krow113

Looks as if there is no tail on that plane. Rippling like that may be from ground explosions.

Thanks DRob. And concentrating on the front fuse , rendered in gloss black to replicate the early varnished plywood finish , I made some masks to drybrush the window frames & steps: Done in 4 colors: Details of the gun ring reinforcement and other little items were done at the same time. Window inside masks are still in place . Working towards sealing up the front half of the fuse. A good time to point out the natural demarcation provided by the cockpit coaming and the gun ring. I have a mask cut to fit this void as well . Getting closer.

Our Vancouver IPMS show has separate scale category's. Maybe its like you guys and the metric system...

Do it. I'll be back on this after A Gotha:

Thanks harv and everyone else looking in... Wewl,wewl,wewl , right , roight, roight moi lit'l droogs! I persevered and got The Deathhead into a configuration I'm happy with: Not exactly perfect , but it does not have to be: Deadly as FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!! Looks pretty stark hangin' out there by himself. One would be wise to think of the bomb site , flare rack , airspeed guage and other details as well as the deadly prototype 2cm Becker cannon: Final work done with watercolor pencils and dry brushing:

I may take the opp for silly remarks , but as long as the subject is interesting I could'nt care less what scale it is. We are def in the strongest era of the hobby , right on top of the crest of the wave. WNW was a game changer for sure , guys who would crap their undies at the thought of a WW1 plane model are up to the same undies in builds and kits. Proving that well made , well designed and buildable kits will sell , the demographic demands better kits and will buy them. So if manufacturers want to loosen up the rules then bring it on , so far its been worth it.

Jeff , harv , Gaz & everyone else looking in...Thank you. I've exhausted the capability of my Sotar. Down to 3.5 lbs pressure , clogging almost instantly , it soldiered through the minute color applications. The jaw line is noticeably better and some of the harder edged shapes have been softened: Obviously it would take a fine arts graduate to render the dhead perfectly to match the pic. I am not that person. The goal is to render a copy, hopefully a passable represention of this cool-ass artwork.

Ya! Start thinking like a woman , Mrs Clunkmiester. lol

Moving through the work. Not exactly sure the exact order of color. Complicated masking to say the least: Worth it: You decide: Still only half done. Looks like the lower jaw profiles need some fixin' , this has occured due to the mask file created in a flat plane and the nose being anything but. Mask file will be adjusted to suit real time application. I'll seal it up with 50/50 clear mix and contemplate the tiny details to go.

Its almost like industry influencers are on glue. The good news is they realize the shrinking (rapidly) demographic has $$ and will buy. Unfortunatly its the usual 109190T34STUKASPITFIREETC. Always leaving out the most desired mark of airframe or edition.

I didnt really notice the 1/35 right away... because WHO DOES THAT!!!!!!!????????????

,,,and that makes it so much better...

lol and what do we get? ANOTHER 109 ANOTHER STUKA ANOTHER P40 lol

Gaz; I do think that with the absence of documentation some things are possible. I dont wonder about WNW's extrapolation and here is an excellent example why: Specifically the interior bomb racks. As stated many times before , suppliers would fabricate specific items and sell them to aircraft manufacturers. Bomb racks were one of those. Gotha G IV kits come with rudimentary interior racks and a single vague pic of the rack. AEG G IV kits come with better racks and an excellent pic of Canada's AEG example. The racks are basically the same. WNW chose not to combine the two , sticking with pics that are proven to be from the 2 aircraft and using those in the separate instructions. Pretty cool to me , showing skillful avoidance techniques. I always thought it would be a cool place to work.

No worry's Jeff , thanks for asking. The best thing is the RC's really risk a mental health breakdown, we've all seen these in forums past , as there are no details to go with. Bertyl (Umlaufmoter) helped immeasurably in the engine department with museum pics . And a note on that , there is a survey done of the engines from a downed G V by the English that gives rebuild specs for the engine, which are all of the dimensions from the engine along with enough pics to render the engines almost completely. So there is another Gotha conundrum ; mega details on singular parts like the engine , and none on other components as there re no surviving examples. I still have found ZERO ref pics or description of the instrument panel layout that WNW used for the Gotha G IV. So I might not have as much info as they did , but then again I dont have more money than god!

excellent choices!

