Czech Master Resin No. 200
1/72 Short S.23, C-Class Flying Boat
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History
I will deal here only with the history of the S.23 type through the
start of WWII in Europe on September 1, 1939 as I suspect CMR will reissue
this kit with full wartime camouflage and markings for the modelers, apparently
the majority, who insist upon building everything in military markings.
A total of 31 S.23s were built. They were designed in 1934 to fulfill
the “Empire Air Mail Programme” for carrying, without surcharge,
letter mail throughout the Empire and its Dominions. The first was launched
from Short’s Shop Number 3 onto the river Medway at Rochester in
Kent on July 2, 1936 and first flew two days later when it was also delivered
to Imperial Airways, Ltd. Nowadays, company and certification testing
takes over a year for a major new commercial type. Imperial A W was the
first recipient of the type. Qantas received the last three S.23s and
the last three of British Overseas Airways Corporations S.23s were also
diverted to Qantas.
S.23s served from mid 1936 through WWII with Coriolanus flying the last
service of the type from Noumea to Sydney on December 20, 1947 in service
with Qantas By 1954 all of the S.23 s and their developments, the S.30s
and S.31s, had been scrapped. None survive. Coriolanus, when it was retired,
was the high time S.23 having flown for over 18,500 hours and over 2,523,600
miles. In those days operators had no need to record flight cycles as
the planes were unpressurized. Today maintenance intervals, for pressurized
planes, are stated in terms of limiting hours or cycles, whichever first
occurs. In their day it took an S.23 about 10 days for the Southampton
to Sydney run. Today it takes a 747 about 15 hours to fly non-stop from
London to Sydney.
Here’s a list of all the S.23s:
REGISTRATION |
SHIP NAME |
SERIAL |
| G-ADHL |
CANOPUS |
S.795 |
| G-ADHM |
CALEDONIA |
S.804 |
| G-ADUT |
CENTAURUS |
S.811 |
| G-ADUU |
CAVALIER |
S.812 |
| G-ADUV |
CAMBRIA |
S.813 |
| G-ADUW |
CASTOR |
S.814 |
| G-ADUX |
CASSIOPEA |
S.815 |
| G-ADUY |
CAPELLA |
S.816 |
| G-ADUZ |
CYGNUS |
S.817 |
| G-ADVA |
CAPRICORNUS |
S.818 |
| G-ADVB |
CORSAIR |
S.819 |
| G-ADVC |
COURTIER |
S.820 |
| G-ADVD |
CHALLENGER |
S.821 |
| G-ADVE |
CENTURION |
S.822 |
| |
|
|
| G-AETV |
CARIOLANUS |
S.838 |
| G-AETW |
CALPURNIA |
S.839 |
| G-AETX |
CERES |
S.840 |
| G-AETY |
CLIO |
S.841 |
| G-AETZ |
CIRCE |
S.842 |
| G-AEUA |
CALYPSO |
S.843 |
| G-AEUB |
CAMILLA |
S.844 |
| G-AEUC |
CORINNA |
S.845 |
| G-AEUD |
CORDELIA |
S.846 |
| G-AEUE |
CAIRNGORM/CMERONIAN |
S.847 |
| G-AEUF |
COTSOLD/CORINTHIAN |
S.848 |
| G-AEUG |
CHEVIOT/COOGEE |
S.849 |
| G-AEUH |
COOLIN/CORIO |
S.850 |
| G-AEUI |
CALPE/COORONG |
S.851 |
| |
|
|
| G-AFBJ/VH-ABA |
CARPENTARIA |
S. 876 |
| G-AFBK/VH-ABB |
COOLANGOTTA |
S. 877 |
| G-AFBL/VH-ABF |
COOEE |
S. 878 |
The Kit
WOW! This is a big one! In my opinion it is clearly the kit of the year.
It is pricey too. Hannants offer it for about US$230.00. I think it’s
worth it. It’s not perfect, mind you, and it is certainly not a
Tamiya shake-and-bake kit but it is a superb kit of a very impressive
large airplane, it is slightly larger than a Sunderland, is an icon of
its age and no other kit manufacturer would ever undertake it in 1/72
scale. This is the largest kit from CMR since their earlier Avro York
conversion for the Lancaster reviewed her in August 2005.
There are nine major resin parts in the kit. Each fuselage half is 14.75
inches long and each wing half is 9 inches long. The finished model will
have a wingspan of about 20 inches. There are 101 minor resin parts, one
clear resin canopy along with 42 clear resin windows and a two-part clear
resin landing light. This is the clearest clear resin I’ve seen
since WTH Model Products ceased operations six years ago. As a sop to
those of us who are dubious about the clarity of “clear resin”
CMR have also provided two very nice vac-formed canopies. It will be a
toss-up as to which to use.
An Eduard pre-painted fret of photo-etched metal details is included
along with an Eduard painting mask for the canopy and windows.
Optional exhaust and stabilizing floats are provided and the RDF loop
antenna may be installed extended or retracted. Two optional antenna masts
are also included; consult your references.
The decal sheet provides three sets of markings for the first S.23,
Canopus G-ADHL, one for Corsair G-ADVB, two for Cooee G-AFBL and as VH-ABF,
one for Corio VH-ABD and one for Coriolanus G-AFTV.
CMR provide 14 pages of instructional material, which includes six of
assembly instructions, one on the use of the painting masks, five on colors
and markings and three on the history of the type and on the specific
airplanes provided.
Conclusion
This big beauty is typical of Czech Master Resin’s current quality
and it is amazing to me that they have been able to translate that quality
from subjects the size of Spitfires and Mustangs to the size of this beauty.
Kudos to Petr Buchar and Radoslav Kazda for their fine work providing
us with this great kit.
Buy one; it’s only money and life is short.
References
My main reference is the two-part article by John Stroud in his Wings
of Peace series in Aeroplane monthly for December 1989 and January 2000.
Checking the index for Aeroplane Monthly/Aeroplane I found 31 notations
on the S.23. Some of these are for only one photo; others are for articles.
An indispensable and easy to use additional reference is www.seawings.co.uk
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