ThomasProbert

Afternoon all, Work and life in general has conspired against me spending too much time at the bench of late, but I've been making some steady headway with the rear fuselage of the Stirling. With the rear entrance door open, I've created quite a bit more work for myself but with a model this large it's worth going the extra mile. I've spent about 5 sessions at the bench adding the ribs and stringers to the rear fuselage - the visible parts - and each had to be cut from Evergreen and added to the interior: The port side needs a lot less as with the door being on the left, only the structure immediately around the door itself needed to be added: I now need to make the mass of other internal details such as ammo boxes and runs, the rear spar box for the stabilisers, the Elsan toilet, flooring and many other bits and bobs. Plenty to keep me busy over the Xmas holiday... Regards to all, Tom

Thank you! I have some 3D printed cans ready to go, and have a cunning plan for the jet pipes. All will be revealed in good time… Tom

Morning all, Like 99% of those who enjoy building large scale Phantoms, I've been eagerly awaiting a 1/32nd scale RR Spey powered version for as long as I can remember. There is of course the Wild Hare conversion that usually sells for more than my car is worth (on the rare occasion one actually comes up for sale) and rumours are abound that HK were looking at doing one, but I thought life's too short to wait around any longer and it's time to start hacking about at the classic Tamiya F-4J kit. Before I go any further, it's important to say that this is not going to be wholly accurate and the majority of this is being done with the MkI eyeball and approximate measurements. I'm simply not interested in this (or any of my models for that matter!) being accurate to the nearest half-mill, and therefore what you'll see is something that (hopefully) will look like a British Phantom but won't necessarily be the definitive way to go about such a conversion. Lots of inspiration has come from @Wingco57's excellent conversions and you'll undoubtedly notice some similarities between the two! I wasn't going to run a WIP for this as I was concerned about burn-out and failure, but I've actually come a lot further in a short space of time that I had initially anticipated, and I think broken the back of this conversion, so thought I'd share my efforts just in case there's someone else out there considering the same thing... I thought I'd begin somewhere nice and simple, so tackled the belly of the beast and the inlet doors on the underside. The UK Phantoms have these further forward than the US examples, so it was a case of cutting out the new doors in their forward position, and filling the old ones with plastic card blanks: These were then filled, re-scribed and given a quick squirt of primer: Step one complete! The next step was the far trickier intakes. The Speys demanded more air and thus the intakes were significantly wider than the US versions. There is much debate and head-scratching about how exactly the shapes differ, but I've done a bit of digging around and modified mine as I see fit. In 1/32nd scale, my calculations work out that the intakes are roughly 3mm wider at the front than the US examples. Therefore, I sourced some 3mm strip and carefully cut the kit intake sections in half, front to back, adjacent to the grills on the inner edges of the intakes (the pictures will explain this better). Here you can see how much wider the UK version intakes are than the US version - quite a significant gap emerges when test fitted to the unmodified rear sections: To remedy this, the fuselage will of course need widening too, and the shaded area in the picture below shows the section in need of modification: To do this, horizonal cuts are made along the top of the intake trunking, with vertical cuts made to allow the section to be opened up. There is a lower horizontal cut, too, made at the wing root to allow to original kit fixings to mate together for strength whilst allowing the wider intake to slot over the upper wing surface: A wedge of plastic card in then inserted, with the forward-most part being 3mm in width to match the modified intakes: Lots of reinforcement was given to the interior too: I'm going to use FOD guards on mine as life is too short to tackle the notorious intake interiors on this kit, but if you were to have them open a further 'wedge' would be needed to plug the gap seen above. Before I went any further, I wanted to check the modified fuselage would allow the wings to fit - which by luck more than careful calculation they did! The modified intakes were then test-fitted to the modified fuselage: Before they were glued firmly into place and allowed to set for 24 hours: The join wasn't perfect but considering the amount of butchery that went on I was pleasantly surprised. Some Milliput White soon made light work of the affected areas: And after some re-scribing and a shot of primer, things look good! You can see in the picture above I have started work on the back end and opened up the extra doors the Spey versions have on the rear fuselage. I'm going a later version with the pod on the top of the fin, so plans were consulted and a rough shape made for these from plastic card laminates: This still needs an awful lot of refining and surface detail added, but it's a good start. I'm now going to have to concentrate on getting the cockpit done and then I can begin hacking about at the rear end. The Spey exhausts are a fair bit bigger than the US ones, so the hacksaw and filler are at the ready! When done, I'll update this again... All the best, Tom

