Reading the Fw 200 C-3 Construction Record 03

This page is an interpretive reading based on Kazu Fukuda’s Fw 200 C-3 construction record.

Here, the focus is especially on the waiting period after the completion of accessory parts, surfacer work, markings, painting, final assembly, and completion.

The related original record pages are as follows:

• Original 05 — Engines, bombs, and accessory parts
• Original 06 — Painting and markings
• Original 07 — Final assembly and completion

In the record of July 22, the SC 500 bombs were made, and Fukuda stated that all accessory parts had been completed.

At this point, not only the main airframe but also the major parts necessary for completion — engines, propellers, bombs, machine guns, interior equipment, and other details — had been prepared.

Normally, this would be a stage at which one might want to proceed directly to painting.

However, Fukuda did not move immediately to the painting stage.

Instead, he made the judgment to let the model rest for a while and dry thoroughly in order to prevent shrinkage or cracking in the putty-shaped areas.

In model making, the time spent actively working with one’s hands is often regarded as the act of making, while time spent doing nothing may be seen as an interruption.

However, the Fw 200 C-3 record shows that waiting can also be part of the making process.

Even when putty appears dry on the surface, it may not yet be fully stable inside. If surfacer or paint is applied in that condition, shrinkage or cracking may appear later.

Fukuda allowed time before painting in order to avoid that risk.

This judgment did not mean that the work had stopped.

Rather, it was a construction judgment: choosing not to proceed immediately because the future condition of the completed surface had already been anticipated.

After the drying period, the work proceeded to surfacer painting.

Surfacer is a foundation for painting. However, it is not merely an undercoat.

It is also the stage at which surfaces made from different materials — wood, putty, plastic sheet, metal parts, and others — are adjusted and seen again as one continuous surface.

Once surfacer is applied, roughness, steps, scratches, and irregularities at joints become easier to see. In other words, surfacer is also a process for checking the form once more before final painting.

Original 06 records the treatment of national markings, unit code, and unit emblem in detail.

What is important in this process is that markings are not simply signs added at the end. They are incorporated into the painting process itself.

Black is sprayed first. Letters and markings are cut out. White edges are painted. The areas are masked. Then the underside and upper surface colors are applied over them.

Here, what will be visible after completion is already being prepared before the main color painting.

The note that cellophane tape was first applied to the back of the hand to reduce its adhesive strength is especially important.

This was a judgment made to avoid damaging the painted surface when the masking was removed. Here again, we can see a preventive technique used to protect the beauty of the finish.

When the underside color RLM 65 and the upper surface colors RLM 72/73 are applied, the impression of the aircraft changes greatly.

Up to that point, the work had been a structural process involving wood, plastic sheet, metal wire, putty, and surfacer. Through painting, however, the Fw 200 C-3 begins to take on the character of a specific aircraft.

RLM 72/73 were camouflage colors for maritime operation aircraft. Once these colors are applied, the Fw 200 C-3 is no longer seen merely as a large aircraft. It begins to appear as a patrol bomber that operated over the Atlantic.

Through painting, the form that had been built up to this point changes into a more specific image of an aircraft.

In Original 07, the cowlings, oil coolers, engines, machine guns, antennas, ventilation outlets, rear rotating machine gun, sliding canopy, propellers, and other parts are attached.

These parts had already been made in separate processes.

In final assembly, they are returned to the airframe and integrated into one completed form.

What is important here is that this is not simply a matter of increasing the number of attached parts.

Each time a part is attached, the character of the aircraft becomes clearer.

These are not merely individual small parts. They are the final components that make the completed image possible.

The final assembly record includes a note that the centerlines of the No. 1 and No. 4 engines open outward by about three degrees from the aircraft centerline.

This is highly important.

This note is not merely an explanation of part attachment. It concerns how the form of the actual aircraft was read and how that reading was reflected in the model.

In a large aircraft, the direction and angle of the engine nacelles greatly affect the impression of the whole aircraft. Even a slight angle can create a sense of wrongness in the completed form if it has not been read correctly.

Finally, the propellers are attached, and the Fw 200 C-3 is completed.

However, this completion is not produced only by the final operation.

Material cutting. Trial assembly. Interior work. Canopies. Machine guns. Gondola. Nacelles. Propellers. Engines. Bombs. Waiting for drying. Surfacer. Markings. Painting. Final assembly.

All of these accumulated steps lead to completion.

The completed model photographs show the result. The construction record, however, shows the judgments that led to that result.

The meaning of the Fw 200 C-3 construction record becomes clearer when it is read in comparison with the He 115 B reform record.

The He 115 B reform record is a record in which a model that had already been completed was opened again, deterioration and dissatisfaction were identified, corrections were made, and a new completed image was sought.

In contrast, the Fw 200 C-3 construction record begins with material and parts, gradually builds up the overall image, and integrates it into a completed form through painting and final assembly.

By placing these two records side by side, we can see that Fukuda’s construction records are not merely records of working procedures.

They are records of looking again, judging, and moving toward a completed form.

What is important in the latter half of the Fw 200 C-3 construction record is that Fukuda did not rush toward completion.

After the accessory parts had been completed, he did not proceed immediately to painting, but waited for the putty to dry. He adjusted the surface with surfacer. He incorporated the markings into the painting process. Through RLM 65 and RLM 72/73, he gave the aircraft its character on the surface. Finally, he integrated the separately made parts into one completed form.

Reading this process shows that completion is not simply the end of work.

Completion means that the judgments made up to that point have come together without breaking down.

Kazu Fukuda’s Fw 200 C-3 construction record shows that, in solid model making, shaping, waiting, painting, and assembling are all continuous acts of judgment.

These three reading pages have organized the Fw 200 C-3 construction record from the following three perspectives:

• Reading 01 — How did the overall form emerge?
• Reading 02 — Invisible interiors and detailed work
• Reading 03 — The judgment to wait and integration toward the completed form

Further study could proceed from perspectives such as the following:

• What did “recording” mean for Fukuda?
• Where does the difficulty of making a large aircraft in solid model form lie?
• How do the Fw 200 C-3 record and the He 115 B reform record reveal Fukuda’s view of model making in his later years?
• How should construction processes that cannot be seen from completed model photographs alone be preserved as an archive?