Gotha G IV WNW 1/32

[rowan broadbent]

This is a really great model coming together! I love alternative finishes - many, many of the schemes we put forward are based on the flimsiest of photographic evidence. Many modellers naturally seek certainties with colours and markings and whilst for later eras high(er) degrees of confidence can be possible, "our" period has less information and usually a particular aircraft has just one photograph available and that often taken from an angle which makes it difficult to know the actual details. The only photograph I know of of Lori 2 was taken from head on after an allied attack on its aerodrome. All I could discern was the dark colour of the main airframe and a light nose marking and the suggestion of a light panel to the rear of the fuselage.

The fact that Lori2 was Gotha-built was pointed out to me by Richard Alexander (before it has been shown as an LVG machine) and certain similarities with 406/16 indicated that this could be the same machine, after an in-service repaint. The repaint was prompted by the change from day to night bombing operations and the complex hexagon pattern could well have been applied using locally available paints (the hexagon pattern was, as far as I know, only factory-applied by LVG but it could well have been copied at the unit from an LVG-built G.IV); there is so much conjecture here that your choice of colours can only be guided by circumstantial evidence and what "looks right" to your eye - I think it looks absolutely stunning and cannot think of any reason to say it isn't correct, so well done in choosing it and even more plaudits for the faultless execution!

The green Gotha logo was suggested to me by James Fahey (Jamo) who alerted me to the different  style and colour of the insignia applied to some Gothas. James very kindly sent me photos of the logo and colour photo of an existing Gotha prop which clearly showed it as being mostly green. The WNW rendition is also correct for some aircraft. Once again, I have no reason other than circumstantially informed guesswork to assume that the green logo was right for Lori2 - but it does look very nice, I must say! I am more grateful than I can say for this sort of help, without which our decal sets would be so much the poorer - if produced at all!

A truly great model this and it's starting to get me motivated to have a go at my own G.IV, sitting on the shelf with its other neglected bretheren..... but then the Felixstowe should be along soon, and I want to do another pair of D.VIIs and a couple of Albatri and start my Alcock A1/ Sopwith Mouse project and and.....

[stefanbuss]

The only photograph I know of of Lori 2 was taken from head on after an allied attack on its aerodrome.

Rowan, you're speaking of the photo with the bomb crater in front of the aircraft, yes?

I Wanted to leave the rudder in the original light blue color as well. 

Zavod44, you managed to confuse me - talking about a light blue rudder but showing a white one instead?

[rowan broadbent]

The only photograph I know of of Lori 2 was taken from head on after an allied attack on its aerodrome.

Rowan, you're speaking of the photo with the bomb crater in front of the aircraft, yes?

Yes, that's the one.

[LukasTheLight]

Hello there,

to Zavod44- absolutely fantastic work!!! I don't really know that much about real thing but I'm almost certain that I'll try same camouflage in the future... great build and truly remarkably executed hexagonal camouflage!!! Love it!!!

Cheerio
Lukas

[Ernie]

Wonderfull!

+1! Wow!

Cheers,
Ernie

[lcarroll]

    This just keeps getting better with every update. Great detail and beautifully done Zavod 44!
Cheers,
Lance

[Chris Johnson]

Absolutely outstanding work on display here. I tip my hat to you for your perseverance in tackling that paint scheme. It all looks superb.

Cheers,

Chris

[BigBlue]

I love the dirty looking engine... it looks spot on to me!  Great work.

Chris

[petrov27]

This looks really great - the hex camouflage is extremely impressive and kudos for pulling that off so well!

[zavod44]

Rowan I want to commend you on that decal sheet.  The reason I like your Gotha logo is because it has the proper detail on the logo.  I think the WNW logo is a little simplified.  Still great just a little simplified. 

Okay I'll give you my theory on why I think Lori2 has Hex cammo.  Now is this based on the only known photo, but here is my theory.  I have only been into WW I aircraft for a short time, and this is just a theory.  I was looking at a bunch of pictures in the Windsock book, (which I know they don't want their pictures shown without consent) and I noticed that when these night painted Gothas were painted in hexes or lozenge they always seem to render almost black in pictures.  It's not until you see them from a different angle that you can even tell they had a pattern.  Erika the Gotha GV is a good example.  Sometimes it just looks black, and only from another angle you can see it is night lozenge.  There is also Gotha GV picture on the WNW website where the nose of the aircraft looks black until you look closely and can see the edges of the color break on the pattern.  So to my eye Lori2 renders black in the picture, albeit very hard to see.  I also feel you can almost see the break lines of the cammo on the nose.  I think there is a faint line that may be the edge of a painted hex.  Also if you look down the fuselage it looks like there is reflections of the different gloss levels of the painted on hexes.  It seems a lot of times the field applied hexes have different gloss levels between the colors.  Now I know this is a stretch, and as Rowan said this is all conjecture.  I do feel that the light blue color of MoRoTas renders very very light in pictures which led me to further believe that Lori2 may be darker.  That's my theory and I'll stand by it.  At the end of the we are dealing with 100 year old B&W photography.  In the end I made the leap of faith.  I think it's one of the things that has actually drawn me to the world of WW I aircraft.  Thanks for the kind words.....

 

[zavod44]

The only photograph I know of of Lori 2 was taken from head on after an allied attack on its aerodrome.

Rowan, you're speaking of the photo with the bomb crater in front of the aircraft, yes?

I Wanted to leave the rudder in the original light blue color as well. 

Zavod44, you managed to confuse me - talking about a light blue rudder but showing a white one instead?

I actually misspoke, the rudder is indeed the very light blue color of the rest of the plane, it's hard to tell with everything else being so dark.  If I hold a paper  next to it I can tell it's blue.  I do call it white but it's most definitely light blue.....

[stefanbuss]

That's my theory and I'll stand by it.

And thank you very very much for providing how you came to your conclusions. This is the part i like most - making something out of a photograph.

Stefan

[Michael Scarborough]

I have to say it is a real pleasure to read these extremely interesting exchanges between gentlemen with well informed opinions. Oi, how I hate the Experten weighing in on other websites with no more than ego to support their theories.

Three cheers from NYC,
Michael

[zavod44]

Here is a link to the WNW site, I can't link the specific picture, so you need to look through the thumbnails, it's the one of an SSW Gotha G IV with two men in the pulpit, one older man with a beard.  You can see how dark this aircraft is and you can also see it's painted at least three different colors, and it's an irregular lozenge pattern.  In the photo its almost entirely black, it seems to be a trend with the planes that have the dark cammo, they render black in photographs.  It's my observation.   As I said in the windsock book I kept seeing this as well.  It's a theory......


http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/productdetail?productid=3006&cat=1#

[zavod44]

I have to say it is a real pleasure to read these extremely interesting exchanges between gentlemen with well informed opinions. Oi, how I hate the Experten weighing in on other websites with no more than ego to support their theories.

Three cheers from NYC,
Michael

As I said I'm a complete newbie in this world, there are so many who have devoted their lives to this subject, and will know much more than I could ever dream of knowing.   I'm just trying to not look like a complete nit wit here.  I am no expert at all....  Honestly that why I was a little reluctant to post this here, I knew I was going against some conventional wisdom and I didn't want to insult anyone of make myself look dumb.  So I have been toiling away in my basement on this without sharing.

  Thanks everyone for the kind words.  It's makes me feel like I didn't make a horrible choice.....