Yes, most definitely - that really is an inspirational model and a fantastic reference. Good evening guys and gals! Time for an update on the big Stirling. Over the last couple of weeks I have been continuing to devote my attention to the wings. The kit parts are not the most accurate in terms of aerofoil shape and the top surfaces are too flat and don't capture the real thing particularly well. Therefore, with cunning use of spars I have made an attempt to correct this and replicate the real wing shape more accurately. The spars were previously cut to the correct depth following plans, and then I added a large diameter Evergreen tube to the leading edges as this was the correct shape/diameter to capture the curvature of the leading edge. The leading edge was glued first, given 24 hours to dry, and then I glued the forward spar to the upper surface. Again, this was allowed to dry thoroughly before the rear-most spar was glued. This has allowed me to bend the plastic along the full length of the wing and capture the aerofoil shape much better. It's probably easier to see what I mean with a picture: The next problem I encountered was the fact that the nacelles were not deep enough and when the top and bottom halves were joined they were an oval shape rather than circular. This would cause major problems when it comes to adding the engines (plus it's totally inaccurate!) so I measured the diameter of the Beaufighter cooling gills and made four plastic card plates to be glued to the nacelle fronts. The area behind was then built up with P-38 and blended to shape, meaning I now have corrected and perfectly circular mounting points for the engines when the time comes: The Revell 1/32nd Hercules engines from the Beaufighter will now fit perfectly: Lots of blemishes still to be sorted in the above photos, but you get the idea. With the wing halves joined I thought I'd tackle the ailerons next - Cees had removed these previously as the molding is very soft and the shapes poorly defined. First it was case or prepping them by sanding and thinning the trailing edges: For some reason the upper surface of the port aileron was 4mm too short, so I lengthened this with some plastic card bent to the correct shape and blended in (red arrow). I next added some plastic strip to the rear of the wings (blue arrow) to ensure a nice and strong join: Finally, they were glued in position - the fit was almost perfect which was probably more luck than carefully planning on my part! The Stirling has very distinctive fuel cell covers in the upper wing surface - the Sunderland has the same and I made these from thin plastic card on that model and was very pleased with the effect. Although not strictly accurate, I liked the effect as it made the very large wing surface more three-dimensional and therefore I decided to do the same with the Stirling. First of all I made some card templates - these can then be drawn around and flipped over to do the reverse on the opposite wing, saving errors on expensive plastic card in the process: These were then transferred on to plastic card before being glued to the wing surfaces: A top tip for making wingtip lights - cut out the shape with a saw and line with plastic card: File and sand to shape and they're ready for some clear sprue: I've also added various other raised areas to keep things interesting and have tried to capture my scribing etc. in the light in this shot. It also shows off the effective aerofoil modification: The undersides still have a lot of work to do on them, but I need access to the spars when it comes to joining the wings to the fuselage so these will remain as is for the time being. The wheel bays and flap area will also be finished off when the fuselage and wings are joined to avoid damage to these areas: The uppers have really come to life with the tank covers, life raft hatch as well as various access panels: Having corrected the aerofoil shape highlights just how out the original kit's wing position is - Cees was already on the case with this as removed the raised section on his fuselage for good reason! And that brings you up to speed for now. Until next time, all the best, Tom

Where is the nacelles come from - they look very nicely done.

