Hindenburg AEW- finished

sandiego89 · September 27, 2015, 03:52:44 PM

I'm in.

Hindenburg Radar Richtung und Warnung (Radar direction and warning)

1/520 scale.

Due to rising tensions with the west, upon completion of the 1937 spring maintenance schedule it was decided to discontinue the Germany/Lakehurst runs and focus on goodwill missions to the Mediterranean, Ireland, Italy, North Africa, and several trips to Brazil. This was a thinly disguised effort sponsored by the Propaganda Ministry and the Air Ministry to gather intelligence and spread influence to areas Germany had their eye on. The Hindenburg and her near twin sister the Graf Zeppelin II were used for a variety of good will and intelligence mission throughout the late 1930's, including the highly publicized trip to the Egyptian pyramids and Luxor in 1938, and the Cuba/Mexico trip in 1939. The Graf Zeppelin II made several probes of the British homeland including the 2 to 4 August 1939 probe to secretly collect information on the British Chain Home radar system in a role that decades later would be known as ELINT.

LZ 129, the Hindenburg, and her sister were quietly transferred to the Air Ministry in 1939. In April 1940 LZ 129 was fitted with a Freya early waring radar mounted to the belly of the ship. The array could be winched up to allow ground handling and entry to the hangars at Frankfurt.

LZ 129 was used on several key nights of the Battle of Britain to guide bombers and to provide warning of British fighters.

The Kit: the "venerable" AMT Hindenburg. 1/520 scale. Over 18 inches long. Freya radar and support beams to be scratched up.

Plus this on the belly

Parts count seems rather......low

-Dave

Captain Canada · September 27, 2015, 07:55:29 PM

Great idea ! I have oft thought of doing a blimp as a modern day AEW type towed by a ship, but this is way better than that ! Love the idea and it`s going to look so good with a radar hanging under it.

kerick · September 27, 2015, 08:30:20 PM

I really like this idea!

Dizzyfugu · September 28, 2015, 01:00:46 AM

Cool.

Mossie · September 28, 2015, 01:37:44 AM

Great idea.

PR19_Kit · September 28, 2015, 02:06:16 AM

You could model it OOB without going to the trouble of scratching the Freya set, and by saying that the antenna is mounted INSIDE the envelope.

Mossie · September 28, 2015, 02:25:07 AM

Or even using the structure as an antenna...

zenrat · September 28, 2015, 03:09:06 AM

If I remember my Mythbusters correctly the fabric was basically coated in thermite. Would all that aluminium prevent the radar signals from passing through the fabric?

PR19_Kit · September 28, 2015, 05:16:43 AM

It wouldn't matter if the thermite did stop them, Hitler would have decreed that they WOULD pass!

sandiego89 · September 28, 2015, 06:22:38 AM

Thanks I wanted to go with an external array- otherwise she would just look the same.

I do have a few other ideas to jazz her up a bit....

NARSES2 · September 28, 2015, 06:46:07 AM

Was there a plan to use an airship as an AEW platform ? My brain cells are saying I've read it somewhere ??

Gondor · September 28, 2015, 07:39:43 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on September 28, 2015, 06:46:07 AM
Was there a plan to use an airship as an AEW platform ? My brain cells are saying I've read it somewhere ??

There was actually a U.S.Navy squadron that flew some.

Gondor

Mossie · September 28, 2015, 07:59:22 AM

Much more recently there were rumours that the British used a Skyship 600 for intelligence gathering in Northern Ireland, with all the kit inside the envelope.

rickshaw · September 28, 2015, 05:09:44 PM

Quote from: Mossie on September 28, 2015, 07:59:22 AM
Much more recently there were rumours that the British used a Skyship 600 for intelligence gathering in Northern Ireland, with all the kit inside the envelope.

That could have worked with a non-rigid airship like the Skyship 600. Zeppelins are though, rigid airships and their envelop is full (usually) of smaller balloonettes which hold the hydrogen/helium gas which provides lift. While there is some room inside the rigid structure, there isn't all that much and whereas the non-rigid doesn't have all that much structure which would interfere with radio waves from the radar aerial, the Zeppelins did. They were a mass of girders and cables which gave them strength and rigidity. All that would have made tuning a radar set a very interesting experience!

The US Navy operated several large, non-rigid airships as AEW craft in the 1950s and 60s. However, once they retired the idea largely died until it was revived under Reagan's administration but the Cold War ended before it got anywhere.

Captain Canada · September 29, 2015, 07:06:37 AM

Thanks for that link Alastair. One more reason to drop into Akron next time I'm down there. And another reason to be mad at myself for not stopping in last time !

As for the airship, for sure the radar has to be hanging. Looking forward to seeing the extra bits you're going to add as well. I'm guessing turrets