Aurora Gotha Fine Scale Modeler Article

[Rickskid]

Hello All,

I am a Volunteer at the Polish Bomber Squadrons Centre at RAF Ingham in Lincolnshire UK. One of my roles in this unique Heritage Centre is that of being a Modeller, building examples of Polish Air Force models. One of the model themes I am building is the moment is early P.A.F Bombers from immediately after WW1. I have built the Handley Page 0/400 and the Farman Goliath so far and I am planning to build the Gotha G.IV in both 1/72 (the Roden Kit) and in 1/48 scale (the Aurora kit) as part of the collection. My Aurora Kit arrived yesterday from America, a kind American modeller had sold it to me for a very reasonable price and sent it accross via UPS.

I understand that Fine Scale Modeler magazine in their July 1995 edition printed an article by a guy named Carl Park on how to do a build of the Aurora Gotha correcting the kit's errors. I have paid a substantial price to buy this edition of FSM from a chap in Canada who was supposed to have posted it to me but it has not arrived!

This is a bit of a long shot but does anyone have a copy of that article at all please? Its 30 years ago so I would imagine very few folks would have a copy that they could scan for me. Fingers crossed that someone can help please.

Thanks in anticipation, Ian

[Flamingo]

Hi Ian,
had this magazine long time ago and still remember it.
The guy did not correct any faults of the Aurora kit, that would require an almost total scratchbuilt.
He just added a number of details, sanded away the embossed markings and gave it a nice paint joband hey, it looked quite convincing!
If you want to have an (almost) accurate Go.V go for the Hippo kit.
The article in FSM is not worth paying a high price, just my 2 cents.
If you need references of the full size machine let me know.
Cheers Joachim

[Brad Cancian]

Hi Ian - I have the magazine in question (indeed I have all of the FSMs from the 80s and 90s in hard copy), and here's the article in question - hope this helps





Cheers,

Brad

[Rickskid]

Brad,
Thank you very much indeed for those scans. You are an absolute star. I'll post some pictures when both Gothas are done.

Thanks again

Ian

[Allan31]

I have the issue as well, Brad beat me to it.
I am planning a build myself of the Aurora Gotha and have amassed drawings and data to do a correct build.
One thing nobody has ever brought up is the upper wing. It is a scale foot or so too low. A perfectly good looking build can be had without this change, I've engineered a solution for my build.




Absolute best of luck with your Gotha build, please post your progress so we can share your suffering. I may be doing new engine nacelles that I will be casting in resin, I'll send a couple along if needed.

[Rickskid]

Hi Allan,
Good spot on the height of the upper wing. I must admit I've set myself a bit of a task with the Gotha builds. I am planning to build mine as a G.IV with the large boat shaped engine nacelles that sat on the lower wings. I have the Roden 1/72 kit of the Gotha G.IV so I can get some idea of the shape of those nacelles that are rather an odd shape! I'm planning to build both the 1/72 and Aurora 1/48 Gotha's at the same time. However, the Roden kit's plastic is like soap and is going to be tricky to work with. As part of my History of the Polish Air Force or "Lotnictwo Wojskowe" as the Poles call it. I am building them both in Polish markings. It appears that the Poles managed to capture/acquire 4 or 5 Gotha's (depending on which reference book you read). But it looks as if only one c/n 100/17  was put back into flying condition after being forced to land in Poland after being intercepted by Polish fighters. Apparently the Versailles Agreement dictated that they should destroy all their Gotha's but it looks from the photos that 100/17 crashed anyway before the order could be carried out.

As for your offer of some copies of your resin nacelles (here I'm hoping that your doing the large boat shaped versions of the G.IV) I'd like to take you up on it as even if you are casting the smaller G.III, I  have a contact who may well have another Aurora Gotha in his stash (when he can find it) and is willing to sell it to me.

I will indeed post up progress pictures as I proceed with the build.

Cheers Ian

[Allan31]

Cheers Ian,
Yes you have taken a big bite. The 1/72 Rodens should be a big help in establishing the correct shapes for the G.IV.
I don't think I would have considered tackling the wing issue but I found some bamboo cocktail sticks that match the technical drawings perfectly. All I have to do is cut to correct length.
I have an additional older kit as well, I don't think I'm up to doing two mega builds so I will build the older kit out-of-box as a what-if so I can play with painted navel lozenge.







Looking forward to following along with your builds.

[Rickskid]

Made a bit more progress yesterday, Modified the wings as best as possible, detached ailerons, filled underside ejector pins marks, altered sweepback angle. Then cut out the cockpit portside bulge, and made the nose profile much shallower. Then cut the nose windows out. I notice Aurora completely missed the open corridor from the cockpit to rear gunner position!

Still pondering on how to do those huge engine nacelles that sit on the lower wing. 

Cheers Ian

[Allan31]

Hey Ian,
Firstly, what kit are you doing first, the Aurora 1/4 or Rodan 1/72?
Secondly, I would start posting in the "Under Construction" section.