Afternoon all, A productive week on the Stirling, mainly focused around making the internal structures of the wings and scribing the basic panel detail on the lower wing surfaces. Although vacs such as these are moulded in lovely thick plastic, due to the sheer size of the parts they need lots of strengthening to ensure they don't sag and collapse over time. 1.5mm plastic card is my 'go-to' for this, as it provides ample strength whilst being easy to cut and shape. I've discovered that the kit wings are actually a little too thin from top to bottom, so I have made up for this by making the spars the correct depth and I'll build up the leading edges when I comes to mating to wing halves to fix this shortfall. This will also improve the aerofoil shape of the wing as again I think the kit parts are a little off and the upper surfaces too flat. Here you can see the substantial spars in place, as well as the wheel bays: The wheel bays themselves are actually quite complex structures of square and tubular spars and I've begun replicating these from Evergreen. It's easier to deal with the deepest part of the bays whilst the wings are free of the fuselage: The forward-most section of the bays appears to have some form of hydraulic tanks and bits of tubular structure but I need to find some clearer pictures of this area. Also, as it's quite accessible I will add this once the main construction is compete as it will be no doubt be prone to damage whilst I'm handling the beast: So here we are as of today - spars in and complete and the basics of the wheel bays done too. There'll be many an hour spent in here in the future, but progress is progress! I think I'll have a look at the upper wing surfaces next before thinking about joining the top and bottom halves. Fun times! Until next time, Tom

A little progress over the last week - I've been having a play with the wings whilst I wait for some Evergreen strip to be delivered to rib the rear fuselage. I've sanded the wings to the correct depth and removed the bomb cells in the wings as I plan on having these open: The undercarriage bays will also be removed but I want to keep the structural integrity whilst I scribe the panel lines, etc. Uppers: And both sets together: I see lots of scribing and making of wing spars in the my future! Tom

Afternoon all, After over a year of being on and off the shelf of doom, this crossed the line last week. I bought this cheap on a well known auction site and upon opening the box, thought it looked pretty decent so with a wave of enthusiasm, dived right into the build. I'd read the horror stories about this model previously and usually take these with a pinch of salt, but sadly most of what you read about this kit is true. Before you can begin assembly there is lots of flash on numerous parts that needs removing, as well as many visible seam/moulding lines. The fit of some parts is rather 'interesting' and more akin to building a short-run kit than a supposedly state of the art 21st century kit. All of the interior bulkheads need reducing in height to ensure the upper fuselage fits the lower, which is well worth doing as it reduces the amount of filling and rescribing needed by 90%. The fit of the undercarriage is poor and this isn't helped by the rather hard-to-interpret instructions, but with with patience and lots of superglue you can get it to stand on its own feet with out too much issue. Saying that, the landing gear does feel a little weak - it survived a trip to my local model club the other night and is holding up fine so far, but time will tell... When I came to join the nose section to the rear fuselage (this is the natural break where either single or two-seat noses can be fitted) the join was terrible and the fuselage had a noticeable twist that needed lots of clamping and gluing bit by bit to eliminate. There was, in places, a 2mm gap along the underside of the leading edge extensions where they meet the fuselage and this meant the nose had the structural properties of a windsock - these all needed filling with plastic card to strengthen everything up. When I came to fit the canopy I found you couldn't close it because the ejection seat sat too high - the bottom 2mm had to be shaved off to close the lit. The instrument panel is too tall meaning the coming above fouls the forward part of the canopy - this then resulted in me breaking the canopy when trying to force it on in a moment of frustration. Thankfully Revell provided a replacement but beware! The solution was to trim down the instrument panel (again by 2mm) which means you can just about get the forward clear section to sit ok. I found the fit of the weapons really poor and every single one needed filling. The rear stabilisers are supposed to attach to the fuselage using the smallest tabs you can imagine which are completely useless - I got rid of them and used brass rod instead. The fit of the twin fins is probably the worst fitting part of the whole kit - the slots are far too big for the tabs and they slop around all over the place, leaving at least 2mm gaps all round. Again I pinned these with metal rod and built up the farings with Milliput. I wanted the wings extended on mine and again the fit of the outer wings was poor - the hinges foul the upper fairing/plate and need to be trimmed considerably for them to fit. I think the kit was designed for wings folded to be fair. There are some positives, however. The detail in the undercarriage bays knocks the Trumpeter kit into a cocked hat, and panel and surface detail over the kit is really quite excellent. The decals are superb and bed down beautifully with setting solutions. Cockpit detail is good out of the box to be fair, and seat comes up well with some careful painting. Er... that's about it. The crowning glory of this build was when I had masked up the black areas to spray the upper grey, and when removing the masking tape paint started coming away resulting in most of the upper surfaces exposing the bare plastic beneath. This was despite a thorough cleaning and priming, as well as a mottle coat beneath. At this this point it very nearly went into the bin, but I thought I'd got so far as may as well strip it and repaint - thankfully the problem didn't repeat itself of that really would have been it. In short, expect a bit of a battle when building this kit - it's worth sticking with as it does make a very impressive model when done, but it's one well of a journey! This certainly is not my best work, but considering the trials and tribulations along the way I was just glad to get it done. All the best, Tom

