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1:72 Short Sunderland Mk.III 'The Flying Porcupine' *FINISHED*


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Hi All,

 

In between throwing round copious amounts of primer, I've been doing some research on waist gun positions, and also trying to establish the colour of the beaching gear. SH calls out red, which I found slightly unlikely. I therefore dove down a rabbit hole trying to find out the colour. I did find a colour photo with red beaching gear, but that was on a post-war photo taken at RAF Seletar in Singapore in the 50s. Other wartime photos appear to show a lighter colour in use:

 

JS30220630-JPG.jpg

 

short-sunderland-flying-boat-ww2-1417183

 

Although the latter photo is an earlier Mk.I you get the idea. Whilst stumbling around the further reaches of t'interweb I came across this, which is the Poole Flying Boats Celebration:

 

http://www.pooleflyingboats.com/archive/04 Changes-at-Poole-with-RAF-Hamworthy.pdf

 

A very interesting read. Also contained within are a couple of photos of EJ134 - bingo! There's also a photo showing 461 Sqn ground crew hauling the beaching gear up the shipway, and I'm pretty confident it's not red. My best guess would be a light grey, so I shall probably go with that. Also of interest in the photos of 'N-Nuts' is the camouflage demarcation. The photos clearly show a curved line demarcation of the upper camouflage rather than the wavy line depicted in the SH scheme. All grist for the mill!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

 

 

Edited by Dunny
Seletar location
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36 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Although the latter photo is an earlier Mk.I you get the idea. Whilst stumbling around the further reaches of t'interweb I came across this, which is the Poole Flying Boats Celebration:

 

http://www.pooleflyingboats.com/archive/04 Changes-at-Poole-with-RAF-Hamworthy.pdf

 

A very interesting read. Also contained within are a couple of photos of EJ134 - bingo!

 

That's gold.  

 

This should be a fun one to follow along with Roger (well, like the rest of them, actually), I'm looking forward to seeing how you go with it.

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2 minutes ago, mark.au said:

 

That's gold.  

 

This should be a fun one to follow along with Roger (well, like the rest of them, actually), I'm looking forward to seeing how you go with it.

Thanks very much Mark! Also of interest is that 461 Sqn was formed on ANZAC day 1942 - 80 years ago this weekend! Let's hope that's a good omen for the build,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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1 hour ago, Dunny said:

My best guess would be a light grey

Hi Roger,

 

 A Mk III Transport (Brand New) at RNZAF Hobsonville here in Auckland

Note the New Beaching Gear. - I would go with light Grey too (as in a primer type)

PR4420.t5ea4814e.m800.xLqqs-rAW.jpg

(RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions)

 

Hope that helps?

 

Regards

 

Alan

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34 minutes ago, LDSModeller said:

Hope that helps?

Alan,

 

That does indeed help - many thanks! I'm thinking of Medium Sea Grey,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Some great photos and info Roger.  Looking forward to seeing this progress.  

I  don't have a Sunderland in my stash at the moment, this may change after seeing yours and Alistair's models, will have to see .  It's a bit of a big box to sneak past tge Domestic Authorities!!!

Chris

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3 hours ago, Dunny said:

I've been doing some research on waist gun positions

Hi Roger,

 

I saw your query in the Forums, but can ask you the same question here

re the Waist Guns are your referring to the Beam Gun Hatches as in below?

Sunderland%20MR5%20Build%203f.jpg

 

If Yes, then ignore the Special Hobby Assembly Instruction for that (meaning opening of hatches

installation of the .5 Cal guns.Mounts/ammunition boxes)

Unfortunately if you follow the SH Assembly Instructions, you will end up with a Mk V Sunderland with

Mk 18 Peggy Engines ( there are other issues too)

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

 

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3 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Some great photos and info Roger.  Looking forward to seeing this progress.  

I  don't have a Sunderland in my stash at the moment, this may change after seeing yours and Alistair's models, will have to see .  It's a bit of a big box to sneak past tge Domestic Authorities!!!

Chris

Thanks Chris - get one in that man! It's actually not that expensive considering the complexity of the kit. For the man who could justify the 1:32 Whirlwind to the Finance Committee - should be a piece of cake 😍

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1 minute ago, LDSModeller said:

If Yes, then ignore the Special Hobby Assembly Instruction for that (meaning opening of hatches

installation of the .5 Cal guns.Mounts/ammunition boxes)

Thanks for that Alan - in the interim I've opened said hatches :poo:

 

Never mind - I think there's sufficient latitude to suggest that there could have been a pair of 50 cals at those positions...

 

Appreciate the extra info,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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9 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Some great photos and info Roger.  Looking forward to seeing this progress.  

I  don't have a Sunderland in my stash at the moment, this may change after seeing yours and Alistair's models, will have to see .  It's a bit of a big box to sneak past tge Domestic Authorities!!!

Chris

You know you need one.

Go for it.

I'd like to see what you can do with it, as well.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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1 minute ago, AliGauld said:

You know you need one.

Go for it.

I'd like to see what you can do with it, as well.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Crikey - imagine hairy sticking all that white! I think that might even be beyond Chris' considerable talents! Prove me wrong @bigbadbadge...

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19 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Thanks Chris - get one in that man! It's actually not that expensive considering the complexity of the kit. For the man who could justify the 1:32 Whirlwind to the Finance Committee - should be a piece of cake 😍

 

14 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

You know you need one.

