Popular Post tomprobert Posted August 28 Popular Post Share Posted August 28 Greetings fellow Britmodellers! Here's my summer holidays project - the Trumpeter 1/48 scale Focke-Wulf Fw-200C-4 Condor. I started this kit with the intention of it being some light relief and a relatively quick and simple build as a nice break from the more complex projects I have on the go. Unfortunately that didn't turn out to the case and it was far from straightforward - although it looked gorgeous in the box, I foolishly spent hours building and painting a very complex interior, 99% of which will never be seen again. The real issue was attaching the wings, however, as Trumpeter (in their wisdom) have the lower wing and central fuselage section molded in one, but with absolutely no locating points to ensure this structurally critical part of the model has any strength whatsoever - it's simply butt-joints which would obviously crack under any sort of load. Being the large model that it is, I therefore made an alloy spar and epoxied this in place to give the wings some strength, and then added thick plastic card tabs to the wing root joints as well as the lower fuselage joints: Unfortunately, this mod meant the wing to fuselage join needed a lot of filling, sanding and rescribing to come good... ...but it has given the model much-needed strength - although it still creaks and groans like an old piece of garden furniture when picked up! Anyway, despite not being the easy shake and bake I hoped it would be, I did enjoy it and it makes for a large and impressive model. I used my usual Xtracolor enamels and finished it off with some heavy exhaust staining as seen in references with Mig pastels. All the best, Tom Focke-Wulf Fw-200C-4 of 8./KG40, Summer 1943: 81 5 6 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanond Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Nice condor! That's a huge model suiting its namesake. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Beautiful, it is a lovely looking aeroplane.! I like the well engineered solution to strengthening the wing joint Cheers John (When do these 'quick and simple' restful builds ever turn out like that!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeff Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Superb work and finish! 👌 Keith 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Proulx Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Very nice build. I know at one time Nautilus offered a wooden spar set to address the wing issue. It would be nice if the aftermarket would provide a little love for this kit. Mark Proulx 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LorenSharp Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 As usual Tom. a Masterful completion of a unique subject. I have the same sitting in a bag awaiting a full restoration. And yes it is a BIG bird. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc D Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 ‘Light relief’ lol - that is huge! And a fantastic job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Beautiful build and wonderfully clean. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted August 28 Author Share Posted August 28 1 hour ago, Viking said: Beautiful, it is a lovely looking aeroplane.! I like the well engineered solution to strengthening the wing joint Cheers John (When do these 'quick and simple' restful builds ever turn out like that!) Thanks, John - and yes you’re quite right! I hadn’t really read any reviews of this kit to be honest, so the wing problem took me a little by surprise, especially as my previous experience with Trumpeter kits had been well engineered. Still, a bit if alloy tube and some 5 minute epoxy did the trick… 26 minutes ago, Mark Proulx said: Very nice build. I know at one time Nautilus offered a wooden spar set to address the wing issue. It would be nice if the aftermarket would provide a little love for this kit. Mark Proulx Many thanks, Mark - and since starting this and having read some reviews I did indeed see the spar and wing fix. However, it came a little too late for this one - that’s even if I could find the spar set anywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhutchi Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Looks great. Do you have pictures of the hidden inside? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted August 28 Author Share Posted August 28 1 minute ago, jhutchi said: Looks great. Do you have pictures of the hidden inside? Unfortunately not - I didn’t think to take any at the time but I can assure you it’s all there! The fuselage has some large windows so quite a bit of light gets in there… it’s just the massive auxiliary fuel tanks sit in front of the windows and block everything from view! If was to build another one, I’d only paint the tanks and probably leave the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmerboy Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Big and beautiful as always Tom, love that you go large, but where do you keep them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 That's really pretty! I love the shape of the trumpeter kit, big and small versions (1/72) more than the Revell item. Funny that this constitutes a pleasant summer holiday for you! One thing to note: I think you need two more frames on each of the side cockpit windows to make them accurate: one forming a triangle with the angle of the windshield, the other 1 scale foot aft of that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted August 29 Author Share Posted August 29 8 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said: That's really pretty! I love the shape of the trumpeter kit, big and small versions (1/72) more than the Revell item. Funny that this constitutes a pleasant summer holiday for you! One thing to note: I think you need two more frames on each of the side cockpit windows to make them accurate: one forming a triangle with the angle of the windshield, the other 1 scale foot aft of that. Thank you… and you claim Trumpeter got something wrong?! Surely not! To be honest I just built it as I came in the box - but I may have a look and see where any corrections are needed. I used the Eduard mask set but I imagine they just went with the framing supplied in the kit… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev67 Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Very nice build Tom, the Condor is an impressive aircraft, I had the new tooled Revell offering in 1/72, but why I sold it I don't know, as they are not cheap any more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly9mm Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Looks great, thanks for sharing. Cheers, Marcin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 A very impressive build of the Condor. And, thanks for giving some solutions to the wing issue with the kit and how you worked around it. That will be most helpful when I get around to this kit. Thanks for sharing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VolkerR. Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 A perfect build. And yes, it`s big. Hope you have enough shelf space. I had to sell mine because I did`t. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaWeasel Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Lovely finish, looks great and glad you're happy with it despite the difficulties. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Wow! That is very impressive. Super clean build sir. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 great work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted August 29 Author Share Posted August 29 12 hours ago, kev67 said: Very nice build Tom, the Condor is an impressive aircraft, I had the new tooled Revell offering in 1/72, but why I sold it I don't know, as they are not cheap any more I think it is a beautiful aircraft - so graceful. The Revell 1/72 kit is supposed to be pretty good - and a slightly more manageable size too! 6 hours ago, georgeusa said: A very impressive build of the Condor. And, thanks for giving some solutions to the wing issue with the kit and how you worked around it. That will be most helpful when I get around to this kit. Thanks for sharing. You are most welcome. There are probably other better solutions out there to strengthen it up, but this has worked well so I’m glad to be of service ☺️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakendk Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 It looks fantastic!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watto Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 I really like your Condor, the finish and look is very nice. Interesting to see how you overcame the build issue with the wings. Stunning looking aircraft, thanks for sharing. 👏👏 Watto 🍻 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screech Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 Damn, that is one very impressive build! You just seem to touch the plastic of the kit and POOF! A true master piece! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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