A slightly smaller Zeppelin.

[MoFo]

Some of you may recall that I scratchbuilt a 1/144 Q-Classe Zeppelin a few years ago (twice!   ).  Needless to say, I was somewhat perturbed when Mikromir announced they'd be releasing a kit of the type.

After stewing about it for a few days, I noticed a bunch of people grumbling that it would be too big in 1/144 (they're not wrong - it is massive) and should have been made in 1/350 instead and figured, hey, I've already got all the CAD work done, it wouldn't take much work to revise it for the smaller scale.  So I did.  A couple of evenings revising, deleting and repairing the files, and a few more days printing, and I've engineered it as a fairly easy to assemble, 1/350 kit.  Just need to figure out a solution for the struts - hopefully I can find a reasonably priced source for laser cut card (or brass!)



Simple assembly, just over 50cm/20" long.



Fixed some tailplane details.  They're nice and thin, but impractically so - the rudder arms are too delicate.  I'll have to beef them up a touch in the next iteration.



Gun platform press fit into place.  This was actually the hardest part to manage - getting something that looked and felt 'scale', but was printable and robust.  Bunch of back and forth on railing sizes and panel thicknesses.



May be tough to see, but all panel detail is now scribed.



Main construction consists of four envelope sections that slide over an inner (filament printed) core, for strength and alignment.  The gun platform slots in from the inside of the nose section, and rudders are added to the tail.



And the tiny, tiny gondolas (gondolae?)  They're hollowed out to add a sense of an interior, but I didn't bother furnishing them or including engines.     I'm thinking krystal klear for the windows, though I might do a vac form buck.  They're tiny though, so I don't know if it's worth it.

Next up, since I have the CAD and I'm bored in quarantine, I'm tempted to have a go at 1/72!

[gbrivio]

Interesting project, still you have ships and planes in 1/350 to put close to the airship for size comparison. I'm looking forward to see her completed.
Ciao
Giuseppe

[Borsos]

Fascinating alchemism, that 3D-printing stuff. Lokking great!
Andreas

[William Adair]

Ah, you're killing me!  I've been messing around for ages doing the core for a 1/350 Schutte Lanz SL11 the hard way, and you suddenly come out with this beauty.  That looks fantastic.  3D printing is the perfect technology for something like this.

[RAGIII]

Stunning!
RAGIII

[sobrien]

If you put this out as a kit, I'm up for one. Have you ever posted pictures of your 1/144 zeppelin after you finished it?

[MoFo]

Thanks for the comments, all.

Ah, you're killing me!  I've been messing around for ages doing the core for a 1/350 Schutte Lanz SL11 the hard way, and you suddenly come out with this beauty.  That looks fantastic.  3D printing is the perfect technology for something like this.

Sorry!  (sincerely - like I said in the OP, I *totally* empathize with someone doing a similar item after a long-term project)  It kind of is the perfect medium, though - airships are mostly basic geometry, simple curves and math, so if you know the ring diameters and spacing, the envelope is relatively straightforward to map out in CAD.

Even filament printing isn't a bad option for larger scale airships, since it's fairly straightforward to fill and sand the layer lines (a lot of filling sanding, but still...)  Resin basically eliminates that, though, and lets you integrate all the surface details.

If you put this out as a kit, I'm up for one. Have you ever posted pictures of your 1/144 zeppelin after you finished it?

The goal is a print-to-order kit, but I'll have to get the struts sorted out, first.  I don't think people would be keen on soldering tiny lengths of ultra-fine brass rod.    As for the 1/144 build...  technically I haven't finished it yet.  I got bogged down trying to figure out how to rig the gondolas and distracted by other projects (I foolishly decided to design the Hindenburg in CAD, then even more foolishly decided to print it out, which then spiralled into another mega-project).  I tend to have a short attention sp

[Beto]

Amazing project! I have been wanting to make a "slightly larger" Zeppelin for years... 1/72 scale!!!

About those tiny struts... have you considered ordering photoetched parts? Some companies offer that kind of service. Here is one:

https://www.ppdltd.com/

[MoFo]

I may etch them myself, since they're fairly simple shapes, but it's an expensive process and I'm hoping to find something cheaper per-kit, to keep pricing reasonable.

And I'm with you on the 1/72 Zepp.  As I said above, that's my plan if we have another lockdown here, mostly just to tape the bits together and marvel at the massiveness.      Kind of torn between a P class, since I have the CAD and could paint it in camo (theoretically - not like it would actually get finished   ) and one of the pre-war airships with the wild, box kite-like rudder arrays.  Or maybe go nuts and do the Afrika Schiffe...

[Beto]

I may etch them myself, since they're fairly simple shapes, but it's an expensive process and I'm hoping to find something cheaper per-kit, to keep pricing reasonable.

And I'm with you on the 1/72 Zepp.  As I said above, that's my plan if we have another lockdown here, mostly just to tape the bits together and marvel at the massiveness.      Kind of torn between a P class, since I have the CAD and could paint it in camo (theoretically - not like it would actually get finished   ) and one of the pre-war airships with the wild, box kite-like rudder arrays.  Or maybe go nuts and do the Afrika Schiffe...

The Afrika Schiff would be going really nuts... in 1/72 it would measure 3.13 meters! - I'm more convinced about a P-Class that would reach a "modest" 2.27 meters lenght. - Do you already have the gondolas and gun position 3d modelled in 1/72?

[MoFo]

I've done them in 1/144, but they're detailed enough as a basis for 1/72.  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=4722.msg83225#msg83225  Thin the walls out, add some more interior details, and figure out how to print them on my SLA machine.