US Navy K Ship, something a little different.

[I-16]

Well, I think this "aircraft" will fit the rules of the GB. I would like to build a U.S. Navy K Ship Anti Submarine Blimp. I sat up the other night and watched an old movie called "This Man's Navy", which is a campy WWII flick revolving around Navy LTA. Bad acting, great footage of wartime blimps! A search of the internet found there is only one plastic model of the K ship, which was the Navy's most used ASW Patrol Blimp during the war. Ideal Toy Company made the molds in, I'm assuming, the 1960's. Glencoe purchased them and re-popped the model, but it is currently out of production. I found one of the originals on EBAY. It has 12 parts. I think I can finish this one. The K's served from 1937 to 1959, and there were 134 built. They were equipped with 4 350 Lb depth bombs, and a .50 cal machine gun in the front of the gondola, utilized search radar and could stay aloft for 24 hours.

Opening shot:

[Pete]

Oooooh, now this is cool!

[Spectre711]

That's cool! I kep saying that I'm going to build a blimp. I still have the motorized Goodyear blimp from when I was a kid.

[I-16]

Well like many models, it appears this blimp falls a little short, about 45 scale feet short! I compared the envelope to a scale diagram, and I will need to graft a section of sheet into the middle to make it look reasonably accurate. The stabilizers are all wrong as well, and will be replaced with sheet. I will also replace the cast in nose ribbing with Evergreen stock, as there are only 12 ribs versus the 26 on the K ships. So much for 12 parts..... The good news is the control car look pretty good for the scale. Out comes the razor saw, and pray for a straight cut!

[I-16]

Cut the envelope. The plastic is very brittle, and while removing the stabs, took a chunk out that will need to be filled. I'm thinking there will be a little filler on this one.

[I-16]

OK, spliced in an additional 47 feet of envelope. It now looks a little more scale. The seams are better than I expected, so I hope to get her smoothed out with a minimum of filler.

[Bigasshammm]

Went from weather balloon to blimp.

[I-16]

Lots of filler, as I kind of guessed. I used a heavy bodied automotive primer to fill in the lighter imperfections, and will finish it off with a light grey primer prior to painting it silver. I began to apply the bows on the nose, which were laced into the originals. Evergreen strip and Tenax makes this a bit easier. I glued the control car haves together, and it looks like the radome is a bit undersized. I'll mull that one over for a bit before cutting it apart. The next step will be new stabilizers, which should be interesting to re-create, as the originals are inflated, not sheet material.

[Spectre711]

I was just thinking and started to wonder if any of these saw combat considering that they could drop bombs.

[Pete]

How's this one coming along?

[I-16]

Moving along, slowly. I have the fins on, which I made of 3 layers of plastic card. I have been battling the filler on the envelope, finally getting the low spots out. The next step is working on the command car, and then paint. In regards to Spectre's question, yes, US Navy blimps engaged in a considerable amount of combat during the war. Predominately they were used to hunt submarines, and vector surface ships in for the kill. They did carry 4 depth bombs, 2 in an internal bay, and 2 externally, as well as radar and sonobouys. In 1943, the K74 engaged a U boat in the Gulf of Mexico, utilizing her .50 caliber machine gun offensively. Although she was shot down by the U boats heavy anti-aircraft guns, the submarine was sufficiently damaged, that it was forced to limp back home on the surface, only to be sunk by a Liberator off Gibraltar.

A couple links below.

http://www.naval-airships.org/resources/Documents/tnb77.pdf

http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/naval-aviation-centennial-blimp-vs-u-boat/