72nd Sunderland......which kit?

[Beaconroot]

Interested in build a 72nd Sunderland MKIII and have been looking at reviews of the Italeria and Special Hobby kits. Seems to be a toss up on which kit to use. Accuracy and build ability are what I'm looking for. Interested in opinions and thoughts on both kits. 

Thanks for your time,

Jim Root

[LDSModeller]

29 minutes ago, Beaconroot said:

Seems to be a toss up on which kit to use. Accuracy and build ability are what I'm looking for. Interested in opinions and thoughts on both kits. 

Hi Jim,

 

Really depends on what you want out of the model kit?

 

Both have their Accuracy Pro & Cons, and depending on whether you simply want to build

a Sunderland model and not be fussed with total accuracy, or you want it to be as

as accurate as humanly possible? if the former than you'll get a model that looks like a Sunderland mostly.

If the Latter than you have some work.

 

If building the SH Mk III kit according to their kit instructions, you will end up with  Mk V Sunderland

with Pegasus Engines..... Sorry but that's the truth.

 

The Italeri kit will need an additional Porthole in the bow (Stb side), and a .5mm shim of styrene in the

bow top section, as it's just a tad too narrow (should be 14mm wide)- which is doable, without

changing the bow section too much.

And yes I have measured the bow section of a Sunderland

Measurement is 102 cm (in 1/72 equals 14mm (+/-)

 

Any Sunderland questions, fire away.

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

[Ed Russell]

There are lots of Sunderland builds on the internet, including my own. and LDS Modeller's 's builds here on Britmodeller. I would look at them and see what efforts they went to and why and look at the occasional useful comment added to the build thread. This is more helpful than someone saying kit X is better than kit Y and kit Z is too expensive without further information.

It's possible to make a pretty accurate Sunderland from the Airfix, SH or Italeri kit with a few extras - depends on how accurate you want it. In terms of buildability there is not much to choose between them - no Sunderland kit is going to be a weekend build but none of them have really bad flaws in engineering.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234930547-italeri-sunderland-mk-ii-raaf-10-squadron/

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/47663-airfix-short-sunderland-mk-iii-by-request/page/4/

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235064165-rnzaf-short-sunderland-mr5/

 

and here is a whole build book on the Airfix model

https://www.hobbylinc.com/auriga-advanced-techniques-4short-sunderland-mk-iii-a-how-to-model-book-at4

 

[dogsbody]

Here are the 1/72 Sunderland options. I can't speak about availability.

 

 

https://www.super-hobby.com/catalog/Aircrafts.html?search_category=100069&search_keywords=Sunderland&szukaj=search&search_buy_mode=full_offer&search_price_from=&search_price_to=&search_only_promotion=&search_only_bestseller=&search_only_new=&search_news_from_days=30&search_delivery_from[d]=&search_delivery_from[m]=&search_delivery_from[r]=&search_delivery_to[d]=&search_delivery_to[m]=&search_delivery_to[r]=&search_sort=d_score&items_per_page=30&dk_szt[25812663]=1&dk_szt[28711984]=1&dk_szt[23361314]=1&dk_szt[3664432]=1&dk_szt[3664430]=1&dk_szt[212787]=1&dk_szt[114726]=1&dk_szt[212791]=1&dk_szt[212817]=1&dk_szt[212783]=1&dk_szt[114728]=1&dk_szt[4570856]=1&dk_szt[114740]=1&dk_szt[911067]=1&dk_szt[212773]=1&dk_szt[911062]=1&dk_szt[38189994]=1&dk_szt[37710269]=1&dk_szt[37119778]=1&dk_szt[38048116]=1&dk_szt[37534639]=1&dk_szt[36628497]=1&dk_szt[36324213]=1&dk_szt[37885592]=1&dk_szt[37119780]=1&dk_szt[37119782]=1&dk_szt[37119716]=1&dk_szt[37119739]=1&dk_szt[35860074]=1&dk_szt[37259729]=1&newsletter=&last_active_input=search_keywords&search_attr_1[1%3A72]=t&start=0&start_g=0&0=0&grupa_p=1&last_active_input=

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Beaconroot]

17 hours ago, LDSModeller said:

Hi Jim,

 

Really depends on what you want out of the model kit?

