Assorted updates with mixed news.
Good: the lathe idea worked (although it was painfully tedious! line a square up to the template, slide it against the Zepp, tick a line, rotate, repeat - plus sharpening your pencil every few dozen lines...)
Bad: in my haste to get started and squeeeeeze the nose section into place, I cracked the nose cap. I *should* have disassembled the jig and re-assembled it around the blimp, but no, I had to force it...
Good: The nose cap had lost some definition anyway through sanding and filling, and I have a spare, so it's not the end of the world. Bit of measuring and sawing and it was gone.
It also gave me the chance to model the ultra-rare, MiG-21-style Zeppelin:
Striping went pretty easily with some .7mm Aizu tape (basically, thin width Tamiya tape). About 12m worth - don't think I've ever burned through so much tape so quickly.
I also attached the revised tailplanes. They'll need a bit of filler around the seams, and I'll have to re-apply some of the rib tapes which will get obliterated in the process, but it's back to looking like a blimp again. Shaved down some excess plastic and test fit the spare tail cone too, and the fit is almost perfect. Good thing - I don't want to get into a major sanding operation now that the tapes are on!
I also cut off the cracked nose, as mentioned above. I trimmed a little too much plastic, so added a .010" shim to build up the gap. Pretty pleased with the test fit:
...and then finally, I decided to test fit the control surfaces. I'll need to tweak the location points slightly, and I need to figure out how to skin them, but it's the first time I've had a basically complete balloon. Quite pleased with things.
So a touch of Mr. Surfacer on the tail fins, then it's ready for a final (hopefully, ohpleaseohpleaseohplease) primer coat. Starting to feel like the end is in sight.
