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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Short Sunderland MkII


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Good evening guys and gals...

Another Sunderland update for you, which has mainly involved filling, sanding and scribing. But from a good old fashioned vacform, who'd expect anything less?

The rather unsightly joins at the wing roots have been taken care of over the course of this this week. The first and most challenging task was to eliminate the nasty step seen in the previous update where the wing profile didn't match that of the wing-mounted root. My go to filler for these sort of tasks, P38, soon made short work of that and after an initial sanding session, you can see the extent of the work having been done at the forward wing root:

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I've since spent a fair few hours finetuning the shape and profile of the roots, and also added the obliterated panel detail back. The wing and root profile now match perfectly, and I can confidently say, 'job done':

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The undersides still need some detailing but the join was fine here, and as you can see I've boxed in the bomb runners ready for further detailing in due course:

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I've also added the openings for the double-landing light set up on the port wing:

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It's starting to take shape quite nicely now...

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Next up is making something resembling Sunderland stabilisers from these:

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Until next time,

Tom

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  • 2 weeks later...

 Howdy folks,

I've been busy working on the stabilisers of the big Sunderland of late. As usual, the first job was to scribe on the panel detail:

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I did contemplate removing and scratch-building the elevators, but there is some really finely moulded rib detail that is actually well worth keeping. I'll need to add the hinges and with a dark wash along the hinge line when painted, I think they will look fine. 

Each section was cut from the backing sheet and sanded to shape, ensuring the correct depth and thickness. As you can see, the fit was pretty good when test-fitted:

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Given the fact that the stabilisers are likely to get whacked periodically during the remainder of construction, I wanted them to be nice and sturdy so I have added a plastic card spar, as well as the usual scrap sprue treatment along the leading edges. I've also opted for a brass tube spar system that will fit through the fuselage and offer a really strong set up:

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The stabilisers were then trimmed carefully and added to the rear of the fuselage - careful consulting of plans ensured they are in the correct position:

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The careful trimming of the mating surfaces, along with the spar structure ensured only a lick of filler was needed along the fuselage to stabiliser join. 

She's starting to take shape now:

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She lacks a bit of stability at the moment, so I better get cracking with the fin...

Until next time,

Tom

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4 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

:omg:

Holy Cow, BIG doesn't come close - how about: GIGANTIC, COLOSSAL  and even GALACTIC!   

Incredible, just incredible.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

That's a few ways to describe it, Peter. Interestingly, my wife has a few others - that I won't repeat here, being a family site and all... 🙄

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42 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

Tom

Got ya! Painting the Sunderland is going to be a project all unto itself and I'm wondering how many 'gallons' of paint are going to be required:hsmack:

Keep 'em comin

Peter

For my Lancaster I needed 20ml RAF Night, the same amount of Dark Brown and 10ml of Dark Green.

For the Sunderland I think you even need much more because it’s much bigger…

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1 hour ago, ThomasProbert said:

That's a few ways to describe it, Peter. Interestingly, my wife has a few others - that I won't repeat here, being a family site and all... 🙄

In defense of your wife, this is not the first build of this size you have done ;). I am sure she insists you store the finished kits far away from the living room :)

However, this one just eats up even more volume than the others...

Hubert

 

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Afternoon guys and gals,

Another update for you - can you tell I'm a teacher on school holidays? :)

I've been working on the last of the major airframe construction which has been the vertical stabiliser. Here's how it comes in its raw form:

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As usual, I had to scribe on the surface details and then I set about making some internal reinforcements. Being such a massive fin, I made some beefy spars from plastic card and used some old scrap sprue to reinforce and help the bonding of the leading edge. The spars were made to protrude from the base of the fin, as they would then be attached through the top of the fuselage and secured to the spar for the stabilisers using Araldite Epoxy glue for a really solid joint:

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The fin was then blended into the upper fuselage with car body filler, polished and then the missing and damaged panel detail reinstated. Unfortunately, the distinctive curved fairing at the lower rear of the fin was missing in the kit, so I fashioned the basic shape of the fillet from plastic card and blended everything in with filler - see the red arrow below. This will still need some more tweaking when I work on the turret as it's actually quite a complex shape at the back end:

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I've also added some Evergreen ribbing on the rudder in an attempt to match the elevators - this has since been sanded right back and is much more subtle:

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It's now looking more and more like a Sunderland:

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It's good to get the main construction done and I've been on a bit of a roll... the next logical step will be the engines so I'm off to do some head-scratching about how I can convert a 14-cylinder Hercules engine (from the Revell 1/32nd Beaufighter) into a 9-cylinder Pegasus. Should be fun!

Until next time,

Tom

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Tom, like I told Cees with his project, this is simply stunning beyond words.

The two of you inspire me and have taught me so very much in regards to the actual simplicity of scratchbuilding once you get past the mental block and have a good set of drawings. 
 

A large scale Sterling and Sunderland, at the same time, on a model forum…. I can’t think of too many placed that happens at.

Just flawless work.

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