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XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Major assembly of Sunderland now done, plus some of the detail stuff:

The big bits. Most seams filled and turret apeture blanked and filled:

Turrets also done - temporarily placed in location for pics, will actually be set aside until the paintwork is done:

(Close up photography in natural light is very unforgiving...)

My PE brass arrived today - and crikey it's delicate! Not sure how my clumsy fingers will cope...

Edited by farmroad38: Please don't use masked swearing

thomasweir · Posted: Fri 27 Jun 2008 15:37 pm Post subject:

looking great

I painted the interior of mine coal black mainly to hide the bare interior .

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Things have been a bit quiet from me lately, largely because of some aggravating problems with paint. Both the Sunderland and the Catalina were given coats of Tamiya fine grey primer with a rattle can, and this surface was then cleaned and left to dry. However, the Vallejo 'Model Air' paint that I use just refused to stick to the primer! I normally use this range, though I don't think I've ever used the black before (that said, it went onto the cowlings OK). I've never seen anything like it, it was like the model was covered in wax. The smallest amounts of paint, misted on, just formed streaks and runs and headed wherever gravity dictated. I tried everything I could think of to make the paint adhere, to no avail. It must either be a dodgy can of primer (don't think so...) or there's something in the black paint. I think this is more likely as it wouldn't stick to surfaces that had been treated in Klear either. Ever hear of a paint that wouldn't stick to Klear??

I'm now faced with rubbing the whole Sunderland back and finding another paint. I may try Tamiya. I wish I'd just used enamels. Ho hum.

thomasweir · Posted: Fri 04 Jul 2008 10:33 am Post subject:

I was going to prime the Sunderland but decided to go ahead with Humbrol White acrylic straight onto the plastic. Its had three coats now and is not looking too bad. Were your turrets clear plastic with no raised detail or had they been already been scribed to show where the window panes are for a painting guide?

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Tried Tamiya paint and it's doing the same thing. Now thinking it might be a ropey bottle of thinner...? This is incredibly frustrating and I'm starting to think both builds might be a bust.

Ratch · Posted: Sat 05 Jul 2008 09:14 am Post subject:

Halfords aerosol whites are good

I've used Vauxhall Glacier White on my Cat

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

feanor · Posted: Sat 05 Jul 2008 09:16 am Post subject:

thomasweir · Posted: Sat 05 Jul 2008 09:46 am Post subject:

Failing Ratch's idea, hand brush it with the biggest brush that will fit in your paint pot. You might lose something on the eventual finish but at least you can complete the model. I hand painted a 1/32 Revell F-14A Tomcat in the last century with a household painting brush and the largest pots of Humbrol enamels you could get at the time (100ml?) and it still looks great flying in my daughters bedroom.

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Thanks for the support guys. BTW Ratch, I'm painting the Sunderland black - it's this colour scheme*

*Thanks to Hewman100

My last ditch with the airbrush today - I've rubbed the thing down with micromesh 'til the surface is like glass, cleaned it thoroughly, used a new bottle of thinner and switched to Tamiya flat black rather than semi-gloss. Fingers crossed! Otherwise it'll be out with the brushes.

PS a 1/32 F-14 Thomasweir?? Your daughter's bedroom must be huge!

Ratch · Posted: Sat 05 Jul 2008 11:23 am Post subject:

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Paint problems now behind me, progress has been fairly rapid. Decals are on (oh, how I dislike adding individual serial letters) and I'm working on adding the many, tiny Yagi antennae. More pics tonight I hope.

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Well, here she is. A challenging but rewarding build. More on the gallery soon.

(The paint on the beaching gear is still drying, but you didn't come here for beaching gear... did you?)

stuzzar · Posted: Thu 10 Jul 2008 21:13 pm Post subject:

Splendid stuff, looks great

Cheers

Stu

ColinM · Posted: Thu 10 Jul 2008 21:21 pm Post subject:

Excellent model, well done.

Colin

Ratch · Posted: Fri 11 Jul 2008 13:30 pm Post subject:

Great work

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

thomasweir · Posted: Sun 13 Jul 2008 09:11 am Post subject:

Great build

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

Thanks all. Just a little bit of a round-up as there are a few things that might be worth sharing.

The aircraft is Short Sunderland III JM673 'P' of 230 Squadron, Koggala, Ceylon, 1944. It was used for dawn and dusk bombing attacks, and failed to return from operation sorties on 28th November 1944.

I used the White Ensign 'Sunderland exterior' PE brass set, which provided the aerials for the ASV MkII radar as well as wire bracing for the wing floats and a pitot mast for the fuselage. I found this quite easy to use despite the parts being very delicate. Nothing had to be folded, which made life much simpler.

Other modifications from the kit were the turrets. I didn't do much with these, just cut off the gun barrels and drilled out the mountings on the rear turret so I could substitute Quickboost resin Browning .303 barrels designed for the Lancaster. On the front gun I drilled out the breech of the Vickers gun to fit another Browning barrel and added a drum from a thin section of sprue. These were just glued directly to the glazings with Clearfix. As I mentioned above, I did a bit of work on the cockpit interior, which can just about be seen through the canopy, so it was definitely worth doing. The nose gun got snapped not once but twice - lesson? Don't fit the turrets until the last possible moment! In fact I'd modified the turrets so I could just attach them late in the build but got impatient and fitted them too early. Never mind.

The exhausts are also aftermarket. They were from the Quickboost Wellington MkIc (late) exhaust set. Unfortunately this set provides only two exhausts, and only one of these is of the Hedgehog type, so I had to buy four sets. Luckily they are quite reasonably priced. I had to bend the forward part of each exhaust round quite a bit using hot water to encourage it to fit on the collector ring of the Sunderland cowl. I was pleased I did this because the kit exhausts are one area that does let the kit down somewhat, being far too thin and not too accurate in shape. One thing I wish I had done is find better propellers. I tried cutting the backs off the kit spinners to make the whole thing seem smaller, but the props still resemble those of the P&W engined MkVs much more. Oh well, the cowls are just a push fit on the wings so I can always take them off and replace if the mood ever takes me.

In the end the only weathering I did was to add exhaust staining to the upper wing with dust ground from Conte crayons. This feature seems to be quite prominent on Sunderlands with thick bands of exhaust muck behind each engine. I also masked along the waterline and brushed on more Conte crayon below, to simulate the aircraft having sat in water to long periods of time. It's not really apparent on the photos though.

Decals are a mix of Almark SEAC roundels and Xtradecal codes/serials.

Finally, I gave the whole thing a coat of Humbrol Matt Cote - which bizarrely turned out to be almost gloss! Never mind, I quite like the effect and it distinguishes my model from Herman100's very matt example.

Heinkel51 · Posted: Fri 18 Jul 2008 13:39 pm Post subject:

Very nicley done