I've not had the most amount of time for modelling over the last couple of weeks due to work commitments, but I've been tinkering with the fuselage. I've added the fuselage windows and cut out the bomb bays and rear undercarriage bays: In a moment of madness I've also opened up the rear crew entry door and will add some detail in there: One of the most challenging part of building kits such as these is the joining of the fuselage halves - or any surface for that matter - as there are obviously no locating pins and the plastic is quite a bit thinner than normal injection-molded kits. A really simple solution is to add plastic card tabs on alternating sides as you go along the fuselage mating areas: ...which means when it's time to mate the fuselage halves together, you get a nice area for glue ad you create a very strong join: And the underside: The next task will be to fashion some interior bulkheads to give the fuselage strength and keep everything nice and rigid. Stay tuned! All the best, Tom

Evening all With the waters now settled on my 1/32nd Sunderland build, I thought it about time to start another big vacform... well, to be exact, continue with a long stalled project from a few years ago. I started this Tigger (ex ID Models) vac of the Short Stirling about 5 or 6 years ago and ran out steam, and it had been consigned to the loft since I boxed it up and got distracted with something else. A conversation a few months ago with @Wingco57 about the Stirling led him to offer me his also-stalled project with the promise that I'd continue his excellent start and get it finished - an offer I grabbed with both hands considering the excellent start he's made to the cockpit interior which is my least favourite part of building models such as these. I was in the Netherlands with the family last week, to I popped in to see him and picked the beast up - thanks again, Cees! I've since been for a rummage in the loft and dug my kit out, and now combining the two means I'm confident that I can finally get the job done. So here's where we're at... This is how far Cees had got with his fuselage: And how far I'd got with mine, which as you can see is not very: Cees is a wonderfully talented modeller and scratch-builder and has made some beautiful progress with the cockpit area - a great base for me to continue working on: Here are the wings I'd started a few years back - at the time I decided to open up the wing and reveal some of the interior detail. I like to think I've improved my scratch-building skills since then so instead I'll use the wings from Cees' kit and start again: That's a lot of plastic! Here are the other parts that include the engine nacelles, stabs and fin, etc - pretty basic stuff but perfectly workable: Cees has kindly given me a supply of Bristol Hercules engines as well as various HK Lancaster turret parts which will come in very useful and reduce the amount of scratch-building needed in the future: So... with both my earlier work and Cees' more recent efforts, I certainly have something Stirling shaped which is a great start (or point to continue from) for this project so I'm ready to dive back in! The plan is to do a late MkIII variant with open bomb bays and a full bomb-load - squadron and specific aircraft yet to be decided. I'm really not looking forward to tackling the landing gear, but that's a problem for another day. Updates are likely to sporadic as the new school term starts imminently but I'll do my best to keep those interested updated on my progress. All the best, Tom

That is beautiful result. A nice alternative to the regular USAAF schemes - it’ll sure be an eye-catcher on the show circuit. Tom

Great to see you back on this one, Cees!