 

Both have their Accuracy Pro & Cons, and depending on whether you simply want to build

a Sunderland model and not be fussed with total accuracy, or you want it to be as

as accurate as humanly possible? if the former than you'll get a model that looks like a Sunderland mostly.

If the Latter than you have some work.

 

If building the SH Mk III kit according to their kit instructions, you will end up with  Mk V Sunderland

with Pegasus Engines..... Sorry but that's the truth.

 

The Italeri kit will need an additional Porthole in the bow (Stb side), and a .5mm shim of styrene in the

bow top section, as it's just a tad too narrow (should be 14mm wide)- which is doable, without

changing the bow section too much.

And yes I have measured the bow section of a Sunderland

Measurement is 102 cm (in 1/72 equals 14mm (+/-)

 

Any Sunderland questions, fire away.

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

Thank you for your response Alan. Much appreciated. I will have questions in the future so bear with me.

Jim Root

Edited March 28, 2021 by Beaconroot

[Beaconroot]

11 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

There are lots of Sunderland builds on the internet, including my own. and LDS Modeller's 's builds here on Britmodeller. I would look at them and see what efforts they went to and why and look at the occasional useful comment added to the build thread. This is more helpful than someone saying kit X is better than kit Y and kit Z is too expensive without further information.

It's possible to make a pretty accurate Sunderland from the Airfix, SH or Italeri kit with a few extras - depends on how accurate you want it. In terms of buildability there is not much to choose between them - no Sunderland kit is going to be a weekend build but none of them have really bad flaws in engineering.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234930547-italeri-sunderland-mk-ii-raaf-10-squadron/

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/47663-airfix-short-sunderland-mk-iii-by-request/page/4/

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235064165-rnzaf-short-sunderland-mr5/

 

and here is a whole build book on the Airfix model

https://www.hobbylinc.com/auriga-advanced-techniques-4short-sunderland-mk-iii-a-how-to-model-book-at4

 

Thank you for the links Ed. I will take a look.

Jim Root

[Johnha]

I bought the Airfix one in the 90's, at the time I hadn't a clue what to do with the interior and didn't get round to building it. Apart from the simple cockpit it's a vast empty space with lots of windows along each side.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Johnha
Tpyo

[malpaso]

I built the Sunderland 1 from Italeri.  I can’t help on the accuracy front but I was disappointed at the buildability of a new tooled kit; it needed a lot of work with a full size metalwork file.  

 

Budget also for shares in filler!

The mk1 showed signs of mould inserts for Mk3 so I assume the inverse is true.  It came out nice in the end, won a couple of local awards and was then sold to someone with a personal connection to the airframe.

 

I’ve read that there was some connection / mould cooperation between Italeri and Special Hobby, though they seem different in photos, eg the fuselage insert sections for different marks I think are separate parts in SH whereas you can see witness marks (in my case only after camouflage on!!!) where Italeri included them in the fuselage...The SH parts look slightly more refined, on my Italeri the trench quilting (think Matchbox+++ panel lines) seemed to have been done by different people each side who seemed to have had an argument! 🤪

[Beaconroot]

On 3/29/2021 at 6:13 AM, malpaso said:

I built the Sunderland 1 from Italeri.  I can’t help on the accuracy front but I was disappointed at the buildability of a new tooled kit; it needed a lot of work with a full size metalwork file.  

 

Budget also for shares in filler!

The mk1 showed signs of mould inserts for Mk3 so I assume the inverse is true.  It came out nice in the end, won a couple of local awards and was then sold to someone with a personal connection to the airframe.

 

I’ve read that there was some connection / mould cooperation between Italeri and Special Hobby, though they seem different in photos, eg the fuselage insert sections for different marks I think are separate parts in SH whereas you can see witness marks (in my case only after camouflage on!!!) where Italeri included them in the fuselage...The SH parts look slightly more refined, on my Italeri the trench quilting (think Matchbox+++ panel lines) seemed to have been done by different people each side who seemed to have had an argument! 🤪

Thank you for the heads up on the Italeri kit. From what I've seen and heard I'm leaning toward the Special Hobby kit at the moment.

Jim Root