I felt I should open the Box - goodness a lot of bits and the rigging is daunting - I have the Albatross Book which will be a help - anyway here is a picture of the sprues - it is a dainty looking aircraft - compare the wing panel (extreme left) of the Airfix 0/400 which is very butch in all respects - particularly the rib tapes which are exceptionally bad - rather like planks of wood in appearance. Difficult to understand why Airfix - who in my view produce reasonable to good kits overall can produce such a rendition!

There are some PE bits as well



The photo by the way is an available light shot, hand held and so will try to do better later on. Goodness have I only until Jan next year!!!!

Next time you photograph it David, put a coin or something familiar in the shot to get some scale perspective.

Good work fella!

Will get back to you about the t-shirts later. Just got back from a kids birthday party, and I have to edit a job I shot this morning.

Tata.

Now thats a kit!
good luck with that one David, i think you might need it.
i cant wait to see this one build up.

Wayne

Yes - OK Nick but what about you foreigners - what coin should I use. As a guide the sprues fill my A2 cutting mat which is the background.

Thank you for your good wishes Wayne - I cant wait to see what the result is either!

I believe I'm still conversant with anything that has Queenie's head on it!

That looks a challenge, Good Luck !

£2 coin?

Yes - get on with it David - I do believe that this will be my first time watching you work from the beginning of the build... I'm waiting!

OK Mr SA - it is not that long ago that you finished anything - now you have gone bonkers. I think there is some ageism in your comment so you may be referred to the other administrators. Don't mock the aflicted - i cant help being slow!! [Exit left for sulk]

You think you're slow.... I invented the word.

I can be sooooooooooo Slow it's painful.
Happy days.
Bob

You better get started lad !

You're soooooo slow that III'....mmmm faling asleeeeep

I'm getting there - opened the box again today in fact.

David.

I think you'd better pace yourself David... I don't want you pulling something!

Now now, that's enough smut thank you.

Actually Col, this is a better victim subject for you to mither David to get finished, so you can stop wearing out your V, A, L, I, A, N, and T keys

In view of the extremely hurtful comments by Mike I have felt obliged to start the Gotha. Here is a picture of the work done so far. I have decided that the fuselage must be painted and largely finished before much more assembly to the rest if the airframe because of the extensive amount of control cables etc. I am also hand painting it because the masking for spraying is not only rather difficult but it is extremely fragile and will probably disintegrate under the application of and removal of any tape or similar medium. The seat for the Pilot by the way is like an arm chair and according to refernces is covered in red leather! I can see no seat belts in any of the diagrams etc. I have. You may just be able to se a walkway between the front gunners position and the rear position - this must have been hazardous because of the bomb racks etc. jutting out, and the narrow space!

I thought that Roden had omitted to put the lower wing halves in the box - but it soon became apparent that all wings were molded in one piece. The maximum thickness is about 2mm! It is an extremely dainty aeroplane - and a fragile kit overall. Yuk! I am not looking forward to assembling the U/c.

David.

Patience,lad!

Ooh, nice work there David! She's off to a flying start



Only problem with that suggestion Mike, David's likely to finish this one

Bloody hell!

I haven't even started work on the engine of my RE8 (step 1 in the assembly)..

David, you were my benchmark in not getting anything done. We were kindred spirits, soulmates even in not getting anything done for the GB.

Now, as I'm on holiday, and the kit is still untouched, 3, 000 miles away, I feel like Douglas Bader in a 500m sprint.....

I feel a rift in the force young Padawan.

Nick,
When you make it back home you had better get ya finger out sharpish!
Your the bleedin' Group leader and should be lickin' us into shape, not the other way round... haha

David.
Nice work my esteemed Bi-ped
May the Valium capsules calm your ringing hand... Good luck matey!
Bobby B

I'd like to say "Oi, you lazy sods, where's your builds?", but I can't..

There are more submitted builds here than any other GB (correct me if I'm wrong Mike), and the enthusiasm is as catchy as a dose of clap..

