Fw200C-4 “Condor” | 1/48 | Trumpeter

[Hawkmoon]

All looking good and nice work

[Parker]

Not a very exciting update.

Work continues on the big beast. I’m getting better at handling it as I move it around to get to different bits. The last couple of nights has seen far less instances of me nearly knocking something over with a wing sweep although I’m sure something will topple at some point. I’ve had to fit the lower machine gun as there was no way to fit it later, this will no doubt get snapped off at some point, but I live in hope.

Other wing bits glued on at a bit of an angle to give the beast a bit of interest, door installed (simple enough task but for the fact that I dropped it into the fuselage and spent a few minutes gently shaking and manoeuvring the beast so I could get the door out), front engines glued on (really gives the beast a more developed look) and I’ve made a start of the seemingly endless task of masking. Still more windows to mask.











Stay safe everyone.
Wear a mask.

- P

[BigWall]

It's coming along nicely and looking great!

[Parker]

Cheers Joe.

I'm a bit sloppy with gluing but hoping to be able to disguise it all with lashings of weathering!

[Parker]

This door continues to frustrate.

Whilst masking the window I was a bit heavy handed and the dam thing broke away and is now rattling around inside the fuselage.

Thoughts are that I'll now get creative with weathering and make it look like the Condor has seen some action.

Can anyone point me to images or a 'how to' on weathering the look for damage/machine gun impact/scorched metal? I've had a google but I'm at a bit of a loss. Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
-P

[Parker]

Aaaaaaaannnnnddddddd.... it’s gone.




No idea where it’s gone.

[BigWall]

Ouch! Welcome to my world.

[SMAddict66]

Sorry to hear of your loss

[RangerNeil]

Nice job curing the spar issue
Looking forwards to seeing the paint go on now!!

[Parker]

Well, part one of the masking is finally done… I think.
On to slapping some paint on the big beast. Might need a paint roller.











- P

[Hawkmoon]

Boom boom paint, all looking good and nice work

[Parker]

And so it begins...





-P

[Parker]

Big bird update.

Painting continued this past week to the underside of the big bird. After 6 or so coats and a very light rub I’m happy with the finish. Plenty of scope to get free form jazz with weathering. I then spent yesterday evening doing stage 2 of the masking.... so much masking.

This week I'll start to slap the dark green on the top.








Sadly whilst handling the big bird I've managed to pop out a couple of more windows. Based on the missing windows I'll weather it so as to appears that the Condor has seen some action. I've found a few vids on youtube that show how to do machine gun bullet impact so I'll give that a crack.

I'm also going to add a bit of colour to the wing flap detail. Not sure what colour tbh. Was thinking either red or yellow to give the beast a bit of pop, but may err on the side of caution and opt for black. TBC.

Stay safe fellas.

-P

[BigWall]

Looking good! That sure is a lot of masking.

[Parker]

Update.

Firstly, let me state that I don’t know a great deal* about the paint schemes on military aircraft.
I generally just follow the instructions, then go a bit rogue.

*By ‘great deal’, I mean nothing. But I’m learning.

Secondly, the Condor is massive, it needs, IMO, some visual interest across its enormous frame. Viewed from below its just a huge blue/grey mass. From above it should be OK as there’ll be a bit of interest created by the two tone green splinter scheme.

Whilst googling images of machine gun bullet holes on aircraft in WW2 that I plan to incorporate on the Condor, I’ve noticed that a lot of the images or illustrations of the various fighters & bombers (both RAF & Luftwaffe) have their wingtips and/or tails painted yellow. After researching why, I've decided to whack a bit of yellow on the big bird. Yellow isn’t included on the paint instructions supplied with the kit for the Condor, (nor is red for that matter)....but, I'd had a couple of beers and thought, bugger it.

So with that in mind... I've started getting free form jazz with the painting.


First coat below…

>
>
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BOOM




Stay safe everyone.

-P

[Parker]

Regretting putting yellow on the wing tips.

Several coats later and its looking very much less than ordinary.
I’ll persevere, but very annoying as its halted all progress.





onward and upward.

-P

[Parker]

ahhhh, wrong image.

updated below.






I'm going to let it cure for a couple of days, then try again.
Despite leaving it 24hrs, as I brush on the next coat of yellow on it just 'pulls'.

Looks Brad Pitt.


