I finally got the time and material together to make one. Well, I’m in the process of making one! Love how big this is turning out.
I started to optimize the plans to my materials. In this case 3mm hardboard (it’s a fiber based board like mdf. Cut nicely although a bit slow.
While I was grouping stuff together I must have accidentally scaled a few pieces… 2 of the 40+ minute jobs had to be redone…
But after compiling new files and cutting them I was good to go!
After glue dries I will be able to connect the tail end and the propellors.
As usual this forum intercourses up my google photo’s even though I use the upload feature… If you click the images they will open up to there full glory.
This is a great model to build. Love how easy it goes together and how clear the instructions are.
While grouping the plans together in illustrator whenever I saved a file I would get an error and after saving I could not open or view the file anymore. However after uploading Glowforge UI had no troubles reading the SVG files.
I finished glueing it together tonight but pics will have to wait until the glue is set. Already I have some minor pointers:
If you are going to use the engines I would advise to fix them to the rings and rib in the design stage instead of glueing them on. That way the pieces become a lot more rigid.
I’ll want to hang the piece and it would’ve been smart to fix a couple of eyes to the rings to which I can attach a wire. I’ll design something for it now but it could’ve been integrated.
I’m going to have to use some google-fu but I’d like to bulk up the cockpit a little. Maybe the engines too. I’m no expert but they seem to be a little flat under this behemoth of a blimp.
I’ll post pics when I have it hanging from the sealing in the garage.
You may be surprised at what you find. The cockpit on the real thing looks very small in relation to the blimp - but that’s because of how huge the gas envelope was. Until you see how big the cockpit really was, it’s hard to conceive how really enormous the dirigible was
This might be a case where a little artistic license might be needed to make it look “right” to your head.
Did you refactor the design for your material from the source files on thingiverse?
If so, my hat’s off to you.
I wasn’t thinking about details when I designed it. It was overwhelming enough to figure out how to use Fusion360. I did think about building out the gondola/cockpit with some more layers, but I wound up liking it okay with the simple aesthetics. And of course I got distracted by lots of other projects.
I wanted to hang my example, but my wife insisted it go on the high shelf over the computer. So I made a wall hugging stand (cardboard of course) that lifts it up a bit. This allows you to put pictures or other models underneath it while still showing it off.
Here’s a picture before the shelf got populated with other stuff.
Do you have Fusion360? I can make the design public and I think you should be able to use it as a starting point if you wanted to add some details in the design. It’s mostly parametric though. The ribs are drawn on a profile view of the original craft then rotated into position, but the rings are generated, which might make them tricky to alter. The engines I just drew out in inkscape and aren’t part of the Fusion source. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll see if I can share the design.
I have mulled over using one of the smaller models as a lamp by putting an led strip inside and covering the skeleton with gray fabric. But that’s one of a thousand things vying for my attention…
And now I’m anxious to see your example hanging from the ceiling.
It’s actually a styrofoam banana. A couple of years ago I worked an Andy Warhol exposition in Amsterdam and that banana would hang over the entrance. After the expo ended it would have been trashed so I took it home and hung it in my garage.
We had ordered a custom styrofoam banana from this company (because of the size) and had requested it to be painted like the Andy Warhol velvet underground album cover. But that last part never reached them and we got a perfect airbrushed life like banana from them 2 days before we would open. I spent an afternoon on the expo floor painting all the black on and getting it to resemble that art. Worked out great! and was a fun project.
I just noticed the car in the background. My daughter would love that. She has been a car nut since day one. It has always tickled me that she notices cars. Her brother could care less.
It is the absolute most fun car, period. Only the Donkervoort or Ariel cars come close to how much fun it is. I used it as my daily for 7 years and only switched to a GT car because of child regulations. If she’s into cars get her to drive an Elise. It’s not as hardcore as my Exige but it will deliver the same amount of fun.
So far for our older kids, we have put them in the biggest thing we could afford. DS drives a Tundra, indestructible. A deer didn’t even hurt it. Older DD has an Equinox. Not as big as we would like but she was t-boned at a high rate of speed totaling the vehicle and she walked away without a scratch. We bought her another one just like it. Youngest DD, the one into cars, so far is leaning toward a Jeep, but who knows. She is likely the one that will need the most protection due to her personality LOL
Our landlord at our Florida home just purchased a Pulse Litestar. Interesting to say the least. The two of them love to compare cars.
Ha, those are worlds apart. I crashed the Exige on track doing 180km/ph spinned it into a rail and was able to complete the race weekend with just cosmetic damage. Drove it through snow (on semi slicks) and all seasons. But I don’t let myself be distracted driving. No phone, no apps. Concentrate only on other drivers. My daily (GTR) is a completely different kind of beast. But the playstation inside controls the all wheel drive and I’m able to drive that thing like a regular car in every situation.
I always upgrade the stock brakes and tires on any car first. Stopping power has saved me from countless idiots (though having to get out of the way from the one behind me!) With big cars like yours I would advise the same. Those a very heavy and really need the added brake power. The only car so far that I have where I have not needed it is my Landcruiser. Not a fancy one, one of those red cross troopies. It’s a tank. Even on full load.
The material of the rib broke and the whole ship came crashing down. Two engines broke off one got lost. I glued the rib-piece back in and am thinking of a different way to hold it up on the ceiling not involving using the hardboard fibers.
Honestly, I thought it was a plastic blow-up banana. The exterior doesn’t look like styrofoam.