Evening all, I took advantage of my time away from the classroom last week and finally finished this two-and-a-bit year project: Tigger Models' (the old ID Models' vac kit) of the Short Sunderland in 1/32nd scale. This has been a really rewarding project, and despite a setback when I knocked the completed fuselage with its interior off the table, making a rather messy contact with the kitchen floor, it's been great fun and relatively straightforward - despite its size. Kits like this come as a blank canvass for the builder to work his/her magic - 'bumps ion plastic' is quite apt, but the shapes are reasonably accurate if not a bit primitive (picture borrowed from Tigger's webpage): The kit provides a the correct hull shape for a MkI or MkII, but with some mods the more adventurous builder could easily convert it to a MkIII/V, etc. All panel lines and surface details need to be added and the parts are devoid of any real detail, but the plastic is lovely to work with an scribes/sands beautifully. Due to the size of the parts, home-made interior bulkheads are needed, and any visible parts of the interior need to be made from scratch: Strong wing spars are also essential to keep the structure of the model sound - thick plastic card spars were made and added: The flightdeck interior, bomb room and nose section were all made from scratch and detailed with some aftermarket seatbelts: All the aerials were made from sprue and thin wire - markings were mix of home-made masks and decals: The engines were made from spare HK Models' B-17 cylinders coupled with Revell Beaufighter parts to make a reasonable representation of the Bristol Pegasus. The early-style exhausts were made from Evergreen tube bent slowly over the toaster! Landing lights were home made from some of my daughter's diamante play/craft jewellery (for the lights) and the covers were clear acetate once again heated over the toaster. Rigging for the floats came for EasyLine and reminded me why I'll never build a biplane! The kit's transparencies were used throughout - all turret interiors were scratch built. Beaching gear was also made from scratch with a friend helping out with some 3D printed wheels: Bomb racks were again made from scratch with some rather lovely depth charges coming from Tim Perry - thanks, Tim! I used Xtracolor enamels throughout the build - 6 tins were used in total! I don't like to go too mad with weathering on my models so kept it relatively clean - however you can't build a Sunderland without the distinctive water marks on the hull: A bit of exhaust staining and some fading with post-shading completed the upper surfaces: And for some generic pictures: I'm often asked how big a 1/32nd Sunderland is. I'm sorry to inflict my ugly mug on you but you can see that it is a massive model with yours truly holding it! My model represents a Sunderland MkII of 201 Squadron during 1942 in the lovely temperate sea scheme. Painting white gives me nightmares (especially something of this size) so I took the easier option. W4001 (ZM-V) was only on strength between February to October 1942, before hitting an underwater rock and being written off, thankfully with no loss of life. Thanks for those who took an interest along the way - I'm off for a long lay down in a darkened room to contemplate the next project! Best wishes to all, Tom

You're a brave man putting the canopy on this early in the build - if it were me it would be filled with sanding dust and debris in no time at all

That is a fantastic result on what could have been a tricky operation!

I've put the finishing touches to this 1/32nd scale B-24 over the Bank Holiday weekend and took advantage of some spring sunshine to take some pictures of the completed model outside in natural light. I've been working on this on and off for a year or so, and it has been the ideal project to pick up and do a bit to as and when I felt like it. This model doesn't get the best press but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. You can spend a fortune on after-market improvements if you wish, but other than some seat belts, resin wheels and gun barrels, this is how it comes in the box. The interior is crammed with detail and took a long time to complete - excellent value for your money when you compare it to the price of the other 1/32nd 'heavies' on the market. Fit was excellent throughout and the only filler used was to deal with a small gap along the underside of the nose where, I believe, I hadn't got the interior aligned as perfectly as I could. The turrets, however, are a weak point of the kit. It's been well documented that the rear turret (and forward turret on the J-version) have a very visible seam right down the middle. Aftermarket replacements are currently sold out so instead I used the kit rear turret and painted the mating surfaces black before gluing and this has made the unsightly join a little less conspicuous. For some reason Hobby Boss put heavy framing on the upper turret which doesn't exist on any B-24 turret I've seen, so this was sanded off and the dome given a good polish so it now better represents the Martin turret fitted to this model of Liberator. I didn't want to risk putting the colossal amount of nose weight into this as I was using the kit's plastic landing gear (which is perfectly strong enough to cope with the weight of the 'un-weighted' model) so I made a tail strut as was so often put in place when B-24s are parked on the ground. The kit doesn't come with the most inspiring of schemes for an olive drab B-24, so I did a bit of research on 'Satan's Angels' and painted the model to represent this aircraft as it would have looked in the autumn of 1943 with the group insignia on the tail and the short-lived red surround to the stars and bars. This aircraft was actually written off in a landing accident at Lympne in Kent, when the nose wheel collapsed and it ended up in a ditch on 13th November of that year. I used Kits World national insignia as well as the Profimodeller stencil set. All in all a very enjoyable build, and if you want a large 1/32nd bomber that doesn't break the bank but still gives you plenty of detail, I thoroughly recommend this kit. All the best, Tom Consolidated B-24D Liberator, 'Satan's Angles' of the 328th Squadron of the 93rd Bomb Group, based at Hardwick, Suffolk, Autumn 1943.