I'm using 50% mix each of water & gloss yellow (Mr. Hobby H4) brush applied on the Tamiya XF-23 (light blue)

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Or, I'm going to weather the yellow to within an inch of its life.

-P

[Parker]

hahahahahaha.

nice auto correct! Well played.

[Parker]

Not a remarkably interesting big green bird update.

First coat of green.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the yellow was a mistake and I’m putting it behind me and moving on.

I’ll fix it at a later date.


Honestly, I’m never doing a model this big again.







Stay safe everyone.
Wear a mask.

-P

[RangerNeil]

Looking good thus far!!
You say you'll never build one this big again - until someone brings out a 1/12 scale Lancaster....

[Parker]

second coat...




My poor fuselage seam joins are becoming more apparent as the big bird gets darker. I really should've paid a bit more attention to them prior to painting. Hopefully I'll be able to disguise some of them with the splinter camo, time will tell.

Thanks for looking in.
Stay safe everyone.

- P

[Parker]

Looking good thus far!!
You say you'll never build one this big again - until someone brings out a 1/12 scale Lancaster....

Ha! I'll need a bigger dining room table!

[RangerNeil]

Looking good thus far!!
You say you'll never build one this big again - until someone brings out a 1/12 scale Lancaster....

Ha! I'll need a bigger dining room table!

I'll need a bigger house!!

[Parker]

A couple of big green bird updates.

I’ve applied the fourth coat of the dark green, I may or may not do a fifth, I might have to as there’s a few spots that still need a bit more attention. If I can, I’ll incorporate these areas of concern within the splinter camo scheme. TBC.




The more interesting part of this update...

Last night I started experimenting with how to do the machine gun damage. Please excuse the awful paint finish of the Mig below. I use it as a test for various finishes for weathering.

Anyway, below are my first attempts.

Using a tiny drill bit to do the smaller holes.







I then enlarged the holes with a slightly larger drill bit and added a bit of putty then pressed into the hole with a pencil to give the holes a bit of ‘height’ away from the fuselage.
Lastly, applied a bit of chrome paint, which looks very dodgy in these images, again, just experimenting at this stage.












Thoughts greatly appreciated if anyone has any feedback. Initially I’m thinking the smaller holes work best and suit the scale. The larger holes with the putty would probably look better on a tank where there’s thicker armor.

Anyway, thoughts welcome, good & bad.

Stay safe everyone.

-P

[BigWall]

I think I'm with you. The smaller holes look better and the larger ones would look better on armor.

[aur0ra145]

Wow, that's cool. I also think smaller would be better for the airplane battle damage.

[Parker]

Agreed, smaller holes it is.


MORE MASKING!




First coat of the camo.








I may yet paint the tail fin yellow. The big bird needs something, its very drab.

Stay safe everyone.

- P

[Parker]

Big green bird update.

Several coats of the other shade of green (XF-61) and I’m calling the camo done. I think I’ve managed to disguise my shoddy fuselage join enough that I’ll be able to continue the subterfuge with the free form jazz that I can do with weathering. Just a few bits to touch up but otherwise I’m calling it done.






Time now to address the yellow situation. I ordered new yellow paint, which thankfully arrived today. Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow acrylic. My hope is that it will apply effortlessly over the terrible gloss effort and not look awful. I’ve also decided I’m going to slap a bit of yellow on the tail fin and also the top of the wing tips.





It may not come across in the pics but when the big bird is sitting in front of me its just a mass of dull dark green.

After the yellow, if that works, I’ll spray the matt clear coat and get my weathering cap on.


Stay safe everyone.
Wear a mask.

- P

[Stokesy44]

Don't worry about it looking drab, the markings will liven it up no end.

[Hawkmoon]

Looks good from here and it will come to life as you add the markings and some scrubing down with a dead dingo

[aur0ra145]

Really looking nice so far!

[BigWall]

It's looking good! I like the camo.

[Parker]

Cheers fellas.

Whacked a bit of yellow on the big bird last night.
First coat.










Still needs a few more coats, then a bit of a rub down before applying the matt clear coat.


Have a good weekend.
- P

[Parker]

Big green bird update.

Yellow wing tips and tail fin are complete. Thankfully, the horrendous looking gloss yellow has now been rectified. A bit of yellow seeped under the masking but I was able to clean that up.



I’ve stuck the wing flaps on at a slight angle to still show the red internal. TBH, I’m not sure historically if they should be red but what the heck.









