Flying Boat Tracker & Land-based Sunderland - An Idea

[Old Wombat]

I now have three 1/48 Italeri S-2E/G Trackers in my stash, which is one more than is required for my plans for them.

Well, today I was sitting out with my stash looking at it trying to improve my mojo, which has taken a bit of a tumble lately (not the desire to build, just the impetus when I sit down to do so), when I glanced at the 1/72 Airfix Sunderland III & had a thought.

I got the fuselage halves out of both boxes & sized them up. Lo & behold, the planing hull of the Sunderland fits almost perfectly under the fuselage of the Tracker & a Plan has come together!

The Plan is simple; swap the lower parts of the fuselages, the floats & the landing gear.

There will, of course be more to it: where to fit the Tracker landing gear to the Sunderland & how; proper mating of the fuselage sections; possible interior for the Tracker; etc.

The Tracker will remain 1/48 & the Sunderland will remain 1/72 (the Tracker wheels are going to be HUGE in 1/72 but, probably, appropriately so).


Thoughts?

[ericr]

Thoughts?

go !



any aircraft can be improved by fitting floats (or a hull)

[zenrat]

I second Eric.  Although i'm more excited about the Landersund than the Trackerboat.

Although my first thought was that's potentially a lot of PSR...

[Old Wombat]

... there is not a lot of ground clearance under the props though ...

Good point!

Note to self: Have to think about this - I still want the wings to fold!

[Librarian]

I've built a couple of those Kinetic/Italeri kits and test fitting is a must. Removing the lower half of the fuselage removes one problem...the badly fitting weapons bay doors. The nacelles are massive and come close to the fuselage so be very careful about propeller-fuselage clearance when cutting and adding the Sunderland parts.

Look forward to the results .

ps the tail, horizontal stabs and wings all need sanding down for a better fit.

[Old Wombat]

Thanks for the build tips, Librarian.

Actually, I was a Tracker Whacker back in my youth (RAN FAA), so the Tracker info I'm pretty solid on.

I've got more concern about keeping the Tracker door, & the Sunderland nose turret, windows & door on the parent aircraft.

What do I do with the Tracker's radome? Does it go onto the Sunderland or do I work out a way to keep it on the Tracker? (The MAD boom is staying.)

The beaching gear wheels of the Sunderland are too small to take the impact of landing, so the Tracker wheels will be used but how do I attach them? Because they're going to be big, although not as big, perhaps, as I first thought.

If I put them on struts they're going to be really draggy but folding them into the fuselage will take up lots of internal space & mean a gear configuration similar to that of the PBY Catalina.

Too much surgery to move the nacelles above the wing? The wings could fold and sit on top of or above the nacelles then?

Lifting the nacelles up will impact on the ability to fold the wings;

[The Rat]

I've often thought about an amphibious Sunderland, so I will be watching this with great interest!

[McColm]

I've tried a few times to build an amphibious Sunderland, even a land version using the C-130 main undercarriage. Didn't quite work.
I also had the idea to kit bash the Grumman Tracer with the CL-415.

[Old Wombat]

The nacelles are massive and come close to the fuselage

Actually, they're only massive in comparisson to the size of the aircraft, the ol' Grumbly is quite a small aircraft, really, & you're right, IRL there's only about 12" clearance between the prop tips & the fuselage.

[The Rat]

The nacelles are massive and come close to the fuselage

Actually, they're only massive in comparisson to the size of the aircraft, the ol' Grumbly is quite a small aircraft, really, & you're right, IRL there's only about 12" clearance between the prop tips & the fuselage.

I've squeezed myself into one a few times, and yes, they are much smaller than most people think.

[kitnut617]

I've often thought about an amphibious Sunderland, so I will be watching this with great interest!

Something like this maybe ----- 

[KiwiZac]

I remember that!

[Old Wombat]

Exactly!

But where to get the landing gear?



(Edit: Just set up a restock notification with BNA Model World for the Scale Aircraft Conversion 1/48 PBY-5A landing Gear but I'll look elsewhere, too.)

[The Rat]

I've often thought about an amphibious Sunderland, so I will be watching this with great interest!

Something like this maybe ----- 

[kitnut617]

I've use 1/48 Catalina gear (Scale Aircraft Conversions which I buy direct from), which has to be slightly modified to suit the fuselage sides, which are almost vertical on a Sunderland (but tubular on a Catalina [well half a tube anyway]). Main wheels are from a Manchester, nose wheel from a Blenheim.  It will be turbo-propped too