Kit Review -- 1/48 Trumpeter 
Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor (part 1) 

by Mel "Webster" Silvestre 

IPMS Philippines Bert Anido

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  Philippines Independence Day  2005   

 

Part 1

 

IPMS Philippines Bert Anido Chapter was blessed to have been given a test shot of a 1/48 scale Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor Transport/Bomber.  The kit came from none other than Trumpeter itself.

 

1.  At first glance, the first test shot kit arrived in the following condition:

a.       It was unboxed (all parts are wrapped in plastic)

b.      It came with a photocopied instruction sheet without the decal and camouflage placement guide.

c.       There is a decal sheet

d.      There is no (acetate) film for the instrumentation panel.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

2.  Interior assemblies:

 

A.  Out-of-the-box observations:

1)      The bulk of the parts make up the interior from the flight deck to the rearmost bulkhead.

2)      The floor (thankfully!) is broken down into 3 sections which allows for easy assembly.

3)      Cabin lights which attach to the cabin bulkhead are molded in cleanly.  It is tempting to install lights here to illuminate the interior.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

B.  Assembly:

1)      A whopping 8-step instruction with 11 sub-assemblies guide you through the assembly of the interior.

2)      Fit is almost impeccable.  The detailed parts of the interior snap into place and are automatically aligned with their adjacent components.

a.       For example, all bulkheads, although noticeably narrower than the cabin floor, fit so tightly that they automatically assume a perpendicular position relative to the floor.

b.      Entire interior fits easily and neatly into the fuselage without the need for further adjustments.

c.  “Almost Impeccable” because of the following:

1)      The pilot/co-pilot seat tabs do not conform to their locating holes on the flight deck floor.

2)      All locating holes in the rearmost cabin floor are a tad too small for the tabs on all the interior parts located.  This is rectified by enlarging them with a sharp knife which then snap into place in perfect alignment like the rest of the cabin parts.

3)      Fuel cells have uneven mating surfaces, producing gaps at the seams.

4)      There are no harnesses for any of the crew seats and throttle and mixture levels are absent as well.

5)      The rudder pedals are a bit chunky and have their toe restraining straps molded solid.  Also, mount them with a slight (2”) toe-out as the instruction will have you install parallel to each other.  (Though this is not visible upon completion).

 

C.  Conclusion:

1)      Advanced out-of-the-box builders will want to add seat belts at least to the flight deck and controls to the throttle quadrants.  We can only wish that there would be a reference for plumbing for the fuel cells made available.

2)      Lastly, for those who want to leave the rear door open, you might want to add interior structure to the fuselage walls.  The base walls are also slightly visible through the cockpit windows and the dorsal gunner’s position.

3)      For reference to the Condor’s fuselage structure, the pilot press limited the cutaway view published  in Bombers of World War II edited by David Donald is helpful.  Also very helpful is a photo of a Condor that crashed in Norway during World War II (www.wk2.info/karlpech.html)

 

Click on images below to see larger images

3.  Wing assembly:

 

NOTE:  This is not the next step in the assembly sequence.  The span is way past 2 ft.

 

            A.  Out-of-the-box observation

1)      Ribbing aft of the rear spar on top of the outermost flap section is only visible in the photos found in Bombers of World War II (ibid. p. 169) in full color, 3 views.  It isn’t visible in any of the photos showing the top with the wing in any references used.

2)      The ailerons have the overdone fabric over-rib texture on their top surfaces only.

3)      There are sink holes on the top surface corresponding to the spar and rib detail in the split flaps.

4)      The aileron hinge line curves at the wing tip on both the top and bottom surfaces of the wing.  The photo on p. 228 Warplanes of the Third Reich show the top surface hinge line should be straight out to the tip while the photo on p. 227 shows the bottom surface hinge line beginning to curve aft outward of the outermost hinge.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

 

This indicates a Frise-type aileron which Trumpeter’s aileron airfoil did not represent well either.

