Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Military or civil, triplanes, biplanes or monoplanes, props, jets or helicopters...models in here.
vacant
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3830
Joined: August 5th, 2012, 9:58 pm

Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by vacant »

It never ceases to amaze me that one can still buy a limited run kit such as this. Why have they not all been built by now? How many are still lurking unopened in attics and garages? When will this finite supply run out?

It's a vacform kit that comes with cast metal parts for the props and some crude injection pieces for the u/c and wheels. The panel line detail is quite crude so I did what I could to sharpen it up a bit, which is not a lot. The aluminium paint applied by brush to the upper surfaces is rather unforgiving but that's all I can do without resorting to an air brush or rattle can. The underneath is in yellow and black stripes. The kit comes with some decals though I had to use scraps for the escape hatch markings.

It's not a model that I enjoy looking at - I find the shape of the aircraft to be somewhat ungainly.Fortunately, only 28 Sturgeons were built. Later anti-submarine versions looked even worse. The model shows it in its T22 target tug configuration.


Image


https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4555/3886 ... f47c_c.jpg;
User avatar
iggie
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 23360
Joined: July 31st, 2013, 11:04 am
Location: North Somercotes, Lincolnshire
Contact:

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by iggie »

Good Lord, that's ugly!

But nicely modelled none the less!
Best wishes

Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
User avatar
DavidWomby
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 11707
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 8:09 pm
Location: Florida, USA

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by DavidWomby »

Excellent build from that old vac, Vacant.

I agree this version of the Sturgeon isn't pretty and the ASW prototype is soooooooooooo ugly it wins my ugliest ever aircraft prize, but the original PR version of the Sturgeon was marginally better looking.

Image

David
celt
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3235
Joined: July 6th, 2014, 3:19 pm

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by celt »

It is a great model of one of the ugliest looking aircraft ever built.Well tidy mun.
Lone Modeller
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 5249
Joined: April 1st, 2013, 6:45 pm

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by Lone Modeller »

Ugly or not it is very well made. As for the supply of vacuforms, well, how many people actually make them? Judging from the comments that I read and hear, they are still not the most popular medium to work with. Which make yours all the more interesting.
User avatar
skypirate
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 7241
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 6:13 am
Location: Port Macquarie, Australia

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by skypirate »

"somewhat ungainly"? It's downright ugly! And you know that any aircraft that ugly means business!
But your model is a stunner!

Cheers,

David
User avatar
PropWash
Active Participant
Posts: 562
Joined: October 14th, 2017, 5:39 am
Location: Tennessee, USA

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by PropWash »

I've never heard of the Short Sturgeon, but it is so ugly I would have to have one for my collection if it were injection-molded. I haven't the faintest idea how you would go about building a Vacuformed model, but I am very impressed by the examples I've seen on this forum. Beautifully done!
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by Eric Mc »

Nice rendition of a not so nice airframe.

The Royal Navy were never enthusiastic about operating twins off carrier decks - chiefly because of worries about engine failure during landing and the need to put on power on the good engine to compensate. That's the reason why the engines were so close to the fuselage, in an effort to lessen the effect of sudden application of power on one engine.
User avatar
JamesPerrin
Looks like his avatar
Posts: 13617
Joined: April 5th, 2011, 8:09 pm
Location: W. Yorkshire
Contact:

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by JamesPerrin »

It's not even good ugly like the Gannet :mrgreen: One of those cases when purity of the original design gets lost under operational requirements. I've got one of these is the shape of a Magna resin kit I got cheap at Telford.
Classic British Kits SIG Leader Better to fettle than to fill
(2024 A:B 5:1) (2023 13:8:7) (2022 21:11) (2021 15:8) (2020 8:4:4)
User avatar
bobblelink
Active Participant
Posts: 627
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 2:20 pm

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by bobblelink »

what a great model of a splendidly ugly plane.
currently on the go: Revell Blenheim I, Italeri Me210, Revell HMS victory, Revell 1/144 p-47
completions in 2012:8, completions in 2013: 13, Completions in 2014:10, Completions in 2015: 9, Completions in 2016: 8, Completions in 2017: 9, Completions in 2018: 12, completions in 2019:7, completions in 2020: 17
User avatar
Purplethistle
Delusional Miniature Killer
Posts: 4680
Joined: July 10th, 2014, 1:03 am
Location: Glasgow

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by Purplethistle »

As a design it has, shall we say, character! What you've done with it is pretty as a picture though.
"Spits, SLUFS and Rock 'n' Roll"
User avatar
59North
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 1323
Joined: January 9th, 2016, 2:55 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by 59North »

I,m very impressed with the modelling and I really like the scheme. Looking at it as an aircraft, though, I immediately thought of Frankenstein.
Well done modelling.
User avatar
gnomemeansgnome
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 5269
Joined: July 16th, 2013, 4:03 pm
Location: No Fun City

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by gnomemeansgnome »

Great work on an ungainly airframe. I had read of this aircraft but didn't know a kit was available. I shall have to mortify the flesh some day and try a vacuform as I have a few in the stash.
Ego no habeo consilium.

ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
vacant
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3830
Joined: August 5th, 2012, 9:58 pm

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by vacant »

The Sturgeon has also been produced in resin by Magna in 1/72. It is currently available for £29.99 (why oh why can it not be £30 to avoid the cynical pretence?) from a well known dealer in old kits - based in Telford.
User avatar
gengriz
Active Participant
Posts: 663
Joined: May 1st, 2011, 10:22 am
Location: Aquae Sulis
Contact:

Re: Short Sturgeon; Contrail 1/72

Post by gengriz »

Very nice indeed!
50+ years of modelling: http://www.gengriz.co.uk
Recently retired after completing the biggest and most amazing construction kits in the whole world, EVER:
http://youtu.be/2syAt3jXq4s[/color]
Post Reply

Return to “Aviation Modelling”