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Short Sunderland Mk III - Italeri 1/72


CedB

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I’ve been watching this from afar and I must say it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable journey. 
 

Lovely result, too - it really looks the part and the weathering on the white has been most effective. Bravo!

 

All the best for Xmas!

Tom

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7 minutes ago, Hamden said:

 

What they ALL said!

Someone has to ask...................What's next?

Seasons Greetings to ALL

 

                      Roger

I was just thinking the same thing because I was concerned I'd missed the start of the next build!

Edited by Whofan
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:clap:

 

I am rather glad my Sunderland is currently right at the bottom of my teetering stash shelf. That makes it much harder just to accidentally pull it out and start building it.

 

Well done, Ced! That’s a real beaut! Now, what’s next?

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9 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Dang Ced, that's a masterpiece.

Awww thanks Cookie :blush: Couldn't have done it without the new airbrush you and PC gave me - thanks again for the mojo boost!

9 hours ago, John Laidlaw said:

^^^ What he said!

Another one! Thanks John :blush:

8 hours ago, dogsbody said:

 

Works for me. Thanks!

 

Chris

You're very welcome Chris :) 

4 hours ago, Beard said:

That's rather splendid Ced, almost makes me want to dig my Airfix Sunderland out of the stash.

Thanks Simon :) Go on, you know you want to!

3 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

I'd be a happy man too, with a result like that B) 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

Thanks Stew, appreciated matey :) 

3 hours ago, Learstang said:

Excellent job on the Sunderland, Ced! I hope mine turns out half as nicely (which it will - half as nicely).

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Thanks Jason, pleased you like it :) 

2 hours ago, tomprobert said:

I’ve been watching this from afar and I must say it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable journey. 
 

Lovely result, too - it really looks the part and the weathering on the white has been most effective. Bravo!

 

All the best for Xmas!

Tom

Thanks Tom, much appreciated :) 

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

A joyous thread as always Ced; plus a newly revealed artistic accomplishment and a crowd pleaser of a finish.  T'riffic innit :thumbsup:

Thanks Steve :) Any artistic display is purely accidental…

1 hour ago, giemme said:

Definitely, impressive job! :worthy:  :worthy:  :clap: 

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio - and I gloss coated, all your fault! :D 

1 hour ago, Hamden said:

 

What they ALL said!

Someone has to ask...................What's next?

Seasons Greetings to ALL

 

                      Roger

Thanks Roger, and seasons greeting to you and yours :) 

What's next? Aerials, that's what, and lots of 'em…

1 hour ago, Whofan said:

I was just thinking the same thing because I was concerned I'd missed the start of the next build!

:rofl:Thanks John

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

Absolutely superb job Ced. 

 

Terry

Thanks Terry, very kind :) 

44 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

:clap:

 

I am rather glad my Sunderland is currently right at the bottom of my teetering stash shelf. That makes it much harder just to accidentally pull it out and start building it.

 

Well done, Ced! That’s a real beaut! Now, what’s next?

Thanks Heather :) I suggest you tidy up the shelf before the teetering leads to a disaster! And should you end up leaving the Sunderland on the bench, I'll certainly be watching!

 

 

Slow down you lot, there's still a lot of stuff to do, most of it nerve wracking!

 

Aerials.

Lots of aerials.

Easy one first:

 

49262605648_0f2b35803f_z.jpg

 

Right, I definitely need to clean up the canopies first and dot paint the white bits. Lots of build up and the white primer's showing in quite a few places.

Rats.

 

Aerials. Four on the top already stuck in, sixteen - yes SIXTEEN - on the sides.

 

PING ALERT! PING ALERT!

 

Managed to get these off with the Platz:

 

49262606908_c5af435917_z.jpg

 

 

… and these with the PE cutters:

 

49263298262_2c9144e22c_z.jpg

 

All I need to do now is stick 'em together with Gator's Thin and make sure they're straight. 

I held the plastic bit in some tweezers, put a spot of GGT on the end and pressed it onto a bit of PE taking care to line it up.

If I was lucky the PE lifted off the bench and stayed there.

Most times it stayed on the bench, or twisted, or fell off and stuck to the mat.

Of course I couldn't breath (or curse) for fear of blowing something out of area.

 

One bright idea I had (?) was to place them on a PostIt - this made sure the 'flat' alignment was held and I can scrape the dry parts off later (I hope):

 

49262677483_3d3b336aa0_z.jpg

 

Couple of bendy ones but I can straighten them later.

 

Right, canopy clean up.

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Just, er not amazing because that would imply I didn't expect this to look so good and I did, so...

 

Ced it looks beautiful, already, thank you for taking on the suggestion

 

More outstanding Ceddery

 

👍

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2 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Rather you than me.:dog:

Indeed. Thanks John :D 

1 hour ago, Spookytooth said:

Well Ced, she looks wonderful from here sir.

With the last few bits to add then it will be another one to hang proudly from the ceiling.

 

Simon.

Thanks Simon, kind of you :) 

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

Cracking job Ced, absolutely stonking looking Sunderland!

 

Well tidy butt!!

 

Keith

Thanks Mun! :D 

1 hour ago, giemme said:

I so much don't envy you having to deal with all those aerials, Ced ... :frantic: 

Looks like you're proceeding steadily, though :clap: 

 

Ciao

I know, but they're nearly there and the last thing to do :) 

24 minutes ago, perdu said:

Just, er not amazing because that would imply I didn't expect this to look so good and I did, so...

 

Ced it looks beautiful, already, thank you for taking on the suggestion

 

More outstanding Ceddery

 

👍

Thanks Bill, appreciated matey :) 

 

 

Marabu Landing lights in. I'll push the bulb holders down when they're dry:

 

49262955628_fcd52db774_z.jpg

 

Only one big one left :( 

 

Of course the kit clear parts look awful:

 

49263591676_184a73b48e_z.jpg

 

Too small. So they were replaced with Sellotape Diamond:

 

49263170953_dc8edd4578_z.jpg

 

Better.

 

Front turret cleaned up:

 

49262956493_58098c122e_z.jpg

 

i used one of the S-M 'fine' blades, the chisel one, cutting down the line and then pushing the excess paint away. Easy(ish).

 

Now for the PE on the cleaned up canopy.

How the heck are you supposed to glue those straight? Oh, now it's dropped off and… where the heck is it?

 

49263793432_6ef989948d_z.jpg

 

See it? Middle of the photo… it had rolled off! Stuck on now with the wipers:

 

49263834857_b2e8942f02_z.jpg

 

What do you mean you can't see the wipers?

Not a good close up but probably my best painted canopy so pleased enough.

 

Aerials. Stick 'em in and, er, make sure they're lined up while they dry :shutup:

 

 

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Well, I now know more than I probably need to about Air-to-Surface Vessel (ASV) Mark II and Mk. III radar…

 

There's a good article about Mk II on Wikiwand here with a picture of the Mk II radar on a Wellington.

The side aerials are round wire and seem to almost touch.

 

The only decent picture I've found of the side aerials on a Sunderland is here - the side aerial 'wires' are barely visible but the article says, possibly incorrectly:

"A 'Christmas Tree' indicates that the aircraft is a Mark II, fitted with a Mark II ASV (Airborne Surface Vessel) radar operating at 1.5m wavelength (200Mhz). When they are absent it means that a more advanced ASV System is installed. Sometimes it may be that the Censor removed them from a photo."

My bold, but I wonder if that's why there are so few phots that show the radar clearly?

 

I think I'll glue the plastic bits to the fuselage as in the photo and stick some small bits of wire to the ends rather than the over-sized PE.

 

For completeness 'Weapons and Warfare' has a nice article on Sunderlands and the bit on the Mk III says: 

"As the U-boats began to use Metox passive receivers the ASV Mk II radar gave away the presence of aircraft and the number of sightings diminished drastically. The RAF response was to upgrade to the ASV Mk III, which operated in the 50 cm band, with antennas that could be faired into fewer more streamlined blisters."

 

Those blister are provided in the kit too BTW

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12 minutes ago, CedB said:

The RAF response was to upgrade to the ASV Mk III, which operated in the 50 cm band, with antennas that could be faired into fewer more streamlined blisters."

 

Those blister are provided in the kit too BTW

Hi Ced

I knew a WWII Mk III Sunderland Pilot, who told me what it was like using

the Mk II ASV. Many of the "Operators" became quite good at using the

equipment, but there was always a certain amount of "Grass", which the operators

had to discern between the sea and "target"

The receiving aerials, rear side of fuselage had electric motors which selected each aerial in

turn as a pulse was detected.

The display tube similar to my photo below, showed a single Vertical beam, and an "echo"

would momentarily deflect the beam in the direction of the receiving aerial

ASV+Station.jpg

 

When a "target" was detected the Upper Cabin aerials and wing aerials then helped to home in on the target,

which necessitated turning the aircraft in the direction of said target, until the "Blip" was of equal length on each

side of the centre line, and all going well you got to make life difficult for the Vessel you were hunting.

Of note the switching motors didn't like the tropics so well....

(The above is a very simplified version of how the MK II ASV system worked)

Regards

 

Alan

PS the kit Mk III ASV blisters are a bit too shallow in depth

 

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53 minutes ago, CedB said:

Sometimes it may be that the Censor removed them from a photo."

 

That was often done fairly crudely though (no photoshop back then!) so it's usually pretty obvious when it's been done.

 

Merry Cristmas to you & yours Ced - and the rest of your stalke... followers! :)

 

Keith

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Thanks Alan - more useful information :) 

 

Cheers Keith - and a Merry one to you and yours too! :) 

 

 

Aerials too long. Hmmm.

 

49268016801_79e171628d_n.jpg 49268214937_73575d6d23_n.jpg

 

So that's, er, one minus, er, carry that… a little bit off each end, duly clipped:

 

49268171816_af13ff815a_z.jpg

 

All I needed to do then was stick 'em in. I tried the TET quick setting and it helped a bit, but I needed to watch out for droop (story of my life nowadays):

 

49267742433_6ff97a809a_z.jpg

 

That first one's been straightened. 

After a bit of a break and a calm down I did the other row:

 

49268538786_99d4def961_z.jpg

 

I learned a lot from that, primarily how to take a photo from an angle so people can't see if they're straight or not :wicked:

 

Now all I need to do is stick these eight on the other side:

 

49268748182_9b0f28d17c_z.jpg

 

Wait - what!

New rule - check clothing first (external only).

Now check floor with 'phone light in 'standard grid pattern search'.

 

Gotcha:

 

49268756712_1104c07473_z.jpg

 

T'other side later.

Or maybe the top first.

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