A GOTHA

[krow113]

A Gotha continues.

Wheel decaling ongoing today as well as the attachment of the landing gear:

Gear attachment seamless as I used PVA to mask the ends , WNW fit is perfect:

And very strong , tied together the landing gear stiffens right up nicely:

I want to do an O?A shot today as well , laying out all of th components to date///

[harv]

WOW !  This is fantastic work buddy ! 

[krow113]

Thanks harv.

As promised an o/a shot. This is a ton of work , not only on kit components but on scratchbuilt parts as well:

At this point the model is just past half way I think:

And when you have these assy's done, you are well into it and past the most detailed part of the kit:

So as daunting as the Gotha kit is , breaking it down relieves the pressure . 

I'll be looking at the top surface prep and paint work shortly.

Thanks for looking in.

 

[DocRob]

This is looking great, your way to depict different materials and textures is making your Gotha look exceptional.

Cheers Rob

[krow113]

Thanks Rob.

 

 Todays work begins with contemplation in real time.

Here are the parts and the laid out camo scheme to date:

Upper wing , pen plot , cut & numbered mask:

Tricky tail section:

Colors selected last night; black , dark green , dark blue , mid blue , mauve. All mixed from Drooling Bulldog paints.

Some more work on the camo file numbering the shapes , then they can be cut as well.

I may go ahead and do the primer and first color as no masks are needed for that work.

 

[JeroenPeters]

oh my god! this is insane! Respect!

 

[krow113]

Thanks Jeroen.

An earlier test proves the file and mask fit:

[krow113]

A days leisurely work in Corel defines and designates the final shapes and colors of the 5 color hand painted polygonal night camouflage maskset:

[DocRob]

On 2/8/2020 at 8:41 PM, JeroenPeters said:

oh my god! this is insane! Respect!

I second that, good luck with the Lozenge.

Cheers Rob

[Bomber_County]

And I thought doing basic grey and green RAF camo was difficult.....

[Sir Desmond Glazebrook]

The patience this takes is a true virtue.

Sir, well done. I admire you very much.

[krow113]

Doc Thanks And  its polygonal not lozenge, there is a difference.

Phil -Thanks

Desmond- Thanks.

Looking at primer and  first color today.

[krow113]

...so it begins.

A huge amount of thought and work is rapidly approaching critical mass.

I haven't been shilling names of products or manufacturers on my threads, my choice , I'm ok with it , however in the case of this paintwork I'll relent.

Here is the primer used , cut at least 1/3 with Tamiya thinner:

A good going over of the parts and light primer coat  sprayed:

 I actually feel a little jittery , like its my first paint work. 

I also thought , from some of the comments , I may be Icarus , flying to close to the sun destined to crash and burn in model forum humiliation. 

LOL Ya that's it!

No, its just the feeling I get when I think what I'm doing is pretty cool and that's what I do this for.

Thanks for looking in and commenting.

I don't think I'll do the first color today but I will tomorrow...

 

 

[DocRob]

13 hours ago, krow113 said:

I also thought , from some of the comments , I may be Icarus , flying to close to the sun destined to crash and burn in model forum humiliation. 

LOL Ya that's it!

Is that effected by the thinner .

Can't wait to see the resulting paintjob. Your Gotha will look great in that Loz… er, polygon look.

Cheers Rob

[Ryan]

Yeah, re-name topic to "THE" Gotha!

Very nice work.

[krow113]

Ryan - Thanks.

Doc - Thanks , ya gonna let that go....?

I have done as complete research as I have been able on the camo. As with everything Gotha there is little (compared to others) to work with.

The scheme I have chosen to work with is known. Pics of Gothas during the transition to night bombing of England show a plethora of  different styles and sizes of hex's , lozenge , and polygons. The bombers were handpainted until the patterned fabrics were available.

I can see a master painter laying out the shapes in chalk real time on the bomber. Then apprentice painters would come in and fill in the shapes with the designated color. A not unfeasible scenario. I like to figure out how things are done during the research run up to a model effort.

I'm warming up the house , getting ready for the first color. I did do a change up last night and will be going with colors closer to this scheme:

 

The primer will be 'swept' with 3M scotchbrite pad in the direction of airflow prior to the color application.

Thanks for watching , I anticipate some big numbers in the view for this work , if the showing to date is any indicator!

 

[Ryan]

Good luck man.

