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

[Airframes]

No problem in painting over the bezels - they can be highlighted later, by dry-brushing. The tricky part is aligning the instrument film to the holes in the instrument panel - and can the printed detail then be seen ?

 

[mikewint]

Not really, maybe with a bright light shining directly at or a light behind. I'll highlight the bezels and call it good

 

[JKim]

Great build! Must be a giant in 1/48! As for the instrument panel, I would install per the instructions but maybe thin the Part F4 from the back. No polishing necessary since the clear part will be painted and the instrument dials are actual holes.

 

[Wurger]

IMHO these holes are done in the way because the designer was going to add of some of the ClearFix or something like that to each of the hole in order to make the indicator lens.

 

[mikewint]

Must be a giant in 1/48!

It's going to be my biggest German WWII aircraft but it's not actually that big in comparison. I have 2 Ju-52's and the Ju had a 96 foot wingspan or in 1/48 that makes a 2 foot or 24 inch wingspan. The Fw-200 by comparison had a 107.75 foot wingspan or in 1/48 that's 27 inches so only 3 inches (7.6cm) bigger than the Ju-52 (that's a Do-335 between them).

 

[parsifal]

Thanks Mike for the explanation of how the clear part has raised bezel rings. The clear part then sits on top of the decal which I assume is attached to some kind of backing board.

The problem you have is that the clear part is too thick, and this is made worse by the raised bezels….correct?

Your fall back position would be to leave out the clear part from the build completely. But I would have a shot at modifying the system to make it work better.

If I had this problem, I think the best option would be to sand the clear part from the back leaving the bezels intact. The bezels in photographs look quite good, but I can imagine that they stick out too high with the plastic so thick. If the bezels themselves are too pronounced, you could try sanding the piece on the bezel side, making the bezels less pronounced in that process.

Before you do anything, I would make a copy of the IP Decal and perhaps also make a stencil of the clear part onto clear plastic like what you see in some packaging. If you make copies and a facsimile stencil you have the ability to redo if things head south at least

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[at6]

Mike, I've never looked into the box on my Condor. So what you're doing will give me ideas as to how to do mine if I get to it. One thing that you will have to find is a web site with instructions for placing a wing spar into the wings for strengthening as they are going to end up flexing from some of the old reviews in FSM back when the kit was first released.

 

[mikewint]

So what you're doing will give me ideas as to how to do mine

Larry, don't have a real satisfying answer for you. It's a bad assembly, period. You'll have to decide whether you want to go all out to really make it look nice only to have it vanish from sight once the fuselage and canopy are closed up. I settled for close enough.
I painted the instrument bulkhead gloss white in hopes that it would help. When you paint the clear instrument panel you also get the bezels. A very careful dry brush with silver sort of highlights them but the instrument dials are lost from sight no matter what so if you actually want to see them I'm at a loss.
This is what I ended up with...

 

[rochie]

looks good to me Mike.

i very rarely go overboard in instrument panels and cockpits in general to be honest as once closed up i cant see much anyway.

 

[Airframes]

Looks acceptable enough for what will be visible when closed up.
I spent some time and effort on the panels for my recent Mosquito builds, and even through the very clear canopies, next to b*gger all of the panels can be seen !

 

[at6]

Looks good Mike. Once the fuselage is closed it won't be very visible anyway. If I get to mine, I may leave the fuselage tanks out if they aren't visible.

 

[mikewint]

I may put them in as some are close to the few windows that there are but not going overboard on filling/sanding ect.

 

[Wurger]

 

[parsifal]

I like the look mike.

 

[mikewint]

Yea, it actually looks better without the ultra-closeup of photography which picks up EVERY flaw. If it were more visible i'd have installed the Eduard Interior Detail Kit. Notice that Trumpeter doesn't even include seat-belts, not even as a decal. Something else I'd have sprung for if twer more visible

 

[turbo]

No drama, that looks fine Mike

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Mike. The seatbelts can be easily represented with strips of masking tape. Good enough for what you can see.

 

[mikewint]

Andy, I've got some 2mm Tamiya masking tape that I use masking the canopies. I 'd have to slice in half. Might give it a try. Nice idea. Mucho Groucho Marx.

 

[Crimea_River]

I was thinking of normal beige masking tape. That way you don't have to paint it as the colour is reasonably close to the actual fabric. Tamiya tape would be too yellow.