Airfix 1:72 Short Sunderland

[dr_gn]

The Airfix Sunderland is finished, and is now in the safe hands of its new owner! I knew what I was in for with this model, but the fact it was more or less OOB took the pressure off a bit. The fit and finish is pretty bad as expected for a model of this age, the raised rivet detail being a big problem. If you fill and sand the gaps in the fuselage halves and wing roots, you end up removing a load of tiny rivets too. Masking over rivets is also tricky because the paint 'bleeds' under the raised bits. The fuselage halves don't match up very well, so there is a bit of a step there which is very difficult to remove without days of work.

The cockpit glazing was a pretty good fit on the fuselage, but if you fit the pilots, you can't fit it because the pilots are about 2mm too tall. I had to cut their feet off. The control columns also don't fit in the cockpit opening without raking them back a bit.

IIRC the only things I added were stretched sprue float bracing wires and an aerial, some rubber handle grips to the beaching trolley, red band decals on the bombs and a pale band decal around the D/F loop fairing.

FWIW I'm happy with it all things considered.

Cleaned-up parts.

I was hoping the portholes could be masked by punching masking tape through a paper hole punch, but they are too small. I used a steel punch to do it and it worked pretty well, although the glazing is a poor fit and some portholes are badly deformed in their centres.

The bombs were in halves which didn't match up. This required more filler. I added some red bands by cutting up an old Matchbox 1/32 Spitfire tail flash. Much easier than painting! I also drilled the back of the bombs to make them a bit less bulky, but it's obviously impossible to drill a round hole concentric with an oval solid! The prop spinners are all wrong, so I tried to make them more realistic by painting the white to about the right size, and leaving the rest black.

I used Tamiya Smoke for the exhausts and pre and post shading the panel lines. It's good stuff because it's almost transparent and gives you a good chance to correct mistakes as you're spraying.

I tried sanding flats on the tyres to make them look loaded. Worked OK.

Upper wing roundels are about 2mm too large: they should be a bit further outboard, but as they are they would touch the ailerons and the black l/e strip.

I added some reflectors to the wing lights out of punched foil - they look good although the clear glazing is not a good fit to the wing l/e.

There is absolutely no framing on the screens or the turrets. All the framing is done by looking at 3-view drawings and photos, and masking the glass bits before overspraying first with interior green followed by outer surface colour.

Cheers!

Edited August 10, 2010 by dr_gn

[XL929]

Wow! That looks really good.

Superb stuff.

[Old VG 33]

Fantastic !

I love her.

Patrick

[spitfire]

Gosh that brings back some memories, I must have got one for Christmas when I was knee high to a grasshopper, I can safely say that yours looks a million times better than my effort did then ! Great job.

Cheers

Den

[Shar2]

You've done a great job. I'm sure the new owner must have been well pleased when you handed it over.

[Mike]

Nice clean build

[keith in the uk]

Very nice , the old girl scrubs up really well for an old kit , great effort

[jenko]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just shows what you can do with an old classic.

Dick

[Mark]

all the above! What a great job of that kit that I too must received about 35 years ago, maybe more, for Xmas!

[Martian]

Thats a sweet little build. I remember my Gran buying me this kit to cheer me up at the end of the summer holidays (I loathed school with a passion) I felt really spoilt.

Martin

[AnonymousDFB1]

Very nice, I like it.

[CPNGROATS]

a CLASSIC KIT....and a classy build, real nice indeed...!!!

Cheers,

ggc

[Maxidad]

Considering the drawbacks you mentioned with the kit, it's turned out bloody well. It just goes to show what you can do if you have modelling skill.

[Ian]

Gosh that brings back some memories, I must have got one for Christmas when I was knee high to a grasshopper, I can safely say that yours looks a million times better than my effort did then ! Great job.

Cheers

Den

D I T T O !!

Mine came from a shop in Liverpool City Centre, long since departed, called HOPPIE'S. It cost my Dad a massive £0.80p sometime in the very early 1970's (cannot recall when decimilisation happened, but I think the kit was bought the first Xmas after).

I've been wondering whether to get one again for a few years now, only problem is storage when it's finished, still I s'pose I could hang it from the ceiling above the bed, like the first one..... Yes I'm certain Mrs. Ian wouldn't have any objection whatsoever !!

Absolutely superb build, Sir,

Ian

[dr_gn]

Thanks for the positive comments boys and girls; much appreciated!

[Jazzy Jase]

Great work on such an old kit. Well done.

[Danuleson]

That is without doubt the most well finished Airfix Sunderland I have ever seen.

Stunning

[Prop Duster]

Sorry to read about all the problems with the kit - of course, none of them shows in your pictures, so we'd never know they were there

I'm positive your receipant was very pleased with your work (I would be).

Thanks for shairing the "almost"OOB. I learned some neat stuff from it.

Cheers

[woody37]

Another coastal command stunner. Great finish, although it would look even nicer with more weathering on it, but that's my preference, possibly not that of her new owner which is what counts !

[Paul A H]

Immaculate finish - lovely stuff!

[baldrick]

Very nice. Impressed..........

[LDSModeller]

Nice Build, came out really well.

The new owner should be very proud

Well done

Alan

[ChancerUK]

As all the suitble adjectives have been used all I can do is repeat the sentiments, thats an absoloutely imacualte Sunderland, lovely build and finish.

[dr_gn]

Thanks for the nice comments guys.

Another coastal command stunner. Great finish, although it would look even nicer with more weathering on it, but that's my preference, possibly not that of her new owner which is what counts !

Thanks Woody, I think you're absolutely right, but I was very conscious of not overdoing it, which is *too* easy to do when you're learning and trying new techniques. In this case, since it wasn't my model I thought discretion was the better part of valor! Someone over on the other Sunderland thread did point out that at some point, most aircraft are 'new'. I did add some exhaust stains and a tide mark though, as well as very subtle preshading and a bit of tinting of the upper camoflague with lighter and darker patches. Doesn't show up well in the photos though. The lower planing surfaces were given a Mig dark wash to show the rivets up, but again it's not obvious from the photos.

Cheers,

Dr_GN.

[dr_gn]

Nice Build, came out really well.

The new owner should be very proud

Well done

Alan

Cheers Alan - and thanks very much for the advice and photos!