Airfix Short Sunderland Mk III -(By Request)

[LDSModeller]

Hi All

Well I have a topic dear to my heart on the work bench a Short Sunderland

A little background preamble if I may to set the scene.

I have come to know on my trips to MOTAT (Museum Of Transport And Technology), here in Auckland

a WWII vetran who is currently working on the Short Sunderland Mk V we have here.

His name is Mac and he flew Sunderlands in WWII. He was with 490 (RNZAF) Squadron, but was seconded

to RAF 270 Squadron flying out of West Africa circa 1944.

If you visit on a Wednesday you generally will catch Mac doing his thing (that he loves) on NZ4115 Q-Queenie.

(Currently the Museum is adding an extra wing to house the likes of NZ4115 Q-Queenie, so visits may be restricted)

He loves to talk about the Sunderland, and will give you very detailed explainations of how everything in the

aircraft works (Oh yes, I have hours of video.....) even down to the smallest items such as a device called the

"Mickey Mouse" (which was a clockwork device) designed to drop bombs/depth charges) at preset rates.

If you are lucky, he will give you an idea of what it was like attacking a German U boat.

During one of my visits I asked Mac if he had a Sunderland model, to which he replied No! -See where this is leading?

I asked if he would like one, the quick answer was Yes!!

Now during one of my visits Mac gave me a publication that he had written titled "Sunderland on Patrol" (sorry you

can't buy it in stores). In his commentary, he actually flew a Mk III coded Q-Queenie.

Now I was in something of a quandry, where on Earth would I find the serial number? Well hunting through the net I

found a publication on line with a picture of said Sunderland, even more unique is I actualy have that book-

It has a photo off three 270 Squadron Sunderlands flying in formation and the lead is DW109 Q-Queen YES!!!!

Ok have an Airfix kit ready to build as these photos show, there is a difference in the old and new boxing

building instructions

Old

recent

Ok again- I wanted to build Mac a really decent model being a WWII Vetran, so decided to go the whole hog

The Airfix kit is old but currently the only 1/72 scale we have, and though a child of the gimmicky 1960's is reasonably

accurate in size, shape legth and wingspan.

To build an accurate Sunderland Mk III there are some issues that need to be addressed.

1) in the folowing photos the issues are:

A) Port Holes need to be addressed as they are All the diameter of the opening porthole

which in 1:1 scale is 37.5cm, in 1/72 scale is close to 5.2mm

In reality there are only some portholes that open on the lower deck and one under the wing (more later), the rest do not open and the

diameter in 1:1 scale is 30.5cm (note this is the transparency diameter for the opening porthole also), which in 1/72 scale is 4.2mm

Interestingly enough Airfix got the right number of porthole (especially on the starboard side) on the lower deck-forward of bomb bay

there should be 10 (9 on Portside)

The Sunderland has a galley hatch that is quite prominant and missed out on the Airfix kit, this can either be scribed in or cut out

if doing a diorama like me

C) The trench under the wing needs to be filled in as it's bogus, as the real bomb rack slots are nothing like that.

2)

The main forward and rear hatches will need to be rescribed to have a less retangular shape (I'm cutting mine out)

3)

A) The bow turret area needs attention as it has the slide area for the toy turret

The Sunderland (all marks) had an escape/exit hatch/astro dome upper. which needs to be either scribed in and transparent

dome added or removed if doing a on water diorama scene with crew on wing etc. If doing a takeoff/landing scene this would be

open as an escape (standard ops requirement)

4)

Airfix also did not add the three ventral observation ports, so will need to added (same diameter as hull 4.2mm)

I have shaded the upper turret on this model as Q-Queen did not have a ventral turret, Mac explained that in 1944 the RAF

did not consider the Luftwafe to be a threat in West Africa, this will be a blanked off area

5) Wings

On Airfix kit these are mere holes but they are actually the intakes for oil coolers, so will need to be boxed in

6)

Upper wing, Gouge flap (named after Sir Arthur Gouge ) needs to be extended so scribing to be done

7)

Lower wing

The green area shows the Gouge flap extended right up to fuselage which included part of previously mentioned bogus trench

The Blue represents the track for the bomb racks

Slight bit of trivia, the yellow line is representative of a hardwood trim between Gouge flap and bomb rack tracks

8)

Interior-the wing area will be filled in as this does not exist on real aircraft.

The blue areas are for the cutouts in flight engineers station which give access to fuel tanks

Ok, probably information overload at present, I'll add some more in another increment shortly.

Regards

Alan

Edited May 17, 2010 by LDSModeller

[Mark M]

wow you know your stuff, i cant wait for more

[AnonymousFO98]

Invaluable!

Many thanks for taking the time to post this Alan.

