Hybrid Epinal Ballon Dirigeable Italien

[wireandpaper]

Dear All:
In preparation to build a little blimp from Bruno, I decided to do this very nice model. There is very little information about these blimps and I presume it has been inspired by airship P.1 (AKA N.1)
https://av8rblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/italian-military-dirigible-no-1/
Although it is a perceived representation, it is quite fine. The envelope is fusiform instead of an elongated raindrop. The gondola shape is very interesting with paddles instead of propellers and the control surfaces are on the top instead of under the tail. Anyway I will make a few adjustments. First of all I will estimate the overall length of the envelope by a quick and very dirty build, using tape.

[wireandpaper]

Next thing was to make a better envelope and lower the control surfaces to the bottom.
I recruited two Mexican officers, to pass as Italian, to accompany the lovely ladies of the model. Everithing reduced to 1/400, my standard scale!

ps the officers are from the "Junior General"

[wireandpaper]

I realized that I didn't like the solid control surfaces, so I made them like a box-kite, and adapted the gondola to a boat shape, and rig with wire.
In this instance I didn't enjoy the mix of wire and paper!
The wire is to thick. Well I will look for something more suitable.
So after two attempts (the first one was more like a proof of concept and rough measurements) here is the result.

[wireandpaper]

Compared to Nobile's airship

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

And hi, wireandpaper. Clever build of the old Epinal airship. I built the model some years ago, and was dissatisfied with the placement of the control surfaces. I put them on top as the model's little drawing suggested, and I didn't like that once they were atop the envelope, they rested at an unrealistic angle. Your solution to put the boxkite under the envelope never occurred to me and I'll remember your placement if I ever build another.

Also, the, "boat for a gondola" idea worked well. As you probably know, being a fan of airships, the "America" used a boat as its gondola for its ill-fated attempt to reach the North Pole in 1910. Here is the Wikipedia link for the uninitiated...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_(airship)

Below are some pictures of the ship and the gondola. The crew of the "America" was very luck to get back home again.

Again, well done and nice additions to your model.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[Thumb Dog]

Hi Again,

My memory failed me again, and for the record, the airship, "America" was built to reach the North Pole, but was trying for an Atlantic crossing when is was rescued by the Royal Mail steamship "Trent."

This memory thing is only going to get worse, isn't it? I forget...

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[elliott]

Nice work Pablo. I like it!

[SCEtoAUX]

Good result on the conversion. The boat gondola is a nice touch. It needs some oars. :)

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Some years ago I made a thorough search for pictures of as many Epinal models as I could find. Among them, some high resolution ones of more airships. I built most of them, after printing on A4 paper. part numbers become difficult to read, but that problem was solved by opening the file on the computer and enlarging the image.
Pictures below - if anyone would like one or more of the files, contact me.
Diderick A. den Bakker, Holland.
zeistbouwplaten.nl