Airship U.S.S. Shenandoah, (ZR-1): A Brief History and scale model

 One of the more unique hobbies that I am involved in only has maybe on the entire planet around 2000 enthusiats. I build from scratch, scale models of lighter than air ships, more specifically the huge rigid  dirigibles that flew from 1900 to 1938. These huge aircraft were usually at least 420' to over 800' in length. They are not ships from some sc-fi action movies. These ships actually ruled the skies during the earlier parts of the 20th century. These airships had more than their fair shares of accidents due to ignorance, of weather conditions, and just plain stupidity on how these ships work. When most people think of these "zeppelins", they  get images of the "Hindenburg", ship designation LZ-129. Nobody knows what really caused it. But I do know this, if it would had been filled with helium, as Hugo Eckener, successor of inventor and founder, Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Company, had the ship designed, it never would have exploded.

But that is only one chapter (the final one) in the rigid airship story.

 During the 1920's, the US Navy was looking at rigid airships to use as long range recognisance aircraft of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Since airplanes in those days had such short ranges, the thought of using the large rigid airships as recognancance lookouts, and flying aircraft carriers, to be able to launch and retrieve airplanes while in flight, was considered.

In 1924, Germany was ordered to pay war reparations to the allied countries they fought against in WWI. During the war, they perfected and used their rigid airships, built by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin company, for long range bombing runs over France, and Britian, as well as some other countries. When the war was over, the remaining ships were divied up amongst  the allied countries. After they were all handed over, they were still one short. So the Zeppelin company was commissioned to build one more ship, the "LZ-126".  Eckener,  himself captained the ship across the Atlantic, and delivered it to the head of the US Navy himself.(Let it be known that later on in the 1930's that Eckener had a DEEP hatred for the Nazi party and everything it stood for, but that is another very complicated story that led up to the ultimate end for these types of aircraft, notably, the destruction of the LZ 129 "Hindenburg" on May 6,1937.)

 Back to the LZ 126. After the Navy took control of this ship, it was drained of it's hydrogen lifting gas, and filled with non explosive helium. It was designated the ZR-3, the USS "Los Angeles". She was about 660' long and 91' in diameter at the widest part of her hull.

the Navy used this ship as an experimental platform to see how practical it would be to launch and retrieve airplanes in flight while on long range  missions. The Navy had this ship they were using at the time, as well as an earlier ship, that they had comissioned and built themselves at Lakehurst Navel Air Station in 1923, the USS "Shenandoah", the ZR-1. This first US made rigid airship pioneered the use of helium in it as opposed of explosive hydrogen for it's lifting gas. This first airship was used more as a publicity  recruiting tool to get young men to enlist in the Navy Air Corps, as I believe it was originally called. The US Air Force was not in existence yet.

 The "Shenandoah" was a graceful, majestic ship, if there ever was one. At 682' long, and 79' in diameter at the widest part of her duralumin framework hull, at the time, she was the largest dirigible in the world. (Ultimately, in 1936, the Hindenburg was and is still the largest aircraft that ever flew, at 804' long, and a max hull diameter of 135'!!. That's almost 3 football fields in length.)

In order to meet a very strenuous publicity schedule in 1925, the "Shenandoah" was taken out in weather it should never had been. With  little weather detection technology, and the ignorance of the higher up Navy brass insisting on pushing the "Shenandoah", against the ship's captain's objections,  on this city to city publicity tour schedule, the ship was ripped apart in a thunderstorm  near Ava, Ohio, in the early morning of September 3, 1925. 14 of the crew were killed. The ship's complement was 40 (officers and men). But the ship proved one thing. If the ship would have been filled with hydrogen,the loss of lives would have been much greater.  The ship was torn into 3 main pieces in a very violent updraft in the center of the storm, and after this happened, the remaining crewmen still on board,"free ballooned" valving helium for a more or less controlled descent,  the different hull sections to the ground. The bow landed 10 miles away from the stern. The control car ripped from the ship and plummeted to the ground, killing everyone that was in it, including the ship's captain, Lieutenant Commander Zachary Lansdowne.

