it just seemed to absorb a lot more elbow grease and filler than I’d expected of a modern kit... If the SH shares any DNA with the Italeri beware of any areas of difference between marks, such as step or dorsal area where Italeri use different mould inserts whilst I think SH have separate parts. Cheers Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 Sunderland operated out of Oban Bay so they have always been a favourite. Good luck with the build Cheers Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Hi all, Got my hands on the kit Nice art, though I think personally the artist, either took some license or Special Hobby (SH) has absolutely no idea about Sunderland operations. Main flaps should be set at 1/3rd for take off.. Sunderland's never flew with the Mooring Mast attached to top of Fuselage (triangular looking item) interestingly SH mentions that the Mooring Mast is only fitted during mooring, in their kit instructions. These were a Navigational/Nautical requirement of the aircraft Captain/Commander when on the water. From the Mk V/MR5 ground handling notes As a precursor to my Kit review, prior to my build log, some technical references at my disposal (along with what I have learned form my Dad, or seen/done myself) The above mentioned Notes This particular one served at Lauthala Bay, as you can see - my Dad most likely handled this This one always make me chuckle, have to wonder what this poor sod had done to end up here? (Thoughts of "You Horrible Little Man.....") Flight deck I have this book also, which has Mk V drawings (Photo copyright mine, used for illustration purposed only) Finally Thanks for looking in, I have taken photos of the kit to upload, just have to write the review Check in again in the next day or so Regards Alan 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 I really like the idea of displaying the model at a mooring - shades of my attempt to show the turntable platform and launch ramp on the Zeppelin Lindau (Dornier) Rs II in the last FB and FP GB. Looking forward to following this one. P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 Hi Alan, Welcome to the GB! I have the Italeri Mk.III kit. It will be very interesting to see the SH Mk. V being built with all the expertise you have in store. Cheers Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franz75 Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Hi, wow niece project. I will be watching this build. This pilot/service manual book really astonishing piece of history. I don't know which kit (SH or Italeri) is better, SH is probably a short run low pressure inject kit. Do you plan to add any aftermarket parts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mottlemaster Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 I too shall be watching your build come together . Special hobby kits nearly always throw up some intresting challenges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 Hi All, Bit of an update - Thank you for all your comments (seriously, I hope I can deliver ) On 9/3/2019 at 10:02 AM, Franz75 said: Do you plan to add any aftermarket parts? Hi Franz - No I won't be adding any aftermarket, at this stage - The Eduard PE stuff is really just a re-pop of their Italeri Mk I/III kit stuff, and that is all fiction, with the exception of the new Bomb bay doors, the kit ones will suffice I think So on with a Kit Review Part One Reading through comments above, Adrian (#4) made the comment about a "State of the Art" Sunderland. That really got me thinking - What does State of the art really mean in terms of this kit? Looking at various Online dictionaries, "State of the Art" means modern, up to date techniques used to manufacture and any other descriptive words to show that it is a cut above the rest. I can suppose that modern manufacturing techniques have been used, this is not my first Special Hobby kit, and previously the kit was nice, but had foibles like fit etc. In continuing with the State of the Art theme, I thought surely that should include things like accuracy, given modern techniques for measuring, extensive research given (or not) the amount of information available these days. So on with my findings - as a Caveat, if any modellers chooses to built this kit OOB - have at it. Boxing The Kit boxing is quite sturdy, my box top was a little difficult to remove, but SH have chosen to use a sturdy box, and it offers the kit very good protection - Kudos for that. Looking in the box you see the following Well Presented, all parts well bagged. Special Hobby has chosen to use re-sealable bags which I'm very happy with, given previously, on any kit, one had to cut the bag open and any loose parts could fall out....... Kit Sprue Shots Fuselage Exterior The kit fuselage has panel lines - I'm not sold on this, and the jury is still out on this, we shall see..... It's quite apparent that given the "Extra" portholes, Special Hobby have future plans for a Mk I/II and Mk III/IIIa. Sorry Special Hobby, but a Mk I/II had a different fuselage, in that the Mk I/II fuselage was 10 inches or so wider at the fuselage base (read waterline) than the Mk III/V fuselage. That equates to around extra 3mm in 1/72 scale in width. The fuselage bow door is open to display the interior if you want, the fuselage also has indented mooring bollards, more on that later. Fuselage Interior shot Special Hobby have moulded the internal ribbing/stringers, though this does not extend to the far stern section. Thoughts on this, mmmm........ The Rear Hatch door if a proper Post war/Cold War Mk V/GR5 is missing the Transparencies for Crash axe and Fire extinguisher - more later on this. Wings/Vertical/Horizontal Stabilizers Wings have paneled skinning, with moulded Ailerons - interestingly Special Hobby have moulded the lower wing section with the "Fluted" wing trailing edge and Aileron shape, but not the top wing half. Special Hobby have moulded in/on, the covers for the Oil Cooler vents (upper wing Leading edge). The vertical Stabilizer/Rudder is moulded separate and can be positioned but not Horizontal ones. I note that the wings have big tabs which look to be "Inter locking" though if you wish to build an interior. that will seriously impinge on your build space. Additional Sprue Sprues show from top to bottom, left to right Exterior parts: floats/cowling Hamilton Standard Propellers (have to measure to see if 12' 9"), exhaust stubs, Interior Sprues, (sorry I have issues with some of this already), RHS Sprue, more external parts, which again suggests Special Hobby have designs to model a Mk I/II Sunderland (see previous comments re fuselage width). The main issue for me in the part upper LHS of sprue tree for a Late production Mk III/later production Mk V, and found on all later (Cold war ear) GR5's. This insert part is totally fictitious - Sorry to say, - more later.... These spues have have a mixture of items, Beaching gear, external ASV parts, Bomb Bay roof/more interior parts. The strangest inclusion is the early WWII 250lb Anti Submarine bombs??? More later on this. Clear Sprues The parts are clear and thin, which also include a "clear" door for the bow hatch to show the transparencies for the Crash axe/fire extinguisher. Also includes clear bomb bay doors, as well as a Clear Astrodome and hatch. The afore mentioned parts obviously easier to mask clear areas and paint. Decals and markings sheet Note attached is a resin RDF Pod, interestingly enough one is already on one of the sprue trees - cool for me as RNZAF MR5's have two Not so clear in my photo above, are the Emergency stencils see below for close up The lettering, especially Cold War era, looks very similar/same as the RNZAF used on our MR5's, being as follows (from RNZAF Museum) Quote Both the Fuselage Code Letters and Under wing serials were 54" Standard San Serif lettering (meaning each letter is 33 3/4" wide with a 6" wide stroke) I'll have to measure and see. Kit Instructions (By the way we Kiwi's are not New Zealander's, but New Zealandian's ) Looking inside Instructions As with any Special Hobby kit, where multiple aircraft versions are possible (in the future) the RED X showing what parts not in use (nothing to say you can't build a WWII Mk V with upper turret from this kit) Argh those darned bombs, not to mention some colour calls, and crew bunks in the Bomb Bay. Earlier in early Marks of Sunderland's (Mk I/II come to mind) Crew Bunks could be found in the Bomb Bay, but these were only on special order from Shorts (Short Sunderland Mk I/II manual) Paint/Marking guides Of Interest a photo of Sunderland SZ566 "Z" in Ocean Sentenial, shows no Grey Lanolin water proofing as depicted in the above by Special Hobby. Anyway end of Part One, Part Two soon Regards Alan 10 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 Hi All Part two So continuing with the "State of the Art Theme, the Mk V Manual in my previous posts above has the following measurements for the Mk V Fuselage The actual length as you can see is 85' 7.5" or 26.0985m Special Hobby on their Kit Instructions gives Length as 26m However proof is in the pudding with 1:1 26.0985m = 362.497mm in 1/72 I measured the Special Hobby kit fuselage Hmmn - about 2.5mm too long For good measure I measured the Airfix Fuselage Pretty much spot on The Italeri kit measured also a tad short by 1mm (Caveat of course these measurements are subject to the ruler being correct etc etc) I looked at the bow area - Front hatch too big to my eye, and that hatch panel, not on a Mk V Looking at the real thing I took to measuring a couple of other things, such as the Front and Rear hatch. This from the Sunderland Manual, I worked out the given measurements to 1/72 I measured the front hatch height Hmnn roughly 1mm too tall - will need to address that Rear Hatch Roughly .4 of a mm out - Transparency areas annotated where they ought to be. So onward and upward That Upper Hatch issue Special Hobby version - annotated by me Late into production of the Shorts Sunderland Mk III/V's the Upper Turret was deleted You can see from these photo links the changes in production Sunderland with Upper Turret Fairing Sunderland without fairing and new Hatch and hump These photo links show what the actual hump and shape of hatch look like RAF Seletar Sunderland with Hump and open hatch RNZAF Sunderland in Chatham Islands RNZAF Sunderland with Hump and Hatch What it looks like from the Inside I have actually been up through these when the RNZAF Sunderland's were in Service. I have some thoughts on how to address this, more on this during the actual build Now those darned Anti Submarine bombs I have a magazine article (do think I can find it for this) written by an RAF Sunderland crewman who served at Seletar during the Malaya Crisis, and he tells of dropping 25lb bombs from the Galley Hatch, on the insurgents, by hand. However he also tells of carrying and dropping "Lindholme Gear" to a ditched Spitfire pilot in the South China Sea To me this would have been more appropriate for for a Cold War ear Sunderland - you can see one mounted on an RAF Sunderland at Seletar RAF Sunderland with Lindholme gear For those interested on how it works a Video clip Lindholme Gear video I have some more things to discuss, but I will address those during the build. Next action item, Cut Some Plastic Thanks for looking in Regards Alan 10 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franz75 Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Wow nice research on the topic, looks like SP didn't do their homework on this subject. I have Italeri kit, and I'm wondering how it is done compare to the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Hi Alan, Thanks for the detailed review of the kit. I often wonder how can kit makers make such big mistakes when there's a lot of research material available. Cheers Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyGair Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 I really hope you get this finished Alan, I wish I had your enthusiasm for detail. I will research a bit for obvious (and easily rectified) errors re: the missing porthole starboard side on the Italeri one, apart from that I'm just happy to finish models these days! Did you ever get the Airfix build finished? Using that for reference Best of luck, Davey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted September 23, 2019 Author