Arado Ar 540 "Kondor"

[col_kilgore]

Hi everyone here is my first venture into whiffing !

I usually model real world subjects but have been a long time lurker on here and having recently received some Tamiya 1/100 kits as a birthday present I decided to have a go at a Luft 46 inspired subject.

So work has begun on this , the Arado Ar540 "Kondor" high altitude jet interceptor .

First a little bit of backstory for the design , the Kondor was introduced as a stop gap measure in early 1947 after the Luftwaffe high command realised the need for a high altitude interceptor as a deterrent against high flying Superfortresses carrying nuclear bombs which have become the Americans main strategic asset.

As you can see I have used the Tamiya 1/100 Ilyushin Beagle as a base for the design and will be using a bit of scale-o-rama to make it into a 1/72 scale fighter ( as can be seen from the photo below with one of its ancestors its still a big aircraft ! )

IMG_20200215_004332018_BURST001 by Colonel Kilgore, on Flickr

IMG_20200215_004848304_BURST001 by Colonel Kilgore, on Flickr

IMG_20200215_005121112 by Colonel Kilgore, on Flickr

[NARSES2]

Many apologies for my delay in approving this.

Chris

[Scotaidh]

Nice!   

[Dizzyfugu]

Curious how this turns out. I had a similar idea a while ago, when I abused an 1:100 Il-28's wings on a turbopropped Me 410; the fuselage lends itself to an 1:72 (jet) fighter aircraft, maybe with Me 262 wings...?

[PR19_Kit]

What an entrance into Whiff World! 

[Rheged]

YES!!  It's clear that you belong in Whiffworld. Welcome aboard.

[JayBee]

Hi everyone here is my first venture into whiffing !

I usually model real world subjects

Welcome, what you describe is not a sin but an outflowing of your natural artistic inventiveness.

I look forwaed to seeing how this one goes, and to seeing what comes in the future. 

[col_kilgore]

Thanks everyone for the welcome .

A bit more work done on the build last night . As the wings are on " backwards "  I have had to reprofile the wing roots and extend them in one direction and shorten in the other . The extension was done with  Revell plastic putty and I am really pleased with how they have turned out once sanded and primed . Still a tiny bit more filling on the underside of the root to do and will need a bit of filler in the joins once the wings are glued on .

IMG_20200225_230005223 by Colonel Kilgore, on Flickr

IMG_20200225_230023483 by Colonel Kilgore, on Flickr

IMG_20200225_230326345 by Colonel Kilgore, on Flickr

[Old Wombat]

Curiouser & curiouser!

[TheChronicOne]

 

[Scotaidh]

Are you re-profiling the wing? 

I don't usually put wings on backwards because of the amount of work involved - might as well just use the kit wing as a shape-template and scratch-build -and that is a lot of PSR.

[col_kilgore]

A little more work done this week .

Joined up the fuselage and re-profiled and shortened the tail fin and I also have reshaped the tail end of the fusalage after removing the tail gunner section.

I have also used the kits original nose glazing as the nose cone , luckily the  framing was almost non-existent so just needed a quick sand down to lose the frames , just a little more filling and sanding to get the shape right.

I  also gave some thought to the canopy and ordered a Pavla vacform for a D.H Vampire as it seemed to fit the style. As can be seen still needs a little tidying up , although as its my first time working with a vacform canopy I'm quite pleased that I managed to cut it out without any major  damage ! . Just need to work on reshaping the cockpit itself and see where the canopy will sit.

IMG_20200302_211348153 by Colonel Kilgore, on Flickr

IMG_20200304_195016045 by Colonel Kilgore, on Flickr

[TheChronicOne]

Yeah looks pretty good. Cutting out them things can be a bit sketchy. 

[Tophe]

looks pretty good

is very good (according to me)!

[AndrewF]

This looks very convincing already.