Very simple yet effective engineering, Cees - looking good!

Good evening boys and girls The painting process on the big Sunderland is now more or less complete - since the last pictures I've added the upper wing insignias and given the model a couple of coats of flat varnish to kill the high gloss Xtracolor paints provide - great for decaling but not so for a WWII-era flying boat! After that, I made and added the radar aerials for the fuselage sides: As well as the one above the flightdeck: The canopy has been unmasked and the good news is it survived the painting process unscathed: I have made the early-style exhausts from Evergreen tube, bent very carefully over the toaster! They were then sprayed with Humbrol burnt steel and added to the collector rings, which have also been painted according to references: I've started the weathering of the upper surfaces by blowing some various greys back from the exhausts: I've also sprayed on the distinctive water marks on the lower hull using various browns as seen on period photos: And here's where we're at now: The to-do list is certainly getting shorter and I'm now entering the home straight, although there's still a lot to keep me occupied. Jobs still to do are: - cabin glazing - paint/weather/install wheels for the beaching gear - rigging on the floats - make/paint/install radar aerials on the lower outer wings - make and install depth charge racks and depth charges - make turret interiors - paint and install turret transparencies - landing lights on port wing leading edge A good couple of month's work yet, but the end is getting nearer! All the best, Tom

That’s a brilliant model and your years of hard graft have been repaid handsomely. It’s not often you see this beautiful aircraft in 1/32 scale so yours will no doubt attract a lot of attention on the model show circuit! Tom

Thanks for the kind words, everyone - it certainly helps keep the motivation levels up. Thanks for the pictures too, Ian - it’s such a cavernous interior!

Greetings all, I have been confined to the house over the last week and bit due to Covid, but being in isolation does have its perks. After a pretty grim 48hrs I was back to feeling fine so got the airbrush out and started painting this beast. Total painting time was more or less 10 hours and I used three tins of Xtracolor paint for each of the Extra Dark Sea Grey, Slate Grey and Sky - the surface area is HUGE. I still need to do the upper wing insignias but this will have to wait until the weekend as I'm now back to work. You'll have to forgive the horrible phone pictures - these were snapped in the living room under artificial light - but when she's flat-coated I'll get the decent camera out and shoot some pics in natural light. Things are progressing nicely, and the end is appearing on the horizon! All the best, Tom

Well... it's been a while. With a New Year's resolution not to start any more projects until the current ones are finished, the Shackleton has come out of storage for some time on the bench... well... er... the kitchen table. With the Sunderland now in the process of being painted - which I can only do at weekends due to the dark evenings - I thought I'd do some work on this again during the week. The airframe is structurally complete (I can't recall why I ran out of steam, actually) so I've begun the long process of scribing and adding some surface detail. The primer coats are nice and stable now so the scriber takes to this really well - so far, anyway. A few long evenings ahead, and I'll post some more pictures when there's more worth showing Tom