[Mike]

As I have the Alpha Flight Sundy in my stash for a succession of rainy days, I'll be watching this build with some large amount of interest. Keep up the good work

[philp]

All right, got to track this one as I also have a Sunderland in the stash that I would like to do up correctly.

[Tango 1]

Thanks for sharing all of this information with us, I have been wanting to build one of these for a while, I will enjoy this thread!

[Smiffy]

Very interested in this one.

My Grandad was an apprentice at Shorts in Rochester, before joining the RAF.

Seems you really know your stuff.

Think we're in for a treat here.

[Shar2]

I too will be watching this closely as I've got a Sunderland in the stash along with the three WEM PE sets for it, and I intend to build it for the forthcoming BoA GB.

[LDSModeller]

Hi Gents thanks for the comments.

I grew up on the RNZAF's main flying boat base (Hobsonville), and my late father

served with No 5 Squadron (MR) for a number of years with The Sunderland as

the main aircraft until replaced by the P 3 Orion

On ward and upward with my build (just a small update today)

I started adding styrene tubing to the port holes to make them the right size

The tubing I'm using is Evergreen 5.5mm tubing picked up from local hobby store

The tube internal diameter is about 4.2mm which is what

you want. I simply cut a ring with a fine modelling saw, about 1.5mm thick, slid it (or squeezed) into the opening and ran some Tamiya extra thin

liquid cement around the edge. When dry trimmed off excess with knife. If there is saw cut excess in the opening , I used a 4mm drill rotated

by hand to slowly get rid of it

As you can see I have cut out the galley hatch (this is about 8mm) and the main forward entrance hatch (Airfix measurements

are about right) if you have scribing templates, these come in handy for this.

Now when building your Sunderland you may either want to leave the portholes closed or some open, the following two pictures

show the non opening and opening (non opening with X, opening with O)

Port side

Starboard

The green lines represent the Bulkheads for each area inside the lower fuselage

I have cleaned out the plastic in the bow and stern turret areas to allow me to build this up later.

The tail turret needs attention as the turret (lower) should look like this

Added a section of turret cut from a spare upper turret to start the area for the deleted turret

If building a Sunderland sans ventral turret, you will need to build up the area to look like this hump on the actual aircraft

I have added some styrene to cover the wing wells and notice the added styrene to act as upper deck support

Next increment, to start on the interior bulkheads etc

Regards

Alan

Edited April 27, 2010 by LDSModeller

[richellis]

Very nice. I too have a sunderland in the stash so a very informative post! watching with interest!

[crookedmouth]

Defnitly watching this. The Sunderland is a fave of mine.

[Mike]

Very clever use of the styrene tube

[LDSModeller]

Hi All

Well I have another update for you

This time I would like to work from the main foward bulkhead to the

bombay

Before I begin Shar2, made mention of the WEM sets for his build, just some comments if I may

The WEM set for the Sunderland is very nice, a little pricey for the Kiwi dollar, I really like the seats though!!!

The Fightdeck section:

Good for a Mk I/II or but if you are adding ASV to your Sunderland

(eg Yagi ariels) you will need to add the ASV operators station behind the second pilots seat

If doing a Mk III or IIIa you will need to update the Navigators station (Starboard side)

as well as the wireless operators station, as radios were more comprehensive so the WEM

set will not suffice.

If doing a Mk V the WEM set is no good to you, as it was more advanced than the WEM offering.

The Pilots station should be a T section in shape, so the WEM set is not accurate

in that sense.

The flight engineers station probably could do with some add on's but WEM got the main spar right .

The steps from the flight deck down to bow is not totally accurate either but

if you build with the model closed up, it would not be seen

If opening up the main hatch and have the front turret wound back , you will need to

build a deck and a main forward bulkhead.

The Bomb bay is not totally accurate, in that the rear wall is too high.

The wall with the "oven Door" (upper entry to flightdeck) is interesting, in that the instructions give the impression

that the wall bends at an angle. This is not correct as it is straight up and down.

r

My build

The forward main bulkhead

As you enter the main hatch

Upper main bulkhead

Interestingly enough I don't have a full shot (after all the video/photos I have taken!!!!) so i have borrowed one

http://www.kiwiaircraftimages.com/images/m...at/98SUND01.JPG

This is the Main bulkhead I have made- you can see the entry to the rest of the aircraft (port) steps to the flightdeck (middle)

and toilet/WC/Head on starboard side

Steps: close up as you can see, just steps- I have been up and down those and it's a tight fit!!!!

