Well it seems like I've been sitting on my thumbs but I actually HAVE been working on the Condor from time to time.
Wings were completely built before the directions called for them to be mated to the fuselage and it was a PIA. The center belly pan was the only thing holding the completed left an right wings together and it acted like a spring so the wings kept flexing and drooping away from the fuselage PLUS the other glued joint kept popping open. Took an entire week to get everything secure and glued tight. Flaps and ailerons installed as were the two top machine gun mounts. Lots of fiddly masking on the front bubble turret.
Engines painted and installed and mounted on the wings. The really weird landing gear was also installed. Those huge tires cannot fit into those tiny wheel wells so I have no idea how the gear retracted. Looked up some pics of the Condor in flight and there is no sign of the tires so...???? Lastly the RLM 73 cammo was masked and applied over the RLM 72
A bit more work on the belly and I'm thinking about giving the old girl some torpedoes
Nice work Mike.
Torpedoes ?
I thought bombs would have been more appropriate ?
The 'Condor' normally made a low-level run over a ship target. from stern to stem, and dropped bombs, at least one of which mainly hit home, with others landing in the water doing extensive shock damage, and loosening hull plates.
Andy, would they be further forward? Just behind the engine nacelle? I see inscribed lines that could be twin doors
Terry, I have bombs, two of them that will mount just out from the outer engine. I don't have any pics of a Condor carrying torpedoes but a modeler posted this pic and I thought it looked cool. Plus I've got those two shackles in that recessed area behind the outer engine. Sure looks like something should mount there
Looks very impressive Mike. Regarding torpedo load outs, in the early part of ther war, the German airborne torpedoes were not great, and so the preferred load out was bombs. This was also due to the primary role of the condors, armed long range recon.
After the entry of Italy, who in this instance, at this stage of the war, had far better quality airborne torpedoes, the KM acquired about 450 torpedoes from their allies, and the condors from that time (I think) commenced operations equipped with torpedoes.
It also suffered from structural weaknesses that probably meant that it could never carry an offensive warload to that extent. Still, its possible I concede.
here is a link to a good discussion on the FW200 FW 200 Condor
Mike, yes, just ahead of the open doors and behind the firewall. I tried to find a decent pic but the best illustration I could find was of this mock-up:
You can see 2 jacks which pull the wheels up around a lower hinge point so that the wheels kinda curl into the struts as they retract. The larger doors you can see would open and then the wheels tuck into that space just behind the firewall.
Why make things simple when, with a little more effort, you can make them more complicated?
Looking good Mike. The flexing is why I was wondering if you were going to make spars. If I ever get around to mine, I am going to put spars in the wing to give it more strength.
From reading up on the Condor the statement was made that Tank designed the wheels that way as a safety feature. That way (facing forward) IF the hydraulics failed the slipstream rushing by would deploy the wheels and lock them in place. Don't know if it was ever done that way but possible.
Larry, the flexing was caused but Trumpter's order of assembly. They had the entire wing assembled before mating to the fuselage so the two wings acted like weights connected to a spring bending the belly pan downward thus opening a gap between the wings and fuselage. If I had installed the belly pan first, securely glued in place, then the inner wing panel there would have been little flexing and it could have been securely glued to the fuselage, then the outer wing panels would have had all that as support.
IMHO, I really don't think spars are necessary if you alter the order of assembly.
I just finished building a Condor. Not happy with the bomb bay in the kit I wanted to replace them with a torpedo. I could not find any reference of them ever using torpedoes. Also the load limit was not that high for the bomb bay. From what I could find out the usual load was 12 Sc50 bombs.
The initial C-1 militarized version could carry 2100kg of bombs. The C-2 added a recessed hardpoint aft of the outer engine nacelle and the C-3 added another hardpoint outboard of the outer engine upping the total bomb load to 5400kg.
The C-6 to C-8 versions added missile control and eventually carried 4 Henshel Hs 293 anti-ship missiles on these hard points.
I also have never seen a pic or a reference to the Condor carrying torps but I like the look and have the recessed hardpoints vacant so she gonna get two torps