Gotha G.lV 1/32 by Wingnut Wings.

[ErnieL]

This was nowhere near my best effort, and truthfully, was one of the earliest attempts at WW1 modeling I ever attempted. It is by no means perfect, but from three ft away it looks great. It doesn’t stand up well to penlight and magnifier inspection.

It’s also my first attempt at painting figures, one or two of whom appear to have imbibed in too much schnapps before the mission.  

I’m not surprised, because the prototype of this build finished its last mission impaled in a Belgian farmhouse. 

Botched the landing, it would seem. Scheiße!

 

The G.lV is an important aircraft. It can be easily looked at at being the world’s fist successful heavier than air strategic bomber.  Much better aircraft followed in short order, such as the improved G.V, and the RFC’s Bloody Paralyzer, But the G.lV, for good or for bad, brought reliable and effective strategic bombing into vogue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yvesvidal]

You are hard on yourself. This model looks really good and has lots of details.

 

Yves

[ErnieL]

I’m quite ashamed of that one, actually, as it’s a very early build of mine and lacks a lot of finesse.  But she’s still pretty in a warlike way.

 

Just look at it. They flew over 20,000 ft high, no gun could catch them, no fighter could, either. As long as the thing held together, they were untouchable. Oxygen was generated by portable generators, and the guys breathed it through a pipe clamped between their teeth. Later in the war, high altitude masks were developed.

 

Never mind going to was in a sailing ship, how’d you like to go to war in this crate?  Two inline six cylinder Mercedes-Benz engines are all that stood between you and a lower altitude, where the guns and fighters COULD and did, get you.

Plus, to make matters worse, check out the bombs mounted on the extreme nose. It did interesting things to aircraft handling when they were released. Landing a now dangerously tailheavy and now almost unflyable bomber, in a farmers field, full of rugs and cattle hoof divot marks, after 8 hours of freezing your backside off, on four bicycle tires?

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

 

More Gothas were lost in landing accidents than all other sources, combined. 

[yvesvidal]

Yes, those guys were true heroes and aces.

 

Yves

[ErnieL]

I still think when I painted the pilot, he ended up looking stoned out of his mind. 

He’s just kind of leeeaning back, taking it easy, thinking that in 50 years, he’ll be played by Donald Sutherland, but this time, he’s a gunner on a Sherman paying off a Tiger Commander with stolen Nazi gold. 

“What’s with the negative waves, man.”

[mtaylor]

It's great.  You say first effort and not happy,  I say you learned.  The pilot wasn't stoned.  This was way before that.  He's probably drunk as he knows what's going to happen.  Looks like he's standing up ready to say "To heck with this, I'll be at the Officer's Club".

[Old Collingwood]

Nothing wrong with that,   you should have seen my first 1/48  kit  the famous (for all the wrong reasons)  Tamiya Sea Harrier, I even built Three of them over the years  could not get any of them even close to passable.

 

OC.

[ErnieL]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

It's great.  You say first effort and not happy,  I say you learned.  The pilot wasn't stoned.  This was way before that.  He's probably drunk as he knows what's going to happen.  Looks like he's standing up ready to say "To heck with this, I'll be at the Officer's Club".

The aircraft commander better get dressed because he’ll freeze going on a mission in his Class A’s. 

It’s amazing when reading history on WW1 and before, how many people went into battle half snapped on whiskey. Especially so for aircrew.  90 mph for 7 hours at 20,000 ft in an open cockpit is not my idea of fun. 

 

[mtaylor]

I quite agree.  Flying into combat even in a WWII bomber wouldn't have been fun but they would have had heat suits and O2 masks.   Aviators in WWI were very brave bunch to fly in wood planes, doped wings, no parachutes, iffy engines, etc.

[CDW]

Love your Gotha bomber model. I'm a big fan of Wingnut Wings kits, but the Gotha was one I never acquired. Seeing yours makes me wish I had acquired one.

Very interesting about the oxygen being piped to the crew, and about the 20,000 ft. service ceiling. Never read up on the history of the WW1 German bombers, but my interest is now piqued.

[hof00]

Hi Chap,

.Pretty good to see some New Zealand Modell Kitsets making the International stage....

(Good on Peter Jackson for his passion/s.)

There are some wonderful "Bare Bones" aircraft that I have seen in some of the regional airports here.... (Mr. Jackson again....)

 

If you can, have a look at one of Mr. Jackson's, if not his first film, "Bad Taste....." (Alien Splatter Movie.)

I have friends here that helped with the "Soundtrack."

(Forgotten Silver is another wonderful NZ Spoof well worth a look.)

 

Cheers….HOF.)

[ErnieL]

Shall do, Sir Hof!

 

5 hours ago, CDW said:

Love your Gotha bomber model. I'm a big fan of Wingnut Wings kits, but the Gotha was one I never acquired. Seeing yours makes me wish I had acquired one.

Very interesting about the oxygen being piped to the crew, and about the 20,000 ft. service ceiling. Never read up on the history of the WW1 German bombers, but my interest is now piqued.

Certain Rumpler two seaters easily topped 20,000 ft as well, and would cruise with impunity at those altitudes, absolutely untouched by enemy fire.

Sopwith developed the Dolphin, which was conceived with two upward firing Lewis guns in an attempt to bring down the high altitude runners. 

But until AAA was able to reach the altitudes needed, not much worked.

 

As AAA became more adept and better developed, the losses mounted, and the Gothas switched to night bombing at lower altitudes. 

The biggest drawback was a lack of a proper bombsight. A telescopic sight through the floor was used, but it was mostly by gosh and by golly when it came to high altitude bombing.  Intentional hits were few and far between. 

[Papa]

It looks damn good to me. You are too critical of yourself. 

[CDW]

Right after reading this thread, I went out (virtually speaking) and bought a copy of "Marked for Death: The First War in the Air", by James Hamilton Patterson. It's an Audible book, and what I like to listen to while building my models. Usually I like Westerns, but it's high time I heard/read some WW1 aviation books!

[lmagna]

Looks more like the pilot is sick and tired of having to fly with Herr Clunk with his Heidelberg scar!

 

Also looks like a nice build to me.

[popeye the sailor]

yepper.......very nice look'in plane     I've never tried to do one before.........seen plenty of kita around though........seen De Havland D 10 and Hadley Page bombers too.  they look very daunting