[krow113]

Thanks Ryan.

And thanks to everyone else watching , looking in , commenting , not commenting .

This is a pretty good forum , I saw the 'F' word on a another thread , nice to know there wont be a hypocritical rush to condemn the poster.

To the work at hand.

First color was a mix. A long , at least an hour , to get to spray checking.  I cant give exact mix ratios mostly because they don't exist. I've used available references and as with  all WW1 subjects , well , read EVERY single WNW instructions.

Percentages are approximate.

Vallejo 809 blue  50%

Vallejo 802 red  35%

AK 2271 Fokker grey 10%

Vallejo 820 Off-white  5%

Vallejo 950 Black 5%

Liquitex airbrush medium around 10 drops , distilled water to thin. I left it creamy after a  10 minute whip with a Badger mixer.

I mixed almost 60ml of paint and used at least 40ml of it.

I love it , its visceral and looks wicked:

Its predominatly blue but shows purple and red in the edges:

A good while to dry and on to the masks , this is color number 1 of 5.

[GusMac]

You're right to love that colour. Looks stunning. It appears as though it'll change subtly with every alteration in angle and lighting which is exactly as it would be in reality. Kudos! 

[Jeff]

This whole build is incredible.....................

[krow113]

GMac n' Jeff - Thanks for looking and your  complimentary comments.

Jitters not withstanding , there is no new work today.

Throwback Thursday , here are some prior pics of work to date:

https://ibb.co/gfYdNb][/url]

That otta hold you guys for a while!

 

 

[krow113]

Today begins with an output from The Big Unit.

Specifically the cut files for the camo. You can see the numbers clearly on each polygon. And the cut is very nice. I did a lot of work on these files , hopefully that helps with the work to come.

The work to come seems to be beyond a few guys commenting on this and other forums , no slag , its a very convoluted procedure as I see it.

And this would be the description of the work:

1) Paint color # 1  overall.

2) Apply masks.

3) Remove all of the #2 polygons , PLACING THEM ON A SHEET OF MASK BACKING , THEREBY SAVING THEM.

4) Paint color number 2.

5) Replace the saved #2 polygons. The mask is low tack , and can be removed and replaced a number of times if need be.

6) Remove all of the #3 polygons. And paint in color #3.

7) Repeat the above , working through the colors , #4 , #5 . 

Obviously the work centers on the capability of the painter. Due diligence is the watchword of the day , making sure the polygons are kept nice and flat. The polygons ARE ALL DIFFERENT , so mixing them up is almost impossible. Attention must be paid to burnishing edges down and keeping debris from the tacky masks. Paint mix and application is crucial as well, low pressure and proper thinning will be needed. Lots of thinking to get to this stage , hopefully it pays off.

Here is the maskset to be used:

Cuts and numbers:

The parts have been 'airflow' Scotchbrited , and are ready to go. Hopefully today I can get color #2 on the model.

Next step is application of the application tape. Transfer tape is another name for it. This is paper backed TT ,I prefer it for reasons  you will see in the upcoming episodes of A Gotha's camo extravaganza!

Fuse center section will go on after the 2 sides are applied , might be tricky lining it all up!

Transfer tape is trimmed closer and closer as the work progress' almost to the edge of the mask at this point , prolly another close trimming right before application.

Maskset applied:

[GazzaS]

Steve,

    This is all very amazing!  I've spent quite a few minutes catching up.

When the mask cutters started becoming available, I wondered if anyone would attempt to do as you are doing.  Thanks to great decal sets, more planes are becoming covered in decals than ever before.

I feel like I'm holding my breath waiting for the next update!

 

Gaz

[krow113]

Thanks Gaz!

 This is a little past the smaller mask cutters realm. Unless they can print the number or color on the mask...?

 I used my Roland SP 300 print cut machine for this work.

And I can tell you this is giving me some stress.

I managed to remove the application tape , revealing the masks:

I'll leave the top wing until tomorrow , those masks are 3.5" x 14" , I don't feel like faffing about with them right now.

Fuse and tail , small problem there:

Some small problems showed up , size of the masks in some areas and contours on the model. These are being worked around.

[Jeff]

Absolutely mesmerizing.......... this is so technical, and extremely interesting, not only model talents, but computer. math, and algebra talents as well, this is not just glue and a splash of paint................ MASTER CLASS !