Matt clear coat (TS-80) has been applied and has really made a tremendous difference to the painted finish. All my little touch ups that I was concerned would still be visible have all gone.




Next up will be the decals, then another clear coat, then on to the weathering and the machine gun bullet holes. Usually I’d attach the wheels and other smaller pieces prior to the decals & weathering but due to the size of the model I just know I’ll snap them off whilst handling it. They’ll be last to be glued on.

Cheers all, stay safe.
- P

[BigWall]

It's looking great! I can't wait to see it decaled up

[Parker]

Cheers Joe.

[digger303]

Looking very smooth well done

[Parker]

Cheers Digger. I was a bit worried that due to size of the bird the painting would look patchy (non airbrush), but its come up well. The clear coat certainly helped to flatten out any bumpy brush strokes.

Anyway, quick update.

Started sticking on more less obtrusive (not likely to get snapped off) bits last night.
Engine bits.




Might give the decals a crack this evening.

Stay safe everyone.

- P

[BigWall]

It's looking great!

[Parker]

Big green bird update.

The Condor has her markings. All decals applied... (there’s not that many).
Clear coat has been applied and next up will be the weathering. Free form jazz time.









All the decals applied easily apart from the swastikas on the tail. Both were supplied in two parts and I found it rather fiddly lining the elements up. I’ll probably run a big weathering streak across the worst one to hide the misalignment.




Cheers all.
Stay safe.

-P

[BigWall]

The paint came out great and the decals really make it shine. Great job!

[RangerNeil]

Looking really impressive now - congratulations!!

[Tomcat64]

Well that's come along really well

Cracking job on the camo scheme and well done for persevering with the yellow too - that can be a real pain to brush.

Nice work

[Parker]

Thanks for you comments fellas, appreciated.


First steps at weathering.

I’ve started playing around with what colours work best on the big bird using the Tamiya weathering kits. My loose plan is to apply the Soot colour, then work it further with the Rust and the Gray. The Snow & Yellow will follow.





I quite enjoy this part of the build. I tend to drift off into the narrative I’ve created in my head as I apply the various streaks and marks. This Condor has seen some action during her long-range reconnaissance & bombing missions in the Atlantic. Churchill called the Condor the “Scourge of the Atlantic”. She’s a long time removed from the day she rolled out of the Focke Wulf production line in Bremen.






Onward and upward.

Cheers all.

-P

[Parker]

The weathering continues.

There has however been a couple of casualties. I was a bit heavy handed with my streaking and two wing flaps snapped off. Not entirely unexpected as they’re only glued on at a couple of small contact points.









Stay safe.

Cheers.
- P

[Parker]

Condor update…







































Boo!







































Random streaking to the upper wings & fuselage. I’ve tried to rein in my heavy-handed approach and be a bit more subtle.

Next up will be adding the final components. Wheels, gun turrets, propellers and whatever else I’ve previously painted on the sprues.

The end is in sight!








Stay safe everyone.
Wear a goddam mask.

- P

[BigWall]

Looks like you found the right amount of streaking on the upper wings. It's looking great!

[Parker]

Cheers Joe.

[LWWales]

Such clean work, looks great!

[Parker]

The big green bird has wheels! Big fat wheels.

A rather fiddly 8 part assembly (14 if you include the actual wheels) that tbh I had my doubts would, when constructed, support the big bird. But I’ve managed to glue them well enough that its working. Now that she’s not sitting on her belly, the Condor has taken a more imposing look. A couple of black bombs and unused bomb calipers (if that’s what they’re called) certainly help in that regard.

Last thing to do to the underside is to attach the wheel bay doors and give the white bits a splash of weathering.
















I've also decided not to reattach the two wing flaps that broke off.
They were lost somewhere over the Atlantic.


Next up will be the two turrets. Both require a bit of fiddly masking that I’ve been putting it off. Then I'll will be removing the masking from all the other windows. It’s something which I’ll be approaching with a little trepidation. Through a combination of poor gluing and sausage fingers I’ve already popped out several windows by simply touching them, so poking and prodding trying remove tiny bits of tape will no doubt see more of them lost to the inaccessible inner fuselage.

Time will tell.

Thanks for looking in and commenting, its appreciated as at times the big bird as nearly gotten away from me.

Cheers all.

- P