Picked up a Zep today. Twelve bucks. Revell has released a 1:720 scale version of their old Hindenburg model. Sturdy polystyrene, nicely detailed.

Plainly, Crimson Skies minis are not 1:720 scale, or even close, but there had been enough discussion about adding zeps to the game that I thought I'd mention it. The Hindenburg model mentioned is about fourteen inches long, and comes with a docking ring and a little stand to put it on, as well as a sheet of decals which can be used to bring it up to total historical accuracy... almost.

For some reason, the Nazi flags that the Hindenburg wore on its tailfins seem to be missing their swastikas -- they're just red flags with large white circles on them. I presume this is because the models were intended not only for domestic consumption, but for export to various countries, since the instructions are in every language but Sanskrit. The German government, I understand, is still very touchy about objects with swastikas on them, even if they're intended to be historical in nature.

There was also a very interesting little brochure for the Zeppelin Museum, somewhere in Germany.

Anyway, upon assemblage of its many teeny parts, it looks good. Been pondering customization... perhaps into the Pandora, from the CS PC game...

Wow, that's very cool! Any chance for a digital photo with the CS planes flying around it to get an idea of how well it scales? What do you think; does it look alright with planes next to it or does it look way too small?

I think it looks a bit small. It's definitely not in scale; the idea of this zep dropping planes out its belly is kind of silly. Still, if you really want a zep... this one's fairly easy to build, and cheaper than a Squadron Pack, although you'd have to customize it yourself. I'd been thinking about bashing a zep out of two-liter soda bottles or something, but this is far easier, more historically accurate, and wonderfully detailed.

Then again, I had the original Revell Hindenburg model when I was a kid... and that one was around two feet long. Alas, those days are gone, and I don't see Revell reissuing the original kit any time soon.

I'll likely post a pic or something when I finally decide what I'm gonna do with the thing.

Wow, I didn't know Revell made a zeppelin model. A while back I was on a Hindenberg craze and did some online surfing and found several zep models, but they were of the $80US variety. I seem to recall they were out of pressed sheet copper or somesuch.

After that dismal discovery, I thought of making a scratch built myself that'd fit with my "wall of wings" models. The problem was the Hindenberg would have to be almost ten feet long to be in scale with the B-52 and B-17s (hey, when you're 807 feet long, you're big no matter what)

As for making a zep in scale with the planes, I think something like that would be bigger than three feet. I think your Revell model may make a good balloon model though.

Oh, and just in case anyone else gets the same crazy idea I did, no, it is not feasible to make a scale model, rigid-framed RC zeppelin. Just save yourself a world of frustration and go with a mylar balloon that has the exterior zep look painted on.

Hey, now that I think about it, Dr. Bedlam, you could exercie a bit of historical fudging and paint an old German Black-White-Red flag on your model instead of using the non-Nazi flag.

Actually, I was interested in buying one or two more...one as a historically accurate model (to hang from the ceiling of my office, along with a couple other planes, three dragons, the Klingon bird of prey, the Soaring Gunner, and the Silver Surfer), and a couple others for CS -- one, I'd mod into the Pandora, from the CS PC game, and the other... well.. durned if I know. Yet.

While doing an internet search on ZEPPELINS, I found a site where a chap had built a 1:100 scale model of the Graf Spee. The durn thing was huge, about eight feet long. What scale are the CS planes, anyway?

When I was a kid -- somewhere in the late seventies -- Revell produced a similar kit of the Hindenburg, but in a somewhat larger scale. The completed zep was somewhere around two feet long, and would have looked a LOT more to scale with the CS planes, especially with a few modifications.

Unfortunately, these kits are long out of production. Still, I was pleased to see that the Hindenburg is back in production, even if the new version is only half the size of the old one...

The Zeppelin Museum in Germany sells these models over the internet, as well as some paper models which appear to be even larger... although the lack of detailed illustrations makes me kinda hesitant to invest money in them...

I have also just built the Revell Hindenburgh kit I bought for £7.
It works quit well as a small transport Zeppelin. I am also at present using other item as zeppelins. For example I have 2 Zeppelin silhouettes made from 18mm thick MDF and painted in generic colours; I then created faction logos that stick to the silhouette using Velcro. This allows everyone to use then in the future when the squadrons become available. This all works quite well as they provide a definite footprint for octagons to overlap.
I am now just customising old HC bases to use as stats bases for engines and gun turrets. These, when I finish them, will have a points value but the zeppelin they sit on will not as it is just a large flying obstacle.
The dial stats are taking a while as I have to dismantle them, scan the disc in to PhotoShop, create new one, paint the dials then reassemble them after cutting the stats discs out neatly. But it will be with it in the end for our planned campaigns.
:surprised I would appreciate any help for stats for guns, engines etc and also info on any other weapons, armour Zeppelins carried in the Crimson Skies world.

Cheers
Hallion

I found this sight on the web.
There are a couple of paper zeppelin models that you can download, print out, and assemble.
They're 1:700 scale, so I'm not sure if they'll work terribly well, but it's a cheap

start.http://www.currell.net/models/mod_free.htm

the engines, turrets and such on my zepp only have one or two hits (if one hit then when the element is hit then take it off)
if two hits turn the counter over and there is the damaged stats..

i gave them an reasonably high silloette and ranges and gun values borrowed from the planes avaliable...

also if people are willing to accept the abstatction an 14' to 24' zepplin is an lot more manageable on an 36x36 play field than any scaled zepp model. besides wizkids games are not known for there adherance to scale...

also i have seen 1/200 scale ridgid frame airship models in the balsa and streched paper construction of the navys shannondoa, it would be an exellent begining (histricaly the shannondoa launched one or two fighters)
by the by the actual scale of the cs planes is 10mm-1/160scale. that means the son of the empire the worlds largest airship is 1840 foot long which translates into 11.5 foot by direct calcualation. at 1/200 scale it is 9'2.5"

Seems about right... and if you intend to be using a zep as a mobile vehicle/gun platform/carrier, instead of a "terrain feature"... well... you could certainly do worse than the card models or the Revell model.

played an game with my 2d zepp last night will write an report and submit it to night should it be in an new thread?

AMT/ERTL made kits of both the Hindenburg and the Akron/Macon (parts and decals for both), which were about two feet long.

Of course, if you want a really close to scale kit, Testors once sold kits of the Hindenburg and Graf Zepellin which assembled to a hair over four feet.

Are any of these kits still in production?

I tried an experiment, today: sawed the butt end off a two-liter soda bottle, and then stuck the butt end of ANOTHER two liter soda bottle into it.

Sizewise, it seemed about right... still not in scale, of course, but ... more satisfying, somehow.

Unfortunately, the bottles tend to crinkle fairly easily when empty; the process of jamming them together put more than a few dents in them that could not be popped out afterwards.

I mean to begin work on the Mk II when I can get some more soda bottles... maybe stuff them with shredded styrofoam or something...