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farmroad38 · Last edited by farmroad38 on Mon 26 May 2008 17:34 pm; edited 1 time in total

Progress of thomasweir's build can be followed here.
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Cheers,

Adrian

thomasweir · Posted: Fri 23 May 2008 16:34 pm Post subject:

Decisions, decisions

I don't have any seaplanes at the moment in the stash and whilst trawling around the internet the following are the easiest to obtain new.

Catalina
Sunderland

I found a Walrus for £18.75 but thats far too expensive and there are a few S6B at Vince's.

As no one seems to be doing a Sunderland I may chose that.
Second choice is the Cat in RAF colours
Third choice would be converting an Airfix Swordfish into a Ships flight floatplane.

thomasweir · Posted: Mon 26 May 2008 16:40 pm Post subject:

I have decided to construct the Sunderland

thomasweir · Posted: Thu 19 Jun 2008 12:14 pm Post subject:

My flying porcupine has finally arrived from Shrewsbury Model Centre. Decided to purchase new rather than trawl e-bay for it.
I have dry fitted the large pieces and they come together beautifully with no warpage or filler issues. The rest of the sprues have a rather large excess of flash though.

Pictures to follow.

thomasweir · Posted: Fri 20 Jun 2008 10:43 am Post subject:

The Sunderland pictures.

I will commence on this build once some other builds of mine are completed

thomasweir · Posted: Sun 22 Jun 2008 09:52 am Post subject:

Started last night. Glued the wings together, painted the cockpit and painted the interior of the beast .

thomasweir · Posted: Fri 27 Jun 2008 15:42 pm Post subject:

Slow progress this week. Waiting for the HU34 spray to turn up and then some good weather for spraying the fuselage as my spraying area is the back garden !. To avoid masking issues I am going to spray / hand paint the major sub sections first then assemble

thomasweir · Posted: Mon 30 Jun 2008 13:39 pm Post subject:

Getting on with it now. All major sub assemblies are constructed and are now awaiting the mating of the fuselage once i'm happy with the white. two coats but I think another two to finish the main body off.

thomasweir · Posted: Sun 06 Jul 2008 11:52 am Post subject:

A third coat of white and the first coats of hand painted Hu 123 and 102.
The bottom has also been painted in HU64. After another coat of army green and extra dark sea grey, I'll put the windows and cockpit in and start assembly. I'm going to use xtradecal black decal stripes to do the glazing as i won't be as good as XN923 at hand painting the glazing.

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1175

thomasweir · Posted: Mon 07 Jul 2008 13:59 pm Post subject:

Last night I installed the cockpit and the gun turrets creating a a bit of a mess by either breaking the guns off completely or knocking them back inside their turrets.

Fuselage was then mated.

Wings and tail plane are still detachable, they will be mounted tonight.

thomasweir · Posted: Sun 13 Jul 2008 09:18 am Post subject:

Still slow progress on this.

Wings still have not been fitted but the tail plane and wing floats are now in place and painted. Engine cowls and propellers are now finished and ready for fixing to the engine mounts. Beaching gear has been painted and finished. Decals for the canopy and turrets have arrived so they will be finished shortly.

thomasweir · Posted: Tue 22 Jul 2008 09:03 am Post subject:

Its all together now. Just the decals and the canopy and the turrets to paint or decal.

thomasweir · Posted: Thu 24 Jul 2008 12:53 pm Post subject:

Still at this stage. will make the final push at the weekend to finish it.

thomasweir · Posted: Tue 05 Aug 2008 21:04 pm Post subject:

On the home straight now.

Whilst some people may be commentating on the slow build of this aircraft I am actually going quicker than the good people at Shorts managed to build them

Eight hours later the cockpit and turrets have been framed minus the portholes in the cockpit as the eyes cannot take any more strain.

Leading edges need to be painted black and a matt varnish finish to complete.

There has been a big of a disaster with the touch ups of HU123 so I may weather certain parts of the aircraft to hide the blemishes.

Refs for the framing came from Int Air Review Vol 10.

Richard M · Posted: Tue 05 Aug 2008 21:22 pm Post subject:

Nice job on the framing! How did you do it, decal strips? Can't wait to see her finished.
Best
Rich
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Best
Rich
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thomasweir · Posted: Wed 06 Aug 2008 10:22 am Post subject:

Richard - I used Xtradecal white strips for the framing cut to length and pushed into place with a cocktail stick. No setting agents were used.
Hannants do a bumper back of these with various colours for £8. I also now use them for weapon decals and seat belts instead of painted Taimya tape.

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Wed 06 Aug 2008 10:52 am Post subject:

Almost there with a great looking Sunderland.....Bravo!

All the best

Ratch · Posted: Wed 06 Aug 2008 12:35 pm Post subject:

The canopy framing looks superb

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thomasweir · Posted: Fri 15 Aug 2008 13:47 pm Post subject:

Finished

Short Sunderland III 423 RCAF SQ RAF Castle Archdale N.I 1943

Built OOB. Slightly weathered. Canopies and turrets decaled with xtradecal white stripes