Hello,
so here is what I'm working on since 08/2011: a P-Class Zeppelin (LZ 45 'L 13') of the First World War.
Length is 163.5m (1:144 : 1135 mm).
Yesterday I finally finished the hull, so here are a few pictures:
Last August I began to look for the subject when I came across pictures of Zeppelin builds for the Wings of War game and my interest grew fast. I want it to be an accurate model, so I did some research, with extensive help from two airship experts, Andreas Horn and Harry Redner.
Construction began at Christmas when I cut out all the formers for the skeleton. Each ring and longitudinal which is present on the real ship is present in the model. Through the rings, a bar with triangular cross section is run into the framework for stability. So even with only 250 g/sqm paper (which runs through the printer without any problem) there is absolutely no stability issue with the model.
The framework was skinned with 120 g/sqm paper for the body and 80 g/sqm for the fins and rudders. The result is a translucent appearence on the control surfaces like seen on the original:
Last but not least, 1.4 mm stripes of 80 g/sqm paper were glued onto each ring just like on the original to hide the seams.
So this is where I am at the moment. Next week I have the pleasure to be at the archive of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin to do further research on the gondolas. I'll keep you informed!
And please forgive the partially crappy pictures, the model is too huge to take pictures with a nice background and it's too windy to go outside.
Best regards,
Thorsten