Zeppelin LZ 45 'L 13' - 1:144

[Paperwarrior]

WOW!!! That looks great! I look forward to seeing more of this one.

Jeff

[tingmissartoq]

Hi Thorst,

In a word simply brilliant! Airships are such an impressive subject and you have done outstanding work. I wanted to build a model of the L57 Afrika ship but never considered paper until this (I have an old British Aeromodeller magazine where they make a model out of wood).

Do you have any other photo's of the construction phase, particularly covering the hull?

Where did you get the plan?

It would be very much appreciated if you could detail future progress on this forum.

Thanks for the post.

[Goncalo Mendes]

Fantastic work!

Many thanks for sharing.

G_Mendes

[thorst]

Thanks!

tingmissartoq, I do have some more pictures of the construction. None really shows me applying hull stripes as I needed both hands during this (and a third wouldn't have been wrong too ).
The next pictures show the five sections of the skeleton:






This is the triangular bar onto which the rings are pushed:


This is one fin. The top and bottom fins ribs are one part together with the upper/lower longitudinal. This is not doable on the sides as the longitudinals' plains here are not identical with the ones of the fins. So the fin-ribs are extra parts as seen on the next picture. The large flaps reach into the body's center and can be joined there for strength.


Here the glue tabs for the hull are applied partially (in hull color, only on longitudinals):


Here is the nose section partially covered, where the upper MG-platform is located.


These are the most insightful pictures I have of the construction. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Thorsten

[Maltedfalcon]

This is fantastic, Equal to any museum model I have seen.
If it becomes a kit, I will order one!
Can you explain a little more about the triangular bar you are using and how it works.
is it a spacer? or support while you build, or an alignment jig?

[thorst]

The bar is in the middle a prism with the three faces having the same width. in the front and the back, the width tapers proportional to the diameter of the hull. It so fits snuggly into the circular cut-outs of the rings. The sections as you see them on the pictures above can so be plugged over this bar, which then becomes an equivalent to a backbone. It works (at least it seems that it really does) against all sorts of misalignment, so that the parts for the hull do not need to carry any loads or tension, the framework can support itself and the model. I first played with the thought that the hull could take a part of the load too (and so to leave the bar), but I found it too wobbly (and didn't want to cut 19 x 1.10m longitudinals plus all rings from laminated 1mm board).
It is fabricated from the same 250 g/sqm paper like the rest of the framework.

[scon10]

This looks great!
Can you tell us how you manage to get these longitudinal strips of the hull so neatly fitting with no gaps? I have much experience in sloppy and inaccurate building, but not in this accuracy you achieve with the hull, it is beautiful. How do you do this?

[thorst]

It is not all that great, there are areas where I'm not fully satisfied with my job. But the real secret is, I needed a full month to get it skinned completely. In the middle it's easier, because there the parts are not divided on each longitudinal but reach 1/4 of the whole circumfence (over ~5 ribs) and are 3- 6 rings long. The seams on the rings are hidden under the thin stripes, so there are just 4 seams left over half the length of the body. I hope it becomes clearer when you see the kit... have patience!

Thorsten

[tingmissartoq]

Hi Thorst,

Thank you for your comprehensive instructions, and photo's of construction. I cannot be too effusive in praising the job you have done. For an airship enthusiast and modeller this is pure joy.

Am I understanding that you have copied the plan directly to the model to get the detail of the machine gun platform?

If you make it a kit I will order the second one! eagerly awaiting the pics of the gondola's.

Up ship.

Michael

[thorst]

tingmissartoq, the MG-stand is not copied from a plan. Unfortunately, the references I have until now are not so far detailed that they show the ribbing of the floor plates etc. These details were all reconstructed from photographs and then colored/shaded in GIMP (like everything on this model).