 The stories of these great "ships of the sky" is a very romantic one full of tragedy, and triumphs, and a fascinating part of aviation history. These ships make today's modern 200' long blimps look like toys by comparison. And you can't get inside the envelope of a blimp like you were able to get up inside the framed hulls of these huge ships for in flight maintenance work.

In November of 2008, I decided that I wanted to build a scale model of the ZR-1 "Shenandoah". Since model kits of most of these ships do not exist for most part, I decided to build one from scratch. I bought a one page paper plan from a guy on eBay, "Plans and Things". After extensive internet and book research, I built the thing using the balsa wood bulkhead "ring and keel" method, and 1/16" X  1/16" balsa longitudal stringers to complete the outside shape of the frame. I covered it with tissue paper, then sealed it with flying model aircraft dope, then after I carved and shaped the control,and engine cars, as well as the fins, I spray painted  the whole model silver. I made my own decals for the thing to finish the model off. I kept track of the work time I put in the model. It took a period over 5 months, with 99 hours of actual labor build time to complete in March of 2009. This was the first scratch built model airship I had built since 1973. Yes, they are that complex to build. I have 7  surviving scratch built model airships I did like this. This one came out the best. A LOT of work, though.

Images of my model are interspaced  with photos of the actual dirigible. The top image, image #5, and image #7 are images of my model that I reworked using cut and paste,Windows Paint, and Paint.net.

The model is 1/388 scale,  about 22" long.

Jim.

"Buick '59." (As in the AMT 1/25 scale type!)

Here is an old model junkyard salvage job, that I got at the big AACA car show flea market area in the fall of 1984 for about $30.00. When I got it from the vendor, it had scars on it from having long custom fenderskirts that were glued onto the quarter panels. It also had some other holes in it from having the usual spotlights, antennae, and other useless  late 1950's era customizing garbage mounted on the thing. One roof pillar was cracked, and about ready to fall out. All and all, for an original 1959 3'n'1 kit, it was in darn good shape. Other than being missing one wheel cover, and the taillights, this model did not need all that much body filler work to bring it up to factory stock condition. I made my own wheel cover mold out of  Elmer's type glue, using one of the original wheel covers to make the mold. After the glue totally dried in about a day, I pulled the hubcap off the glue, and it left a perfect impression of the part in all it's fine detail. After the  glue mold was totally cured, in about a day, I filled it up with a casein type two part glue, and left this cure for about 3 days.  I was able to pop the new wheelcover out of the mold intact, and,"Walla!!", I had my fourth wheel cover, made out of all things, solidified casein glue. Just a note. Casein two part glue was an industrial electronically cured adhesive that was used in the woodworking industry up to the mid to late 1980's, when it was ruled illegal to make, sell, or use anymore in the United States, as one of it's main ingredients was formaldahyde, which according to our government has been proven hazardous to our health. So this type of glue is no longer available in the U.S. .

 Orthographic 3/4 driver's side front view.

  Passenger side view, showing right rear wheel cover that is made out of  casein glue that is normally electronically cured, but it was capable of air curing in about 3 days.

  Driver's side view.

 The chrome on this thing was,(is) in kind of crappy shape, so I just touched it up as best I could, back in 1984, when I got this model. It was not painted when I got it, so that made it easier for me to pretty much paint it whatever color I wanted, so  I used Testors light blue on it, and a dark flat blue for the interior. I hand painted on the exterior "chrome" trim using Testors silver. I had to black out the entire grille opening, first as the original chrome plating was really weak there. After the flat black was dry there,I went over,and repainted the grille "squares" silver, one at a time, very carefully, with a really small detail paint brush. I detailed this model the best I could at the time, considering that by that time, I did not have very much access as to how the interior of a 1959 Buick Invicta is supposed to be colored. I still think I did okay. I think I could probably do a better job today.

  This kit was only issued by AMT three times. The first time, of course was when it was issued new in the fall of 1958, for the new 1959 car model year. It was issued again, I was told, in 1963, as part of their "Craftsman Series" of kits of select cars. The final issue of this kit was as part of a Mexican road race series of cars they issued in 1969. It was able to be built stock. This  kit is what would be called a "curbside model" as it has no engine, or an opening hood, as was customary for the early  annual model car kits of American cars issued in the late 1950's. After this kit was issued in 1969, as the "Boondock Bomber" it has not been reissued since, as it is believed the molds for this kit were either lost or destroyed.

