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.

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...Preliminary clearcoats applied to hull.

Here are the images that I just took of the preliminary clear flat coats of paint applied over the silver on the R-34 model's hull to dull it down to more like the airship actually was back in the day. From what I understood, early British rigids were more on the grey side than silver.

There are some minor imperfections in the hull's surface, but I really cannot do too much about it, now, but I think it just adds charm to the model, if you will. The actual airship's fabric panels, when you find clear closeup pictures of the hull were not exactly wrinkle free at times, either, so this does not detract in my eyes the aesthetic scale correctness of this model, too much.

The basic texture I was  trying to shoot for in applying the ring strips to the hull did contribute to the wrinkled look of the surface, but the looks help differentiate this ship from the way the Shenandoah looked.

As far as I'm concerned, the ring strips help "make" this model what it is. This was the first time I added these to a model. The next time I do this, I'll try to do a neater job.

Enjoy the rest of the images.

Nice side profile parting shot for this post.

Jim.

R-34 scale model project...First silver coats sprayed on hull.

 Finally took the time, today, April 20th to apply the first silver color coat paints on the hull.

 Model has a lot of minor imperfections in it that the silver paint brings out. Much like the actual ship, as the fabric on it in places as you can see in some close up period photos, was wrinkled, so the way this model is coming out, sort of replicates those buckles in wrinkles in perfect scale. The R-34 was not as pretty an airship as later dirigibles, such as the Shenandoah, was.

Next step is for me to apply the clear flat dullcoat onto the surface of the hull to bring the color down to more of a light silver gray as the actual airship was colored.

I will apply two clear flat dullcoats before I set the hull aside to finish fabricating the control car, as well as making the engine cars as well.

Jim.

Airship Modeler Gone Again.

Just a brief note to let everyone know that the Airship modeler forum, once again has vanished as of today, March 14, 2013. I will remove this post when (if) it returns.

Jim.

Airship Modeler is back up and running!

Airship Modeler is back up and running again, but not yet "firing on all cylinders" yet, as Charles, (the administrator and owner of the site) is still working on it to get it fully functional. All things considered, it is a miracle that he was able to save all the content knowledge there, after being attacked by hackers with malware back in October of 2012. So I am saying it is great to have the forum back again! 

(Forum entry page here is an image capture, not functional.)

Link;
http://www.airshipmodeler.com/forums/activity.php

Jim.("Dirigible_Nut" on Airship Modeler)