Short Sunderland III RNZAF "Flying Boat Transport Flight"

[harrysone]

This is the 2nd flying boat I've been beavering away at for a while (for a well known customer ). Its the Italeri Sunderland III kit modified with turret fairings and new window cutouts to be a transport aircraft with The RNZAF. I've had quite a bit of fun with it, quite a bit of scratchbuilding including a generic front cabin with folding canvas seating. I took it down to the beach with me over Labour Weekend to have a go at weathering the beastie (its a bit like creating an artwork).

My subject aircraft is a well worn NZ4102 "Tokomaru" that has just commenced having its vertical tail stripped of camouflage (lots of photos show it flying around with bare tail feathers). A few progress shots follow

IMG_9977 by Harry Follas, on Flickr
IMG_0458 by Harry Follas, on Flickr
IMG_0444 by Harry Follas, on Flickr
IMG_0469 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

masks removed...quite a bit of tidy-up to follow here!

IMG_0646 by Harry Follas, on Flickr
IMG_0648 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

the make up kit is out...bout halfway through 'aging' theatricals
1I7A9646 by Harry Follas, on Flickr
1I7A9662 by Harry Follas, on Flickr
1I7A9739 by Harry Follas, on Flickr
1I7A9737 by Harry Follas, on Flickr

Thinking we may need to plate over the depth charge rails yet, it does appear that the mkIII boats in RNZAF may have had these covered over and sealed.

[Dave Homewood]

That looks terrific Harry!

[davidd]

Or were the rails simply left intact, and retained in case supply dropping capability was ever called for?

[harrysone]

Yes, I would have thought they might be a useful Derrick to help to load heavier cargo into the galley/hold

[johnnyfalcon]

That's a great looking result!

[planecrazy]

She's a beauty, love the weathering a skill I'd love to get better at!

Just noticed the silver fin, not painted for some reason?

[Antonio]

[harrysone]

Oct 23, 2023 18:38:03 GMT 12 planecrazy said:

She's a beauty, love the weathering a skill I'd love to get better at!

Just noticed the silver fin, not painted for some reason?

NZ4102 was probably in process of being paint stripped, however it flew like this for a time

[markrogers]

That looks awesome. How did you make the new windows?

[harrysone]

Oct 27, 2023 20:20:40 GMT 12 markrogers said:

That looks awesome. How did you make the new windows?

I produced a standard window 'stencil' which I positioned & traced onto the fuselage where I needed them, then cut these out using "very sharp" scalpel. The window inserts are actually clear plastic cut from old CD cases superglued in and then wet and dry sanded using fine sandpaper and then polishing compound. You wind up with very flush-mounted transparencies