1/32 Gotha G.I Scratchbuild

[RAGIII]

Awesome scratch building work! Looks like you are off to a great start on this one!
RAGIII

[coyotemagic]

I am really enjoying this build.
 

So am I, Mark!
Cheers,
Bud

[guitarlute101]

Thanks Rick and Bud!

[Juan]

Your build is putting a smile on my face, she looks fantastic.  Looking forward to your progress.

[guitarlute101]

Thanks Juan, I'll be working on the upper front fuselage today so hopefully I'll have an update tonight if all goes well.

Mark

[rhwinter]

Looking forward to every update, Mark!

Cheers, Richard

[guitarlute101]

Thanks Richard!

I've been pouring over the scale drawings, profile drawings and actual pictures for the rear of the upper front fuselage.
 
Here is the scale drawing and I've circled the area in question...



It doesn't match up with pictures of the real thing, the real pictures show a gentle, tapered drop off instead of an angled one in the scale drawing to my eye.









I'll have to modify the drawings to correct it. Any thoughts?
 
Thanks,
Mark

[hiddeous1973]

hmmm, looking at the pictures, it would seem there is indeed a differance compared with the drawings. The drawings has a raised part aft of the rearmost crewstation (is that the pilotseat?). Remove that from the drawings will give you a lower profile for the fairing and thus a gentlkes slope/curve.

just my 2 cents. btw, love your work, learning something new withevery post!!

Hidde

[lcarroll]

Mark,
    The first two photos definitely contradict the drawing. The third, the more I stare at it, provides a possible match to the angular "drop" on the drawings to my eyes. Possibly this feature was finished differently on different airframes or my eyes are playing tricks on me in the last case. If I HAD to make a choice I'd construct it like the first two photos with a smooth gradual curve as opposed to the angular version on the drawings.
Cheers,
Lance

[guitarlute101]

Thanks for the replies Hidde and Lance, I'm going to go with a sloped rear decking. It might be my eyes tricking me but it seems like I see an angled decking on the 4th picture but who knows. It seems like there are variations on all the airframes but in different aspects.

Mark

[guitarlute101]

Ok, so here are the formers for the front upper fuselage. Extreme care has to be taken to make sure the formers are EXACTLY the same size and are EXACTLY level on the top and sides so everything lines up perfectly so there are no surprises and nothing to fix later on.





And with the sides.....



I think the best option I have for the rear section of the upper front fuselage is to vacu-form it. I will work on making the wood part to vacu-form over this week.
 
I also noticed that I should not have opened up the entire cockpit section, DOH!. I will have to put the top back on the back left and right corner areas but that's no big deal.
 
At this point, I need to do some filling and cleanup with what I have done so far. I also need to order more plastic card!
 
Thanks for looking in!
Mark

[guitarlute101]

A quick update,
 
  The fuselage is primed and everything is smoothed out nicely and I've drilled preliminary holes for the wing attachment points.....





I'll have to add the reinforcing strips later after I've completed the rest of the upper fuselage.
 
Thanks for checking in,
Mark

[Borsos]

That’s a really lovely project on a very special machine and you are doing it with great skills. I really love it!
Best regards
Andreas

[lone modeller]

Given the size of this model your finish on all parts is strikingly good. Your comment about getting things exactly in line is so important - in this scale even very small errors really look obvious.

Stephen.

[Edo]

wow! it seems perfect to me....
great job!
ciao
edo