  I found the missing taillights I needed for this model, from my model car parts stash bin.

  Gotta love that GRILLE!!

  Dashboard detail.

 Just like the old Doowop song by the Medallions, "....Gonna get me a Buick '59!!"

Jim.

"The Hot One"- AMT's 1/16 scale 1955 Chevy Bel Air hardtop build up from around 1980

Here is a model that I built a couple of years after I did my orange and white AMT 1/16 '57 Bel Air. This model came out much nicer than the '57 did, as I took more time to build this one, and I had made the switch from Pactra to Testors paint. I had to, as Pactra had just gone out of business, and their paints had all but disappeared from all the hobby shops that I dealt with. Those shops all restocked with Testors paints, except for one. I don't know how they did it, but they carried the full Pactra line until around 1982. Then it dissapeared from them, too. This model was one of the earliest models, once I had the color paint work done, I clear coated the body, for more of a wet look gloss. Both doors and the hood  still work as they should. I had some problems with the doors, with the paint blistering from putting the clear coat on too soon after I painted the dark red on them, so I had to strip, and repaint them. That is why they are slightly darker than the dark red on the rest of the model.Other than that, this is still a gorgeous model, for my having built this 32 years ago.

Here are some random images of the thing, including some shots of the sparely detailed engine compartment. Other than it being there, I left it in it's unpainted orange-red plastic state, but I did paint the transmission silver, as well as the carburetor. I also painted the air cleaner, generator, starter motor, distributor, fan, and fan belt pulleys black.I also took the time to paint the master cylinder silver, too. Other than that, I did nothing else to the engine compartment. For the interior, I just added flat white to the bare orange red colored plastic seats, and sidepanels to give it a two toned red and white interior. I  did fully detail paint the dashboard,though.

The model is spray canned painted Testors dark red, and I believe Testors tan, with Testors "Glosscote" clearcoat to finish it off.

I just recently printed up these "1955" license tags on my computer for this about 5 years ago. I had already had these red painted plastic tag blanks mounted on the model, though, since I built it, in the first place, in the hope I would put some kind of decal or glue on some kind of license graphic in the future. Which I finally did here.

Now that I really look at these images of this model is I now remember how I really got frustrated at the fact, that when I was in the final stages of assembly with the thing, no matter what I did, or how hard I tried, I could NOT get the rear bumper to mount level on the car. So I had to settle for a look that looks like the driver of this car backed into somebody else's car at parking lot speed, and bent  the whole bumper up at the bracket mounts on both sides of the car at the same time. So the results are a bumper that hangs down at the front ends of it. To me, it looks like crap, but that's life, sometimes.

Interior shot. Sorry, I guss I should have opened the doors so you can see the seat and dashboard better. The thing was, I kind of had to hurry up, as I photographed the model on my actual driveway, and my wife was away. I didn't want her to come back and squish the model and me laying on the driveway to get the images that you see here.

Two engine compartment shots. It does have some detailling, but very little plumbing, and no wiring. What for? the model doesn't run, anyway!

  Two nice profile shots.

As with the '57 model, this model is about a foot long.

  Three-quarter passenger side-front view shot.

  

 Here is a shot of  the model in my hand. See image below for full shot.

This last image is a picture my daughter took of me, complete with my scruffy 1975 haircut and all, holding the model, after I finished my photo shoot.

Jim V.

1976 buildup of AMT's 1/16 scale '57 Chevy Bel Air hardtop coupe: One of my favorites.

One of my favorite old 1957 Chevy models (I have about 20 different '57 Chevy models, total) is this big 1/16 scale AMT '57 Bel Air coupe kit which was re issued in late 1976, which was when I built this model. It originally was designed for the doors to open and shut, as well as the hood. I couldn't get the doors to stay closed right, so I glued them shut around 1980. The hinges on the hood broke, so I made the hood function by gluing kite string on the back corners of the hood, and glued the other ends of the string to the corners of the cowl.