Jeff please go here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235016614-a-gotha/ and read the build philosophy. Not all Gotha's had a dhead and these are pics of one that does have it. Its a G III so no ; I do not see the value in making a G IV into a G III . Many G III's were converted into G IV's so this dhead fuse could have been upgraded to a G IV and NO-ONE can say other wise. I take the lack of resources and the fact that there are less than 10 Gotha's with enough reference material to build them completely accurately as part of my decision to create an amalgum of Gotha's into one bomber. All of my "fabrications" , extrapolations , and common sense deductions will be outlined at the finish of the build. Viewers will be able to extract the material they dont like or agree with and hopefully appreciate the work involved. A few rivit counters were all over this on Des' WW1 forum ,when it was worth going there , and Des himself was very interested in my work and basically told them to grow the F up. Interesting to see the highest view count for a single model on that forum for my work and have the dirty trick played on me by the prat owner happen. Too bad. A Gotha has gone farther than even I suspected it would , as near constant perusal and diligent examination of ref materials for component detail has gone forward. I have woken up several times in bed with my ref notes surrounding me and a pic in my near-lifeless hand as I really do immerse in research. The instruction booklet is in tatters as well .Mr Rimmells book as fared little better as has my copy of Gotha! . I recently purchased publishing equipment and along with a M/C model book I have begun thinking about a book for A Gotha. Hopefully I can make those happen. Thanks and I'm hoping this will keep the accuracy clowns quiet.

Thanks and thanks for looking in. Whining about lack of reference pics for Gotha bombers gets old quick. But does have the exceptional effect of a researcher literally devouring and absorbing as much as possible from the available pics. Case in point these 2 pics: I would think they were taken at the same time. There is so much detail to be gleaned from these 2 pics its astounding ! They are of a G III , and are well known and have been shown tons of times on the internet. I'm going over and over these as I work through the deathhead. An interesting observation is the guage visible though the first window. And the one on the front strut . This is my night , tonight , these two pics. Edit; The 'guage' on the front fuse strut appears , upon intense scrutiny , to be the pilots rear view mirror. Still no info on the gauge peeking out from the front side window. Would not surprise me if it was a secondary speed or altitude related gauge , maybe for checking other gauge's or instrumentation's accuracy.

Very nice! Looks like it was too late for the wire cutter on the jeep!

Thanks Gaz! Pretty stoked, my Ioline even cut the tiny teeth:

Thanks Jeff. Deathhead work begins and is ongoing: Put that last one in because its PRETTY F#$%^&*IN' COOL!!!!!!!!!! And a policy of removing masks as soon as possible confirms the artwork is centered in the nose: Def a good start and I can proceed with this

Nice. I like the PCM kits , one key to them is there is more than enough plastic to get the assy sorted.

Thanks GAz. Bombs and rack finished with wood plugs and double dry brush (DSGrey followed by chrome silver):

Smoking Accessory Rolling Trays.

Thanks GAz. The colors are ; blues , green/greys, blacks. I'm not qualified to give exact colors as there are no exact colors to give. The bombs and bomb racks are one of the components there are a lot of ref pics of. Loaded/unloaded racks , fused and unfused bombs are easily detailed{ One detail I noticed around 2013 was that there are some fused and unfused bombs in pics. There is a very good drawing of the fuse in the RR book. There is also one pic that , to my eye , has a plug of some sort in the nose of the bombs pictured. This is ,to my eye , is clearly one of the first FOD 's. I thought these would be made of wood , so I punched out some plastic card to represent them : There are the fuse' too , they were cut off the bombs previously. If you look in the rear cradles you an see the thinned pva wicked in to help secure the bombs. This assy will have some paint and a double drybrush session. That will do for the bomb rack assy , it will get actuation mechanisms attached after it has been secured to the fuse/wing asst to come. A note on the loadout. These are 300 kg bombs , there is no precedent of ref pics or written description of this loadout. It is entirely of my own fabrication. And as total goof on another forum put it ; 'You can fabricate anything you want" it does apply to a certain extent. However the extent was/is not to "play the big shot" (another goofs quote) or claim any inside knowledge of the Gotha in any way, nor is it intended to insult anyone. AEG GIV's were documented to carry 2- 300 kg bombs , so I thought A Gotha could carry them.