The box
The box is large lid and tray style, robust and makes a great tray when building the kit. The box art is quite good with what appears to be a Mark 1 of a 210 Sqn aircraft sinking a Type VII U-Boat. It’s a compelling painting but not for me one that stirs the same feelings as that on the Airfix Mk III kit.
References
I thought for a change to kick off with the references. First up you should not that this is a first in 1:72nd scale (at least I am pretty sure it is) as it’s the Mark 1 version of the Sunderland that’s kitted not he Mark III as kitted by Airfix. The most notable difference is the lack of a mid-upper turret on the Mk 1 which instead has open cupolas very much like those early Short and Supermarine flying boats. I think the other big difference is that Sunderland’s are epitomised as ‘great white whales’ of the sky with that white covering all of the huge slab sides of the aircraft. The Mk 1’s were early war types and had camouflage similar to Coastal Command aircraft of the time with it extending all the way down to the hull.
The kit comes with one of Italeri’s fabulous reference guides which covers history, that includes some great colour shots too and a really wonderful walk around complete with some helpful drawings, diagrams and photographs. All of this will not only inspire but will help with assembly, detailing and weathering so well done Italeri a super job.
Aeroplane Icon book
In addition to this I strongly recommend the latest of Aeroplane magazines ‘Icon Series’ of books. At £7.95 the one on the Sunderland really caught my eye! The front cover features that amazing (Roy Cross?) artwork from the Airfix Mk3 and I was sold on this alone.
Inside the 130 pages are packed with really helpful information from prototype to last versions. Photography is excellent and for me a first time seen. Some (not enough for me) colour side plates are included as well as fantastic accounts of fighting the beast. Building this kit or not this is a must have book and is great value for money.