Wings of Intent: Short Sunderland to Sandringham conversion

Introduction:

Early civil conversions of the Short Sunderland started even before WW2 was over as the Hythe class, which in turn led to full civil conversions as the Sandringham. The first four Sandringhams surprisingly went to Argentina, to "Compañía Argentina de Aeronavegación Dodero", of transportation entrepreneur Alberto Dodero. Later on two (notably) early conversions that still had the retractable nose turret and a blunt fairing for the tail position were acquired too. More Sandringhams arrived to South America, some also being sold to CAUSA in Uruguay. All these planes had either the Bristol Centaurus or P&W engines, being the latter predominant. They rendered good services, covering mostly local and occasionally international routes, but eventually as the era of the extensive use of the flying boat as transports came to its twilight, they were gradually but inexorably taken off service, being replaced by land planes. The Argentinean Sandringhams changed hands a number of times as successive local airlines bought them or added them to their fleets resulting from mergers. The information available is not straightforward, and as it seems invariably the case you will find inaccuracies, sources contradicting each other, and blatant mistakes and mislabeling. Still, if you apply to it, some degree of clarity can be obtained.

Politics, CIA, and cloak and dagger:

It is sometimes surprising what you may find doing research for your model. In this case the dynamics between Mr. Dodero (as mentioned the Argentinean industrialist that acquired several Sandringhams), Juan Perón (the then president of Argentina) and the CIA. Here are two of the CIA declassified documents underlining the situation.

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R004000340007-7.pdf

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R002700580001-2.pdf

More info about the Sandringhams can be found in:

Propliner 94, Spring 2003 “Ladies of the River Plate – Sandringhams”

Air Britain “The Sunderland Heritage” - 2001

Building big models:

In all these decades of modeling I have assembled many small and big subjects. It would be no surprise to any modeler that as a rule of thumb larger models take more time and usually more effort to be completed. As much attracted as I am to these oversized subjects, I try to be realistic, as there is no worse model than the one never built or completed. The larger projects have taken many months of hard labor or even years -on and off- sometimes. From the top of my head I remember the following:

HP42:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/09/hadley-page-hp42-hercules-modified.html

Boeing 377:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/04/boeing-377-modified-academy-172nd-scale.html

Zeppelin Staaken E.40:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/07/zeppelin-staaken-e420-completed.html

The recent I.Ae 38 Naranjero

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2026/02/iae-38-naranjero-baron-rojo-172nd-scale.html

Burnelli RB-1:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/scratch-built-172-remington-burnelli-rb.html

Tupolev TB-1 ANT 4 G-1

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/converted-172-icm-tupolev-tb-3.html

Cant Z-506:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2013/05/cant-z-506-172-scale-modified.html

Sikorsky S.43:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2013/05/execuform-sikorsky-s43-172-vacuform.html

Potez 621:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/heller-based-172-scratchbuilding-of.html

Blackburn Kangaroo:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/04/blackburn-kangaroo-completed-modified.html

Rohrbach Roland:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/08/scratchbuilt-rohrbach-roland-iberia.html

Handley Page 0/700:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/02/handley-page-o700-airliner-conversion.html

Sikorsky S.38:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/12/inter-island-airways-kauai-sikorsky-s38.html

Fairchild C-119:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/05/fairchild-c-119-steward-davis-jetpack.html

Farman 223.1:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2025/12/farman-f2231-f-apuz-istres-damascus.html

And some “in progress” -without much actual progress for a while I am afraid:

Savoia Marchetti S.55 (two of them, still on painting stage):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/05/savoia-marchetti-s55x-172nd-delta-2.html

Boeing 80 (half-way):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/07/boeing-80a-1-broplan-172nd-vacuformed.html

Fokker F.32 (same as above):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/07/fokker-f32-mighty-behemoth-modified.html

So…having a few builds midway as noted above gave me pause when I felt tempted to convert a Short Sunderland to the civil variants flown in Argentina and Uruguay in the post-WW2 years. Therefore, not wanting to get tangled in the quagmire of a too laborious conversion that needed large parts fabricated and modified (as an old resin conversion set is now OOP and not available), I decanted on the arrivals to the Lands of the South, the airframes with just minor modifications that still had the retractable nose turret (demilitarized of course) and the hastily faired tail position. These were transitional airframes with a new passenger interior and concurrent different window arrangement. These civil conversions from the Sunderland as explained started as the “Hythe” class, later to become Sandringhams as the mods become more involving. The airframes I am considering are again early conversions looking more like Hythes, although called officially Sandringhams. After a deep dive on kit reviews I decanted for the Special Hobby rendition, discarding the old and now inadequate Airfix kit, and after some thought –and somewhat reluctantly- dismissed the Italeri one for other reasons. Now, these Special Hobby kits have annoying fit issues according to many reviewers (no surprise here, I have built many Special Hobby kits experiencing the same), but they offer the early and late variants with their different engines/props that could allow a small number of Uruguayan and Argentinean registrations to be built (not without quite a lot of work, I hasten to add). Nonetheless, most likely because of the tariffs of president stupid (recently rightfully stricken down by the Supreme Court), these kits have reached at the time of this article discouraging prices. So to take the plunge you need to be somewhat committed to justify such expense, and be mindful that more than the usual amount of work will be required.