Share Posted September 23, 2019 Hi Gents, Thanks for the comments On 9/10/2019 at 1:58 AM, DaveyGair said: Did you ever get the Airfix build finished? Using that for reference Hi Davey, Still working on it, had hoped to have it done before this GB - The Cowlings are proving problematic, replacing the Airfix engines, the plastic is so thick, I may have to vacuform some new ones Regards Alan So an Update I have added a link to a reasonably newish (last year or so) post about RNZAF Lauthala Bay from You tube. The opening song "Isa Lei" is being sung a little cheesy manner, but anyone who had anything to do with Lauthala Bay knew this song, which is a Fijian farewell song The term "Isa" is a parents (usually Mother) way of expressing sadness/concern the term Lei added for emphasis Anyway I digress, please enjoy RNZAF Lauthala Bay A few items for modellers to be aware of The SH Sunderland had indented Fuselage mooring bollards. Not all Sunderland's had these. This photo from the Sunderland notes shows a different type - Sometimes it is hard to identify from a photos, but they were there Stern camera Port, will need to add So Plastic has been cut and off we go I measured the two halves to see what the base measurement was (or not) A Little narrow....... Looking at general fit - bow got my notice Will need a little bit of work Portholes I have filled in the "extraneous" ports, using masking tape to help protect the panel lines (for now) End result (prior to sanding) So The Portholes. All Porthole transparencies are 30.5cm excluding Beam hatch-38.5cm Pretty close, not going to lose sleep over .04mm Now SH chose to portray the Opening Portholes by moulding the Outer Ring with the Transparency Like so The size measured is about 5mm 1/72, which is 37cm in 1:1 scale, so not too bad. The only problem I see is the Rim indentation disappearing under the paint. The actual porthole opening measures 37cm in Diameter as below As an FYI if you want to have an actual porthole open, then this is what the rear of the Porthole looks like This photo of a wrecked RNZAF Sunderland shows what the porthole opening looks like sans porthole covers Used for illustration purposes This photo/explanation below, hopefully illustrates how the opening porthole worked Anyway, hope I haven't bored you all too much. More plastic has been cut and more to show soon Regards Alan 16 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Nice detail work and explanations. Stuart 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Hi All, Another Update. So the fuselage a few things going on to get ready........ Started to cut out the Beam Hatches - hmn a little big Another thing to fix......... I have decided to fill in the wing wells, as I want to have an interior I have added styrene Strip to place inserts So I started the fore deck lower/upper,. I began by making a whole new frame/bulkhead as the kit ones were as usual fictitious I have filled/sanded the Marked areas by SH as the are wrong The is how SH have engineered this section For some asinine reason they chose to curve this wall area when it is straight as per my Photo below, the lower angled piece next to step is a guide (great if you are in a dark aircraft) This is the WC/Toilet section, its missing the triangular section as above I have annotated the lower deck with what the area should look like, you can make out the grove where SH would have you place the kit piece. These are the kit pieces SH would have you add, again fictitious What the real thing looks like You can see the door, going into the "Cloak/Gun Room" So this is where I am currently at: I had to cut off the groove SH moulded to glue the kit parts to allow for the replacement card width The kit plastic is really thick, this is my razor saw sitting by it's self part way through the cut Anyway the plastic is cut and a fitting to see how it sits You can see where I have penciled in the various areas to cut out. And here we go with cut out areas Looking from the WC/Toilet side, no, the step down is not out or extreme, I will insert a step in there prior to all going together the real thing has about an 18inch step down =you can see it above in the photo looking from the wardroom out to the bow deck Things are starting to shape up - cool Well it's late here in the Antipodes, so more tomorrow Thanks for looking in Regards Alan 17 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 Excellent internal work. Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Hi Alan I hope you are well. Very informative, thanks for sharing, I would like to get a Sunderland, but still unsure what one to go for at the moment, will wait and see how your build goes together. Your Buffalo build and information helped me a great deal when building mine so am definitely looking forward to seeing this progress. Great work so far fella. Keep up the good work. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted November 29, 2019 Author Share Posted November 29, 2019 Hi Folks, Given issues of late, medical wise with family members the better half especially, I'm not going to get this finished in the GB. I'm going to transfer this to the WIP forums, so I can still share my build, just at a more leisurely pace. Thank you all for your support and comments. Hopefully you'll find time to visit with me in the WIP forum. I won't withdraw from the GB, as I have a kit that I could finish in the 3 remaining weeks. Kind Regards Alan 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 Sorry to hear about the family health problems, Alan. I hope everything sorts out well Best wishes. Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted November 30, 2019 Author Share Posted November 30, 2019 27 minutes ago, jrlx said: Sorry to hear about the family health problems, Alan. I hope everything sorts out well Best wishes. Jaime Thanks Jaime, Much Appreciated Regards Alan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 Hi Alan Crikey fella, I am sorry to hear that too, I hope all turns out well. I will pop in to catch up on the WIP fella. All the very best wishes Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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