Search the Community

The origins of this particular build go back 95 years to 1916. A young girl by the name of Edith Goodin had entered service with a wealthy family living in London and was working as a nanny to their two children. This, however, was a time of Zeppelin raids on the capital and whilst our heroine admitted to finding the raids somewhat exciting, her employer took a very different view and decided that wartime London was no place for his offspring and determined that they would be much safer living on the coast. Accordingly, towards the end of 1916, he made arrangements to move the two children and their nanny to Folkestone and this is where Edith and her two charges found themselves living on 25th May 1917. The more historically aware will realise, of course, that this was a particularly bad day to be in that part of the world as this was the time and place that the first of the Gotha raids on the United Kingdom took place! This time, although neither she or the two children were harmed, Edith did not find the raids anything like so exciting and the father seemingly was of the same opinion, as shortly afterwards he drove her and the children to Bournemouth where they would be safe for the duration. Where does this little story come from? Well, from no other person than one Edith Brockhouse, nee Goodin, my late maternal Grandmother. She often described seeing Zeppelins illuminated by searchlights and the bark of the, at that period, ineffectual flack and told me of her surprise and alarm at being bombed in Folkestone, a place she had been assured that was quite safe. All this has left me wanting to build a 1/48 scale Gotha for some years now, and the recent aquisition of the Hippo kit has presnted me with a golden opportunity to realise that ambition. I did think briefly about tackling the Wingnut Wings 1/32 scale kit but the reality of the situation is that my work area is not really big enough and I certainly have nowhere to put the completed article. Dark rumblings from Gill also helped me decide to go for the smaller model. The Hippo kit is of the GV variant of the Gotha whereas the GIV was used on that first raid but it is still a Gotha and that will do well enough for me. Who knows though? I'm the sort of nutter who might well change his mind and scratch some GIV nacelles together! For the moment though, after the battle with the TSR2 I feel minded to followthe line of least resistance to get a Gotha in my display cabinet. Interestingly enough the kit's decal sheet is for a Gotha flown by a Lt Aschoff who took off on that first raid but had to abort due to engine trouble. Lt Aschoff kept detailed diary of his time flying Gothas over england and it is, in no small measure, due to this that so much is known today of Gotha operations. As this build has a very personal side for me, I will be giving this kit the works. I have purchased Some German WW1 bombs from Mirage, a set of Eduard WW1 instrument guages, three quite exquisite Parabellum machine guns fron Master and a set of carved and laminated propellers from The Micro Group. My principal references will be "Gotha!" and "Building the Wingnut Wings Gotha", both from Albatros Publications. I also have a book by the title of "The First Blitz" to help inspire me. First up the obligatory box, sprue and accessory shots. Thanks for looking Martin