Model Airplane International – September 2019

FINAL VERDICT

Despite its uniqueness, it’s ungainly appearance and undoubted complexity, this is one of the most impressive and

welcome releases this year. Having never heard of Gotha UWD, I was keen to look into its history and now having done

so, the desire to build this kit is strong and that’s something that I plan to do later in the year.

As a package, this kit is as complete as you could ever hope it to be. Straight from the box the resulting model will

be a spectacular addition to your collection, its size and detail demanding attention. As a modelling project, it

scores highly thanks to the challenges that it will offer, both in terms of construction and painting, the latter,

thanks to the plain nature of the fi nish and the need to replicate such large areas of wood, the fl oats in particular

being models in their own right.

I like this kit a lot and can’t wait to begin work on it. Thanks to Wingnut Wings for the sample seen this month.

Issue 170 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com 63

Leafi ng through the instructions, the interior
looks to be relatively straightforward, as do the
engines and their nacelles. It is only when you
hit the main wings that construction looks to be
rather more involved...
The wings on this model are huge, multi-
bay affairs that not only carry the engines,
but hanging below the fuselage, the fl oats as
well. That’s a lot of weight and a lot of fi ddly
construction, during which you will need to line
up a large number of struts, sub-assemblies
and then those enormous fl oats. The
instructions direct you to build the wings away
from the fuselage, upside down, to ensure that
the separate upper surface are fl at, these two
large wings joining at 90 degrees to the sides
of the fuselage. Engines already in place,
fl oats are then attached to create what will be
a large and very fl exible unit that you must
carefully join to the fuselage. Factor rigging
into the picture as well, and you some become
aware of the complexity of not only this part
of the build, but the completion of the kit as a
whole! Having built a few WnWs kits already,
I’m sure that the whole thing will assemble as
directed, but I can’t hide my trepidation at the
thought of that particular sequence of events,
even though the results will no doubt be
spectacular once complete.
Having built the kit, you are now faced with
the challenge of painting it. I say ‘now’ but in
all honesty, you will have painted most of it
as you are going along, but for the sake of
ease, let’s simply discuss the option here and
then leave how you do it, to your build! As
mentioned earlier, only one UWD was built,
so schemes are rather limited...to one. The

aircraft in question was fi nished in fi eld grey

with wooden nose panels, fl oats and tail boom

and then ‘very light grey’ engine nacelles

and fuselage panels. Though hardly the most

dynamic of schemes, replicating it will still be

a challenge, the plywood, especially around

the fl oats, being particularly demanding. In

terms of markings the decal sheet is pretty

straightforward, with simple black crosses

taking up most of the space. Assuming that

that would be it, I was rather surprised to fi nd

a large number of stencils on the sheet that

decorate many of the smaller details within

the cockpit. This is a very nice touch and

once again shows how far the manufacturer

wants to go to create as detailed a model as

possible. In terms of printing, the decals look

to be high quality and in combination with the

painting instructions and the overall fi nish,

should look excellent once in place.