Author Topic: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber  (Read 42897 times)

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #75 on: April 03, 2013, 03:31:24 AM »
Those engine nacelles really came out great, kitnut!

If you were able to cast more, I have no doubts you could start up your own aftermarket business.

And I'd be lining up to order some!

Brian da Basher

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #76 on: April 03, 2013, 03:42:22 AM »
Thanks BdB, I've learnt a couple of things that is best not to do, one is if you have a sharp edge when you start, you'll have a sharp edge after you have done the mould, and the sharp edges really did a number on the mould, especially when I was trying to get the new cast bit out of the mould.  Secondly, not to try and do everything in one mould, some things will have to be done in a two-part mould, which is something I'll have to practice with.

Robert
« Last Edit: April 03, 2013, 03:44:59 AM by kitnut617 »

Offline philp

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #77 on: April 03, 2013, 01:40:01 PM »
What, no popcorn eating smilie?

Oh well, will just have to sit down and pay attention anyway.

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #78 on: April 03, 2013, 02:22:35 PM »
How's this?

All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #79 on: April 07, 2013, 03:15:07 AM »
I've got both wing roots modified and the nacelles are now on, took a bit of time getting them all lined up though.  Here's a couple of pics with the props temporarily installed to see how it looked, I had to add 1/2 ounce of ballast to the extreme front end to get it to sit flat on the forward keel, it's stuck on under my new nose floor.

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #80 on: April 07, 2013, 03:17:56 AM »
The next step is to get the u/c bays done, these have to be before I get the cargo deck sorted out because the main gear bays will protrude a bit into the cargo area.

Offline apophenia

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #81 on: April 09, 2013, 07:13:01 AM »
Damn that looks good!  :)
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #82 on: April 09, 2013, 11:54:28 PM »
This build just keeps getting better.....

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #83 on: April 10, 2013, 11:02:16 PM »
Thanks guys ---

Anyway I managed to get a bit done to the u/c bays starting with one side first to work out the bugs.

First though I had to assemble and glue the u/c gear together and there I made another discovery.  Back in Reply #40 I posted some pics of the u/c temporarily assembled and I had found that the instruction sheet has it wrong, the retraction cylinder should actually be attached to the top 'A' frame and not the bottom.  I had said there is even a little tab on the upper 'A' frame which the bottom end of the cylinder attaches too.  Well now I have found that little tab should actually be on the inside side of the arm it's on, not on the outside.  What this does is align the retraction cylinder parallel with the main strut. 

I stumbled on this when I was making my new wheel bay, I had made a scaled-up bay using the Academy 1/72 Catalina bay as an example. (top pic)

The next problem to sort out is where the bay would actually go on the Sunderland.  I have always been under the impression the main wheel on a tricycle u/c float plane was just behind the step (at least lots of photos would show that). But then I found that the Catalina's main gear is in front of the step, while the Canadair CL-215/415 has it right behind the step.  So I was in a quandry just where to place it.  In the end I decided to line up the main strut and oleo directly under the center of the bomb rack in the wing, my reasoning is there had to be something substantial structurally, built into the wing/fuselage to support the bomb weight.  This placed the u/c gear right in between the two examples above.

Bottom three pics are the result, I have a few adjustments to make then I'll get on with the other side and front bay.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2013, 02:39:42 AM by kitnut617 »

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #84 on: April 10, 2013, 11:09:26 PM »
Because I wanted to use as much of the Catalina u/c gear as possible (it's 1/48 scale),  I had to modify the arrangement somewhat.  Although I didn't have to change it drastically.  Initially I thought I could just bend up the main strut like in the pic here, but in the end I had to cut the top 'A' frame and strut off and reposition it as in the pics in the last post.  The left strut/oleo is the original and the right one is where I thought the strut should go.  In the end I wasn't far off with my initial thoughts.

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #85 on: April 11, 2013, 02:31:20 AM »
That undercarriage work is outstanding!  :)
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Cliffy B

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #86 on: April 11, 2013, 02:33:31 AM »
Man this thin is just getting better and better!!!!  Keep it up dude  :)
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Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #87 on: April 11, 2013, 04:07:44 AM »
You continue to amaze me, kitnut! I really like the pics showing how it all comes together. I think you may have missed your true calling as an aircraft designer!

Your mods to the landing gear and adding the bays shows some real engineering prowess that's beyond impressive to me.

I can't wait for your next installment on this wonder!

Brian da Basher

Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #88 on: April 11, 2013, 07:46:57 AM »
Great job.. this is looking very, very practical


Offline Dr. YoKai

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #89 on: April 13, 2013, 12:01:36 AM »
Kudos on all the work on this project!