You guys are all doing brilliantly. I just need to catch up.....

Ya should 'ave taken the bloody kit on 'oliday wiv yer.

I agree - well done David. See? Reverse psychology works with some people


Do you KNOW how old David is? Oh, btw.... you might want to ask him about his Sanger Halifax

I think it's time I made a badword filter for the to become the... it'll help people understand David's posts

Guess we all have the odd skeletal kit in the back of the cupboard

It is no good you can be as rude as you like - I am NOT leaving!!!!

Am now fashioning new struts and fixing them on both wings - the idea being that I can then mate them (full close ups will be posted Bob) but it is abit slow. You may just be able to make out such rigging (control wires) that I have installed - and prior to that applied the decals to the sides of the Fus. The decals suffered from The same defects ass the struts and disintegrated. As a consequence will argue that the luckless German who applied them to the original had partaken of quite a large dose of schnapps.

Think I will wait a little while and see if the Aeroclub wing jig is available - John - as I fel that rigging may be virtually impossible otherwise!.

All hand painted - masking would be a huge joke!

David

Oooh, that looks like a whole lot of fun waiting to happen David!
Nice paint finish though, certainly captures how I think one of these machines would look. Not that I have the first clue about it...

Thank you Col. - the underside of the upperwing is not quite that dark - and I am not sure really what the "colours' were - just going on the Windsock publication. I am sure that the "finish" must have been subject to a lot of changes when in service - after all linen cannot be the most stable of surfaces on which to apply paint - and the paint itself must have been vulnerable to the weathers - oils and greases - passing ducks etc.

Have also looked at the U/C legs - more fragile than The wings struts - thoughts now turning to a "diorama" of one crashed - sans
U/C!!!!!

David.

Stick at it David, you're making light work of what seems a difficult kit and I'm enjoying your continued progress.

My God.. He's going for it!

I'd better pull my finger out.

MEIN KAMPF!!!!!!!!!

Here is another picture of the Gotha - with the wings mated! However the plastic is not only brittle but also very "dense" and thus heavy. The upper wing will wobble alarmingly at present - particularly when you pick the thing up!! Of course this should largely disappear when it is rigged - but how to handle it in the process??? The wings are also on the skew - again can be righted when rigging but so fragile is the whole thing that any tension most liklely will cause it to disintegrate! I fear that my skills are declining with the advancing years. I am afraid Nick that should the rigging cause a failure that will be the end of my entry. I must admit that I should have made more progress earlier so that Plan B (?) could have been implemented. Sorry old boy!

The blemishes are where I had drilled the holes for the rigging and tidied tham up so there wil be some cosmetic activity here of course. The U/C by the way seems as fragile as the wing structure.

David

David,

Never surrender!

Nice looking Gotha David looks like its a rather large kit

Thank you - but in fact it is quite small - the span is about 30cms but all of the compnents are very "dainty". By the way, all, it has just disintegrated again in the attempt to rig it.

The problem is that the original struts - which kept breaking - being very brittle - had tiny "pins" top and bottom to locate in equally tiny holes in The wings. - as per original. I have had to make new struts and in order to keep the appearance cut the ends at an angle 40?approx. which leaves a very small area to "glue" onto the wing! The only solutiuon is to run a length of fine wire along the leading edge of the strut, fairing it in and having the "pins" projecting at each end. That will be time consuming!! I think in fact my entry will be one unfinihsed Gotha as per post above!! Areal pain - certainly had no problem of this magnitude witht the Vimy- and it seesm the 0/400 (which I was going to enter) is more "robust" as well.

David

Keep going David... what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger! *


* except for polio and other nasty things

Thanks Mike - in fact I was just about to return it to the loft for another time - but as you ask so nicely, Boss..........and you are right ...... nil desperandum etc. How are you feeling??

Goody!

I'm ok thanks David... suffering from a bit of over-exertion from these last few days, but I'm in decent spirits, which is always good

Happy New Year