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Hello all. Not my Comfort Zone. Yes. Well. I am no stranger to vacforms. I am no stranger to biplanes. Big (for 1/72) biplanes. Or a combination of both. However, this dual project scares the wotsits off me. I have had the Roden Gotha GII/III in my stash for quite a long time. I bought it soon after I rejoined the hobby, and was amazed that an injection-moulding company had made one. That was before I knew about Roden and their 'challenges'. I looked in the box when I got home, and put it away in the darkest, deepest corner of the stash that I could find. A couple of years ago, I did the Aeroclub Felixstowe flying boat vacform in one of our other excellent Group Builds, and during that build, @PeterB offered me the chance of having his Rareplanes Vacform Gotha GIV/V for the cost of postage, which I took with not much thought other than 'What a very kind offer' - Thank you Peter! I promised him that I would build it, but things were delayed. Now, I have to admit that I have built a Rareplanes Gotha vacform in the past, when it was still hot off the press as a new release, so imagine my surprise when I opened the box (my old one had been bagged, if I recall correctly) and found a host of white metal parts included too. I had built that back in the days when we used to take picture on film, send them off for developing, and get the photographs back. I did mine on Ilford FP-4 125ASA black and white film, but I am unable to find any copies, even though in my mind I recall having seen a couple recently. If I eventually find it, I will scan and post it. Then came @AdrianMF and his torture idea for a Not My Comfort Zone. Well, I know I have done both types of subject in the past, but both together? I felt that was waaaay outside my comfort zone, especially as I struggle to do two builds at once even when one is a simple quick built. Sitting here at the moment, I am not sure which will cause me more stress, the Rareplanes or the Roden, time will tell. Any way, some 'pre-build' images of what I am up against, firstly, the Roden kit. I bought it for £15.99 (when that seemed to be a lot for a kit), and have just found it is currently on sale at Hannants for £26.99 (which seems not very much for a kit): The box is rather tatty, but it was like that on the Antics shelf when I relieved them of it - goodness knows how long they had had it for. Note it is kit number 002, which will become important later. The first lot of parts. The instructions show a map of the parts, and those glaring gaps are illustrated too, so there were bits removed for other versions. I know you often get fin flashes, but I think Roden mis-interpreted what it should look like... I was impressed with the detail (flash notwithstanding) and it all looks nicely moulded. There are two sets to the grey runner for the engines, of which there are two styles. The instructions and Roden transfers. The early-ness of the kit now becomes apparent as the transfers will be problematic. In my experience they tend to fragment as soon as they get close to water, and I wonder if they were inspired by Isaac Asimov and his 'Thiotimoline' stories, where a chemical compound similar to catechol was so soluble it dissolved BEFORE being added to water... So, After trawling around the internet for quite some time, these were the only aftermarket transfers I could find for the Gotha WWI bombers. They are by Techmod, but are really for GIV. In the interests of 'Not My Comfort Zone', I may try to use the kit transfers for obvious reasons, as these aftermarket ones will be okay for the Vacform one anyway. However, if @AdrianMF will give me permission, I will use these instead, even though it will be the wrong mark if the Roden ones go south. The Rareplanes kit will be shown in the next post. Thanks for looking. As usual, any advice, hints or tips will be greatly appreciated, and if I can improve things with my skills, I will do my best. Ray

Hello all. Here on good ol' Britmodeller we have a Group Build section, and one subject that took my fancy was one called 'Not My Comfort Zone' where the brief was to build something which scared the whatsits off you. Well, I had had a Roden 1/72 Gotha GII/GIII in my stash for a very long time (well over a decade) and it was safely stashed in the darkest, deepest recesses of said stash because I had belatedly done some research on it. That scared me no end as it seemed to be a tricky build. Then a couple of years ago, @PeterB let me have a Rareplanes Gotha GIV vacform for the cost of postage. I had built one of those when they were first issued, around 1984/5 so I knew what I was getting into. The Group Build subject was mooted, and I thought it would be a great one to get both of these built, so that is what I did. From the outset I was not sure which was going to give me the most grief, the Roden or the vacform. Well, it turned out to be the Roden. There is a thread here: if you want to see how I went about it, what to do, and also quite a few what-not-to-do's. I had plenty of help and advice, so thanks to all who assisted. Anyway, these are what I ended up with: Rareplanes GIV: The markings came from a Techmod sheet for the GIV. It had about 6 schemes, and I was able to cobble up the serial number for the Roden GII from the sheet which was lucky, as the Roden transfers disintegrated when I popped them into water (no surprise there). Roden GII I had great fun building them, but they both did supply plenty of uncomfortable-ness for me. In the hands of an expert, the Roden kit could give a great result, I am happy with mine despite the errors I have made. The Rareplanes kit was a real joy to build, and I felt it was the easier of the two to do, and I even got the wings aligned properly on this one. That is it for now, thanks for looking, any comments will be welcome, Ray

Latest build done with craft paints. Mark DSCN3028 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4722/25398718507_8d7cddbed4_k.jpg]DSCN3040 (2) by mwsfly9, on FlickrDSCN3041 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr tps://flic.kr/p/24hxDw9][/url]DSCN3038 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr 2/https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4756/40225008012_40c88ff26f_k.jpg]DSCN3039 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr 224993172_345ab7389c_k.jpg[/img][/url]DSCN3037 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr c.kr/p/22ZbjrF][/url]DSCN3030 (3) by mwsfly9, on Flickr 39372096115_430f89736c_k.jpg[/img][/url]DSCN3034 (3) by mwsfly9, on Flickr 2Zbhtn]DSCN3029 (2)[/url] by mwsflyDSCN3035 (3) by mwsfly9, on Flickr 9, on Flickr https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4752/39372113735_0e5aa77ca1_k.jpg]DSCN3032 (3) by mwsfly9, on Flickr a8_k.jpg[/img][/url]DSCN3031 (3) by DSCN3033 (3) by mwsfly9, on Flickr ://www.flickr.com/photos/90631911@N03/]mwsfly9[/url], on Flickr

This is the first kit from the Roden company I ever built. Suprisingly construction proceeded without any major problems. The fit is good overall; you need to drill some holes for the attatchment of poles, mirrors, headlights. The assembly of the wheels and the axles is a bit tricky - it took several attempts to make all wheels touch the ground. The luggage frame on top and the ladder on the back are photo-etch items. These performed very well and are easy to bend into shape. The model was painted using Gunze/Mr.Hobby colours. Thanks for looking.