I have a sudden urge to build one of the Navy’s dirigibles. I found a picture (here) of the USS Los Angeles holding on for dear life to its mooring tower that I think would make an outstanding diorama, but I have yet to actually find a kit of the USS LA. Does anyone know of a company producing this kit or have one lying around that they’d like to get rid of? If not, what Zeppelin kits are out there other than Revell’s Hindenburg? (1:720 is a little too small for the subject matter if you ask me…)
Have you thought about scratchbuilding one, using the old stick-and-tissue technique for the main “hull”, with styrene/resin/metal for the detail bits? I’ve thought about that, from time to time. I’ve also thought about using cloth for the hull covering. I haven’t gone so far as to make any sketches, though. And, I don’t have anyplace to display it. But it might be a fun exercise.
Wow…honestly, no I haven’t thought of that…I still consider myself to be very much a beginner, so the thought of scratchbuilding ANYTHING is pretty intimidating! If you ever get around to that, let me know what you do, and maybe I’ll follow suit!
oops, thought you had Led Zeppeling tickets for sale… [;)]
I bet if you were able to sit down & map it out, it is something that could be scratchbuilt. It’s basically a big tube with fins & a gondola right? Maybe even try it out at a very small scale.
Hey Buckeye…I have nothing on blimps but I just had to say what a great avatar you have there…I grew up with that show and loved it…Aww geeze meathead!
Were I to scratch-build a zep hull, I’d lkely do a Bondo Body Filler-type sculpture to make a male mold (meaning a lot of sanding) and draw or vac-form the hull halves…
One could also do an soldered aluminum or brass frame with the covering being that type that R/C modelers use… It’s a plastic film that shrinks tight when heat is applied to it from an iron of some sort… Dunno what they’re called, but I know what they look like, basically a small electrically heated flat-iron mounred on a handle… Hawkeye, do you know what I’m talking about?
But, I think that, even though it’s technically an aircraft, the ship modelers would be a really good source for help with doing anything that… That’d be where I asked about doing that, or finding kits, at any rate… I’d rather do the Curtiss Sparrowhawks that flew from 'em, lol…
The Los Angeles was built for the US by the Zeppellin Works in Friedrichshafen Germany and was identicle to the Graf Zeppellin except for an added bay for extra gas cells due to helium not having as much lifting power as hydrogen. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen references but I believe the difference in length was about 40 feet.
The hardest part in converting the Graf Zeppellin to the Los Angeles would be adding the extra bay. There was an old vacu-form kit available but you would need two of them to get the extra section to add to the middle. Otherwise, scratchbuilding is your only option as has been mentioned here earlier. A mooring mast would also have to be scratch built.
I used to be quite the lighter-than-air fanatic back in the day and the Los Angeles weathervane incident was one of of my favorite stories. Good luck in your endeavors on this fascinating project.
Pat, have you (or anyone else for that matter) built the Megatech USS LA kit? It’s a balsa and lite-ply kit, so I wonder if it would be lighter than a plastic, and therefore easier to manipulate into the near-vertical. If this sounds like a stupid question, I apologize but I have absolutely zero knowledge about anything other than plastic kits.
No, I have not built any models of lighter than air ships except for an old model of the Good Year blimp back in the early '70s. If you’re going to do a model of the Los Angeles weathervane incident it would almost be necessary to incorporate the mooring mast as a part of the completed model as an integral structure.
The picture you posted of the incident is only one part of the amazing total. The ship actually reached a point of being perfectly vertical before pirhouetting around on it’s nose and gradually coming to rest horizontally on the other side of the mast. I had a Time-Life book years ago on airships that showed the entire sequence captured on film.
Were I to do a model of this I would depict it at vertical and incorporate a substantial piece like brass rod or tubing from the mooring mast through the ship and mount the mast to a heavy base to keep it from tipping over. In this manner the weight of the model would be inconsequential as it would merely be bearing down directly on the mooring mast. I would make the mast from structural brass and solder it together (you can’t tell I haven’t thought about this over the years). HTH.
Good find! Unfortunately there’s too much of a difference between the non-rigid K-Class blimp and the rigid USS Los Angeles for the purpose of the diagram…I think I may have to either just settle for the $80 Lindberg kit or try my luck with a plastic/wood Megatech kit
I wish there were some kits other than the Hindenburg. I have been utterly fascinated with Zeps since I was like 5 years old. My Grandfather got me a book about airships called Giants of the Sky. It had another image of the L.A. nose standing in it. Same seen but she was completely upright. It wwas a fascinating book with lots of images. I even modeled what my impression of a modern Zeppelin (Technically Dirigibleis the correct term, Zeppelin applies to those of a specific company.) would be like.
Here’s a render of it.
I bet one of you great scratch builders could have a field day with this… LOL
I would probably use laminated sheets of Styrene, cut into circular sections and then cut out as frame members. Simple strip styrene could be glued in channels cut into the main frame rings. Then light cloth or heavy gauge RC Skin and Dope to put on the covering skin.