 

A totally featureless wheel well boxes are provided for the nacelle interior.

 

Ejector pin marks between the ribs will be hard to fill.

 

            B.  Assembly:

1)      Upper wing surfaces are molded with the right dihedral molded in.  Assembling the lower outer wing panels to them was straightforward with the locating pins actually helping to align things.

2)      Mating those assemblies to the bottom center system was easy the first time.  But due to the flimsy center section, it proved difficult the second time around.  It was obvious that the assembled wing would be grossly flexible.

3)      In fairness (to the manufacturer and the kit), we assembled it to the fuselage.  Although the fit was excellent, the prospect of relying on the fuselage fillet-to-wing joint, our test showed the following:

a.       When the model is picked up by the fuselage, the wing droops noticeable and will either pull the fuselage apart or pull the wing roots apart.

b.      When put down on a flat surface, dihedral increases to a point where the outer wheels of the landing gear lift off the table.

 

C.  Accuracy:

1)      As mentioned earlier, the chord of the upper wing surface upstream of the aileron should be longer than the lower surfaces chord.

2)      The ribbing molded on the upper wing surface and the fabric above and aluminum below treatment of the kit wing needs further research:

a.       Profile publications of the Fw 200 describes the wing: “covered with flush-riveted stressed skin to the rear spar, the remaining fabric covered.”

b.      In p. 46 of Avions #107, February 2002 issue is the clearest version we’ve seen of SG & KS  a Fw 200 C-3 in a right bank against gigantic white cumulus.  It cleanly shows ribbing on the underside of the outer wing panels including the ailerons.  Furthermore, they appear to begin at the front spar and not the rear spar.  None of the references mentioned changes between C-3 and C-4 wings (NOTE:  This photo seems to have been retouched where the outboard bomb pylons and the outboard engine nacelle bomb/fuel tank releases have been edited out by a cartographer.  Enough of the ribbing detail is visible though at the outboard portion.

c.       In the Karl Pech website and www.lufthansa.ju52.de/fotos/fochefoto/foto02.htm where a Lufthansa team of technicians seem to be retrieving a Fw 200 clearly show the extent of aluminum-covered areas of the wing which remain covered after all these years and that which we presume were fabric-covered.  The structures were completely bare.

 

D.  Conclusion:

           

            1.  In terms of structure: the wings require a spar.

a.       Trumpeter provided a carry-through structure (or at least the top of it that protrudes above the cabin floor).

b.      Pt. C9 that is also positioned at the thickest part of the wing.  We cut 2 mm wide slots on either of its ends and cut out 2 mm wide strips from the floor (E11) where (C9) attaches to it (refer to drawing).  A wing spar was then cut from 2 mm thick styrene sheet (see photo).  This was then installed beneath C9 and between the 2 separated sections of the floor (E11, see photo).  The cabin was temporarily attached to the lower fuselage fore and aft then the spar glued to the inner surface of the wing flap without cement.  If any modeler would like to use this spar (drawings are provided), please take note that the top edge is straight (in all 4 drawings available to us agree on this) and the tops of the cut-outs for the wheel wells must be parallel to it to ensure that all 4 main wheels touch the ground.

 

 

2.  Accuracy:

a.       Flap ribs – based on Karl Pech’s website, ribs as wing and flap ribs should be pockmarked with lightening holes and we hope an Aftermarket outfit will oblige the Condor fans out there.

b.      Aileron – the problem here is the airfoil section:  it is molded around while the actual section should be wedge-shaped at the leading edge (see drawing).

c.       Fabric over-rib texture – this should extend from the main spar (3rd span-wise engraved line from the leading edge) to the trailing edge including the aileron and spar-wise from the 2nd rib (2nd row of rivets) from the dihedral break until the last engraved panel line before the wing tip.  Except for the inter-rib spaces, where the teardrop-shaped fairings are found and aileron trim tab (see drawing).  Our ribs were made from stretched sprue, half-submerged in engraved lines and cemented in place (with liquid cement).  The chord extension is from 3 mm styrene sheet.

d.       Additional access panels and skin paneling (see drawing) – they are in no way complete or 100% accurate but are merely derived from various close-ups of the engine nacelles and Karl Pech’s aircraft.  We feel compelled to add them from 3 mm styrene sheet as some of them are very important!  The inboard ones being refueling access panels for the wing fuel tanks.