Toilet

My build

Real thing

Entry into what is known as cloakroom, my build

Real thing

A place to hang your hat

Looking from the Officers ward room -my build

Real thing

Before going on I have taken a picture of the templates I have made up, to give you an idea of how I have planned

to build the interior

The flightdeck part in the kit is too narrow, so it pays to widen it (modellers litany: fit, sand and fit again until right )

I also lengthened it to

The lower deck partially done

Officers Wardroom

Galley

You can see I have added the Z framing found in both these sections

Edited April 25, 2010 by LDSModeller

[LDSModeller]

Part Two of Update

Rear part of the galley wall/front of Bomb bay bulkhead, as you can see I have added the fuel dump pipes which lead through

the floor to the step on the lower hull

Real thing

Important Note - Notice the wall in above photos, it's smooth as is the rear bombay bay bulkhead

They don't have the framing as shown on the WEM items

In the photo above of my build you will see the "oven door" in the upper wall/bulkhead

The real thing

Notice the wall/bulkhead it's straight up and down, this backs on to the rear spar also.

Looking from main spar to rear spar and oven door

My build

The flight deck upper, with forward minor bulkhead and the turret/bow ceiling (not attached yet)

This shot is the roof of the lower deck

The current build sitting in the fuselage

Notice the little crew member (lets call him Berty) to give some comparison of size (in 1:1 scale he would be around

5'10 or around 177-178cm roughly my height).

If you look at the oven door in the above photo of the interior in the fuselage you will see a lattice arrangemet above it,

part of the lightening structure as in this photo (after painting, this will be covered in "canvas"

OK, probably information overload again!!

Thanks for looking, until next time

Regards

Alan

[richellis]

WOW great modelling!

[FZ6]

Stuning build which i svery informative.

Look forward to following the progress.

[Mark C]

What a great thread Alan,I look forwards to your next post.

Thanks for posting your build.

Regards

Mark

[LDSModeller]

Hi All

Sorry it's been a bit of a time delay since my last increment (suffice to say life and family etc etc)

Last time I went as far as the bombay

These next set of photos show the entire lower deck complete as well as the upper

sloping deck (which is not currently glued till it's painted) Berty my crewman is modelling for us again tonight.

In this photo you can see Berty standing near the "oven" door getting through that in real terms is a tight fit

In this photo you can see the sloping floor and how it runs to the bottom of the "Oven Door"door

The real thing

In this photo you can see the level upper floor leading to sloping floor, in this photo you might be able to make out

the holes in the floor (similar to bow flooring) this actually forms the roof over the crew ward room

Real thing

If you are wondering what the box like object is, it's a step for when the upper turret was in place. It still came in handy

on Mk V's (post WWII) for the crew to access the hatch above

In the last photo (model) showing the upper deck, you may notice on the upper bulkhead the strange shape in the upper

left, this is part of the reinforcing to strenghten the area for the upper turret

Real thing

The rather interesting object sitting in space, is the gunners foot rest when the upper turret was present

Looking forward toward the rear fuselage bulkheads, you can see the framing (my attempts at)

Real thing

In the last model photo you can see the rear main deck now in place, you can see the cut out at the rear of the deck.

real thing (apologies for the trashy photo things were being moved around/stored)

This link provides a clearer picture (I borrowed this one)

Sunderland rear deck

Couple of shots showing the decking in the Starboard side with Berty again modelling, showing the proximity

to hatch/upper turret

I still have to put in the stern bulkheads and some internal ribbing/stringers, as well as put in the flight deck fixtures,

and the bow flooring etc before I add paint, not far to go there.

Please enjoy

Regards

Alan

[Mike]

More good stuff... sorry if I missed it, but where do you get all these great pictures from? I'm thinking of my Alpha Flight Sundy again ya see, and could do with some mountains of reference pics like these

[LDSModeller]

More good stuff... sorry if I missed it, but where do you get all these great pictures from? I'm thinking of my Alpha Flight Sundy again ya see, and could do with some mountains of reference pics like these

Hi Mike

These are all my own photos (except the couple of links posted) if you need some, just PM me

Regards

Alan

[Mike]

Thanks Alan - much appreciated

[LDSModeller]

Thanks Alan - much appreciated

Hi Mike

Not sure what has happened, but part of the first page has somehow appeared

on page two any thoughts on how to remove that?

Thanks

Alan

[Mike]

Hi Mike

Not sure what has happened, but part of the first page has somehow appeared

on page two any thoughts on how to remove that?

Thanks

Alan

Not quite sure what you mean there Alan - could you elucidate?

[LDSModeller]

Hi Mike

When I read my posts (now two pages) it appears that the first part of my starting initial post

(on page one) now appears at the top of page two.

Is it some thing at is unique to my set up perhaps?

Not sure what has happened

Thanks

Alan

[crookedmouth]

Fantastic piece of work here. Enjoying watching it v much!