Evening folks, A long overdue update on the Sunderland... The last few weeks have been spent adding some of the finer details to the model as I prepare it for paint. The last major job was to add the cockpit glazing which is always a nerve-wracking experience as I regularly ruin canopies with wayward glue-sodden fingers and a host of other mishaps. However, this time things proceeded smoothly - the canopy itself was an excellent fit and the whole process was remarkably trouble free! First job was to add the previously completed flightdeck details: Then the canopy itself was attached by holding it in place with tape and running Tamiya Extra Thin around the mating surfaces: This was allowed to set for 24 hours and then I carefully masked the areas in need of protecting before blending the clear piece in with Milliput Fine: When complete, the windows were marked out and cut from Tamiya tape before the whole cockpit area got a spray of RAF grey/green to ensure the frames are the correct colour when viewed from inside. I also attached the astrodome and DF loop which was a spare from an HK B-17: With that done, other smaller details were made and added such as the leading edge landing lights on the port wing (these will be fitted and painted after the main paint job is completed), the tip lights were made from clear sprue sanded to shape and the various other access panels were either sribed on or made from thin Evergreen strip: The early Sunderlands were festooned with various aerials for sub-hunting and these have been made from various pieces of sprue and Evergreen - I have fitted those on the top of rear fuselage as they shouldn't get damaged but the remainder will be done after painting: A beautiful set of 3D-printed wheels have also arrived to complete the hone-made beaching gear: So the airframe is now more or less ready for a mammoth session in the paint booth - you'll notice I've already sprayed her flanks in Medium Sea Grey in preparation for masking off the codes on her sides: Speaking of paint - my go-to brand is Xtracolor's enamel range and I'm stocked up and ready to go! I may be a while but I'll be sure to update you when she's in her new dress. All the best, Tom

Howdy all, I've concentrating my recent efforts on the beaching gear for the big Sunderland - I was for a while considering a water diorama but then it occurred to me that I don't have a 5ft by 5ft display area so wheels it is. I love the challenges kits of this nature bring and the research that needs to be done as it always throws up so much information about a particular aircraft. It looks as if there were three distinct types of beaching gear, all with their subtle differences, and that does not include all of the different float, wheel and tyre combinations. The version I photographed at Solent Sky looks to be either very late or post-war, therefore not suitable for an earlier MkII of around 1941 vintage. It seems they were painted differently too - some left in natural metal and others in anti-rust red. Strength is a must on such a large model, and I did consider using a brass core but my soldering skills are not up to the job. Instead, I raised my stash of spare sprue and found some really chunky parts from the HK B-17 kit and used these as a starting point to form the core of the beaching gear. I used a perpendicular junction point as this provided a very strong 90-degree angle for the main strut and axle without having to worry about the joint failing at any time: Over a few sessions I then built up the external structure with plastic card, Evergreen and more sprue and detailed them according to references: The rear beaching gear is a more complex affair and is a sturdy box-like structure with a cradle for the rear of the hull to rest in: Here are the main components ready for a trip to the spray booth: I've decided to go for anti-rust red as it'll add a splash of colour. After the base-coat they have received a light wash and some rust streaks etc - the real things got terribly battered so I may add some more at a later stage: These then slot snugly on to the forward fuselage: And under the rear of the hull: You'll notice a distinct absence of wheels at this stage - a friend is kindly helping me out by designing and printing me a set that will be added in due course. Here's an early screen shot of how they'll look: And now here we are: sitting proudly on it's own three legs and waiting for the next stage of detailing. For some reason, my cat never looks impressed with my models - she must get that from the wife! Until next time, Tom

Afternoon guys and gals, Progress has been slow on this recently as I got to the point where I knew I needed to start to cockpit interior or there was a real danger I would lose steam on this build. I HATE doing cockpits so struggled a bit with motivation to get this done - it's all had to be made from scratch so it's rather tedious. Before I go any further I'll say that don't use this build as a reference for your own Sunderland models as I've used a bit of poetic licence here and there, but hopefully you'll agree it looks the part. The seats and instrument panel (including the radio) were all made from plastic card (Airscale's excellent etched bezels were used too) along with some bits and bobs from the spares box and Millput for the seat cushions. Control columns were made from Evergreen and some paper clips cut and bent to the correct shape. I found some 1/32nd seatbelts which did the job - pictures of MkII pilots' seats were hard to come by but they'll do: Individual parts painted up: And positioned as they will be in the cockpit: When dry-fitted into the flightdeck, all fits as it should: I've also had the airbrush out and given the front turret area and cockpit and window surrounds a squirt of interior green so the glazing can be added when the time comes: I've still got to make the overhead panel that'll go under the roof of the cockpit glazing, but that can wait until another day. I think I'm going to do something more fun next and maybe have a crack at the beaching gear. Take care all, Tom