It is painted 1970's Pactra "insignia orange" and white. I painted the engine Pactra "insignia red", which is incorrect,but I didn't give a rip  back then, as I only painted engines back then in these bigger kits. The interior, for most part, I left the bare white plastic, but I painted the seat insets, floor, the door panel insets, and the dash top, flat black. This model is close to a foot long, and for the time it was issued, has more detail than their standard 1/25 scale kit. I painted all the bright metal trim on in Pactra chrome silver paint, to finish it up. Beings as I was still kind of an inexperienced model builder, there is some glue melt damage, as well as paint mess-ups. It has also suffered some damage over the years, but I was always able to repair it, to a degree. I think the model still looks nice, for it's age.

It may be a little scruffy, and tired looking around the edges, but as far as I'm concerned, this gives this model a sense of old historical character, like it has been around for awhile, which it has.

Below are more images that I just took on this past Saturday, April 21, (2012)

Jim.

Plastic Owls!! A new hobby---fun for all ages.

Here, above is my latest acquisition. This is a rare Chinese/European hooting resin  motion sensor owl. It emits an even more shrill hooting when you  move near it. Got it from Northern Tool and Equipment out of their huge mail order catalog (company located located in Burnsville, Minnesota), after finding out about them having this rare bird on the internet. It's easier getting this owl in Europe than it is here in the United States. Not very many outlets for it, here. Got her this past Wednesday, August 29 (2012). One of a few plastic owls around that does not have ear tuft feathers, Kind of reminds me of a Saw-Whet Owl.

Above is my latest acquisition. This specimen is a Harriet Carter Motion Sensor Screech Owl. This is a species found in New Wales, Pennsylvania, and it emits a shrill hoot when you walk in front of it. I did paint work to the eyes and added brown tips to the breast feathers.  She's about 7" tall, but she has alot of texture to her feathers. I got her this past  Monday July 23 (2012).

The above image is my latest acquisition, that I bought from a guy in South Dakota. This is a Carry-Lite Great Horned, the biggest and most realistic looking one yet. I just got this big guy this past Saturday, April 7th. Very nice detail!!

It's easy observing this type of wildlife. Even collecting them is not a federal offense. Plus they won't bite the living crap out of you, either if you pick them up to pet! :-D. I have two different sub-species of Great Horned's taking up residence here right now. The more common Dalen subspecies, and the much rarer and bigger Bass Pro sub-species. Very hard to observe in the wild!

They drive the crows and ravens stark "raven" mad. These have been domesticated, and are very docile. In fact, they are so well behaved that they don't even flinch a muscle. Of course not. They're plastic!!

Jim.

1956 DeSoto: Artistry In Motion.

When we were growing up in the mid 1960's, my parents struggled at times, especially my dad to make sure we had a roof over our heads, and a decent place to sleep. He felt like that he did not succeed, but in my eyes, my dad succeeded wonderfully. At the time, our family car was a 1950 Chrysler Windsor 4 door sedan, (restored example pic immediately above, cannot enlarge this image) a nondescript, slightly rundown outdated automobile, but it met our needs. He basically would spend Saturday mornings, when he was not working, doing his own repair work on the thing, to keep it safe for us, and also so it would pass the then two times a year Pennsylvania State inspection. It would drive dad nuts trying to get his car to pass, but he would always figure out a way to get it to pass every 6 months back then. My dad, and his brothers, (my uncles) would help each other out, sharing tires, if they drove similar makes to get their cars to pass inspection, as money was tight for everyone on my dad's side of the family.

I don't know how he managed to pull the next trick he did in the summer of 1965, when he showed us this beautiful 1956 DeSoto that was for sale at a Texaco gas station. He showed it to mom, and us kid, and as soon as we saw it, we fell in love with it, as to us, it was like stepping up to a Rolls Royce, from a model T. The old '50 Chrysler was not exactly like riding in the lap of luxury. More like a rolling shanty shack than a car. Imagine our delight, when my dad figured out one of his "creative financing" schemes, to bring the car home. The car was really luxurious. It had full power. Brakes, steering, electric windows, push- button drive, and a power seat. It also had a two speaker, (front and rear) AM radio. My mom liked the push button drive, and the top central mounted clock on the dashboard. We kids like playing with the electric windows. I think once we made my dad mad at us, as we ran his battery down, playing with the windows. Back in the 1950's when a car was equipped with electric windows, the curcuit that they were wired on was always "hot". You did not need to have the car running to work the windows. The logic behind this paid off several times when in the summer, when my dad was sleeping, after working 2nd shift at the RCA plant in Lancaster, he would get home in the car and leave the windows open in the thing, so it would not be so hot to get in, when he went back to work that afternoon. A couple of times, though,while he was sleeping, thunderstorms came up fast, and my mom, or one of us was able rush out, and shut the windows without needing to get the key and turn on the ignition to accessories setting to do so.

This car was such a step up for us. No matter how you looked at it, there were no bad angles in which to view it. Mom even tried to learn to get her driver's licence in that thing, it was that easy for her to drive. But things did not work out, and she did not try to get it after while for reasons I can't say here. It was like riding in the lap of luxury, when we rode in the thing. It was an aqua and white Fireflite "Sportsman" 4 door hardtop. That means when you put all 4 windows down, there was no center post between the front and rear doors, and the side of the window areas was wide open. quite beautiful to look at, and a cool drive on the hottest summer days, before automotive air conditioning became commonplace. It was available back then in this car, originally, but it did not have it as it was terribly expensive, and not very efficient. With the 4 windows all down, and the fresh air intake open on the cowl, in front of the windshield, while moving, the air came out at our feet, under the dash, inthe car, and this kept us plenty cool enough...as long as the car was moving at least at 20 MPH.

My dad, in general, frowned upon taking pictures of just things, when we were kids. But he was proud of this car, and we begged him,at least, me, anyway to take some pictures of it. And he obliged. But only if there were people in the pictures. That was his rule. So, on Easter Sunday of 1966, we took a series of pictures of us with the car. The image at the top of this post is of my dad in front of the car. The one other image of part of the car, by itself was an image of my sister standing in the street beside the car. I just blew up and cropped her out , as to show the side of the car somewhat more clearly. This is this image right below this text.

The image below, here, is us three kids that same day, in front of the car, after getting back from church. I'm the boy in the middle. I'm 8 years old, here.
My love affair for anything 1956 DeSoto has never faded. As time has gone by, it has gotten actually stronger. In 1976, Jo-Han models re-issued their original dealer plastic 1/25 scale promotional model of a 4 door sedan version of this car, and I was finally able to get a model of it, and do it up some what like my dad's car, but these do not have interiors with them. In my eyes, though, it was better than nothing.

In and around 2002, the Danbury Mint anounced that it was going to release a black and gold Adventurer hardtop in die cast 1/24 scale. Needless to say, I was thrilled that anyone would do such a high quality super detailed model of any 1956 DeSoto. So as soon as it bacame available, I bought it. It is a beautiful model, but what I really wanted was a Fireflite hardtop.
In around 2005, they released a limited edition Fireflite Sportsman 2 door hardtop in the plum and lavender color you see on this model in these images. It was limited to a 5000 model run, then it was discontinued. Money was a little tight for my wife and me at the time, and I missed it, because when I finally got the money together, Danbury had sold out of the thing.
Finally, this past December of 2011, I was able to snag one of these on the second market from an internet forum friend for the original 2005 issue price. This model really captures the true essence of the timeless beauty of this automobile. Danbury really did their homework on this model, as everything on this model is perfect as I remember it. Even though this model is of a 2 door coupe. My dad's car was a 4 door hardtop. Whether it is a 2 door hardtop, like this model, or a 4 door hardtop, like my dad's car was, both models were referred to as "Sportsman" models, as this was DeSoto's publicity term for the pillarless "hardtop" design. In my eyes, though, all 1956 DeSoto's were and are beautiful pieces of rolling art. And, yeah, it's got a Hemi!!
As I said, there are no bad viewing angles of this car!
And now, Danbury Mint, you can make me ecstatic. Please do this car in aqua and white as a tribute to my 77 year old dad.
Jim.