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #90 on: April 13, 2013, 12:42:43 AM »
Thanks everyone ---

Offline philp

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #91 on: April 13, 2013, 10:21:42 AM »
What scheme are you going to put this beauty in?

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #92 on: April 13, 2013, 08:57:12 PM »
What scheme are you going to put this beauty in?

See reply #38 Philp, but here's the pic again to refresh everyone.  Notice I got the sheet printed in 1/60 scale as I figured that would be big enough.  I've also picked up my paints last week, Omaha Orange (which the sheet says is a 1:1 mix of Reefer Orange and Reefer Yellow) and Brunswick Green.  The '703' number has been changed to '706', I'm going to leave the registration the same.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2013, 09:00:52 PM by kitnut617 »

Offline philp

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #93 on: April 13, 2013, 11:59:45 PM »
Aw, the Peas and Carrots scheme, very nice.

Offline Weaver

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #94 on: April 14, 2013, 12:28:52 AM »
This is great - keep up the good work!  :)
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Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #95 on: April 14, 2013, 11:00:17 PM »
Just some musings:

I've had to do some rethinking about what this would do, initially it was to be an ex-RCAF freighter converted to a water-bomber.  The idea was some of the freighters (something the RCAF had considered for Tiger Force) were converted into amphibians but my wheelbays have given the idea a bit of a dent.  There's not a lot of space in between the two bays, in RW measurments about 4'-6" (1.4m).  While that is enough room to move a regular size wooden shipping pallet, loading up large awkward freight which I was thinking the large internal volume of the Sunderland could be used for, poses a bit of a problem.  The only solution I can think of to solve that at the moment is to have a cargo door in front of the wing as well as behind.  The reason for all this rethinking is because the intended purpose is that primarily it will be a water-bomber, with a secondary job as a freighter when off-duty from fire fighting.

Which brings me to how the water carrying capabilities will be.  I've worked out that there could be a permanent tank under the cargo floor of 2800-3000 gals. I would then have some removable sections above the cargo floor which would bring the total water load to 4000 gals which is a little bit more tham 33,000 lbs in weight.  With the much more powerful engines I don't think this is to far fetched.  The idea is that the removable sections of tanks could be done very quickly (there would be four of them for ease of handling) but I needed a large cargo door.  But the restricted space between the two wheel bays makes removing the forward tanks a bit of a problem, hence the rethink to having two cargo doors.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2013, 11:14:14 PM by kitnut617 »

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #96 on: April 17, 2013, 10:21:32 PM »
-----   I have a few adjustments to make then I'll get on with the other side and front bay.

I, erm!, cocked it up ----   :-X

While trying to refine the wheel bay I went a bit too far, so I've junked what I've done and started again (top pic shows the two trys so far).
I also found I had the hole in the fuselage for the wheel in the wrong place so I had to added some card in to rectify that (second pic)
While I was trying to get by from not having to change too much of the u/c gear, I now know I should have done it as I first thought I would have had to do it, I needed to change the length of the top strut.  I've now shortened it by nearly 5mm and changed the angle of it a bit more than what I had but this allows me to use the retraction cylinder without modifying it. (bottom two pics)

Offline father ennis

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #97 on: April 19, 2013, 06:23:08 AM »
Looking good and coming along nicely !!!  Glad you showed you mistake,too. This is a very complex and radical conversion and it's great you shared "everything" with us.  Mistakes are made by us all and those who have never tried something like this can get confidence to push the envelope by seeing someone of your quality still makes mistakes and have to correct them,too. I can't wait to see it finished ...
I may be old but I'm not dead ... yet anyway ... !!!    And NO I did not know Richard III !!!!!!

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #98 on: April 20, 2013, 04:25:18 AM »
Well Ennis, contrary to popular belief, things don't always go very well quite often.  Which is why I always do one side first to sort out the bugs.

I think the only conversion I've done recently which seemed to just "'flow"', was my Seafire Mk.45 Hybrid build.

Offline kitnut617

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Re: Sunderland TP Amphibian Fire-Bomber
« Reply #99 on: April 28, 2013, 12:53:35 AM »
Building has slowed down this last week or so, the 'pay-the-bills' job is taking a lot of my time right now, 12-14 hour days being the norm' and I'm getting really tired and no energy for the rest of the time.

But I have made a bit of progress --

These pics show the third atempt at the main gear wheel bay, I finally got it sorted out but one of the things I had to keep in mind was how to get the assembled main gear u/c in after everything has been glued together and painted. They will be the last things to go in --- at least that's the plan
« Last Edit: April 28, 2013, 01:03:45 AM by kitnut617 »