 

4.  Tail assembly:  This is not (again) the next step but we cannot help but see what the model should look like:

 

            A.  Rudder – it’s molded separately like all recent Trumpeter kits (and we are grateful for this).  But here, the hinges and slots aren’t molded (through the ailerons have them).  The ribs are also oversized and look like corrugations.  We sanded them off and replaced them with stretched sprue using close-ups of the vertical tail with ship kill markings painted on in Profile Publications #99 Fw 200 Condor.  As reference, the rudder also seems a bit thick but correcting this would include re-contouring the rearmost section of the fuselage.  We simply saved out the hinge slots and made hinges from 1 mm thick styrene sheet.

B.  Horizontal stabilizers and elevators:

1)  The port stabilizer’s tab is too small for mounting slot in the fuselage while the starboard one is just right.  I was intrigued by the vertical surfaces at the pictures which Bombers of World War II and Profile Publications…labeled as:  “end plate-fin balances” and “small auxiliary fins.”  In my desire to see them in actuality, I noticed they are attached to the elevators and not the stabilizers in Warplanes of the Third Reich below pp. 224 and 226 are pictures of Condors with their elevators deflected nose-down and nose-up respectively.  They clearly show these “endplates” above and below the stabilizers in the photo on p. 226.  You can even see the leading edge of the elevator’s aerodynamic balance below the stabilizer.

 

5.  This vertical surface must therefore also serve as a mass balance besides serving to straighten the airflow over the elevators.  Since we wanted to deflect as many of the separate control surfaces as we could.  We sawed off these vertical surfaces after assembling the stabilizers cleaned up their joints and attached them to the elevators.  The photo on p. 224 suggests we had to cover up the resultant hole in the stabilizer tabs (see pictures).

 

NOTE:  We did not attach any of the control surfaces yet for ease of handling and painting.

 

5.  Engine Assembly:

 

            A.  Out-of-the-box observations:

1)      Ejector pin marks on inner surfaces of cowling in front of the engine will be visible.

2)      Engine accessory bay is molded separately from the wing and the engine bay itself.  We hope this means that in the future, Trumpeter will release the early Hornet-engined civilian variants.

3)      Separate tiny exhaust stubs!

 

B.  Assembly:

1)      Engines – there are nicely molded wires included; trapping them between the cowling halves is hard because the locating tabs in the cowling are too small.  Those in front of the engine will invariably be reduced further during clean-up of visible ejector pins mentioned earlier.  We removed them totally to clean up the visible portion, then replaced the rear ones with sections of sprue positioned behind the cylinders so as not to be visible.

2)      Engine accessory bay – these fit neatly to the wing and to the engine cowlings.  Pictures show that their forward edges should be rounded where the cowl cooling flaps close over them in the close-up of the engines on p. 172 of Bombers of World War II even with the cowl flaps closed, this rounded edge is very evident.  Our solution was to reinforce the edge from within with a ring of styrene strips then we rounded off the edges.  The reinforcing prevented weakening of this part as we indeed sanded through the past in out effort to obtain the correct contour (see pictures).

3)      Exhaust stubs – I was initially put off by the prospect of cleaning all 28 of them until I finished the first 7 (for one cowling) in about 10 minutes.  So I now see them as a blessing since painting both the stubs and adjacent cowlings will be easy not to mention weathering with smoke stains and rust will be a mask-free operation! 

 

Mel

To be continued

 

For questions or comments, please email

melasilvestre@ipmsphilippines.com

Photos and text © by Mel "Webster" Silvestre from IPMS Philippines Bert Anido