**** DONE: GB-36 1/48 Fw 200 C-4 "Condor" - Axis Manufactured Aircraft of WWII

[rochie]

Bit of an epic build coming Mike

 

[Crimea_River]

I'll say. Mike, if you are using Tamiya paints, I just went through a lot of pain trying to come up with mixes for 72 and 73 on my Ar196. Let me know if this could be of help.

 

[mikewint]

Andy, thanks but I already have Model Master which directly offers RLM 72 and 73 so I good to go with that aspect and I download a Gunze Sangyo Aqveous Hobby Color chart to look up their colors and their names and in a few cases they actually list the RLM number so H70 is actually RLM02.
They do however list so weird color choices. The landing gear tires are labeled H89 which is METALLIC GREEN??? When is the last time you saw metallic green tires?

 

[Airframes]

Hey man .... like .... ya know .... those tyres are so dull in metallic green ... so like, man,make with the fluorescent purple.
Hey, wait up - is that the 'Doors' playing there ......................................

 

[parsifal]

wow. looking forward to this one Mike.

 

[Crimea_River]

I see Terry's back from the bar!

 

[mikewint]

Ok modeling experts time to render opinions as I be stuck on step ONE. Yea,Yea I know...Here's the deal. The Trumpeter instructions look like this:

I'm concerned with PART F4 and the FILM. In Trumpeter's infinite wisdom PART F4 was cast in CLEAR plastic...smart don't you think. Then they call for it to be painted H116 which is RLM 66. Cast in clear and then paint make any sense to you? Now look at the assembly. The FILM showing the gauges goes down first and then F4 goes on top of it. Now the F4 part is about a 1mm thickness and the holes are 1mm and smaller you will never see the dials through those small holes.
I'm thinking put the FILM on top of PART F4. The gauges will be flat but at least will be visible. Opinions???

If I don't paint the F4 CLEAR piece you can see the gauges but the you see the top clear piece first.

 

[Airframes]

Iv'e never liked those clear panels very much, as they're normally too thick to give the desired effect, and in this instance, as you've noted, the dial 'apertures' seem too small.
There are at least three options :-
1). Use the clear part without the film, first painting the panel gloss white (enamel) on either the front or the rear. When fully dry, paint the panel the desired colour (RLM 66 ?), and then paint each instrument dial matt black, using acrylic paint. When the dials are dry, scratch in the instrument detail. It might not be brilliant, but possibly better than the film and panel combination.
2). Use just the film, attached to the front of the clear panel, or direct onto the bulkhead panel, probably using clear varnish as an adhesive, with a tiny drop or two of CA at spots around the edges, after first painting the clear panel or bulkhead white where the film locates, so that this will show through the dials.
3). See if there is an Eduard pre-painted panel available

Alternatively, of course, it can be assembled as per instructions, and a lot depends on what can actually be seen through the cockpit windows.

 

[mikewint]

Terry there is an Eduard Fe342 set which contains a number of pieces to "enhance" the cockpit including 4 to go over the clear piece $11.00 USD and change BUT as you point out, and I concur "how mush will be visible" and that's the catch. The cockpit cannot be left open and the windows cannot be opened so once closed up very little will show. Trumpeter also has a nicely detailed fuselage interior and once again zero visibility when closed.
Think I'll do your #2. Good idea about painting the bulkhead white first. I'll use gloss white enamel
Unless someone else has a better option???

 

[turbo]

Another option could be to sand down the thickness of F4.

 

[Crimea_River]

Yep, they are getting too cute. Option 2 or what Kirby says. Don't waste 11 bucks on and Eduard part as you'll never see it.

 

[mikewint]

Except F4 is clear plastic. If I sand then I have to go through all the various polishing steps/grits. Back to no one will ever see all that extra detail as there is no way to open the cockpit

 

[Crimea_River]

I took it to mean sand it thinner and paint it 66. There's no reason for it to be clear.

 

[mikewint]

OK, Andy understood now. It is pretty thin right now I'd say 0.75 - 0.5mm at a guess. My interpretation of the clear was to allow the dark film to "show through" so I was surprised by the instruction to "paint" it. As I posted why cast it in clear then say "paint it" pretty DA, in my opinion anyway. Its like someone at Trumpeter looked and said - "Crepe we don't have an instrument panel and the trees are already full guess we'll have to add it to the clear tree"

 

[Crimea_River]

Yeah, I don't get it either. Accurate Miniatures did the same with their Avenger and it had to be painted it as well.

 

[mikewint]

Beautiful work Andy. Really really nice. That closepin really klicks in the scale. I might try doing what they say and paint the clear---can't hurt!

 

[turbo]

Yep, that's what I meant. Give it a quick file and/or sand depending on the thickness to thin it down and then paint RLM66. Dunno why they cast it as a clear part

 

[parsifal]

does the clear part act s a dial glass? If so, and if too thick, maybe use PVA with a drop in each dial aperture.......or am I not understanding the issue properly?

 

[Airframes]

Evidently, the kit instructions are not very clear in the explanation of the clear panel use.
This type of panel is supposed to be painted, on the front face, in the required colour(s), leaving the dials un-painted. The clear, printed film, or sometimes a decal, is then supposed to be attached to the rear of the panel, allowing the dial detail to show through the now painted clear panel part.
This works fine with large-scale models, such as R/C models, and also works when very thin materials, such as PE, are used for the instrument panel. But it never seems to work out very well with the 'heavier', injection moulded clear parts, and I feel the approach is a waste of time.

 

[mikewint]

Perfect explanation Terry. This is the FILM piece. A fairly thick plastic film with the gauge faces printed on it. It's only partially cut out at this point

This is the CLEAR plastic (rigid plastic like the canopy) dash piece. There are HOLES that go completely through that match the gauges. The brighter rings you see are raised portions that represent the bezels of the gauges

The film gets glued to the dash bulkhead then the clear piece goes down on top of the film. The dial faces are supposed to show through the holes. Sounds good but the biggest holes are about 1mm in diameter and the small ones maybe 0.25mm. Painting the clear really makes it worse as the shiney rings (bezels) are raised and so will get painted over