Let's get going here. After a couple of forgettable builds on the 1942 GB, I'm going to try to redeem my promise to Bish to deliver an Italeri 1/72 Sunderland Mk I. Four engined flying boats were for a while among the biggest planes in the world and the Sunderland was a whopping big plane. Just for reference, the thing was larger than a B-17 and heavier. The kit reviews have been mostly positive - it's a 2014 new tool Italeri: not a rebox that the company specializes in. But the part count is high and it's going to be a challenge the handle the build because it will be very big. Let's say that this one is a "project." So I'd better get started on it now, especially as I owe the War Memorial in Canberra an article about the Pacific War. I have hopes of a water base - but timing may say otherwise. We'll see. As you can see, the big box is well filled:
kit by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
Like all flying boats Sunderlands were extremely useful and were never thrown away. There were 777 Sunderlands built - but because most kept on trucking and weren't disposable like combat types it would not have been a rare plane. It is best remembered for anti-submarine work, but because of its 18 hour range, it did many odd jobs. Nor were combat losses high. So a MKI - the mark I have - could have been built in 1939 and served throughout the war. Sunderlands remained in RAF service well into the 50s, and the last one in use was retired by the RNAZ in 1967.
And because the Sunderland spent its entire life in or over salt water - this kit will require black basing and heavy weathering. Goody.
I'm using Golden High Flows on this kit - they're my paint now. So I had to make my own colors. The camo scheme I'm going to use is the Temperate Sea Scheme used by Coastal Command after 1941. That means Dark Slate Gray, Extra Dark Sea Gray and Sky S1. I have some good sources on the colors - especially a nice analysis on RAF colors I bought from Nick Millman the uber-color-guru and moderator of the wonderful Japan Air website.
As I get more interested in color mixing, I'm picking up some tips from various art channels and have found them to give me better paints than just trying to "eyeball" a mix. Golden is the best American art acrylic company and has a massive arrays of paints, mediums etc. High Flow is made for airbrushing but uses the same pigments as all of their colors. They include a larger number of "mixing" colors - colors that you'd probably never use on their own, but have extraordinary impact when added to others. Mind you this is great fun and I wouldn't do it if it wasn't. But there's method too. I have excellent Vallejo Model Color paints for each of these paints and use them as invaluable samples for my mixes. If you know mediums Model Color is easily airbrushes. However, Vallejo paints, as much as I like them, are not as good as High Flow for "painting small" - very thin paint, very low psi. This is essential for black basing. (Ideally you'd use Gunze, Tamiya or one of the Eastern European lacquer/acrylics.) Just to give you an idea of the fun and games required (this took maybe four hours - two nights of work). The mixture for Sky includes: platho blue/raw umber equal + dab of Naples Yellow and a good dose of titanium white. (Golden's white is extremely opaque for the color.) Extra Dark Sea Gray required essentially the creation of a chromatic black and then cut. (BTW: it's a dead match for Vallejo MC Luftwaffe Uniform: a very dark gray with a hint of blue.) That took Prussian Blue, Sepia, dabs of Quinacrodine Red & prime blue - then neutral gray and a bit of carbon black. Dark Sea Gray has a definite green hue - a little like olive drab. The mix used was ultramarine, yellow oxide, neutral gray and black. I'm keeping track of these brews so I can make them again. I also made RAF Interior Green, which I used my early war USN interior green as a base. RAF interior green is gray, it is green, it is not olive like standard US interior green is. It is a little more subdued, but similar to Japanese interior green. You can't tell the details, but here are samples of what I made:
colors by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr
Will report on the build soon.
Eric