Airships - LTA (Lighter Than Air)

[jcf]

Free down-loadable 1/700 scale card models of airships from Currell Graphics. His stuff is nice and looks good built.

R101

http://www.currell.net/models/r101.htm

R100

http://www.currell.net/models/r100.htm

Unbuilt Vickers Transoceanic

http://www.currell.net/models/vickers.htm

Mooring mast
http://www.currell.net/models/mast.htm

Cardington airship shed
http://www.currell.net/models/shed.htm


WWI Imperial Russian Airship

http://www.currell.net/models/giant.htm

Jon

[jcf]

A page of profiles, real, proposed, fictional and What-If.

http://www.wolfsshipyard.mystarship.com/Misc/Airships/Airships.htm



Jon

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Jon,

Thanks for the link to the paper card model site, there are quite a few other interesting things available there for free. 

Ray Mehlberger has just done a review of the 1/720th scale Revell of Germany Luftschiff LZ-129 Hindenburg over on Cybermodeler.  While this kit is a bit small, it does have some good detail and can be turned into some kind of WHIF of a rigid LTA.   

I remember seeing the Combat Models 1/72nd scale Skipjack submarine vacu-form model hull components and thinking to myself that they would be an excellent starting point for creating a large scale model of a non-rigid airship.  Unfortunately the cost and avaiability of the kit kept that from becoming a reality.  Now if someone has access to a large vacu-forming machine that can handle a one piece mold...

[jcf]

The old Hawk 1/245th LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin was re-released last year with an injection moulded hull, and now Lindberg are releasing the same basic kit as the ZR-3 USS Los Angeles(LZ-126).

http://www.hawkmodels.com/zeppelin70816.html

http://www.lindberg-models.com/air_model70821.html

While they claim that it still 1/245 scale, the overall length of the model (38.5 in) actually gives a sort-of Los Angeles in approximately 1/205th. Pretty close to 1/200, eh?  
For that matter the Graf model is closer to 1/242 than to 1/245, the model scaling out to 786 ft instead of 776 ft.


Dimensions from the Edward Wiswesser plans (drawings are 1/32" = 1', or 1/384):

LZ-126 (USS Los Angeles)
OAL: 660 ft
DIA: 91 ft

LZ-127 (Graf Zeppelin)
OAL: 776 ft
DIA: 100 ft

I have the Edward Wiswesser drawings for the ZR-1 Shenanadoah, ZR-3 Los Angeles, Graf Zeppelin and the ZR-4/5 Akron/Macon.
I', in the process of doing 1/350th versions of his drawings.
Small version of the ZR-4/5 plan.



Jon

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I wonder how much weight could be saved with the technology currently available for carbon fiber composites in lieu of the aluminum originally used for the construction of the Zepplin type airships.  A modern lighter than airship with an air group consisting of unmanned aircraft to allow it to loiter and perform reconnaissance and surveillance missions with the airship acting as the airborne command post.  Perhaps electric motors instead of combustion engines to power for the airship with the skin being covered with solar cells.   

[jcf]

The Zeppelin NT uses a combination of triangular carbon fiber trusses and aluminum longerons for its internal structure.

Jon

[GTX]

Perhaps electric motors instead of combustion engines to power for the airship with the skin being covered with solar cells. 

Such as:





Regards,

Greg

[Daryl J.]

How 'bout the Maquette R-100 scalorama'ed into a 1/48 'personal airship'?

It's power plants would be 4 Polikarpov I-16 units in two pods swinging push-me/pull-you propellors.    The Eduard I-16 kits have a huge over abundance of cowlings and spinners making that part of the machine a snap.    The gondola could be an armored unit suspended by a webbing of cables beneath the revised gas bag with the engines out in pods.   It would size out approximately the size of a small car like the VW Type 82 series.   Some sort of metal shielding would cover the nose and possibly fish-scale (in squares rather than scallops) their way back along the underbelly all the way to the tail.     Everything would be in some sort of neutral tan/khaki brown/sepia tones.   

One position could swing a Lewis gun or the like; it could be equipped with some WW-I-like daisy cutters since it's the whiff world.

This one would not embrace the steampunk genre although would incorporate technologies from different eras.   


Daryl J.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Would it be possible to design and develop a LTA with sails?  Had this odd dream about lighter than airships fitted with masts and sails which got me to thinking that there might be something to it if you could use existing carbon fiber technology for the masts and hull.  Maybe there really could be a "Flying Dutchman" built to sail on the winds instead of the sea.

[jcf]

Would it be possible to design and develop a LTA with sails?  Had this odd dream about lighter than airships fitted with masts and sails which got me to thinking that there might be something to it if you could use existing carbon fiber technology for the masts and hull.  Maybe there really could be a "Flying Dutchman" built to sail on the winds instead of the sea.

Nope, sails were tried on balloons and didn't work for the simple reason that the airship or balloon is within the moving air mass so it is incapable of moving faster than the wind and has no directional control, it couldn't sail across or into the wind.

Sailing works because the air is moving more quickly than the water, or land, and that speed differential can be harnessed to do work

Jon

[tinlail]

Does anyone have any notion of what the scaling laws for a airship are? I am wondering if airships get stronger or more fragile as the size increases.

[Mossie]

Not quite sure.  There's probably an upper limit with modern materials, but I think the stucture weight is inversely proportional to volume, so the larger an airship is, the more bouyant it is.  Some proposed hybrid airship designs are pretty vast as these pics show:





Found this pic which shows an interesting use of airships in a waterbomber role.  The CL.415 in the foreground seems to be topping up the airship.

[GTX]

Cool pick that last one!  Though I wonder how the airships would fare with the turbulent air coming up from the fires?

Regards,

Greg

[Mossie]

Hmm, no idea.  They used to ride out all but the worst storms, although you'd hopefully have the comfort of high altitude.  I guess due to the larger volume of water, an airship could drop it's retardant from higher altitude than a conventional waterbomber, keeping effects to the minimum?

I can't see the aerial top ups being too feasible, but it makes for a cool pic!

[tinlail]

I believe that design is based on Lockheed's P-791 blimp. Which as I understand it, uses fans in the red part to generate positive or negative lift, which might help it deal with turbulence.