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Dirigible Aerial Landing Platform


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Hello all,

I bought this 1:520 scale Hindenburg kit at a show a while ago because it was to cheap to pass up.

47325472071_e8626fb161_o.png01 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

 

Not really wanting to build the Hindenburg I kept it on the back burner for a whif.  The old Modern Mechanix covers had some great looking machines on them and this one caught my eye.

33449649138_c50c54025c_o.png02 Inspiration by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

 

Link to site the picture came from

 

I know that there are many reasons that this would not work in real life but I don't care, I like it.  The scale of the project is going to be changed to 1:700 so that I can use readily available aircraft kits/accessories and I think at this scale it will look reasonable.  1:350 aircraft look a little big compared to the size of the dirigible.  The cover shows a biplane taking off but even though this is already a stretch of the imagination I don't want to stretch it to far because I can't imagine any pilots wanting to land in the direction of the hanger.  So I will upgrade it a bit and make it a platform for helicopters and CV-22's.

Els

 

 

 

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The top was chopped and most of the deck has been roughly glued on.  I need to go to the store later today and buy some more epoxy.  I want to run some of it down the inside join of the deck before I cut it to the proper shape.  This should give it a good amount of strength.

33462273958_ed4f01435b_c.jpg03 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

On the magazine cover the hanger is back by the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, this kit is not deep enough for that  so I had to move it forward.  There is a 1:700  -53 on the deck to give a sense of scale.  How in the heck do you paint 700 scale aircraft???

Els

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I hope this is nuclear powered. What can be more awesome than a nuclear powered zeppelin.

 

On 3/10/2019 at 7:39 AM, Els said:

How in the heck do you paint 700 scale aircraft???

 

Airbrush the main color, brush paint any sub-colors, and use a fine point pen (like a Pigma Micron 0.05) to draw in the windows. Attaching rotor blades should be the very very last thing you do. If the rotor blades were regular styrene, I would sand them thinner with a flat sanding block, but clear styrene is too breaky.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Spejic, good tip using the pen for the windows.  I have only attached the rotor blades to this helo and one V-22 with Elmers glue so that I can get an idea of the size for painting the markings on the deck.

A lot of epoxy was dumped into this thing to strengthen the deck from the inside and I have started working out the rear section.

32501887227_69f30c5ac8_o.jpg04 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

This old pen cap has been in my spare parts bin for a long time and I like the look of the raised details so I am going to use it for the upper deck.  I am not trying to make an exact copy of the photo, just using it for an inspiration.

This old wheel hub is what I am going to use for the engine faces.  Since I could only find one, a mold was made so that several can be cast up.

40477691533_98a9a4c456_o.jpg05 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

I have decided not to make this a military vehicle because I do not want to deal with all the 1:700 defensive weapons and such that would need to be added.  I think that I will go with a civilian organization that supports disaster relief.  I like the colors on the magazine cover but it will not work for this kit because I want a traditional landing deck color and not a red one.  I may still use the tan/red/black scheme but in a different way.

Some 1:700 crewmembers that I ordered came in the mail last week,  I had planned on ordering various deck tractors, cranes, and other equipment to fill this big flat deck out but this stuff is soooo small.  I have gained a whole new appreciation for the people that build in this scale, I don't know what is wrong with them but I appreciate their skills.

Els

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As for the crew figures in 1/700...: They look pretty 2D, but if you put a drop of white glue on their front and their back, they turn into good 3D! Add clear matt to the finish and they look great (and fat! 😉 ).

 

 

HAJO

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Hajo, that's a good tip and I will give it a try.  Southwestforests, I really like the cover but I think that I am straying away from it more than I would like to make it somewhat reasonable in the "real world".

The base colors are on and all glossed up for some decals.  As you can see I changed the scheme around a bit to make up for the dark deck.

47450848752_3186974aac_o.jpg06 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

I got so carried away with painting that I forgot about the engines.  Hopefully I don't have to touch up to much paint when I start installing those.  I ditched the original idea that I had for casting the engine faces because I found these markers that had interesting caps.  I also went to the LHS yesterday and bought some replacement plastic props for the radio control mini drones because they look much better than the props that came in the kit.  Here is what I will be making the engines out of.

46588254145_21115ca326_o.png07 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

I have been working on various 1:700ish items to clutter up the deck.  Tonight I am going to try and make some deck tractors and relief supplies.

Els

 

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What you really need is helicopter netting on the sides, as are seen on LHD's and other helicopter carrying ships. The problem is that no one makes a photo-etched fret of just (or largely) those. I know because I've been looking for my Academy ROKS Dokdo and can't find it. You would need to get multiple copies of set that contain lots of rails and a little helicopter netting.

 

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14 hours ago, spejic said:

What you really need is helicopter netting on the sides, ...

For some reason that has me wondering what bait is best when fishing for helicopters.

But, seriously, there is fine and extremely fine mesh screen available through model railroad suppliers. It is usually brass.
That might be worth checking out.
The question is the package size compared to area/amount which is needed.

And somewhere in past decades I acquired a package of white nylon screen from a model car accessories maker.
It was about 6 x 8 inches and extremely fine mesh, you might be able to push a cat hair through it.

Hmm, where is it now ... used some of it on a model train something a couple years ago ...?

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Earlier in the build I was thinking about the netting around the edges but since this is not a ship there is not a square surface to be found.  If I could have found a material, trying to get it level and the same distance from the sides would have been a pain.  I guess it is just big boy rules on the dirigible... If you fall off once you will not do it again...

The deck has been painted/decaled up.  It is not very accurate but it will be good enough for me.  I am hoping that by the time all the deck is dirtied up and stuff is added it will not be that noticeable.

40583860813_59b9b24acb_o.png08 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

The good news is that I got the engines on, the bad news is that I wasn't paying attention to prop clearance when I glued them on.  That will have to be fixed.

I have also been building up various items to clutter up the deck.  These are some sheet styrene that I cut up and painted with the idea of them being shipping containers.  I raided my spare decals box for any small decals that would fit on them.  The one in the back is going to be for a sling load.

32607440847_f8273e4b70_o.png09 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

More piles of relief supplies were made using cut up styrene.  I am trying to make some deck tractors and a fork lift and I folded a 22 to put in the hanger.

40583860593_e46b6d34a5_o.png10 by Hal Elsberry, on Flickr

Things are moving along, and as usual when I needed to print some decals for the company logo on the sides of the dirigible my black ink cartridge stops working.

Els

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks everybody.  It is done I will post some pictures in the completed section.  I like how it turned out but I have dipped my toe into the 1:700 pond and that is deep enough for me.  Putting those little crewmembers on the deck was rough.  It turned out differently than the original magazine cover idea but I am OK with that.  Thanks for following along.

Els

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