Stirling

[John Howling Mouse]

You cut the nose turret off?!?!   Awwwwwww..... 

[Patrick H]

Looking good Captain. Love the nose art and the invasion stiping. Can't wait to see this big bird coming together.

[Captain Canada]

Thanks again, guys !

I just cut the turret off so I could clean it up, and then glue it back in place. I'm trying to make it look like a ball and not just a blob stuck there, as it were.....

[sequoiaranger]

I like it!

It looks like you cut off some of a B-17's tail to reduce it in size, and are still working on the splice. "The Bruce" would be proud.

[tigercat]

Is it true that the Stirling was basically a slimline Sunderland. The designers just performed some liposuction on the design which resulted in a new bomber form their flying boat

[kitnut617]

Is it true that the Stirling was basically a slimline Sunderland. The designers just performed some liposuction on the design which resulted in a new bomber form their flying boat

I think you'll find the Stirling just used the same wings, but if you look at this Shetland, it looks more like a Sterling which had a Sunderland lower fuselage attached. 

[tigercat]

That's what I  get from listening to Wikipedia.

The Shetland does look like a Stirling with a Sunderland hull

[kitnut617]

I've read somewhere, that the Shetland got the wing that was proposed for the Super Sterling.  This was a lengthened Sterling which had extended wings where the leading and trailing edges were continued out. The ailerons were then repositioned further out.

Someone on the ATF forum is trying to build a Super Sterling, it's in the What-If GB they have going.

[PR19_Kit]

Did this build ever get finished? It sure looked the business in the early piccies.

[Mossie]

I wouldn't call the Shetland a slimline Sunderland, although it's beam did change from top to bottom, whereas the Sunderland remained constant.  The Shetland was quite a bit larger, roughly about a third again over the Sunderland.

Echoing Kit, where are you with this one Cap???

[kitnut617]

Coincidently, there's a short article written by Phil Butler about the Shetland in this quarters issue of Aeromilitaria.  There's a few photos of the two Shetlands that were built and I have to say there's no structural similarity between it and the Sunderland at all, it is in all respects, a Sterling flying boat.

The wing span was a little over 150 feet and these photos of Phil's are quite revealing of it's shape.  It also appears that the colour photo I posted further back might be a 'doctored' photo, because Phil explains the one military Shetland just got painted in a grey maritime camouflage that was current at the time of being ordered, the three photos in the article not showing any darker colour.

[Mossie]

I've got some fairly detailed plans on both the military & civvy versions.  Wing has a different shape to the Stirling & Sunderland, it has a straight trailing edge.  I thought I'd posted them sometime ago & I was sure there was a thread on the Sunderland & Shetland.  I'll start one & pop them in there to avoid hi-jacking Cap's thread to excess.

[PR19_Kit]

It also appears that the colour photo I posted further back might be a 'doctored' photo, because Phil explains the one military Shetland just got painted in a grey maritime camouflage that was current at the time of being ordered, the three photos in the article not showing any darker colour.

I don't think so.

That photo of the Shetland I in camo, plus another similar one, have been quite well published in the past, notably in Aeroplane Magazine's WWII in colour series. The Shetland's role was changed to a mil. transport before it was finished, thus the lack of gun turrets, so a maritime recce scheme would have been inappropriate surely?

[Mossie]

Here we go, thread for Shorts large flying boats including plans of the Shetland:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,28940.0/topicseen.html