Go for it.

I'd like to see what you can do with it, as well.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

 

12 minutes ago, Dunny said:

Crikey - imagine hairy sticking all that white! I think that might even be beyond Chris' considerable talents! Prove me wrong @bigbadbadge...

 

11 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

Oh I think he will be able to. :wicked:

 

Cheers,

Alistair

You are both bad people!!!

I have thought about one but was previously looking at the Airfix kit.  I may revisit looking at getting one I have agreement for the Airfix 24th scale Spitfire Mk.IX when it is released so a Sunderland on top, may just push SWMBO over the edge🤪

The white would be easy :whistle: as it would be automotive Primer from Halfords, great stuff.

I wish I could get hold of the Humbrol 24 Trainer Yellow Acrylic spray , but can't get it anymore , that would save a lot of time!!!

Chris

 

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6 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

I may revisit looking at getting one I have agreement for the Airfix 24th scale Spitfire Mk.IX when it is released so a Sunderland on top, may just push SWMBO over the edge🤪

You are a lucky man - that will be one beast of a kit (having said that, the Tamiya 1:32 Mk.IX was probably the best kit I have built thus far)

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Just now, Dunny said:

You are a lucky man - that will be one beast of a kit (having said that, the Tamiya 1:32 Mk.IX was probably the best kit I have built thus far)

Oh mate,I can't wait for that one, yes very lucky . Got the Tamiya one in the stash which I will have to build too!!! 

Chris

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Hello Dunny.    Hoping to help out.
My primary source of info for my future build.

spacer.png

This MkIII shows what I think you’re may be looking to emulate. Nice texture on the paint work.  Silver beaching gear.

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A little bit of background information.

spacer.png

 

Waist gun position, waist high Simon Cowell shorts. 😛

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Some lovely well re-produced photos.

spacer.png

 

This photo, the top arrow points to an aerial that is shown in the photos of the A/C your making. The Poole flying boats web site photo third down with the guys on the bikes is what I talking about.

spacer.png

 

Hopefully these might help.   😉

 

 

Edited by amos brierley
Pressed submit accidentally.
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4 hours ago, amos brierley said:

Hopefully these might help.

Amos,

 

It most certainly does help - absolute gold! Really appreciate you posting,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger 

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On 4/23/2022 at 3:21 AM, Dunny said:

Hi All,

 

Whilst girding my loins to set off on this built (you can tell from this post that I am still mid-gird 🤣), I idly wondered whether the Sunderland wing had anything in common with the Stirling wing. Well, as my Stirling Mk.I is still fresh in the memory, I thought that I'd place the two side by side to compare. I had already read that during development the Sunderland's wing had been swept back by 4o15', to modify the aircraft's centre of lift to account for changes in defensive armament. This change was effected by adding a spacer to the front of the main spar, and caused the engines and floats to be canted outwards. In addition, I was aware of the distinctive maintenance platforms which were integral to the leading edge of the Sunderland's wing, and not present on the Stirling. Although the Sunderland's wing had what look to be similar fuel cells to the Stirling, this is what they look like together:

 

20220423-111711.jpg

 

Although the photo does not show it well, the Sunderland's span is slightly larger, and also the engine placement is different. So, no common wing (although I guess elements could still be shared?). Right enough procrastinating - on with the build!

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

I do like the exhaust staining on your Stirling . . .

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33 minutes ago, mike romeo said:

I do like the exhaust staining on your Stirling . . .

Thank you Martin - most kind!

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On 4/23/2022 at 2:39 PM, Dunny said:

trying to establish the colour of the beaching gear.

Taking first hand testimony from Sandringham handlers, post war ones were either red and green (handed for post and starboard) or more commonly a medium blueish grey colour. They had a hard life and weathered quite a bit. I assumed Sunderland ones were the same and went for grey in my build.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234940047-italeri-sunderland-mk-ii-raaf-10-squadron/

Quote

 Silver beaching gear.

They appear to be metal struts with some sort of floating material around them (cork maybe?) so a badly weathered one may be some metal colour. At least some are believed to have the cork/wooden part red and green.

The rear section is a wooden box painted grey.

Sorry to be so vague but it is not a well studied subject.

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Very interesting Ed - thank you! Wartime photos don't appear to show a difference P-S, but like you say it's anyone's guess. My thought at the moment is either Sky Grey or MSG paint over aluminium, and heavily weathered as per your suggestion - I may also try and incorporate the cork aspect,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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Hi All,

 

Some small progress on the Sunderland. More priming today, and also on Saturday I'd opened up the waist positions by chain-drilling around with a 1.2mm bit. Here after drilling:

 

20220423-150754.jpg

 

And here after cleanup:

 

20220423-151600.jpg

 

There is still some uncertainty about whether 0.50" cals would have been fitted at these positions on a 461 Sqn aircraft, so I'll make that a problem for future me. I tend to tackle builds like this as a series of sub-assemblies, so rather than diving into the interior I decided to tackle the beaching gear as a mini-project. Here's the lot after assembly, priming, and a coat of Medium Sea Grey. I did start out with Sky Grey, but felt it looked too light, so MSG it was:

 

20220425-130959.jpg

 

Here's the finished article after drybrushing and a Flory 'Grime' wash:

 

20220425-143745.jpg

 

I'm not displeased with that overall effect - methinks Grime may be in use for weathering the fuselage when the time comes! That's all for now,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

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