Fil d'information

Tom B.
Interesting project, will keep a look at this 👍
How was the cleanup and assembly process on this one? I had the chance to look inside the box of one of these Armada 3D printed kits at SMC and was a bit concerned regarding the parts breakdown and support placement...

Mirko Römer
Quite nice 3d kit, although the boxart should be from 1/35 kit. Hull and turret were already cleaned up, anything else was pretty easy to set free, compared to other manufacturers. Tow cable was not included but Eureka XXL came to the rescue. PE 0.50 bullets from an old leftover set.

Tom B.
Sounds pretty nice, thanks for sharing that experience 👍

George Williams
Super underside detailing.

Roberto
Thank you, but I could do it better. Maybe next models will be better than this.

Spanjaard
looks pretty good. love the blue color, it looks fantastic.

Roberto
Thank you Spanjaard. I used Gravity Colors GC-205 paint for the main color

Łukasz Gliński
Interesting. Is this the of of the flying aircraft carriers?

Ben M
Yes - what an odd idea!

Łukasz Gliński
Indeed it iwas 😄
I meant "the one of the flying aircraft carriers" of course 🙂
Are the airplanes included?

Ben M
No, there are no airplanes. But the door on the bottom is a separate part - I wonder if anyone makes airplanes for it?

Ben M
So, your post inspired me to look on shapeways - looks like some folks do make tiny 3-d printed 1:520 Curtiss F9C fighters! I ordered some ... maybe I should make the hangar door open on the bottom of the dirigible, and have a hook holding one??

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Łukasz Gliński
That would be more than cool IMHO 🙂

Alex K
Cool indeed! Great idea to look on shapeways for aftermaket - and you did well to order the little Curtiss!

Black Baron
Hovering along

Łukasz Gliński
Wow, the Sparrowhawks are soooo tiny 🙂

Black Baron
Don't forget the rigging

Ben M
Sparrowhawk painted!

Alex K
aaawwww!!! the cute little (microscopic) Sparrowhawk! 👍

Łukasz Gliński
Wow

Nikolaos Kouzinis
Bravo Ben. Very impressive and difficult, I suppose, to make it.

Ben M
An update - I ordered vallejo white grey paint for the stripes on the side, it was model color not the airbrush kind, but I figured I could thin it. I waited a month for it to arrive. When it arrived it was very thick like jelly. I tried thinning it first with vallejo airbrush thinner and then with mr hobby levelling thinner, but it kept clogging my airbrush and I couldn't get it to spray even when it was very, very thin. The pigment kept drying in the nozzle and plugging it. So I decided to try brush painting it. It was like painting with jelly. Again, I tried mr hobby levelling thinner, but it was just crappy and lumpy. Something is wrong with my bottle of paint, it must be very old or something. So I wiped the paint off. I have white tamiya paint but no black to mix to make an off-white grey - I have other brand black paint, but mixing brands just results in some bad chemistry set experience. As you know it is not possible to go to the hobby shop now, so I ordered some paint online and will wait another month for it to arrive 🙁.

Łukasz Gliński
Better waiting a month than having a big jelly instead of a nice blimp 🙂

René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy
Watching

Ben M
Haven't been sure how I'm going to make the trapeze for the little fighters. I ordered some n scale etched brass ladders to see if I can make something out of them. Any other ideas?

Łukasz Gliński
Maybe some PE railings or ladders for ships, like 1/600 or 1/700 scale?

Ben M
Good idea.

Nikolaos Kouzinis
What lilipout things did you scratch man? Bravo!!!

Ben M
Just the trapeze and perch. I ended up using N-scale photoetch railroad car ladders.

Ben M
and... completed! Perhaps I will hang it (I put the loops in on the top) but for now I put it in my display case.

Torsten
What a beauty😎 👍

Neuling
Something very special. Thanks for building and showing!

Łukasz Gliński
Awesome, makes me wanna build one too😉

Ben M
Do it! One obvious improvement over what I did is to make the struts on the tail section out of smaller diameter plastic or brass rod instead of the very overscale kit parts that I used.

Alex K
Nice one, Ben! Congrats! 👍

Juergen Klinglhuber
I like unusual topics and beside that - your model turned out great.

Mike Powers
Greetings
I saw your build and was blown away by it, so mush that I also purchased the kit and will attempt to add in the fighters and the launching and recovery ladder.
If I understood your write up you added the recovery ladder by custom building and adding a HO railroad car ladder and 1/600 to 1/700 scale Biplane Sparrowhawk. I also liked the idea of using the 1/600 scale ship ladders. So excellent job sir, I'm very excited to give this kit a try and will post my results for your review and critique I hope mine will do you proud for being my inspiration for this kit. Any suggestions that you can provide me with would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much
Michael Powers
Aka
Rescueranger

Ben M
I used 1:520 F9C Sparrowhawk planes I found on shapeways, and N scale railroad ladders to build the trapeze and such. I think I'd recommend replacing some of the oversize struts on the tail with brass rod or smaller diameter plastic rod, but I'm happy with how mine turned out.

Mike Powers
Ben is that the 3-D printing company?
I looked it up on line and thats what came up. I also agree with you on the tail struts brass or copper i was also thinking about trying a stretch and heat shrink fabric over the intire kit to give it a fabric realistic look, but my biggest problem was finding the F9C Sparrowhawk planes, I was about to settle for a 1/350 F3F BiPlane but if you can steer me to the site you got your 1:520 F9C Sparrowhawk I would be very grateful.
Thank you
Michael Powers
Aka
Rescueranger

Ben M
Here's where I got mine: shapeways.com/produc..5&li=marketplace

Mike Powers
Thank you for sharing I'm really interested in getting this started and sharing it with everyone

Mike Powers
Ben, went to the site and placed my order, got the Macon blimp just the other day and I purchased a 1/35 scale F9C Sparrowhawk, I thought it would look cool next to the Macon to represent what the aircraft looked like so you did not have to squint to look at the 1/520 version. The kit I got was the WILLIAMS BROS. MODEL 1/32 CURTISS SPARROWHAWK, I posted the kit in my stash.

Tini Hendriks
I envy your WhiteGate working bench as well ?

Tini Hendriks
Very very nice zeppelin, Ben. But I wonder, where you going to keep it? Above the bed as we did in the previous century?

Neil
Love this 👍 really enjoyed the build pics

Łukasz Gliński
Very nice finish 👍

Robert Podkoński
It is great to see that beast finished and get the sense of its immensity.

Ben M
It's currently in my glass case, Tini, but it does take up a lot of space. Not sure where it will end up long term - I might hang it from the ceiling.

Skyhiker
This looks like an expensive kit. Really nice results. I love these air ships but my scale is 1/72 and I try not to switch to other scales. 1/500 is reasonable for this subject but 1/72 may be a bit over the top since I don't have the room for a 6 foot model.

Ben M
Oh it's an older kit. I think it was $30 when I got it.

Dave
That's beautiful , nice job

Ben M
Thank you, Dave. It was one of my pandemic projects that gave me something fun to do.