R-34 scale model project isolated image pic.

This photo brings out the most detail of the overall model, and is pretty much a pictorial summary of the project.

Jim.

All balsa wood construction scratch built 1959 Cadillac coupe from November of 1975.

 Here is a model that I have not paid any attention to for years and years. To tell you the truth, I kind of forgot that I still have this thing. It is kept in a really dark and secluded spot in my hobby room. It dates all the way back to the same year I got my 5 speed Schwinn Corvette bicycle, only in the fall of that year, right before I turned 18.

Series sixty-two 1959 Cadillac coupe is a scratch built model that I made in November of 1975 entirely out of hand shaped balsa wood, except of course for the window "glass". I was a senior in high school when I made this. I did it because at the time, there were no model kits of this car available, and I wanted one. Plus the fact by that time, 1959 Cadillacs were considered to be just old junk, and not worth anything by the general public. So I drew up plans for it, based on some pictures of a 1959 Cadillac that was sitting in front of the Goodwill building on N. Plum Street in Lancaster, and a coupe picture I found in a magazine. When I was done with it, I took it in to my high school, and showed it to my industrial arts teacher, and he really thought it was neat. It is approximately 1/22 scale, about 10 + inches long.

Jim.

R-34 scale model project... Completely done and on display; April 21, 2014!!

I finally completed all work on the R-34 airship model, today, about 2 years and 3 months after I cut out the keels for the thing.I actually was not working on it steadily most of that time because of some bad health issues I had to deal with along the way. Now that the model is done, any subsequent pictures that are taken of the model will go in this final post of this subject. It is completed 5 years and 3 months ahead of the 100th anniversary of this historic vessel of the air's double trans Atlantic flight which took place in July of 1919.

In the above picture, you will notice the upward horizontal cant or dihedral angle of the horizontal fins on this model. This is correct, and not a mistake, as the actual ship had this feature. It provided extra aerodynamic lift for the tail as the ship was moving through the air to supplement the static lift of the hydrogen gas in the  gas cells in the ship. Picture below shows this feature in the actual ship.

 Above, what my model looks like in a Sepia tone style photo that looks like it was taken in 1919.

Same image in normal color with brightness and contrast adjusted.

Jim.

R-34 scale model project... Completed, but a few more minor steps to do yet.

Completed!! After two years of dealing with it, here is a first sneak peak picture of my R-34 model still sitting in it's work cradle right after I finished the color graphic paint work and decaling work. What looks like is black on the nose and tail, as well as the rudders, is actually a medium dark blue. I could not match the decals up to that detail. A minor glitch in my eyes. This first picture was taken in not very good light, and it makes this color differentiation look worse than it is.After I have the model top dull clear coated, I will get better pictures of it after it is hanging up. For now, you guys are seeing it first, right here in these pics, the results of my two year study and work on the model of this historic airship, which in my eyes is one of the most beautiful airships that was ever built. That is why I wanted a model of it.

These two pictures (immediately above) shows the model right after the final top clear coat was applied to the thing, today, April 20, 2014.

Completed R-34 cars before I installed them on the model last week, April 13th. The control car is 1-1/2" long. They are made completely out of hand shaped block balsa wood. The "radiators" are just tiny squares of acid free printer paper that I painted black. That holds for the windows and door openings as well.

(Above) A first portrait picture of the freshly completed and hung R-34 next to the same scale Shenandoah model in my hobby room/ mini airship museum. I will post more pictures of the completed model in it's own separate wrap up post in this blog, later. But for now, enjoy this picture of the two ships of Zachary Lansdowne, together.

Jim.

R-34 scale model project... Almost there, but not quite.

Here are some teaser pictures for now. Yesterday and today, I finished all the detail work to the cars, made and attached the propellers, and permanently glued the cars to the ship. Now that remains to be done is the rudder and elevator flap as well as nose and tail cone "Bullseye" red white and blue paint work, and the decals. After that it can be sealed and called done.

Jim.

R-34 scale model project...Refabricated the aft car!!

I had to start from scratch, today all over again , as far as the aft engine car goes. It seems that after I was done mocking up the model with all the cars in place, that something did not look right. Here, compared to the wing cars, the aft car was too small, so I had to totally make a new one for the model. The aft car on the R-34 is the same height and width as the wing cars, but since it has TWO engines front to back in it, driving one 17 foot diameter propeller, the car is about 25 percent longer than the single engine wing cars. So I made a new one in the appropriate bigger size. NOW the model looks balanced, and aesthetically correct. All the cars were then refitted, and the model was checked for overall alignment and proportion correctness of the cars, keeping on tweaking until I felt happy with how the model airship looks to me. The cars are now ready to have the woodgrain in them sealed, to get them ready to spray paint silver, and then top dull clear coat them before the window and door details are applied. Then and only then can they be attached to the hull permanently. I guess I should actually fabricate the four propellers, paint them and attach them to the cars before I glue the cars to the hull beforehand. That is where I'm at right now. Here are pictures of the model with the corrected aft car in place and all dryfitting of all the cars to the hull completed.

Jim.

R-34 scale model project... All cars completed!

As the title says, I finished fabricating the wing cars, today, completing the set needed for this ship. It took a while to dry fit them so that they hung half decently below the hull. I also permanently  placed the gondola locator pins in the hull in their appropriate places for positively locating the completed painted  and detailed cars later.That is what is next. details such as making the window, hatch, and  door decals after the grain is sealed and sanded, then painted. Here are the pictures showing the control car and all three engine cars in place. Model is really taking shape, now.

Jim.

R-34 scale model project...Dry fitting control car to the hull.

Here are the latest progress photos. I just got done dry fitting the completed control car assembly to the hull. I need to apply sanding sealer to it, then ever so lightly sand it before I can paint and detail it. I just installed all the hull mounting struts and the two ladder tubes to the car, yesterday. But next, I have to make the other three cars. The aft car, and the two wing cars. I will do them next before I seal and sand them all before I paint them and permanently glue them to the hull. the way this model looks, now, except for the color, I could make this thing into the L-49, if I wanted to, instead of the R-34. the ships look so similar.

With the rudder and elevator flaps dry fitted to the fins, as well as the control car, the final profile of the dirigible is starting to emerge.

These last pictures I just now added, shows the newly fabricated aft engine car assembly dry fitted into place on the hull of the model. The only major pieces left to make are the two mid ship's wing engine cars. Those will be next. I also fitted what I call the "ram air tubes on the sides of the cars that I think were a combination for the cooling of the engines, and what not. The aft car has two of these, one on each side of the gondola, as it has two engines in it that drove the one propeller in that car.

Jim.