Making a round nose for the Graf Zeppelin

[TXVanguard]

I'm building Ralph Currell's Graf Zeppelin model:

Airship LZ 127 'Graf Zeppelin'

The attached picture shows (hopefully) the piece used for the nose of the model. Are there any tricks that will make it easier to glue together the edges of those little triangular pieces near the center without getting glue all over the place? Thanks.

[Darwin]

There are several good threads on the forum regarding building petal-type conic sections. My own favorite is to make a wad of kleenex moulded roughly in the shape you are trying to create, join the side seam of the part up to the start of the petals, stuff the kleenex into the part, then put a bit of glue onto the kleenex wad and press the petals down onto the wad, using my fingertips to keep the petals pressed together until the glue sets. Once the glue drys, I dig the excess kleenex out, and soak down what remains in the part with superglue.

The slickest approach I've seen is to use rolled-up paper to create a female die, press-fit the petals into the die, then apply glue to the inside of the seams. Somewhere in the tutorials department there is a very good thread on this method.

[TXVanguard]

Originally Posted by Darwin

There are several good threads on the forum regarding building petal-type conic sections.

Thanks. I didn't know the right term to search for.

[Keds_Girl_Lala]

This is where if you make a scan to play with it helps a lot. I made round shape once by glueing parts with out much forming and next day I formed the curve deeper and more bulbous from the inside using wood ball on a stick.

[modelperry]

I use a circle template and bring it down over the petal area with ever decreasing diameters of circles until the petal area is closed.

Greg

[THE DC]

You can also make slats to "seem" the pieces together. This takes longer, but your nose will be strong! I did this on a DY-100 and it bounced instead of breaking.


The DC

[KCStephens]

The key here is patients....

First apply a glue tab along one of the edges of the main seam up to the point where the pedals begin.

Next pre-form the piece...work the paper by rolling and bending it until it holds the final shape.

Once you get everything formed correctly, then start to add the glue. I would first glue the main seam together. Once that glue is good and dry, start adding a small amount of glue to the back side of the formed petals. You may also want to add some small strips of paper across the seam but you would not have to.

Be patient...go slowly...take the time to pre-form the part and gluing should not be a problem.