Italeri 1/72 Sunderland Mk.III Kit First Look

by Michael Benolkin

First Look

For a brief history of this subject and a look at Italeri's original Sunderland Mk.I, look here.

I remember building the Airfix 1/72 Sunderland many years ago and the kit was impressive for the amount of detail in the box. When Italeri released their Sunderland Mk.I, I decided to do quick-build of the kit and was quite pleased with how well the model goes together. How did Italeri do with this new Mk.III version? Let's take a look.

The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on five parts trees plus and fret of photo-etched parts. Among the features and options in this kit:

• Fuselage has revised step molded in lower hull
• Nicely detailed flight deck with choice of decal or photo-etched instrument panel
• Pilots' seats have photo-etched seatbelts, shoulder harnesses, and structural framing
• Radio compartment (behind flight deck) has radio operators station visible through doorway
• Detailed nose compartment with plank floor, anchor and winch, and other gear
• Detailed weapons bay
• Weapons bay doors can be positioned open or closed
• New movable dorsal turret
• Starboard rear fuselage door is positionable open or closed
• Detailed nose and tail turrets including revised guns
• Nose turret can be positioned retracted for access to nose compartment
• Optional beaching gear and tail trolley included
• Movable ailerons
• Movable rudder
• Movable elevators
• Weapons racks move in and out of weapons bay
• LOTS of dipole and yagi antennas

As you can see in the images, the kit isn't really complex but is rated as experienced skill level due to the photo-etched parts and lots of antennas.

The decal sheet provides markings for six different examples:

• Sunderland Mk.III, W4004, Z, 10 Sqn, RAAF, Mount Batten, UK, 1943
• Sunderland Mk.III, ML868, H, 230 Sqn, SEAC, Koggala, Ceylon, 1944
• Sunderland Mk.III, DV960, 2-H, 461 Sqn, RAF, Mount Batten, UK, 1942
• Sunderland Mk.III, W8060, Escadrille 7, Dakar, Senegal, 1943
• Sunderland Mk.III, W3999, RB-Y, 10 Sqn, RAAF, Mount Batten, UK, 1942
• Sunderland Mk.III, A26-6, 40 Sqn, RAAF, Townsville, Australia, 1944

This is a very nice looking kit of the Sunderland Mk.III and is a welcome follow-on to Italeri's Mk.I kit. Since the Mk.I was a fun build, we'll have to see how this gem goes together in proper colors and weathering.

My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample!