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Fw200 c4/u2? maybe a c5/8 and a c3 (revell and trumpeter)


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Quick start on a long thread!

I have in the stash a number of fw200 condors. The first was from a local shop which I acquired back in 2007ish!

I started to hand paint it but gave up on the interior parts! This thing predates my acquiring an airbrush!

It's been sitting for a while........ then i "saw" the newer boxing c4 bomber kit, I went home with that.....finally I found a trumpeter c3 on half price.

Yeah, I got that too.

My plan is to build dönitz personal aircraft, but the info seems confusing/misleading, I have the of decal set for it.

I will need some more bits and a load of hacking to complete this build. It needs more windows, more seats, less bomb bay and a couple of turrets, or just one? Depending on where you find the profiles.

 

The trumpeter box will represent the longer range conversion trials aircraft, or one of them.

The third kit, well, that's still wrapped up nicely......for now.

I will post some pics, but I need to shoot them first.

 

I have the kagero book fw200, winkle browns wings of the Luftwaffe, something from osprey, another periodical and some internet references.

I am going to need help, especially with scratch building..... For me this will be an epic conquest.

Edited by It's a disease
Late night spelling! May still be errors......
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I'll follow along if I may - I'm interested in the Condor after reading in Eric Brown's 'Wings on My Sleeve' about his combat with these and his Martlet.

Big birds eh?

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Checking in here for the condor show as well. Inread in your interest panel that you are a fish keeper. What species do you keep @It's a disease?

 

Me? I keep Tanganyikan cichlids; Calvus, Leleupi, Transcriptus, and of course Tropheus.

 

Back to your build, I have the Revell AG version in the stash and will be happy to follow.

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Well good morning! Some of us are up real early! (Not me)
CedB, of course you can join in, umm I'll say fun, but I'm dreading the hack job for the extra windows, and the short span gondola.....yes, eric brown, that should be a group build, plenty of options. His book is fascinating, I've only read parts of it, or them, I have wings of the navy too. That guy had nerves of steel, "yeah" he says, "I'll try that!" Brave and beyond.
The condor interests me as a type from the battle of the Atlantic, that's how I got to know the aircraft, it did some amazing/impressive things for its time.
Modelglue, is it the new tool? (Basic fit of the wings is excellent, if it wasn't for the weight, they'd hang on glue free!)
About fish........I keep a good mixture;
tank 1, clown loach, buenos aires tetra and a baby gibbiceps. (Did have a Bristlenose in there but it died earlier this year.

Tank 2, betta splendens,
tank 3 figure 8 puffer fish,
tank 4 corydoras agassizii, black neon tetra, LDA1 (gold stripe plecostomus, should really say Loricariidae) and glass catfish.
tank 5 corydoras paleatus, pair of panaque albivermis (white worm plecostomus), glowlight tetra.
tank 6 (temporary) synodontis granulosa x polii not my fish, quarantined for my mrs....
and 2 snakes, a python called Monty (my snake) and a corn snake called nakoma (my partners snake)

 

rift lake fish are a good choice for quite a lot of uk water areas, I wish I'd started there, life could be so easy! But no, I went with soft water species except the puffer which is in brackish. As far as colour goes, you really can't beat cichlids, unless you go all out on a marine tank.

 

oh yes, aeroplanes.......... More to follow!

Edited by It's a disease
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On 19 September 2016 at 9:48 AM, Gondor44 said:

I'm going to follow this as well as I have one of these so I am interested in what you do to yours.

 

Gondor

Glad you're here, I've seen a few of the revell c5/8 (master kit) built online. Some look cool!

On 19 September 2016 at 2:19 PM, Martian Hale said:

How can one not love Fw200 Condor? I'm in! :popcorn:

 

Martin

Yeah they're nice. But massive! Enjoy your popcorn......

 

On 19 September 2016 at 5:14 PM, modelglue said:

Nice collection of tanks there @It's a disease, Soft and Brackish water are beyond my desire (for maintenance).

 

Back for more later!

Cheers, fish house on Flickr if you're interested. It was an accident, I swear...... It accidentally happened that way.

 

On 19 September 2016 at 6:59 PM, TheBaron said:

Every forum needs a Condor moment. Pleased to find this one. Good luck!:thumbsup2:

Tony

There are a few on here? Like every search, you end on britmodeller at some point!

Yeah I will take your luck, cheers. My head already hurts!

7 hours ago, bbudde said:

A Condor. I'm In of course Lovely shape on the ground and inflight. Cheers

;) yep. Not sure why I like this type so much. It has a great history.....

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29191638473_231f12eec6_z.jpg

 

Scale drawings.
Found on web, adjusted for clarity (blue).
Can't remember where I found this!

 

29782120886_ac937d405e_z.jpg

External references fw200 condor
Top left AIR MIN 94 GC+AE 0176 C-4/u1
Bottom left GC+SJ 0181 C-4/u2 (Dönitz)
Right side CE+IB 0137 C4/u1 (Hitler)

 

29525129640_f915ff575f_z.jpg

Internal references fw200B condor
Passenger liner pictures.
Similar seat shape in c-4/u1 and c-4/U2

 

 

Edited by It's a disease
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29782120166_f452367e44_c.jpg

Fw200 C-4/u2 1/72
••••••••
((Drawn from kagero book 32, FW 200 Condor.
(Pg41, 44, 61)
Murawski states,
C-4 series
Production starts feb 42.
93 airframes, W Nr, 0096-0098, 0100-0132, 0134-0190,0192-0200
Based on C-3 standard, HD151 @ A stand 15mm mg151.
Lofte 7D bombsight and improved radio equipment.

Special variants
C-4/U1 (W Nr 0137, CE+IB) hitlers aircraft with armoured hatch
C-4/U1 (W Nr 9176, GC+SE)* no hatch
C-4/U2 (W Nr 0138, CE+IC/F8+IT)
C-4/U2 (W Nr 0181, GC+SJ) official plane for fourteen passengers.
(The drawing suggests /U1 series had 11 seats and /U2 series had 14 seats)

3 airframes to UK,
July 3, 45. C-4/U1 (W Nr 0176, GC+AE)* as AIR MIN 94 to Farnborough.
(W Nr according to Nowarra, Eric Brown quotes 0137)

Sept 15, 45. C-4 (W Nr 0110, NT+BJ) as AIR MIN 96 to Farnborough.
No Date Given. C-4/U4**(W Nr 0181, GC+SJ) as AIR MIN 97.
••••••••
(*Is c4/u1 9176 actually 0176? There is a picture of air min 94 as GC+AE)
Are these both typos, S instead of A, 0 instead of 9?
(** c4/u4? Is this a typo, c4/u4 (fw200 C-4/u4, 2 airframes W Nr, 0152-0153))

According to the aviation archive,
Himmlers aircraft, FW 200 C-4/U1 GC+AE (air min 94)
With pics of interior, notes state;
"hinged wooden table adjacent to overwing escape window"
(No mention of a hatch in the floor of this airframe, but mentions an earlier model with hatch)
Also says this was the aircraft of dönitz,
yet Murawski states C-4/U2 W Nr 0181 GC+SJ used by dönitz (pg 69))

Himmler and dönitz in 0176, dönitz also in 0181, could be different time frames.

Now, wings of the Luftwaffe, states /u1 11 seats /u2 14 seats.
Abbreviated gondolas. This matching the drawing.
The text above pictures on page 97;
"Fw200c4/U2 (CE+IB) (lower 3 images) fw200c4/u1 (below).....
.....the latter having been flown at the RAE"
suggests to me, c4/u1 to Farnborough.
Looks like CE+IC (which should be W Nr 0138 according to Murawski)
Yet the airframes to uk do not match up (according to Murawski).

Brown also states himmler and dönitz aircraft as Werk-Nr 137 Sole example of type C-4/u1
11 passengers in 2 compartments, hatch in floor.
Also mention C-4/U2 as Werk-Nr 138, 14 passengers.
Also notes;
Fw200A-08 (Werk-Nr 3098)
Fw200A-09 (Werk-Nr 3099)
Special transports, latter being named Immelmann III, becoming Führersmaschine, personal aircraft for hitler.


C-4/u1 &u2 differences over revells c4 (c5/8) models.

? Bola gondola, front gun different. Includes mount ring.
Shorter overall (no bomb bay) and more pronounced at the rear end. Long version sitting more flush with the airframe.
(Assumed, No interruption of forward fuselage tanks as per drawing)
Upper turrets, old style fw19 turrets with different guns.
(One drawing of albatross III suggests rear upper turret removed with white 8 on rudder)
? Cabin ventilation ducts appear to be in a different location.
? Aerial and cable configuration, twin cables to lower rudder position. Different masts/location and termination.
? Windows, there are at least 4 per side, some locations/size differences.
Which leads to the interior!
? Complete rear cabins, lots of seats, over head storage, bulkheads, section between flight crew and passengers, looks like fuel tanks in the drawing because of the angle they are sat at.

( I think this list basically represents the changes to the revell kit to complete the LF models sheet! There is one fw19 turret in the trumpeter box, there may be more changes as it's possible I've missed/overlooked or simply confused myself)

The kits, revell c4 has different glass parts over the earlier c5/c8, the original parts seem to be present (austaushlafette mount) with a void on the sprue being filled with a new front glazed section for the bola gondola (ikaria mount).
Interiors well represented up to the bulkheads so I only need to build the missing section......
Already this is way above my pay grade for mods/scratch building!

Other really obvious differences,
hs293 missiles only in c5/8 boxing.
Bombs 6x250kg? Only in c4 boxing.

The most obvious difference between revell and trumpeter is the interior.
(Also gondola is different (ikaria mount) and comes with 3 torpedoes, Trumpeter also have a full complement of fuel tanks in the fuselage.
 There may be more differences between these kits but revell C4 and the trumpeter C3 kits are still sealed.

From the expiry date on the blue tub, I'm guessing this build has been shelved since late 2008. Most likely christmas time.

 

 

Edited by It's a disease
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I'm very interested to follow this build thread if that's ok?

 

I don't know a great deal about them, I did a bit of research in the past but I have unfortunately forgotten :confused: 

 

I did a little research on Immelman III and IRIC it was one of the preproduction aircraft, with diffferent engines to the production variants.

 

I was also interested to model the FW 200 that was flown in Spain for a while; very colourful :)

 

It will be fun to watch this; a big project, good luck :thumbsup2: 

 

Best regards

TonyT

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Not a modelling comment as such, but pertinent to afficionados of the Condor I have a true story as related to me by my late father. He served during 1943/4 on the sloop HMS Starling under the celebrated Captain F.J. (Johnnie) Walker as apart of the 2nd Support Group, who rather than merely escort the Convoys, actively hunted U.Boats around them in the Atlantic and North Sea.

 

The Condors were indeed a scourge and they used to shadow the convoys by flying wide rings around them, just out of gun range without necessarily attacking, but often guiding the U.Boats towards them. During one such shadowing, Captain Walker is reputed to have asked his second in command to send a message to the Condor saying that their incessant flying clockwise round the convoy was making him dizzy, and could they fly in the other direction instead?

 

Here I can't remember whether this was via Morse Code or on the Enemy's Radio Frequency, but after a few moments, back came the message "Anything to oblige" and the Condor turned about face and flew anti clockwise for the rest of the sortie!

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19 hours ago, TonyTiger66 said:

I'm very interested to follow this build thread if that's ok?

 

I don't know a great deal about them, I did a bit of research in the past but I have unfortunately forgotten :confused: 

 

I did a little research on Immelman III and IRIC it was one of the preproduction aircraft, with diffferent engines to the production variants.

 

I was also interested to model the FW 200 that was flown in Spain for a while; very colourful :)

 

It will be fun to watch this; a big project, good luck :thumbsup2: 

 

Best regards

TonyT

Of course it's ok! (Bit of cheek) it's in the public domain! Everybody is welcome.

You're like me, I've been looking at this build on and off for a few years now. I've forgotten where I've started but some of it has stuck in..... Yeah Immelmann III was Werk nummer 3099 (see above) I think that was eventually coded 26+00, not sure if/when the engines were updated.

ive seen the decal sheet for that Spanish condor, colourful indeed!

Yes a big project indeed, three fold!

What put me off kits like this years ago was the laborious painting process with hairy sticks.....I got lucky and got an airbrush for christmas several years ago. (They asked what I wanted, I took a chance with airbrush, low and behold, Santa dropped off an airbrush/compressor, just like that!). The second thing was storage but I got lucky again, I found a cheap used display cabinet that came from the used section of a camera shop (ex display for lenses). The final thing that killed all Luftwaffe builds (temporarily) was the swastika, or lack of! Once I discovered the aftermarket side of modelling, well, here I am! (That's basically the last decade in a paragraph.)

 

15 hours ago, rivalsavage said:

Not a modelling comment as such, but pertinent to afficionados of the Condor I have a true story as related to me by my late father. He served during 1943/4 on the sloop HMS Starling under the celebrated Captain F.J. (Johnnie) Walker as apart of the 2nd Support Group, who rather than merely escort the Convoys, actively hunted U.Boats around them in the Atlantic and North Sea.

 

The Condors were indeed a scourge and they used to shadow the convoys by flying wide rings around them, just out of gun range without necessarily attacking, but often guiding the U.Boats towards them. During one such shadowing, Captain Walker is reputed to have asked his second in command to send a message to the Condor saying that their incessant flying clockwise round the convoy was making him dizzy, and could they fly in the other direction instead?

 

Here I can't remember whether this was via Morse Code or on the Enemy's Radio Frequency, but after a few moments, back came the message "Anything to oblige" and the Condor turned about face and flew anti clockwise for the rest of the sortie!

Love this, if they could play football in the 14-18 war then I guess jerry could wind us up knowing full well he was possibly flying with virtual impunity. Yah, vee hear you engerlander, unt about turn.....neeeeooowwwwwww!

Tis a funny ol' business war, but even now stories turn up of old foes actually being friends, the period hate stemming only from orders and such. Thanks for this, it certainly belongs in this thread.......

 

(I have been working on the bola gondola, almost there, but I virtually built the me262 in the same amount of time!)

I have some pics to upload but I'm struggling with what to write as it isn't the finished article, I need to finalise the rear section which is a sort of bulge (in line with the turret) with a concave (return to fuselage) double compound curve (that tapers to the rear!).

I'm not sure how to make it all fit whilst being able to keep the pieces separate for painting. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have something!

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29739762572_2185a38087_z.jpg

Revell 1/72 Fw200 c4/u2 conversion
Initial look (again) this kit has been boxed for several years, the wing halves were already glued from this time. I quickly taped it together for a look at what I'm getting into. General fit of these parts is very good.
For the conversion.....
The bola gondola needs reducing in overall length to roughly 75.7mm. The glazing parts I'm using from the c8 kit (which had an even longer gondola) were pieced out so I could look at roughly where to cut......
Large amounts of time wasted on cross referencing and measuring. Hats off to those who do this sort of thing full time!
 
The framing is almost correct at the front end, all the bombsight gear needs removing and the gun type and mount will need replacing. The front fairing needs reducing to fit the profile of the fuselage at the new location.
The rear section is the worst part, it isn't even close.

 

29560192070_321213f816_c.jpg

 

Revell 1/72 Fw200 c4/u2 conversion
The point of no return!
I'm committed now...... Where's that saw?
For the first cuts and trial fit.
The bomb bay needs removing plus one rib on the forward section.
Two (out of four) windows need removing (forward area).
The round window.... That needs drilling out.
I made the glass insert from an old superglue pack. I drilled an appropriate sized hole in something (little paint tray) steamed the super glue packaging, quickly placed it over drilled hole and pressed a rounded tool into it. This was cut out, sort of. It still needs tidying. This is a first go effort for me!
 
After the cuts were made it was all pieced together. Something didn't look quite right.
Back to the drawing board! It's a little long overall.
I managed to trace this fault to the rear section.
 
Compared to the drawing, the fuselage matches up well!

 

29560191160_90909657e7_c.jpg

Revell 1/72 Fw200 c4/u2 conversion
 
Cut take 2.
I took off the rearmost windows where the rotating cupola fits on. First off I considered simply cutting the forward end of this piece but looking at the pictures......there were too many windows here! It isn't going to be an exact copy but something really close will suffice. The test fit of this cut makes the rear look about right when compared to the picture of CE+IB.
The bombsight gear has been sanded away, this was faired over so a smooth finish will be fine.
Size wise, we are in the right ball park, the overall length is good. It has been roughly placed with blu tac, the depth from the airframe is correct. I just need to figure out some sizes and make up a few fairings. Sounds simple but this is almost uncharted territory........
The view from the rear shows the original fairings which need sanding off. This piece also needs steaming to a more rounded profile and I can tell you that has not gone to plan.......
Either way I'm hooked on this build now. Finally!

 

29227412224_2a2b70188c_c.jpg

Fw200 condor 1/72
Frame count.
Top left, frames 2-3. This is the area where the front of the gondola sits on the c4.
Top right, series unknown but the windows at the front of the gondola and the cartridge ejection chute? are worthy of note.
I'm not sure if the extended gondola was a c8 fit or if it was on earlier models (c5 onwards).
Lower left, short gondola being fitted to CE+IB at the factory. Frame 3 highlight.
Lower right, where these frames appear on the kit.
Frame 5 marked, this will be the datum for the cabin windows.
C8 pic, f8+FR? Note extended gondola position.
C4 pic, that's what I hope to achieve! GC+SJ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by It's a disease
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11 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Fascinating. :popcorn:

 

Is the Trumpeter Condor really worth the extra cash over the already pretty impressive Revell kit?  :hmmm:

In a word no.

I haven't yet opened the bags in the trumpeter box, with the exception of the glazing. (It's wrapped in foam so you can't see in and I had to have a look!)

At a glance the differences are;
Trumpeter.....
Engines are poor by comparison. Revell are leagues above.
Outboard wing detail, revell have rendered (correctly) the ?fabric? areas, whereas the trumpeter has thick raised lines in this area.
All control surfaces including flaps are separate in the trumpeter box.
All control surface including flaps are one piece moulded with the wing in the revell box.
Gondola is simplified. Much less realistic in the trumpeter boxing, you can't model the bomb bay open from the box.
Revell has bomb bay, although I think you need to cut the bay doors in half (similar method for undercarriage doors).

 

Interiors. Revell miss out the central section, it's a complete void but what they do provide is good enough for most people.
Trumpeter offers full interior with full load of fuel tanks.

Stores, revell have either bombs or hs293 missiles depending on what box you buy.
Trumpeter has torpedoes (as I understand it only 21 aircraft were made to carry torpedoes, c-3/u5) plus a single c-3/u1 which was used to test torpedoes.

Markings,
Trumpeter offer one a/c captured by Russia (trumpeter say it was 0034 f8+GW captured, but according to Murawski apparently it was shot down delivering supplies with no survivors, maybe they were executed after a successful forced landing?) or a German a/c marked 0099 KE+IX which should be a c3/u9 armed government plane. I think realistically neither of these would have carried torpedoes as marked.
Both the c4 and c5/8 have 2 and 4 options respectively. The ones I've looked at seem to check out but I haven't scrutinised them fully.

Money, I should say I got the trumpeter kit on offer for £26.66 which is similar to what I paid for the c4 bomber. It was such a long time ago the price on the box of the c-5/8 is £15.99 (That was back on the old vat rates!) my money was better spent on the revell box but you do get some good bits in the trumpeter box. How much would a set of resin fuel tanks cost, if they were available?
I'd say, trumpeter copied a drawing, revell copied the aircraft.

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29783121542_33467aa733_z.jpg

 

Fw200 condor 1/72 short gondola
My plan was to steam the glass to the correct profile so I made relief cuts where I thought I'd need ummmm relief!..... but as you can see it went wrong. I think it snapped because the transparencies are much more brittle by nature.
I had already thought about just using the windows previously so I proceeded with that plan. Out with the saw again! (Now I'm further into this part of the build I think I'm only going to be able to use the actual windows and frames, so these will need reducing further still). The window area is roughly correct according to the plan but it is divided into 3 panes.

 

 

29269426574_c49446c51b_c.jpg

Getting the rear cupola to sit correct. I made the two pieces at the same time. First I lined everything up, made a few marks and roughed out with a file, the pieces were curved to shape by hand, the angles where they meet the fuselage and the cupola were then filed on. These parts still need attention but for now they are close enough.

 

29270491503_757c439bea_z.jpg

So, I'm getting a bit tired of all these parts falling off, I decided to make a backing plate to reduce the parts count! Rear flanges were set first and the overall length was marked out. The join between the two was made by first sticking to the flanges, then add a small superglue tack, finally stick to the foremost piece allowing the natural twist to occur. Once dry this was set to the backing plate with liquid poly. (Pin technique borrowed from RC model makers, cheers Jim, I didn't think I'd be using that trick!)
While that was drying I moved on with the front end. Just adding risers to get my overall heights.
I have used 0.5x2mm and 1mm square plastruc stock and 1mm sheet, the backing plate is paper thin plastic sheet.

 

29813373391_2ce3a0bb37_z.jpg[/url]

This is how it looks!
I'm not sure what to write because I don't know what I'm doing! I really am making it up as I go along.
(Note to self, spend longer accurately marking the backing plate and should there be a next time, don't set the piece for drying in the most prominent area of the bench!)

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On 24 September 2016 at 5:41 PM, CedB said:

Wow, there's some great work and real dedication going on here - good job Jamie...

Ummm, no! (But I'm trying ;)) (bucketloads of sarcasm)

 

I failed. I'm trying again. I've not scratch built anything this involved before.....aerials and wot nots, that's my level.

Lets say it's a learning curve.

I will not give up! This gondola section is THE defining feature of this type, so I have to get that before I can move on.

I have, or am learning that, 1mm square plastic lacks the guts to hold the shape, perhaps I should have used brass square or sheet stock. (Plastruc is a very soft plastic, the sheet material I have seems to be much more dense)

 

I thought the idea was good, but I think it may be too complicated. In principle it seemed ok, ribs, longerons or stringers then sheet over that. It may be great but only if I can finish this part!

 

I have no idea about the cabin windows, the floorpan baffles me, I'm not sure about how to fair in these ribs but I'm currently working on that.

Thanks for the vote of confidence though! I need that.....

 

(this does sound negative, but it isn't, frustrated yes, I'm getting hints of that!)

I have worked in the gondola windows, reworked the pair of ribs and put on the first line of outer skin......

Bobs bits are drying, hopefully a progress report sometime tomorrow.

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There is a lot to do but you can only do one thing at a time! You've come this far! :)

 

Brass would be a great medium if you have the patience. I've seen some models made entirely of brass and they blew my mind. Well, admittedly that doesn't take much... blow in one ear...

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11 hours ago, modelglue said:

Well, admittedly that doesn't take much... blow in one ear...

 

At least they'd hit your mind! I just get a whistling sound.......

 

Yes I've seen some incredible brass work, I think it was the all etch Fieseler storch, that thing is amazing, there's an all metal corsair total scratch job that will leave you speechless, and a  p51 (think it's just a wing), just insane.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/92891884@N04/galleries/

Look in exquisite art I. This is my online gallery of other peoples artwork, it includes other styles beyond model making.

each picture is a link to the respective owner.

(Sit down cos you'll get knocked down!) The work here still amazes me, and I've looked at it loads of times.

 

(don't worry, this is getting done, that is why I was a bit defeated yesterday, my work disintegrated in front of me, how do I explain it? That complex and fragile detail you've been working on, you drop it, it explodes, you feel sunken.)

 

I think I went about construction the wrong way, take two is much more rigid, I over complicated the production sequence.

Rather than cutting little stringers and butt fixing them between the ribs I tried to pocket out a relief. Like a half lap joint.

Lets just say that is the wrong way of doing things.......

It takes too long and the remaining plastic after you apply glue, yeah, that glue that is known to melt plastic......

Say no more, say no more, a nods as good as a wink and all that......

Hopefully at some point, (today!) you'll stop laughing!

 

(here comes that whistling sound again, it ain't tinnitus and the kettles off the gas..........)

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29394888303_daff562c1b_z.jpg

 

Gondola take 2!

Top left pic.
Originally my plan was to extend the stringers back through the main pair of ribs using half lap joints. The little U shaped piece is all that remains of that dilemma!
(The little stringers were full length to the rear section piece, you can see the notches for the joint)
After carefully measuring and cutting I applied glue, this is where things went wrong, the glue (which melts plastic, yeah I know) began working on those main ribs, as they were holding shape with pressure the whole thing collapsed and I had to start again, hence take 2!
So I remade the main pair of ribs and settled for butt fixing, I should've done that first time around......
I doubled up the new rear rib, this allowed me to use the original jointing method without compromising the main rib strength, this part is quite complicated as it helps form the frame edges for the side windows and the rear cupola. The rearmost half rib which the cupola mounts to was (after several failed attempts using 1mm square) made from sheet stock, I drew a template from the cupola and filed to size.
Sheet stock ribs might actually work better but I would need cross sectional drawings to work from, all I have is the side view blueprint and whatever pictures are in the public domain.

Top right pic.
I've moved part of the fuselage over so I can fit the gondola parts to one piece of plastic, it can be filled and fettled before the two fuselage halves are joined. I'm hoping this is the right thing to do. It seems to make sense at this point in time.

There are a lot of pictures for this part of the build, I think I need to document this conversion properly. If it turns out ok, I may need "instructions" in the future!

Note, the single stringer between the pair of ribs adds considerable rigidity to the whole assembly.
Also, you can see my plan for skinning, strips of plastic and filler, similar/same method for wooden boats.

 

29727434120_84482d2f3b_z.jpg

 

Fw200 Condor C-4/U2 1/72
The rear section, I built this up gradually, allowing each stage to dry. As each outer skin was laid I worked out where the next stringer should go. Plenty of glue to get a good reaction from the plastic. Squeezed down until liquid plastic oozed from the joints. Last pic is prior to filling, which I have done, it needs a small amount of work around the side windows and whatever is necessary to mate this part to the next piece further forward, I'm not sure if I'll need those vast overhangs but, at least I have the option!
I'm happy with the overall shape, it has all of the various curves, I'm sure there is an easier/faster way to do this. I've been reading about a sculpted balsa ummm, lump, possibly former? and heating plastic over it.
(Next update is fuselage mods)

 

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