late bloomer: Focke Wulf FW220 Dreizack

[sotoolslinger]

That gives me plastic wood

[Spey_Phantom]

as i was looking at the fuselage, it was clear that the jet engine would never work unless it got an intake.
but there was no room in the wingroots as the bombracks are fitted there, so i cut op a spare feultank from a italeri 1/72 eurofighter, and fitted it under the fuselage, f-16 style 



the nosegear of the flitzer had no use, so made it shut and PSRed it. i was planning to fit a 50mm Mauser cannon in the nose, but the short and droopy nose of the flitzer kinda makes it impossible to fit one n there. (got the idea from a me262C)



props, radials, spinners and bombs have been painted and are now drying.



and i just finished fitting the landinggear under the wings, i know its gonna look a bit wide, but think of it as the aircraft being capable of airlaunching gliding V1's 

[Taiidantomcat]

That is sooo COOL!! 

[GTX]

You could replace the jet with a tail gun.

Regards,

Greg

[Spey_Phantom]

with the extension till the 16th, i now have the chance to complete my dreizack (witch means "Trident" btw).

the bombs and the landing gear are fitted, tailwheels still need to be painted 



canopy painted and placed 



and the coat of desert yellow has been applied, green olive speckles are gonna be painted on as soon as its dry 
kinda looks like that conair seaplane from talespin in this color 



im still trying to think of a good back story though...

[Cobra]

How About saying it was a Special Project Ordered by Goering to Try & Stop Allied Bombers from Hitting Berlin before the downfall? that Work For You? Dan

[NARSES2]

Paint has really brought that together 

[Spey_Phantom]

SIE IST KLAHR 



Back History:

in 1942, the Luftwaffe began seeking a new aircraft to replace the Bf110 in the interceptor role, but at the same time to replace the Stuka in the dive bombing and Close Air Support roles. Focke Wulf presented its design P.200 to the RLM in august of 1943. to save money in production costs, it proposed to use over 70 percent equal components that was used in the FW190 fighter. the engine that were integrated into the tailbooms were infact based on the FW190 standard airframe, but had there cockpits remove in order to accomodate more fuel. between the 2 booms was a fuselage with a single Jumo 004 jet engine, this was designed to give the aircraft extra power on take-off, a higher interception speed and the ability to escape the combatzone in case the aircrafts BMW radial engines got damaged.

the RLM approved the design and the first prototype of the now renamed FW 220A-1, took to the skies in june of 1944. the aircraft had acceptional performance and and a huge acceleration rate. the only downside was that the quite wide undercariage required the aircraft to take off from quite a wide runway. however, there was also an advantage to this configuration. it was more forgiving for pilots who land the aircraft quite roughly and the huge open space meant large and wide payloads, including glider versions of the V1 bomb bould be carried under the fuselage. the luftwaffe was very pleaed with the aircrafts overall performance and over 398 were build.

in august 1944, the first 2 fighter squadrons, JG5 and JG56 became operational with the new fighter. the aircraft were quite succesfull as interceptors, shooting down over 560 allied bombers. on high altitude, it ever outperformed the American P-38 and P-40 and the british DH Mosquito.

the FW220's claim to fame was mostly made in the African desert, taking off from airfields in Italy, its tast was to provide air support for advancing german troops. for this role, Focke Wulf build a specialised ground attack version of the aircraft, the FW 220A-2. modifications included inert bomb pylons for 2 250kg bombs and provisions to mount 5 rockets under each wing, witch made the aircraft a flying artilery unit. the FW220A-2 proved itself a succes and stayed in service until the withdrawal from the African campaign in 1945, when the aircraft were recalled to defend the reich.

in april of 1945, with Hitlers plans to attack and invade the United States, Focke Wulf created the FW220D-5, a high performance long range escort fighter to protect the new advanced "Amerika Bomber". this version had 4 20 mm guns fitted between the fuselage & wings, had a radar, a seond seat for the radar operator and was to be equiped with the ruhrstahl X-4 Air ot Air Missile. unfortunatly, it never got further then the drawing board as the German Empire capitulated only a few months later.

and now the model:

i painted it up in desert camo with the markings of SG4, based in Piacenza, Italy in 1945.
decdals and markings are from the Revell FW190F-8, but since the decals (especialy the white ones) are quite transparent, i had to use them in 2 layers (good thing i had 2 190's and therefor 2 decal sheets).

[hurricanemk1c]

Superb!

[Taiidantomcat]

Looks like a deadly warplane 

[Weaver]

You know I really wasn't sure about this when you started it , but it looks great now - well done: you've got a good eye! 

[lancer]

Awsome!! No other word for it.

[sotoolslinger]

Very cool

[ChernayaAkula]

Awe - frickin' - some!        The plane, the camo, the backstory - everything!  

[Ed S]

Well done Nils.  Very creative mixing of different a/c.   



Ed