The registrations that seem to demand fewer changes are Argentinean LV-AHG (Sandringham Mk5), LV-AAS (Mk3, later CAUSA CX-AKF) and LV-AHH (Mk5 that needs a bit of additional faring-over work). Among the Uruguayan are CX-AKR (Mk5), CX-AKF(Mk3) and CX-AFA (Mk3).

All these planes have the blunt tail (a not elegant fairing after removal of the tail turret) and the front retractable turret still there but of course disarmed and modified. They are the least “aerodynamic” conversions, compared to the more stylized later Sandringham refinements. Still, the ones that I think may require less work…we’ll see.

Why nobody has come up with alternate civil boxings of these planes or at least aftermarket conversion sets is a modeling mystery for me. There were civil Hythe types that would have only required minor changes and a few added parts.

As mentioned, there is quite a bit of work ahead to obtain the civil version. As an example, if you are going for the Mk5 version (let’s say LV-AHG), there are very small details, like you will need to make new exhausts; and big details: you will need to plug a number of windows and create many new ones, besides modifying the front area and the very tail of the fuselage. The kit’s already meticulously detailed interior walls of the fuselage will unfortunately mean nothing to you, as the civil versions were insulated and paneled of course. The dozens upon dozens of military parts will go to the trash can (in that regard actually greatly simplifying your build), together with some of the internal structure, but bear in mind that floors and bulkheads may be repurposed or used as patterns for the civil interior.

Adding to the already prickly task of finding reliable information in references is the fact that there was little or no consistency among the airframes imported to Argentina and Uruguay. Types were different; planes of the same type were different, details like windows and antennas varied even between what was supposed to be similar airframes, and on top of that airlines applied different schemes to their planes, even of the same airline!. As it is very rare to obtain photos of that era of the plane you want from all the angles, you have to extrapolate, do your best, and cross your fingers.

I have seen online a few brave conversions of the old Airfix and Italeri kits into civil types. It’s not an easy job, to say the least. Some of this builds used a resin conversion set now OOP, that included nose, tail tip and one-part engine nacelles (a poor rendition of them, actually). Since SH now offers the P&W engines already in their Mk.V boxing, those are not needed, so the modeler could theoretically produce the new streamlined nose and tail tip on his own (still many other mods are needed, as discussed). As explained my belief is that going for the early airframes may simplify the job, but perhaps carving the needed parts could be easier, and that would open the subject range to include a number of other registrations, being the bonus that for some these later types maybe more visually pleasant (personally I like the clunky and blunt appearance of the early conversion too, but it’s a matter of taste of course).

There is an Eduard set of masks (not including the needed civil windows, of course) and P.E. sets that are not really relevant as again they apply to the military versions.

Be prepared to clear the building area, and even so you may not escape banging the model against all the surrounding objects, including flasks, your optivisor and lamp. It takes some adjustment to manipulate these beasts.

Now, those that frequent this blog know that I like to provide interiors, toilets included when present. Taking into consideration that this model will need a lot of work even before starting the build itself, I am not sure how much of that would be reasonable or practical to recreate (nothing would be seen through those minute widows). I am toying with the idea of detailing a section of the upper deck, as the kit already presents the roof of that area as a separate part. In LV-AHG that was the place of the upper deck seats, a small bar and stairs to the lower deck. Perhaps it would be nice to also detail what may be seen leaving the cabin doors open. Much to mull over…

LV-AHG carried 51 passengers in what we would call high-density configuration*, as it was destined to ply the inner major rivers of Argentina towards the north-east, and to cross the River Plate towards Uruguay.

*The then “high-density” would be today’s business/first class, to such lows the sardine-carrying aviation industry has stooped for the general public.

The Special Hobby Sunderland MkV kit is massive, and has a very high number of detail parts (these in their vast majority won't be used for the civil conversion, though). Their box art "motto" is weird to say the least.

A big kit. The majority of those windows will need plugging and made flush with the fuselage skin. Panel lines will need redoing where needed. New windows will need their position asserted and opened, and transparencies for them will need to be fabricated:

Most of that engraved interior detail will need to be covered if visible, as civil conversions were of course insulated/paneled. Other than those in the cockpit, most floors and bulkheads should receive the same treatment:

So what is still undecided as this point is if I will go for what seems like the path of less resistance and model the early conversions with the retractable nose turret and blunt tail, or modify the nose and tail fabricating new parts for the later streamlined look. And depending on that, which particular Argentinean or Uruguayan plane will be actually modeled. For the moment, I am going through all the references I manage to gather and musing over the very few photos I have of the potential subjects. As mentioned, I don't have the OOP resin conversion set that was once in the market (for the Airfix kit), but getting one of those may prove useful if taking that road even if needs adapting.

For the very lazy civilized modelers among us, there is an almost direct Hythe conversion from the Special Hobby MkI/II/III boxings (Bristol Centaurus engines): VH-AKO! This build will be basically stress-less (Aussies please perk up your kangaroo/wallaby ears!):

https://www.aussieairliners.org/shortfb/vh-ako/vhako.html

And images from the New Zealand National Library: