Altaya 1/72 Gotha Bomber

[aferguson]

i bought one of these from a Spanish seller on ebay. I spent about $60, most of it for shipping. I'd read some not very flattering comments about it but figured it was way too cool to pass up, so i went for it.

I was expecting a bit of a train wreck but the model is really not bad at all. The worst part is that over half the rigging is saggy, either because it's too long or because it's come loose. But otherwise it's a much better model than i expected it to be and really cool.

It's patterened after the Roden kit and as such is pretty accurate. It has the large cut out tunnel under the fuselage for the rear gunner to shoot down through, plenty of decent detailing and even a good sized bomb load!

The lozenge camoflauge is done with a foil and for the most part is well applied but is coming loose in a few spots and is frayed at a couple of edges. All fixable with glue and touch up paint.

It has little crew figures, reasonable looking guns and is heavy as heck....which is actually something i don't like about it. I'd prefer it a lot lighter.

Not sure what to do about the rigging. I can either try to fix it or remove it all and re-do it (yuk) or remove it all and live without it (probable). But after fixing the few gliches and giving a good coat of dull cote (it's shiney), it's going to be great.

Highly recommended just on fun and novelty alone.

[aferguson]

i fixed all the rigging today. Piece of cake. Just broke one end of each rigging wire loose from its glue, positioned it correctly and re glued. Turns out all the wires are the right length, it's just that many of them weren't glued in the right spot and so compressed the wire a bit and made it look curved. Did the whole plane in about 45 minutes and all rigging wires are straight and look great now.

Had to glue down the lozenge pattern foil in a few spots where it was lifting at an edge. Easy. Did some touch up where the foil had freyed at a couple of edges. Just bit of detail painting and touch up to go, straighten a few of the bombs that are glued on crooked, dull coat and she'll be done.